I’m going through some videos that I took during the mock ICE checkpoint at Netroots and at the same time I’m catching up on what is up in my home city and while I helped to play Latina reverse ICE agent, while I watched Latino men in my same sphere get threatened with arrest, asked for their papers and described as “shady”, while fierce ass young woman in touch with how all their facets still form one whole life are dismissed and ultimately threatened by white men with “hell to pay”, while panelists on immigration asked for “task forces”, more Latinos can’t walk outside without fear. There were two reported attacks on Mexican immigrants in Port Richmond, Staten Island.

According to some news sources I have been reading, in just this one part of NYC, there have been at least 7 such attacks since April. That’s more than one attack a month. That’s all that is reported. Imagine what doesn’t get reported and what gets dismissed by police when reported.

But there is another trend that is bothering me, and that is the way that so-called community leaders are using these hate crimes to divide and conquer. I’m not sure what is the solution, to different people of color communities hurting each other, in this case, the suspects have been described as African American males. What can the community do, besides use police tactics which have historically attacked people of color communities, especially in NYC?

For me it is a matter of communication and collaboration, not accusations and blaming while missing the bigger picture. The fear in our communities is real and will only be heightened as we move towards the 29th, when SB1070 is set to become the official law of Arizona. While Staten Island is a long way from the Southwest, the hate behind SB1070 has a long reach.