Fatal beating of Latino man on Long Island latest evidence of growing problem
11/21/2008


Calling it a "wake up call for America," six national civil rights organizations will hold a joint news conference on Monday, November 24 to denounce the recent wave of brutal hate crimes against communities of color. Just last week, Marcelo Lucero, a Suffolk County, Long Island man of Ecuadoran descent, was beaten to death by a group of teenagers simply for being Hispanic.


"Thankfully, hate did not win this election, but it has not gone away either,” said Janet Murguía, President and CEO of the National Council of La Raza (NCLR). “Suffolk County mirrors the experience of many communities in America where hate, fostered on a national scale, has found a new home."

Representatives from NCLR, the Asian American Justice Center, the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, the Anti-Defamation League, the National Urban League, and the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF) will address the recent FBI report on the rise in hate crimes nationally, as well as a number of other incidents of hate during and since the election.