Here shines a ray of hope — and from an unlikely source!
In his column criticizing the attacks against Suffolk County executive Steve Levy and other immigration reform patriots regarding Marcelo Lucero’s murder, Michael Meyers, executive director of the New York Civil Rights Coalition (e-mail) and a former assistant director of the NAACP,, made these important points:
"It makes zero sense to blame a man’s slaying on Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy’s hard line stance against illegal immigration, as some immigrant advocates have done. That is sheer racial rhetoric."
"There is no need for Hispanics Across America — as it stampedes the suspects' Constitutional rights to due process of law and the presumption of innocence — to scapegoat those who were not anywhere near the scene of the crime." [VDARE.COM note: Hispanics Across America, an ethnic identity organization, in addition to fingering Levy also plans to sue the suspects' parents for teaching them "hate."]
"We don’t expect in our Constitutional framework anyone to hide his or her 'offensive views.'"
"Having an opinion about immigration different from mine doesn’t make anyone a racist — especially and even if they are urging a vigorous crackdown on illegal immigration." [Don’t Rush to Judgment, by Michael Meyers, Newsday, November 16, 2008
I congratulate Meyers for his plain talk. What should be obvious and common sense in matters regarding free speech is too often muted these days.
Ward is a credit analyst at a major New York-based financial institution that was, until recently, held in high regard.