Yet another anti-Latino incident in Patchogue

The Long Island neighborhood of Patchogue has been rocked by another anti-Latino incident.

Local detectives said that vandals broke into the Iglesia Evangelica Refugio de Salvacion last night and left notes filled with "anti-Hispanic comments." The allegedly hateful scribes have been reported by one parishioner as “in Spanish (and) out of a dictionary” yet boasting that “saying that Hispanics didn't rule but white people ruled here”.

Patchogue has been the site of several biased attacks against the area’s growing Latino population. Ecuadorian immigrant Marcelo Lucero was killed last November in a suspected hate crime while anther Latino was beaten last month by a trio of teens.

It was this nervous climate that was highlighted by a Southern Poverty Law Center report released yesterday. The study blasted Suffolk County chief executive Steve Levy for engaging in "verbal immigrant-bashing" since taking office; for example, he insensitively compared the fallout from Lucero's murder to "the discomfort of undergoing a colonoscopy." The report also criticized local police for stoking the flames of fear:

Many immigrants told the center’s investigators that the “police did not take their reports of attacks seriously, often blaming the victim,” the report said. “They said there’s little point in going to the police, who are often not interested in their plight and instead demand to know their immigration status”…

The center’s report urged local officials to adopt several measures — including halting “their angry demagoguery” about immigration, promoting educational programs that encourage respect for diversity, and training police officers to take seriously all allegations of hate-motivated crime.

Image- Gothamist (November 2008 Newsday cover of a vigil held after the Marcelo Lucero murder)
Online Sources- The Latin Americanist, New York Daily News, New York Times, newsday.com, myfoxny.com

Report: Hate crimes vs. Latinos increased

A study released today by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) alleged that anti-immigrant sentiment has been the catalyst behind an increase in hate crimes against Latinos. The report called “The Year in Hate” cited FBI data stating that 819 people were targets of anti-Latino crime in 2006, compared with 595 in 2003. According to an SPLC spokesman and as quoted in the Philadelphia Inquirer:

"The immigration debate has turned the climate of this country into something very nasty," [Mark] Potok said. "A lot of this is due to the vile propaganda coming out of these hate groups…"

“If it were merely the groups in a corner by themselves it wouldn't be worrying," Potok said. "But now the propaganda is being circulated by the mainstream media."

Potok said conspiracy theories by the groups have been picked up and given validation by CNN and some national politicians.

Among the worst offenders, Potok said, are CNN's Lou Dobbs and Congressman Steve King (R-Iowa).

One of the “hate groups” targeted by the SPLC’s report- the Federation
for American Immigration Reform (FAIR)- responded in a statement. 
A FAIR spokesman criticized the study’s methodology and accused the
SPLC of representing “self-serving political interests.”  

Sources- Philadelphia Inquirer, prnewswire.com, SPLCenter.org, Associated Press

Image- tolerance.org