Just Imagine…

September 3rd, 2009

Imagine, if you woke up every morning having to fear being beaten with a baseball bat; attacked with BB guns, pepper spray, or objects thrown from passing cars; run off the road while riding bicycles; or having your home lit on fire.  Imagine if you were too afraid to let your children play outside, and your family was too afraid to walk outside after dark.  According to a report released yesterday by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), that's the reality that many Latino immigrants living in Suffolk County, New York, USA have faced for the past few years.

This is not the past we're talking about; this is the current reality for many Latinos in Suffolk County. As astounding as that might sound, according to the SPLC report, dozens of Latinos have been attacked these ways over the course of the last decade.

The scores of interviews and research that substantiate the SPLC report point to the sad fact that the tragic death of Marcelo Lucero, which we've reported on extensively, was not the beginning or the end of the vicious cycle of fear and hate, but  rather the apex of a culture gone wrong.

So when did this start?  Who's perpetuating the violence?  How will it end?  These are some of the questions that the report reviews.  The report traces much of the hate-mongering to nativist groups, such as the now defunct Sachem Quality of Life organization that fanned the flames of fears of immigrants, as well as to the failure of everyday systems, such as that reflected by police indifference to reports of attacks on immigrants, choosing to question alleged victims on their immigration status instead.  Moreover, anti-immigrant statements made by elected officials, such as Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy, former county legislator Michael M. D'Andre, and former county legislator Elie Mystal, only served to add fuel to the fire and legitimate nativist rhetoric.  According to The New York Times: 

• In 2001, "Mr. D'Andre said that if his town were ‘attacked' by an influx of Hispanic day laborers, ‘we'll be up in arms, we'll be out with baseball bats.'"
• In 2007, Elie Mystal said "that if day laborers started gathering in his neighborhood, ‘I would load my gun and start shooting, period.'"

Both purportedly apologized after making those comments, but the damage had been done.  Today, many of this nation's Latino citizens and immigrants cannot imagine other than a world in which they are enveloped in fear.

Read the report.