NY hate crime suspect now charged with murder
By FRANK ELTMAN – 1 hour ago
RIVERHEAD, N.Y. (AP) — A grand jury has charged a Long Island teenager with murder as a hate crime in the stabbing death of an Ecuadorean immigrant.
Jeffrey Conroy was arrested on a charge of manslaughter as a hate crime. An indictment unsealed Thursday added a more serious charge, second-degree murder as a hate crime, in the death of Marcelo Lucero (mar-SEL-oh loo-SER-oh).
As Conroy's six co-defendants were arraigned on gang assault and other charges, prosecutors alleged the group also attacked another Hispanic man in Patchogue (PACH'-awg) who got away a half-hour earlier. Lucero was attacked Nov. 8 near the Patchogue train station.
Conroy's arraignment is scheduled for Monday. All of the teens' attorneys have said they are innocent.
Source:
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iF4GJzkZAIbhbbVq7PMx-pVH8XMAD94IS0UG0
Thursday, November 20, 2008
7 Teens in Hate-Slay Case Indicted in Another Assault
7 Teens in Hate-Slay Case Indicted in Another Assault
By ERIK GERMAN newsday.com
November 20, 2008
The seven Patchogue-Medford High School students charged in the death of Ecuadorean immigrant Marcelo Lucero were indicted Thursday on an additional hate crime charge in connection with an earlier attack that night, authorities said.One student charged in connection with the crime, Jeffrey Conroy, 17, who police said fatally stabbed Lucero, is expected to face upgraded charges of second-degree murder as early as next week, authorities said.Conroy, of Medford, still faces his initial charge of first-degree manslaughter as a hate crime.The indictment, unsealed Thursday at the suspects' arraignment before Judge C. Randall Hinrichs in Suffolk County Court in Riverhead, charges all seven teens with conspiracy in Lucero's death and attempted assault second degree as a hate crime in the previous assault.
Facing new charges along with Conroy are: Jordan Dasch, 17, of Medford; Anthony Hartford, 17, of Medford; Nicholas Hausch, 17, of Medford; Christopher Overton, 16, of East Patchogue; Jose Pacheco, 17, of East Patchogue; and Kevin Shea, 17, of Medford.Prosecutors said the group drove together to Medford, looking for Hispanics to attack, and failing to find them went to downtown Patchogue. They first chased and attacked Hector Sierra but he escaped, authorities said.Sierra, 55, of Patchogue, has said he was attacked by a group of young men on a Patchogue street on the same night Lucero was fatally stabbed."They punched me twice on the side of my head, then they struck me on the back of the head, and I fell in the middle of the street," Sierra said. "They kicked me, and I thought, 'they're going to kill me.'"In addition, Hausch and Dasch were each charged with another count of second-degree assault as a hate crime after they attacked Marlon Garcia in front of his home with a BB gun earlier in the day, at about 5 a.m., prosecutors said. Garcia escaped harm.All of the suspects have pleaded not guilty to the charges.The Nov. 8 slaying of Lucero, 37, has caused outrage from Ecuador -- the victim's home country -- to Suffolk County, where County Executive Steve Levy urged "people of goodwill" to denounce intolerance.All of the defendants were originally charged with gang assault.Overton is awaiting sentencing in another case. He pleaded guilty to burglary in another fatal attack in May 2007 in which a 38-year-old East Patchogue man was shot dead when a group of teenagers robbed his home. A neighbor found the victim, Carlton Shaw, dead in his backyard, his 3-year-old son sleeping on his chest.
Source:
http://www.wpix.com/landing/?7-Teens-in-Hate-Slay-Case-Indicted-in-An=1&blockID=140674&feedID=1404
By ERIK GERMAN newsday.com
November 20, 2008
The seven Patchogue-Medford High School students charged in the death of Ecuadorean immigrant Marcelo Lucero were indicted Thursday on an additional hate crime charge in connection with an earlier attack that night, authorities said.One student charged in connection with the crime, Jeffrey Conroy, 17, who police said fatally stabbed Lucero, is expected to face upgraded charges of second-degree murder as early as next week, authorities said.Conroy, of Medford, still faces his initial charge of first-degree manslaughter as a hate crime.The indictment, unsealed Thursday at the suspects' arraignment before Judge C. Randall Hinrichs in Suffolk County Court in Riverhead, charges all seven teens with conspiracy in Lucero's death and attempted assault second degree as a hate crime in the previous assault.
Facing new charges along with Conroy are: Jordan Dasch, 17, of Medford; Anthony Hartford, 17, of Medford; Nicholas Hausch, 17, of Medford; Christopher Overton, 16, of East Patchogue; Jose Pacheco, 17, of East Patchogue; and Kevin Shea, 17, of Medford.Prosecutors said the group drove together to Medford, looking for Hispanics to attack, and failing to find them went to downtown Patchogue. They first chased and attacked Hector Sierra but he escaped, authorities said.Sierra, 55, of Patchogue, has said he was attacked by a group of young men on a Patchogue street on the same night Lucero was fatally stabbed."They punched me twice on the side of my head, then they struck me on the back of the head, and I fell in the middle of the street," Sierra said. "They kicked me, and I thought, 'they're going to kill me.'"In addition, Hausch and Dasch were each charged with another count of second-degree assault as a hate crime after they attacked Marlon Garcia in front of his home with a BB gun earlier in the day, at about 5 a.m., prosecutors said. Garcia escaped harm.All of the suspects have pleaded not guilty to the charges.The Nov. 8 slaying of Lucero, 37, has caused outrage from Ecuador -- the victim's home country -- to Suffolk County, where County Executive Steve Levy urged "people of goodwill" to denounce intolerance.All of the defendants were originally charged with gang assault.Overton is awaiting sentencing in another case. He pleaded guilty to burglary in another fatal attack in May 2007 in which a 38-year-old East Patchogue man was shot dead when a group of teenagers robbed his home. A neighbor found the victim, Carlton Shaw, dead in his backyard, his 3-year-old son sleeping on his chest.
Source:
http://www.wpix.com/landing/?7-Teens-in-Hate-Slay-Case-Indicted-in-An=1&blockID=140674&feedID=1404
Stamford students arrested on hate crime charge
Stamford students arrested on hate crime charge
By Jeff MorganteenStaff Writer
Posted: 11/20/2008 02:43:03 AM EST
STAMFORD - Four Westhill High School students were arrested last week and charged with yelling racial slurs at black middle schoolers and a crossing guard on the West Side, police said.
The four male students shouted ethnic insults from a moving car several times last week while on their way to school in the morning, police said.
A group of students from Cloonan Middle School and a crossing guard reported separate incidents, Lt. Sean Cooney said.
Lucas Alexander Rossi, 18, of 44 Euclid Ave., was charged Friday with ridicule of race, creed and color, a bias crime that carries a maximum sentence of a $50 fine and an optional 30-day prison sentence. Police charged three other occupants in the same crime but did not identify them because they are younger than 18.
Witnesses gave officers a description of the car and a partial license plate number, Cooney said. Because the incidents occurred in the early morning and along a certain route, officers speculated that the car was headed to Westhill, Cooney said.
Officers found a car that matched the description in the high school parking lot Friday morning and found four occupants. Each was given a summons.
The four are slated to appear Dec. 1 in state Superior Court in Stamford.
- Staff Writer Jeff Morganteen can be reached at jeff.morganteen@scni.com or 964-2215.
Source:
http://www.stamfordadvocate.com/localnews/ci_11029014
By Jeff MorganteenStaff Writer
Posted: 11/20/2008 02:43:03 AM EST
STAMFORD - Four Westhill High School students were arrested last week and charged with yelling racial slurs at black middle schoolers and a crossing guard on the West Side, police said.
The four male students shouted ethnic insults from a moving car several times last week while on their way to school in the morning, police said.
A group of students from Cloonan Middle School and a crossing guard reported separate incidents, Lt. Sean Cooney said.
Lucas Alexander Rossi, 18, of 44 Euclid Ave., was charged Friday with ridicule of race, creed and color, a bias crime that carries a maximum sentence of a $50 fine and an optional 30-day prison sentence. Police charged three other occupants in the same crime but did not identify them because they are younger than 18.
Witnesses gave officers a description of the car and a partial license plate number, Cooney said. Because the incidents occurred in the early morning and along a certain route, officers speculated that the car was headed to Westhill, Cooney said.
Officers found a car that matched the description in the high school parking lot Friday morning and found four occupants. Each was given a summons.
The four are slated to appear Dec. 1 in state Superior Court in Stamford.
- Staff Writer Jeff Morganteen can be reached at jeff.morganteen@scni.com or 964-2215.
Source:
http://www.stamfordadvocate.com/localnews/ci_11029014
Hate crime
Hate crime
Posted: November 13, 2008 903 GMT
NEW YORK–Marcello Lucero was walking to a friend’s house last weekend to watch a movie when his life came to a brutal end. The Ecuadorean native was allegedly beaten and stabbed by a group of teenagers who police said wanted “to beat up some Mexicans.”
Lucero’s death Saturday night on Long Island, New York was quickly labeled a hate crime by authorities. Unfortunately, it’s part of an underreported spike of hate crimes against Hispanics in the last few years. According to the FBI, Anti-Hispanic hate crimes have increased 40 percent since 2003.
Hispanic advocates blame a climate of harsh rhetoric surrounding the national immigration debate, and they surely have a point.
The Justice Department says that out of all bias crimes based on ethnicity, 62 percent target Hispanics, 38 percent everyone else. 62 percent! Though Hispanics are only 14 percent of the population. Those are some scary numbers.
New York’s hate crimes law operates as an enhancement, so if convicted, these defendants will serve longer terms. On the federal level, we need stronger protection against hate crimes against all groups, including gay, lesbian and transgender people. The Matthew Shepard Act would provide that protection. It’s been introduced every year since 1999. President-elect Barack Obama favors it, and so do I. Let’s all speak with a clear, unequivocal voice that hate crimes have no place in this country.
–Lisa Bloom, In Session anchor
http://insession.blogs.cnn.com/2008/11/13/hate-crime/
Posted: November 13, 2008 903 GMT
NEW YORK–Marcello Lucero was walking to a friend’s house last weekend to watch a movie when his life came to a brutal end. The Ecuadorean native was allegedly beaten and stabbed by a group of teenagers who police said wanted “to beat up some Mexicans.”
Lucero’s death Saturday night on Long Island, New York was quickly labeled a hate crime by authorities. Unfortunately, it’s part of an underreported spike of hate crimes against Hispanics in the last few years. According to the FBI, Anti-Hispanic hate crimes have increased 40 percent since 2003.
Hispanic advocates blame a climate of harsh rhetoric surrounding the national immigration debate, and they surely have a point.
The Justice Department says that out of all bias crimes based on ethnicity, 62 percent target Hispanics, 38 percent everyone else. 62 percent! Though Hispanics are only 14 percent of the population. Those are some scary numbers.
New York’s hate crimes law operates as an enhancement, so if convicted, these defendants will serve longer terms. On the federal level, we need stronger protection against hate crimes against all groups, including gay, lesbian and transgender people. The Matthew Shepard Act would provide that protection. It’s been introduced every year since 1999. President-elect Barack Obama favors it, and so do I. Let’s all speak with a clear, unequivocal voice that hate crimes have no place in this country.
–Lisa Bloom, In Session anchor
http://insession.blogs.cnn.com/2008/11/13/hate-crime/
Kosher Butcher’s Son Tied To Patchogue Hate Crime
by Doug ChandlerSpecial To The Jewish Week
When the news broke last week of a modern-day lynching of an Ecuadorian immigrant at the hands of a gang of seven high school students in Patchogue, L.I., leaders of the Jewish community stood in the forefront of groups condemning the senseless hate crime and expressing solidarity with the area’s Latino residents.
The American Jewish Committee organized a rally against hate four days after the Nov. 8 murder, and one of the village’s two synagogues, Temple Beth El of Patchogue, hosted a public forum last Friday.
Both the rally and the forum, sponsored by the village and the state Division of Human Rights, drew rabbis who spoke of their horror at the death of Marcelo Lucero, 37, and of the need for healing.
But what
Jewish leaders didn’t know until much later, as it turns out, was that the driver of the SUV in which the teens were riding, Jordan Dasch, 17, of Medford, is the son of a kosher butcher in Plainview, L.I.
As the story made national news, fueled by the dismissive comments of Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy — a staunch opponent of illegal immigrant workers on Long Island — word gradually leaked out about Dasch’s heritage. And as Suffolk County District Attorney Thomas Spota prepared to present the case to a grand jury, a fuller, though incomplete, picture of the teenager began to emerge.
Dasch was a familiar face to some who shopped at the Kosher Food Emporium on Old Country Road, where he and his mother, Bobbie, occasionally worked. Family friends described him as a loner who was often picked on in school because his father, Lawrence, is Jewish.
He was not bar mitzvah, though, and the family is apparently unaffiliated with any synagogue. The spiritual leaders of two synagogues that serve the Medford community, including Temple Beth El, said they don’t know the family.
Dasch’s MySpace page featured a picture of a Jewish star with a Nazi swastika embedded in the middle, according to Long Island Wins, a pro-immigrant organization that downloaded the page before it was removed from the Web site. The group, based in Port Washington, claimed that Dasch referred to himself on the social networking site as a “Nazi Jew.”
Dasch and others teens, all of them classmates at Patchogue-Medford High School, gathered in a local park on the night of the slaying when one of the teens suggested that they go “beat up some Mexicans,” authorities said. They later spotted Lucero and a friend near the Patchogue train station. And then, like a lynch mob, they closed in on the pair, hurling ethnic taunts, according to Assistant District Attorney Nancy Clifford.
One of the teenagers punched Lucero in the face, authorities said, and in the scuffle that followed, Jeffrey Conroy, 17, allegedly plunged a knife into Lucero’s chest, killing him. The friend with him that night was not harmed.
The assailants fled but were quickly arrested by police, who had seen them walking through the community earlier in the evening. Police charged them with felony gang assault, and Conroy was charged with manslaughter as a hate crime. The seven pleaded not guilty at their arraignments on Monday. Authorities were also checking reports that, shortly before the stabbing, they may have beaten another Hispanic man who was walking alone on the street.
Dasch’s father is said to be distraught. He has told friends that his son, a high school senior, said he did not know all of the other teens who rode in his family’s car that fateful night, that he remained in the back of the pack and that he didn’t engage in the fight. He does, however, know Conroy, whose family is said to be well known in the community for their active support of various charities.
The lawyer retained by the family, Michael Gajdos, of Patchogue, told The Jewish Week that the family lives in an integrated area and that he has been told that the younger Dasch has black and Hispanic friends — not the kind of friends a “hater” would hang around with. Gajdos also said that neither Jordan Dasch nor either of the family’s two older children have ever had any problems with law enforcement in the past. He described the parents as shocked and “trying to come to grips” with the incident.
Members of the community have been mourning Lucero, a Patchogue resident who reportedly immigrated to the United States 16 years ago and worked at a dry-cleaning business in Riverhead.
Calls have also gone out for reflection and healing, with school officials promising workshops to address intolerance, and the State Division of Human Rights saying that other forums will take place in the future. Among the organizations that have contacted the school district is the Anti-Defamation League, according to Joel Levy, the ADL’s New York regional director, and Manuel Sanzone, principal of the local high school.
In the wake of the murder, one of the most dramatic gestures came from AJC’s Long Island Chapter, which has already built bridges with Long Island’s Hispanic community through the Latino-Jewish Council, a group it organized three years ago. The chapter printed posters with an image of the Statue of Liberty and the words, “We Are All One,” and urged residents and shopkeepers to display them prominently. The move recalled an episode 15 years ago in Billings, Mont., when, in reaction to anti-Semitism, paper menorahs suddenly appeared in windows throughout the city to demonstrate that Jews there were not alone.
“People need to speak out when others are targeted because of their race, ethnicity or religion,” said Caroline Levy, the chapter’s executive director, who noted that the murder took place immediately before the 70th anniversary of Kristallnacht, the anti-Jewish pogrom in Germany. That, in itself, was a reminder that “these kinds of incidents can happen to any group,” she said.But along with those calls has come an intense debate over what some say is a climate of hate that led to the killing and other incidents. Much of the debate has focused on Steve Levy, the county executive, who, shortly after news of the killing broke, told a reporter that the crime would be “a one-day story” anywhere but on his home turf.
In the past, the county executive has tried to deputize county police to act as immigration agents, signed legislation to bar undocumented immigrants from working for county contractors and sought to drive day laborers from local streets. He also founded a national organization to lobby for crackdowns and appeared on “Lou Dobbs,” the CNN host who has long been a vocal critic of illegal immigration.
In the past week, however, Suffolk County’s Levy (who attends a Catholic parish) has apologized for the “one-day” comment and delivered a televised address to residents. In his speech, given Tuesday night, he noted the irony of how the murder nearly coincided with Kristallnacht and said he hoped Lucero’s death would not be in vain.
“Perhaps it can be spark for all of us — yours truly included — to admit our faults, to work more closely with one another, to pay more attention to what our children are doing and to pay more attention to what we say,” Levy said. “Words do matter, and I will do all I can to help ensure that my words are as sensitive as possible toward meeting our goal to heal and to unite.”
Earlier in the week, Levy announced the creation of a five-point plan to fight hate and promote tolerance in the county’s schools and neighborhoods. Among other things, the plan would create a Hispanic liaison between the Suffolk Police Department and the Latino community and work with school boards and PTA’s in combating hate and seek donations for the victim’s family. Advocates for immigrants in the county, as well as Levy himself, have said that hate crimes have gone unrecorded in the area because undocumented immigrants are afraid to contact the police for fear of being arrested and deported.
One of those closely following the discussion is Renee Ortiz, 35, co-chairwoman of the Latino-Jewish Council and, at one point, Steve Levy’s director of minority affairs.
Ortiz, now the chief deputy clerk of the Suffolk County Legislature, believes that the policies and proposals of “certain public officials” have fueled a climate of hate, whether or not that was their intention. “I don’t think it’s a coincidence that we had a murder and other bias incidents simultaneously,” she said, referring to the killing in Patchogue and other episodes in the past few days, including the distribution of Ku Klux Klan pamphlets in Islip Terrace.
“It’s very personal for me on all levels,” said Ortiz, who left her job with Levy’s administration over policies she could no longer accept. Both Jewish and Hispanic, she described herself as acutely aware of the hatred because of both Jewish history and her sense that Latinos have become a “targeted group.”
“There’s definitely a timeline that leads up to what happened in Patchogue,” said Maryann Slutsky, the campaign director of Long Island Wins. The timeline includes some of Levy’s rhetoric, which she considers inflammatory, Slutsky said.
Although he agrees that “part of solution” relates to the community’s political leadership, Galen Kirkland, the state’s human rights commissioner, said he’s not interested in criticizing public figures or pointing fingers. He’s interested, instead, in promoting healing and unity, he said.
Similarly, Rabbi Steven Moss, chairman of the county’s Human Rights Commission and its Anti-Bias Task Force, said he believes accusations against the county executive and county lawmakers distract from the real issue, which is the crime itself and the hatred harbored by the teens who allegedly participated in it. The question going ahead “is how we deal with young people and educate them in terms of how they should view human life.”
Rabbi Moss also commented on the news concerning Jordan Dasch, saying the community “might never know why he did what he did.” There are all kinds of motivations for why people behave as they do, he said.
“The lesson is not to wring our hands but to treat this as a call — a Torah call, if you will — to increase our education of positive values for the betterment of our children. ... The Torah calls [on] us to choose life.”
Source:
http://www.thejewishweek.com/viewArticle/c36_a14071/News/New_York.html
When the news broke last week of a modern-day lynching of an Ecuadorian immigrant at the hands of a gang of seven high school students in Patchogue, L.I., leaders of the Jewish community stood in the forefront of groups condemning the senseless hate crime and expressing solidarity with the area’s Latino residents.
The American Jewish Committee organized a rally against hate four days after the Nov. 8 murder, and one of the village’s two synagogues, Temple Beth El of Patchogue, hosted a public forum last Friday.
Both the rally and the forum, sponsored by the village and the state Division of Human Rights, drew rabbis who spoke of their horror at the death of Marcelo Lucero, 37, and of the need for healing.
But what
Jewish leaders didn’t know until much later, as it turns out, was that the driver of the SUV in which the teens were riding, Jordan Dasch, 17, of Medford, is the son of a kosher butcher in Plainview, L.I.
As the story made national news, fueled by the dismissive comments of Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy — a staunch opponent of illegal immigrant workers on Long Island — word gradually leaked out about Dasch’s heritage. And as Suffolk County District Attorney Thomas Spota prepared to present the case to a grand jury, a fuller, though incomplete, picture of the teenager began to emerge.
Dasch was a familiar face to some who shopped at the Kosher Food Emporium on Old Country Road, where he and his mother, Bobbie, occasionally worked. Family friends described him as a loner who was often picked on in school because his father, Lawrence, is Jewish.
He was not bar mitzvah, though, and the family is apparently unaffiliated with any synagogue. The spiritual leaders of two synagogues that serve the Medford community, including Temple Beth El, said they don’t know the family.
Dasch’s MySpace page featured a picture of a Jewish star with a Nazi swastika embedded in the middle, according to Long Island Wins, a pro-immigrant organization that downloaded the page before it was removed from the Web site. The group, based in Port Washington, claimed that Dasch referred to himself on the social networking site as a “Nazi Jew.”
Dasch and others teens, all of them classmates at Patchogue-Medford High School, gathered in a local park on the night of the slaying when one of the teens suggested that they go “beat up some Mexicans,” authorities said. They later spotted Lucero and a friend near the Patchogue train station. And then, like a lynch mob, they closed in on the pair, hurling ethnic taunts, according to Assistant District Attorney Nancy Clifford.
One of the teenagers punched Lucero in the face, authorities said, and in the scuffle that followed, Jeffrey Conroy, 17, allegedly plunged a knife into Lucero’s chest, killing him. The friend with him that night was not harmed.
The assailants fled but were quickly arrested by police, who had seen them walking through the community earlier in the evening. Police charged them with felony gang assault, and Conroy was charged with manslaughter as a hate crime. The seven pleaded not guilty at their arraignments on Monday. Authorities were also checking reports that, shortly before the stabbing, they may have beaten another Hispanic man who was walking alone on the street.
Dasch’s father is said to be distraught. He has told friends that his son, a high school senior, said he did not know all of the other teens who rode in his family’s car that fateful night, that he remained in the back of the pack and that he didn’t engage in the fight. He does, however, know Conroy, whose family is said to be well known in the community for their active support of various charities.
The lawyer retained by the family, Michael Gajdos, of Patchogue, told The Jewish Week that the family lives in an integrated area and that he has been told that the younger Dasch has black and Hispanic friends — not the kind of friends a “hater” would hang around with. Gajdos also said that neither Jordan Dasch nor either of the family’s two older children have ever had any problems with law enforcement in the past. He described the parents as shocked and “trying to come to grips” with the incident.
Members of the community have been mourning Lucero, a Patchogue resident who reportedly immigrated to the United States 16 years ago and worked at a dry-cleaning business in Riverhead.
Calls have also gone out for reflection and healing, with school officials promising workshops to address intolerance, and the State Division of Human Rights saying that other forums will take place in the future. Among the organizations that have contacted the school district is the Anti-Defamation League, according to Joel Levy, the ADL’s New York regional director, and Manuel Sanzone, principal of the local high school.
In the wake of the murder, one of the most dramatic gestures came from AJC’s Long Island Chapter, which has already built bridges with Long Island’s Hispanic community through the Latino-Jewish Council, a group it organized three years ago. The chapter printed posters with an image of the Statue of Liberty and the words, “We Are All One,” and urged residents and shopkeepers to display them prominently. The move recalled an episode 15 years ago in Billings, Mont., when, in reaction to anti-Semitism, paper menorahs suddenly appeared in windows throughout the city to demonstrate that Jews there were not alone.
“People need to speak out when others are targeted because of their race, ethnicity or religion,” said Caroline Levy, the chapter’s executive director, who noted that the murder took place immediately before the 70th anniversary of Kristallnacht, the anti-Jewish pogrom in Germany. That, in itself, was a reminder that “these kinds of incidents can happen to any group,” she said.But along with those calls has come an intense debate over what some say is a climate of hate that led to the killing and other incidents. Much of the debate has focused on Steve Levy, the county executive, who, shortly after news of the killing broke, told a reporter that the crime would be “a one-day story” anywhere but on his home turf.
In the past, the county executive has tried to deputize county police to act as immigration agents, signed legislation to bar undocumented immigrants from working for county contractors and sought to drive day laborers from local streets. He also founded a national organization to lobby for crackdowns and appeared on “Lou Dobbs,” the CNN host who has long been a vocal critic of illegal immigration.
In the past week, however, Suffolk County’s Levy (who attends a Catholic parish) has apologized for the “one-day” comment and delivered a televised address to residents. In his speech, given Tuesday night, he noted the irony of how the murder nearly coincided with Kristallnacht and said he hoped Lucero’s death would not be in vain.
“Perhaps it can be spark for all of us — yours truly included — to admit our faults, to work more closely with one another, to pay more attention to what our children are doing and to pay more attention to what we say,” Levy said. “Words do matter, and I will do all I can to help ensure that my words are as sensitive as possible toward meeting our goal to heal and to unite.”
Earlier in the week, Levy announced the creation of a five-point plan to fight hate and promote tolerance in the county’s schools and neighborhoods. Among other things, the plan would create a Hispanic liaison between the Suffolk Police Department and the Latino community and work with school boards and PTA’s in combating hate and seek donations for the victim’s family. Advocates for immigrants in the county, as well as Levy himself, have said that hate crimes have gone unrecorded in the area because undocumented immigrants are afraid to contact the police for fear of being arrested and deported.
One of those closely following the discussion is Renee Ortiz, 35, co-chairwoman of the Latino-Jewish Council and, at one point, Steve Levy’s director of minority affairs.
Ortiz, now the chief deputy clerk of the Suffolk County Legislature, believes that the policies and proposals of “certain public officials” have fueled a climate of hate, whether or not that was their intention. “I don’t think it’s a coincidence that we had a murder and other bias incidents simultaneously,” she said, referring to the killing in Patchogue and other episodes in the past few days, including the distribution of Ku Klux Klan pamphlets in Islip Terrace.
“It’s very personal for me on all levels,” said Ortiz, who left her job with Levy’s administration over policies she could no longer accept. Both Jewish and Hispanic, she described herself as acutely aware of the hatred because of both Jewish history and her sense that Latinos have become a “targeted group.”
“There’s definitely a timeline that leads up to what happened in Patchogue,” said Maryann Slutsky, the campaign director of Long Island Wins. The timeline includes some of Levy’s rhetoric, which she considers inflammatory, Slutsky said.
Although he agrees that “part of solution” relates to the community’s political leadership, Galen Kirkland, the state’s human rights commissioner, said he’s not interested in criticizing public figures or pointing fingers. He’s interested, instead, in promoting healing and unity, he said.
Similarly, Rabbi Steven Moss, chairman of the county’s Human Rights Commission and its Anti-Bias Task Force, said he believes accusations against the county executive and county lawmakers distract from the real issue, which is the crime itself and the hatred harbored by the teens who allegedly participated in it. The question going ahead “is how we deal with young people and educate them in terms of how they should view human life.”
Rabbi Moss also commented on the news concerning Jordan Dasch, saying the community “might never know why he did what he did.” There are all kinds of motivations for why people behave as they do, he said.
“The lesson is not to wring our hands but to treat this as a call — a Torah call, if you will — to increase our education of positive values for the betterment of our children. ... The Torah calls [on] us to choose life.”
Source:
http://www.thejewishweek.com/viewArticle/c36_a14071/News/New_York.html
'March For Unity' supports Hardwick hate crime victims
'March For Unity' supports Hardwick hate crime victims
by Jacqueline Lindsay/Warren Reporter
Wednesday November 19, 2008, 3:20 PM
HARDWICK -- Township residents banned together for a "March For Unity" Saturday, Nov. 15 to rally around a Hardwick family targeted in a hate crime, which is being attributed to the family's support of President-elect Barack Obama.
On the eve of Election Day after Barack Obama was declared winner of the presidential election, Alina and Gary Grewal and their eight-year-old daughter made a large cloth banner declaring "President Obama Victory '08," and strung it proudly across the front lawn of their Hardwick home. The next evening the couple was dismayed to find the banner had been stolen. But, they were even more horrified when they awoke the following day to find a six-foot tall wooden cross erected on their lawn, which had been burned with the banner. The three-foot wide cross was made with two-by-fours and attached to a metal frame.
"My first thought was that I had been hit in the stomach. I couldn't believe in 2008 that somebody would think of doing something like this," Gary said. "My eight-year-old daughter saw this (burned cross). I will never forget it and I will not let these people live this down."
Gary said they could have simply thrown the cross away and buried the incident, but the couple decided they couldn't let it go. Instead, they reported the crime to the Hope State Police and the incident is currently under investigation by the State Police and Federal Bureau of Investigation, Gary reported. "If they did this today and we don't bring them to justice, what will they do tomorrow?" Gary questioned. "I don't think this is an act of a teenage kid. Somebody took a lot of time thinking about doing this."Community members gathered at the Hardwick Municipal Building for Saturday's march. They marched to the Grewal's home on Millbrook Road for a rally where several officials and other people spoke, and then proceeded back to the municipal building for refreshments. Information put out by the group said they held the march to "support civil rights and free speech" and it was a "non-partisan effort to engage the community in the politics of inclusion and tolerance." "Some people have been unable to accept the fact that Barack Obama has been elected President, and have expressed their anger in racist and hateful ways, as we have seen on the lawn of Alina and Gary Grewal," said a release issued by the group. "Please do your part in showing that political expression will not be silenced and acts of intimidation and hate will not be ignored." The Grewals said the incident was picked up by several local and national television networks and newspapers, which aired stories. Since then the family has received hundreds of e-mails, letters and voice messages from people around New Jersey and New York."They can't believe this would happen in Hardwick, New Jersey," Gary said. "It gives me a lot of strength. It tells me that even though we have some bad elements in our community, the vast majority of people are good people."
Source:
http://www.nj.com/warrenreporter/index.ssf/2008/11/march_for_unity_supports_hardw.html
by Jacqueline Lindsay/Warren Reporter
Wednesday November 19, 2008, 3:20 PM
HARDWICK -- Township residents banned together for a "March For Unity" Saturday, Nov. 15 to rally around a Hardwick family targeted in a hate crime, which is being attributed to the family's support of President-elect Barack Obama.
On the eve of Election Day after Barack Obama was declared winner of the presidential election, Alina and Gary Grewal and their eight-year-old daughter made a large cloth banner declaring "President Obama Victory '08," and strung it proudly across the front lawn of their Hardwick home. The next evening the couple was dismayed to find the banner had been stolen. But, they were even more horrified when they awoke the following day to find a six-foot tall wooden cross erected on their lawn, which had been burned with the banner. The three-foot wide cross was made with two-by-fours and attached to a metal frame.
"My first thought was that I had been hit in the stomach. I couldn't believe in 2008 that somebody would think of doing something like this," Gary said. "My eight-year-old daughter saw this (burned cross). I will never forget it and I will not let these people live this down."
Gary said they could have simply thrown the cross away and buried the incident, but the couple decided they couldn't let it go. Instead, they reported the crime to the Hope State Police and the incident is currently under investigation by the State Police and Federal Bureau of Investigation, Gary reported. "If they did this today and we don't bring them to justice, what will they do tomorrow?" Gary questioned. "I don't think this is an act of a teenage kid. Somebody took a lot of time thinking about doing this."Community members gathered at the Hardwick Municipal Building for Saturday's march. They marched to the Grewal's home on Millbrook Road for a rally where several officials and other people spoke, and then proceeded back to the municipal building for refreshments. Information put out by the group said they held the march to "support civil rights and free speech" and it was a "non-partisan effort to engage the community in the politics of inclusion and tolerance." "Some people have been unable to accept the fact that Barack Obama has been elected President, and have expressed their anger in racist and hateful ways, as we have seen on the lawn of Alina and Gary Grewal," said a release issued by the group. "Please do your part in showing that political expression will not be silenced and acts of intimidation and hate will not be ignored." The Grewals said the incident was picked up by several local and national television networks and newspapers, which aired stories. Since then the family has received hundreds of e-mails, letters and voice messages from people around New Jersey and New York."They can't believe this would happen in Hardwick, New Jersey," Gary said. "It gives me a lot of strength. It tells me that even though we have some bad elements in our community, the vast majority of people are good people."
Source:
http://www.nj.com/warrenreporter/index.ssf/2008/11/march_for_unity_supports_hardw.html
Dragging death case triggers protest
Associated Press
Dragging death case triggers protest
05:22 PM CST on Monday, November 17, 2008
Also Online
11/14: Prosecutors say it's not a hate crime
10/27: Black man's death opens old racial wounds
PARIS — Protesters galvanized by a dragging death that stirred memories of the notorious James Byrd case rallied outside an East Texas courthouse Monday to speak out against a justice system they consider racist.
About 60 people, led by a contingent from the New Black Panther Party, met at the Lamar County Courthouse to bring attention to the death of Brandon McClelland. Authorities have said two suspects, both of them white, purposely ran over and killed McClelland, a black man, following an argument on the way home from a late-night beer run in September.
McClelland's body was dragged about 70 feet beneath a pickup truck and dismembered by the trauma near Paris, a city about 95 miles northeast of Dallas with a history of tense relationships between blacks and whites.
The death came 10 years after Byrd was killed in Jasper, another East Texas town. Byrd was chained to the back of a pickup truck and dragged for three miles.
"How do we get justice for Brandon McClelland?" cried Anthony Bond, founder of the Irving chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.
"We can't get justice for Brandon," answered another man. "He's dead."
Authorities have disputed that racism was the motivation for McClelland's death, citing the victim's decade-long friendship with the two suspects. They also point out that McClelland was run over and not chained to the back of a truck, as Byrd was.
That stance angered McClelland's mother and activists, who pressured Lamar County and District Attorney Gary Young to step aside in part because he once was the court-appointed defense attorney for one of the suspects.
That suspect, Shannon Finley, was charged with murder in 2003 for the fatal shooting of a friend. He eventually pleaded guilty to manslaughter with Young as his counsel. Finley served four years in prison.
In that same case, McClelland pleaded guilty to perjury for providing a false alibi for Finley's whereabouts on the night of the shooting. He was sentenced to five years' probation but served some jail time when he violated its terms, prosecutor Bill Harris said.
Young has recused himself from the McClelland case, citing his past association with Finley. A judge has appointed former Dallas County assistant DA Toby Shook as special prosecutor.
Sitting mostly alone away from the speakers, McClelland's mother said she was attending "to see that justice gets done for my son." She blamed Young for Finley's short sentence.
"If he had done the right thing, I'm positive my son would be alive today," Jacquline McClelland said.
Young spokesman Allan Hubbard declined to comment.
The protest, held just around the corner from a 20-foot tall Confederate war memorial statue dedicated to "Our Heroes," attracted about a dozen white onlookers who watched from the parking lot about 30 yards away.
Rock Banks, whose arms were covered in sleeves of tattoos, identified himself as a grand titan in the East Texas Ku Klux Klan. He wore a baseball cap depicting a skull wearing a cowboy hat set against a Confederate flag. He explained that his "boss sent me here" to keep an eye on the protest.
"People come from outside and start trouble and leave this place stewing," Banks said. "If those two boys killed that man, they should get what they deserve. But it ain't got nothing to do with Jasper."
David Stewart, who said he owns a business in Paris, handed out a flyer saying that the New Black Panther Party is a racist organization.
"The Black Panthers have no business being here when they are racist themselves," Stewart said. "They are labeling us as racists because of a couple isolated incidents."
Source:
http://www.wfaa.com/sharedcontent/dws/wfaa/latestnews/stories/wfaa081117_wz_draggingprotest.1c0b42133.html#
Dragging death case triggers protest
05:22 PM CST on Monday, November 17, 2008
Also Online
11/14: Prosecutors say it's not a hate crime
10/27: Black man's death opens old racial wounds
PARIS — Protesters galvanized by a dragging death that stirred memories of the notorious James Byrd case rallied outside an East Texas courthouse Monday to speak out against a justice system they consider racist.
About 60 people, led by a contingent from the New Black Panther Party, met at the Lamar County Courthouse to bring attention to the death of Brandon McClelland. Authorities have said two suspects, both of them white, purposely ran over and killed McClelland, a black man, following an argument on the way home from a late-night beer run in September.
McClelland's body was dragged about 70 feet beneath a pickup truck and dismembered by the trauma near Paris, a city about 95 miles northeast of Dallas with a history of tense relationships between blacks and whites.
The death came 10 years after Byrd was killed in Jasper, another East Texas town. Byrd was chained to the back of a pickup truck and dragged for three miles.
"How do we get justice for Brandon McClelland?" cried Anthony Bond, founder of the Irving chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.
"We can't get justice for Brandon," answered another man. "He's dead."
Authorities have disputed that racism was the motivation for McClelland's death, citing the victim's decade-long friendship with the two suspects. They also point out that McClelland was run over and not chained to the back of a truck, as Byrd was.
That stance angered McClelland's mother and activists, who pressured Lamar County and District Attorney Gary Young to step aside in part because he once was the court-appointed defense attorney for one of the suspects.
That suspect, Shannon Finley, was charged with murder in 2003 for the fatal shooting of a friend. He eventually pleaded guilty to manslaughter with Young as his counsel. Finley served four years in prison.
In that same case, McClelland pleaded guilty to perjury for providing a false alibi for Finley's whereabouts on the night of the shooting. He was sentenced to five years' probation but served some jail time when he violated its terms, prosecutor Bill Harris said.
Young has recused himself from the McClelland case, citing his past association with Finley. A judge has appointed former Dallas County assistant DA Toby Shook as special prosecutor.
Sitting mostly alone away from the speakers, McClelland's mother said she was attending "to see that justice gets done for my son." She blamed Young for Finley's short sentence.
"If he had done the right thing, I'm positive my son would be alive today," Jacquline McClelland said.
Young spokesman Allan Hubbard declined to comment.
The protest, held just around the corner from a 20-foot tall Confederate war memorial statue dedicated to "Our Heroes," attracted about a dozen white onlookers who watched from the parking lot about 30 yards away.
Rock Banks, whose arms were covered in sleeves of tattoos, identified himself as a grand titan in the East Texas Ku Klux Klan. He wore a baseball cap depicting a skull wearing a cowboy hat set against a Confederate flag. He explained that his "boss sent me here" to keep an eye on the protest.
"People come from outside and start trouble and leave this place stewing," Banks said. "If those two boys killed that man, they should get what they deserve. But it ain't got nothing to do with Jasper."
David Stewart, who said he owns a business in Paris, handed out a flyer saying that the New Black Panther Party is a racist organization.
"The Black Panthers have no business being here when they are racist themselves," Stewart said. "They are labeling us as racists because of a couple isolated incidents."
Source:
http://www.wfaa.com/sharedcontent/dws/wfaa/latestnews/stories/wfaa081117_wz_draggingprotest.1c0b42133.html#
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