Early last month, a group of four vandals set out on a hate-fueled excursion in their Mount Dora, Fla., neighborhood--spray cans in hand. Their target was the Traditional Congregation of Mount Dora, a newly erected synagogue that was scheduled to open in two weeks.
On the morning of July 9, 2011, Mount Dora residents woke up to a shocking scene. Anti-Semitic graffiti, as well as other hate message and profane slurs, were spray-painted on several structures of the synagogue.
While it took police officials weeks to arrest James Maple, 22, two juveniles, and twenty-year-old Cory Gallman--the latter lived right down the street from the synagogue-- it took community members a mere two hours to react to the hate.
Blog
August 8, 2011 - 1:28pm
A slow and beautiful melody streams from Robert Bruey’s acoustic guitar as he steps up to the microphone. He clears his throat, and addresses the mourning crowd surrounding him.
“I wrote this song after I heard about this [...] historical inaccuracy,” said the Long Island musician in a somber tone. “Marcelo didn’t run.”
Clear and full of warmth, Bruey’s earthy voice transcends the silence at the vigil held on this biting cold November afternoon.
Robert Bruey performs "Perdoname Hermano" at vigil on November 7, 2010, two years after Marcelo Lucero's death.
July 29, 2011 - 12:57pm
“After the bomb went off ... I asked my daughter whether she was scared. She replied by quoting something I had once said to her: 'Yes, but if you’re not scared, you can’t be brave.'"
—Norwegian writer Jo Nesbo, New York Times editorial, "The Past is a Foreign Country," July 26, 2011
Until it happens, it is unimaginable. Children, gathered together because they and their parents believe in building a society where everyone is accepted and respected, are followed to a summer camp and systematically gunned down by a killer who has targeted them because they accept “multiculturalism.”
July 20, 2011 - 4:10pm
Adapted from Valarie Honeycutt Spears / Lexington Herald-Leader
Damon Dunson and Melanie Stamper of Berea, Ky. woke up one morning last week to spray-painted racial slurs on their vehicles.
Damon Dunson and Melanie Stamper. Photo from Lexington Herald-Leader. Click through for story.
"I was angry, but at the same time I knew whoever did it was ignorant," said Dunson, who is black. "They spelled the n-word three different ways," said Stamper, his girlfriend, who is white.
The message left on Stamper's Jeep, she said, told her to get out of the neighborhood.
July 19, 2011 - 7:43am
Librarian assistant Gilda Ramos’ achievements as a dedicated community leader were honored by the Library Journal with the distinguished titled “Paralibrarian of the Year” last month.
The multilingual library assistant, whose efforts to unite a town torn by anti-immigrant violence are documented in our upcoming PBS documentary Not In Our Town: Light in the Darkness, accepted the award at a special reception hosted by Library Journal during the American Library Association's annual conference held in New Orleans on June 23-28.
Ramos, her supervisor Jean Kaleda and other Patchogue-Medford library staff played a key role in the aftermath of the murder of longtime Patchogue resident Marcelo Lucero, who was targeted by a group of teens because he was Latino.