Activists Want Trump Rally In Long Island Cancelled compare it to Osama Bin Laden event..
Today, the New York Times published an editorial, “Mr. Trump Reopens the Wounds of a Hate Crime,” denouncing Long Island Republicans for hosting a Donald Trump fundraiser mere blocks away from the 2008 hate murder of Ecuadorian immigrant Marcelo Lucero. As the editorial concludes: “This is a wretched development, a disgraceful provocation by the Suffolk County Republicans and their chairman, John Jay LaValle, who invited him. There is no place that should welcome Mr. Trump’s politics, but the choice of Patchogue is particularly repellent.”
The Lucero killing highlighted what the Southern Poverty Law Center identified as a “Climate of Fear” created by then-Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy, who fanned the flames of anti-immigrant sentiment for political gain and presided over a county where xenophobic violence thrived. Today’s editorial recalls this tragic history, which Long Islanders have worked so hard to overcome. The full piece is available here.
Long Islanders from a range of community and labor organizations are calling for the Suffolk County Republican Party to cancel its Trump event and planning to protest throughout the week. Groups will include the Long Island Progressive Coalition, Make the Road Action, 1199SEIU, Working Families Party, and many others.
Long Islanders spoke out clearly in response to the Suffolk Republican Party’s planned event in Patchogue:
Joselo Lucero, brother of Marcelo Lucero, said: “Many of us in Patchogue have worked so hard to hold politicians accountable for their use of hate speech that damages our communities. My family and my community refuse to be victims of discrimination. We are all human beings, and we deserve to be treated with respect.”
Reverend Allan B. Ramirez, an immigrant advocate and retired Pastor of the Brookville Reformed Church, said: “Inviting Donald Trump to speak a couple of hundred yards from where Marcelo Lucero was killed in a hate crime desecrates his memory and is akin to inviting Osama bin Laden to speak at Ground Zero. Patchogue is sacred ground for the immigrant community that suffered beatings and the hate crime murder of Marcelo Lucero.”
Eliana Fernandez, Make the Road Action organizer and a Patchogue resident who lived for years as an undocumented immigrant, said: “Shame on Suffolk County Republicans and Donald Trump for bringing hateful, anti-immigrant rhetoric to a site that is a permanent scar on our community. Mr. Trump is promoting the same hate and fear around the country that turned Suffolk County into a site of horror for immigrant families like mine just years ago, and we will not stand idly by while he brings the discourse of hate back to our community. We demand that Thursday’s event be cancelled, and we will stand strong this week against this shameful event.”
Lisa Tyson, Director of the Long Island Progressive Coalition, said: “Donald Trump has been attacking Muslims, women and immigrants throughout his campaign. His rhetoric on immigrants is the same kind that the County Executive Steve Levy spewed which led to the killing of Marcelo Lucero. Having Trumps fundraiser just hundreds of feet away from the murder is disgraceful and unacceptable and needs to be cancelled.”