Article first published as Suffolk County Sued For "Beaner Hopping" by Tim Paynter on Technorati
Marcelo Lucero was a 37 year old Ecuadorean national who was assaulted by seven teenagers while walking home in Patchogue, Long Island. One of the teens, Jeffrey Conroy, pulled a knife out of his boxer shorts and stabbed Marcelo in the chest, leaving him bleeding on the street to die. The tragic death was the result of “Beaner Hopping”, a practice that had gone on for years in Suffolk County, New York, according to statements made by the youths.
When the police allow high school toughs to beat up on minorities for so long there is a local term for it, likely the government has failed in its duty. Government’s first responsibility is to protect those who live under its jurisdiction. Prior complaints to the police about ethnic intimidation went unanswered or the police took the story of the White perpetrator over the Latino victim, according to allegations. That is the theory behind a 40 million dollar law suit filed against Suffolk County.
Jordan Dasch, one of the seven teens, said he didn't participate in "Beaner Hopping" very often. At most, the hobby was "not more than once a week". He and his friends knocked Latinos off of bicycles, shot them with BB guns and participated in gang beatings.
Seven youths arrested for "Beaner Hopping"
On the night of Lucero's death, Conroy's pals didn't know he had used a knife until they had left the scene, a fact that limited their prison terms to seven years.
The county insists it is innocent because many of the hate crimes against Latinos were not reported to the police. The excuse is, at best, lame. The emergency room reports alone would have told the story. According to the Southern Poverty Law Center the County has a long history of abuse. 
Read more: http://technorati.com/lifestyle/article/suffolk-county-sued-for-beaner-hopping/#ixzz174UMqdpT
Co-Defendants Jordan Dasch Anthony Hartford Nicholas Hausch (left to right)
Dasch said, "I don't go (Beaner Hopping) often, not more than once a week"
In fact, county executive, Steve Levy, allegedly used zoning violations to conduct raids on 11 homes in Farmingville in 2005. Over 200 people were evicted from their homes. Levy calls them criminals and “low level terrorists”. Levy has a term for those who criticize his thinking. He calls them “politically correct Communists” and “anarchists.” His rhetoric allows young people to think beating up on immigrants is okay. It is similar thinking to using Steven Segal to form a pose chasing undocumented workers, as Sheriff Joe Arpaio has done in Arizona.
When a community allows the wholesale discrimination of others, when county officials encourage aggressive enforcement tactics against minorities, when tolerance for gays, women and the poor is forgotten, it is the community that loses. Likely, if prior assaults had not been tolerated the high school boys would not have thought it all right to go “Beaner Hopping”. The thinking cost a hard working immigrant his life. It also put 17 year old assailant Conroy behind bars for 25 years for manslaughter and a hate crime.
The disgrace facing the nation with the Republican Caucus agreeing to a “No Vote” status until tax cuts for guys who make a million dollars net income is passed is in a sense, a form of “Beaner Hopping”. It is the extreme wealthy beating up on the extreme poor. The Republican senators are holding up votes on “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell”, the Start Treaty and the Dream Act because they won’t be happy until the wealthiest fools have lined their pockets once again.
At risk is the American Conscience. Will we allow the greediest to make even more while the poorest suffer with little to nothing? How long can America survive as a great country with this thinking? Discrimination is ugly whenever it raises it’s stinky head, and the biggest discrimination of all is the wealthy beating up on the poor.
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