Nov 13, 2008 7:35 pm US/Eastern
Obama Win Responsible For Growing Culture Of Hate?
From Killing Of Hispanic To Hate Graffiti To KKK Newsletters, Something Is Building Momentum In Tri-State
ISLIP TERRACE, N.Y. (CBS) ―
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This newsletter appeared in several driveways and on car windshields in the Long Island community of Islip Terrace on Nov. 12, 2008.
CBS
Outrage continues to grow on Long Island after the hate crime killing of an immigrant from Ecuador rocked Suffolk County last weekend.
Hispanic leaders are now demanding that charges be upgraded to bias murder against the seven teenagers accused of the crime.
They are currently facing gang assault charges for allegedly taking part in the deadly attack on Marcello Lucero.
Police say the teens from Patchogue-Medford High School looked for Mexicans to assault.
That shocking murder is just part of a recent wave of hate crimes in the tri-state area. It has some wondering if the election of our nation's first black president, Barack Obama, is playing a role by riling up those who spread hate.
The teenagers are accused of killing an immigrant only because he was a Latino. A couple of days later, several cars in Mastic were painted with racist graffiti. The next night a community in Islip Terrace got Ku Klux Klan literature dumped on driveways. This is nothing new on Long Island, where in 1997 a cross was burned at a Klan rally.
"The Klan is getting bigger all the time," the KKK Grand Dragon has said. "They say we haven't been in New York for 35 years, but we've been here the whole time."
But why is this happening all over again? Why now? Mark Potok, who tracks hate crimes across America for the Southern Poverty Law Center, said the Patchogue killing is part of a separate pattern.
"I don't think that the murder on Long Island was a reaction to Obama's election. That seems obvious," Potok told CBS 2 HD by phone on Thursday. "We've had essentially seven years of anti-immigrant propaganda out there and we've seen a marked rise of hate groups as a result."
But Potok said since the election of Obama we may be witnessing the beginnings of something else. And Scott Thinkeo, who had Klan literature dumped on his Islip Terrace driveway, agrees.
"I just think it's stupid. It's probably from the elections. It's ridiculous," Thinkeo said.
A man in Mastic whose car was sprayed with the ugliest anti-black hate word also thinks the Obama election is playing a part.
"I think it was just real hot and heated," Hallack Nash said.
Organizations that monitor hate groups said there was not a noticeable rise in hate activity during the campaign. But now that this particular gentleman has been elected, they are watching closely to see if that changes.
FBI statistics show from 2003 to 2007, anti-Latino hate crimes jumped an astonishing 40 percent.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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