[Marcelo] Lucero's murder caused many people to suggest that the Long Island county's recent acrimonious debates over local immigration laws and Latino day laborers had created a climate that fostered the violence. The killing followed FBI reports of a nationwide 40% rise in anti-Latino hate crime violence between 2003 and 2007, a period marked by ugly rhetoric from hundreds of nativist groups and politicians. Jack Levin, a hate crime expert at Northeastern University, said such demonizing speech often leads to hate crimes."Racist rhetoric and dehumanizing images inspire violence," Levin told the Intelligence Report.
County Executive Steve Levy came under particularly concentrated fire after he said that if Lucero had been killed in adjacent Nassau County, "it would be a one-day story." Since taking office in 2004, Levy had, among other measures aimed at immigrants, signed a measure to bar undocumented workers from being hired by county contractors and county licensees, and he clashed often with Long Island pro-immigrant activists.
SPLCenter's Full Article
3 comments:
The right to free speech in our country also comes with responsibility. For example, yelling "FIRE!" when there is none in a crowded theatre for the purpose of inciting panic and trampling and mayhem is irresponsible, and comes with it accountability.
Similarly, rhetoric meant to inflame and incite to riot should be considered a violation of free speech, because it holds an underlying intent to harm innocents.
There is no fine line between the right to disagree about immigration policies, and the actions of using incendiary and irresponsible rhetoric to cause others to act in ways that physically harm another human being.
It's about time that those who abuse our rights to free speech for racist purposes be held accountable for their actions.
Tamale..I completely agree with your sentiment. It is sad to see the hate that people aim at immigrants, often for NO reason at all. So few of these hateful people even know about amazing programs like the immigrant investor visa, and how many immigrants are taking advantage of that opportunity to inject CASH and JOBS into the US economy. Still, if they knew, would they even care?
Mike makes a fantastic point. The immigrant investor visa is responsible for putting thousands upon thousands of Americans into full-time jobs, and it has put, literally, billions of dollars into the economy. Considering this visa is 100% immigrant driven, I don't see how it could not sway hearts and minds of those who may have anti-immigration feelings.
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