I am apologizing in advance for the thin analysis in this diary, but I'm mad and probably can't come up with a more thorough one right now.
I live on Long Island, in Nassau County, next door to the infamous Suffolk County, where some residents somehow feel free to beat up or otherwise accost day laborers and other Latinos. If you're not aware of this social phenomenon, check out the documentary called Farmingville.
More recently, an Ecuadoran immigrant named Marcelo Lucero was beaten to death by a mob of teenagers in Patchogue, NY. After that attack, an increasing number of Hispanics in Suffolk County came forward to say that that same gang of miscreants had harassed or beaten them as well. And then others came forward to say that they live in constant fear of attack.
Yesterday an incident in Brooklyn provided more proof to assertions that hate crimes around the country are increasing in the wake of the Obama election, even though the problem is truly acute in my back yard, Suffolk County.
You see, two brothers, again from Ecuador were severely beaten yesterday in New York City. This morning I was horrified to hear the announcement that one of them had died.
Here is an excerpt from an article in Newsday It's not on the Times' Website yet.
An Ecuadorean immigrant has died after being viciously beaten by attackers who shouted anti-gay and anti-Hispanic slurs, a law enforcement official said Tuesday.
Jose Sucuzhanay, 31, had been in very critical condition following brain surgery. The official who confirmed his death spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the investigation is ongoing.
Sucuzhanay was attacked with a bat as he walked arm-in-arm with his 38-year-old brother early Sunday in Brooklyn.
I had always focused my attention on Suffolk County, where our fellow Democrat, County Executive Steve Levy, has been in the habit of using inflammatory speech and aggressive policies against undocumented immigrants, with "illegal immigrant" being code for Hispanics. He has shown no leadership on this, and activists have been warning him for years that anti-immigrant rhetoric has real-world consequences.
In fact, after the County released bias-crime data in light of the Lucero attack, so many Hispanics came forward with their stories, that they immediately delegitimized that data.
I guess all I wanted to do here was to bring this to people's attention.
We've all been inspired by Barack Obama's ONE country rhetoric, but we need to follow up with advocacy at the local level. How can people feel free to beat someone up just for who they are in this, the 21st Century? I know also that the crime in Brooklyn was equally about hatred of gays as it was of Latinos, so this exhortation applies to everyone, not just immigrants.
The AP reported the other day that race crimes around the country are increasing in the wake of Obama's election.
Whatever tensions Obama's election is bringing out in racists and homophobes around the country, they are taking it out on people in the most physical way possible.
My question to our community is, what can we do on a personal level and as a bloggers to address this? At the very least, lets pay more attention to this problem and help raise awareness that we need to be vigilant on a social, not just political level.