The murder of Bernardo Medina Ponce, an Hispanic man, was a racially motivated attack, according to Durham County Assistant District Attorney Theresa K. Pressley

The five young men charged with killing him are black. Expect more of that sort of thing around here, Durham County Sheriff's Office Maj. Paul Martin said in a report. "The immediate future holds the potential for an ethnic war to break out between black and Latino gangs," said Martin. "Since at least 1997, some black criminals have continually robbed, assaulted and murdered Latinos. The targeting of innocent Latinos will soon manifest itself in violent ethnic conflict between blacks and Latinos." The trade of illegal drugs has a lot to do with the strife, because both black and Hispanic gang members battle for turf with respect to where dope gets sold. "I have watched since the 1970s as about 70% of the black community has retrogressed in Durham. A large percentage of young blacks have been sucked into this criminal culture, and many can barely read and write. This educational retrogression is attributable to the thug culture. Yet no one speaks out, except to grab for federal grant money to construct Utopian schemes," Martin said.