Text size:

November 12: Reactions to hate killing; SUNY tuition

November 12, 2008

At the root of racial attack

How upsetting is it that less than a week after the election of a new president makes history, seven youths from East Patchogue and Medford decide it would be fun to target a Hispanic stranger ["'Determined' to cause harm," News, Nov. 11].

How racist and disturbing. But yet we seem to live in a society where the youth is angry at the world and seems to enjoy posting videos of beatings on YouTube. Where have the parents and the educators failed in imparting some basic values to our children? When did our youth become so desensitized?

This was not just a violent act by one individual or by a group of seven - it is a cultivation of violent and negative thoughts of many.

Christian John Nielsen

Ridge

Hatred is not created by spontaneous generation. It doesn't appear out of nowhere. For many years now in Suffolk County, and most recently in the campaign promotions of several candidates, the use of rhetoric has targeted undocumented immigrants, and particularly Latinos.

Stretching back in this county to the English-only bills, to the implications of border-security legislation to the so-called "Standing while Latino" bills, Suffolk County has made the African proverb, "It takes a village to raise a child" into a nightmare. Our shame is now legion.

Catherine Carballeira

Coram

Editor's note: The writer is president of the National Association of Puerto Rican and Hispanic Social Workers.

The assault on Marcello Lucero was an assault on us all. [CORRECTION: The victim in the Patchogue stabbing was Marcelo Lucero. His first name was misspelled in stories this week. Also, the teenagers accused in the death gathered at Twelve Pines Park in Medford. (A14 ALL 11/15/08)] This preventable, predictable tragedy exposes our failure to create a culture of tolerance. Now seven young men are waking to the nightmare of their own incarceration, and their families will spend thousands of dollars and the rest of their lives wondering what they could have done differently.

Hate is viral: It destroys the hater, threatens the target, and raises the question, "Who is next?"

Education is our only vaccine.

Roberta Richin

Stony Brook

Editor's note: The writer is executive director of the Council for Prejudice Reduction.

Obama tax plan

Regarding "How Obama's tax plan may cost some on Island" [News, Nov. 9]: I can't have any sympathy for anyone making more than $250,000 on Long Island. As a retiree collecting Social Security and a modest company pension, I live frugally. Many of us on Long Island have a lot to gain from Obama's tax plan and the small minority should carry a greater burden in either paying more in Social Security or other taxes.

Richard Nicewicz

West Babylon

SUNY value

As a parent of two college students, I understand the bargain that SUNY tuition is. However, as good as tuition is for New York residents, it is an even better bargain for out-of-state residents.

A nonresident student at a SUNY school pays a little more than twice the tuition as a resident student. (Tuition at Stony Brook University is $4,350 for state residents and $10,610 for out-of-state residents.) However, the tuition for a New Yorker in almost any other state's university system is far greater, percentagewise and in terms of actual dollars spent.

Instead of raising the tuition for our resident students ["SUNY tuition could rise," News, Nov. 11], why not increase the rate differential for all non-New York students who come to SUNY schools? Our university system could raise much-needed revenue, and funds may make it possible to hire more professors, purchase necessary equipment and open more classes. This would mean additional spaces for New York students who, because of the financial crisis, cannot afford to go elsewhere. Our university system should serve New Yorkers first.

Ruth Ng

Seaford

Send mail to letters@newsday.com. Letters become the property of Newsday. They will be edited and may be republished in all media.