TOGETHER WE CAN STOP HATE CRIMES (While a Suffolk panel probes the issue, more can be done to detect and educate)

 

Newsday/Laura Ahearn

It’s been more than two years since Marcelo Lucero lay dying on a Patchogue street, thevictim of a brutal, racially motivated stabbing.
His senseless murder stunned the people of Suffolk County, shocked the nation and galvanizedmany in their resolve to take action to combat hate crime.
Lucero’s name continues to be used as a rallying cry — by some, for meaningful change, butby others, for personal or political agendas well outside of the scope of improving the mechanismsfor reporting hate crime and easing the suffering of victims.  This tragedy should