Hate's Ugly Face

November 13, 2008

My talk last night titled: World's Two Vibrant Democracies, India and the U.S., A Cultural Perspective went real well and was very well-received. I opened with a short (17 frames) overview PowerPoint show and then made it an interactive session.

What a beautiful auditorium the Plainview Library has! Beth S., the program director was wonderful to work with. The last time I was at the library, I had given a concert and the attendance and the interest level were high back then, too. The auditorium is only about 3 1/2 years old. Last night's audience too was very enthusiastic.

In my opening after the slide presentation, I referred to the following crime: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/11/opinion/11tue3.html in the context of what a horrible way to express one's opinion in a so called developed democracy!

Democracy thrives only in a civil society and hate crimes have no place anywhere least of all in a country where every individual is constitutionally protected by the state.

On Saturday, November 8 evening, I was sipping wine and noshing on hors d' oeuvres with friends in Queens. At the same time, while in a dark alley on neighboring Long Island, when the Ecuadorian immigrant Marcello Lucero, 37, a supervisor of a dry cleaning business, lay bleeding from stabs caused by a bunch of Patchogue-Medford high-school teenage boys who had gone looking for a Latinos to beat up on but ended up killing, no constitution could save his life!

Given the title of my talk, reference to this incident had to come up. Apparently, 60% hate crimes in the U.S. are committed against immigrants, not that it should be committed against anyone.

How unpredictable life is and for us to spend it hating and harming others is such an unenlightened way to live. For heaven's sake, live and let leave, people. Even if we don't help our fellow humans in a pro-active way, at least let's not harm them. Don't they have every right to be on this earth too and strive for the same kind of things everyone else in this world wants?

It's not hard to understand the frustrations many people feel about their personal circumstances but how foolish to think that our miseries are caused by others. If this is the kind of thinking that pervades our being, there is just no hope for us to ever make something of ourselves.

No motive has been established yet in the despicable act by these wanton teens, but I strongly suspect that in the U.S., in line with different groups of immigrants being targeted throughout its history, now it's the Latinos' turn.

I remember way back how I had been invited by the New York City Police Academy to "educate and sensitize" the graduating officers about the Indian community. It's time schools in areas with large immigrant populations were targeted for this kind of education, too. Maybe it's Governor Paterson's responsibility to commit to this for now long-term cause and go beyond: “I am directing state law enforcement agencies to assist Suffolk County officials in any way possible to ensure swift and certain justice for this heinous crime. Our state has zero tolerance for such bigotry, and I urge authorities to move quickly to prosecute the perpetrators to the fullest extent of the law.”

Organizations like American Jewish Council (AJC) and Latino-Jewish Council on the Island are committing their resources to nipping hate
from spreading. Bravo to them! Let's hope never again do we see hate crimes again!

Live and let live, people!

Ro.