Taken from City&State
Suffolk County and Immigrants: Changes
for the Better Five Years After a Hate Crime
Five
years ago this month, Marcelo Lucero was killed in the Village of Patchogue by
a band of hate-filled teenagers. These teens, who regularly went
“beaner-hopping” (their offensive term for riding around and attacking people
they took to be Mexican immigrants), surrounded Lucero, an Ecuadorian
immigrant. When Lucero sought to defend himself, one teen, Jeffrey
Conroy, stabbed him, causing Lucero’s death.
Lucero’s death brought Suffolk
County into the state and national spotlight as a hot spot for anti-immigrant
politics and sentiment. The Southern Poverty Law Center, one of the nation’s
pre-eminent anti-hate-group organizations, described a “Climate of Fear” where
toxic politics—fueled and driving fears of demographic change at a time of
economic uncertainty—rendered such violence permissible, and Latinos throughout
Suffolk lived in fear.
Five years later, what have we
learned, and where do we stand as a county and a region?
Demographic change has
continued, and Suffolk is more diverse than ever. According to the 2010
Census, roughly one out of four Suffolk residents are people of color. And
roughly one out of seven was born outside of the United States. This diversity
is a boon for our county—bringing with it rich cultural traditions and
exchanges, not to mention the economic contributions of immigrants to our local
economy.
Thankfully, we seem to be
learning from our past, and this continued demographic change has not provoked
another anti-immigrant surge. Instead, it appears that the dawn of a new era is
upon us. Instead of vilifying immigrants, many of Suffolk County’s elected
officials are now working hand-in-hand with immigrant communities to begin
identifying and addressing their needs.
For instance, one year ago,
Suffolk’s new administration (which one of us leads) adopted Executive Order
10, which guaranteed that residents with limited-English proficiency (LEP)
would be able to access free translation and interpretation services in all
county government offices. And county government has since worked closely with
community organizations to ensure the effective implementation of the order,
which took effect on November 14th.
Moreover, during this year’s
debate on comprehensive immigration reform, the loudest voices across Suffolk
County, and all Long Island, have been those of immigrants and their allies.
The marches, rallies, forums and other actions that have occurred have all
supported a path to citizenship. Long Island’s congressional delegation has
taken note, with all of the region’s House of Representatives members publicly
supporting comprehensive immigration reform, including a path to citizenship
for undocumented immigrants.
In short, the toxic “climate of
fear” is slowly but surely being replaced by a climate of tolerance and
respect, in which immigrant communities have entered into a productive dialogue
with their elected officials. In this new dialogue, scapegoating immigrants is
unacceptable, and we have opted instead to work together to identify points of
commonality and work towards solutions that work for all Suffolk’s residents.
Quite some time has passed
since the days of extremist anti-immigrant groups rallying in Suffolk County,
in some cases with the support of national anti-immigrant groups. And,
mercifully, we have not recently seen the same type of violence that tragically
took Marcelo Lucero’s life.
This does not mean that all the
animus that fueled that violence has been eliminated; we must, of course,
remain vigilant.
But we feel confident that a
new chapter in Suffolk County’s history has begun—one in which our communities
and leaders embrace diversity and the contributions of all residents. This
would be the best possible conclusion to a tale that began with unspeakable
tragedy.
Steve Bellone is the
Suffolk County Executive. Javier H. Valdes is the co-executive director of
Make the Road New York, the largest participatory immigrant rights organization
in New York.
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