30-Second Announcement Encourages All to Speak Out Against Intolerance; Play Performance Sparks Dialogue on Multi-Cultural Assimilation

Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy and the county’s Interfaith Anti-Bias Task Force today unveiled a 30-second Public Service Announcement which was developed to encourage students to speak up and speak out against hatred, bias and intolerance – as well as a six-minute monologue performance which has been sent to schools across Suffolk County to encourage dialogue on diversity.

The PSA, produced by Suffolk County in conjunction with students and staff at Eastern Suffolk BOCES, was part of a comprehensive anti-bias program developed by Levy in the wake of last year’s tragic murder of Marcelo Lucero.

“One of the saddest aspects of the Lucero murder was that reportedly a number of the alleged suspects’ peers knew of their intentions and of alleged past incidents, but said nothing,” said Levy. “We want to ensure that when people see hatred and intolerance they feel empowered to speak out against it.”

Levy said his Office of Minority Affairs is also reaching out to the local cable networks and movie chains to place the 30-second announcement in local theaters.

The monologue performance was taken from the play “Broken Identities,” which was produced by the renowned Teatro Yerbabruja organization. Central Islip High School Senior Mariana Lima depicts her challenge assimilating to the diverse culture of Suffolk County while upon arriving from Puerto Rico in 2000.

“Mariana Lima uses humor and personality to reach out to her peers with a poignant message about maintaining one’s own sense of cultural identity,” said Levy. “Her performance received a wonderful reception at our first Student Congress for Justice last month, and is something we wish to share with students across Suffolk County.”

Levy said the monologue has been reproduced onto DVD format and delivered to all county high schools with an accompanying lesson plan.

The county executive acknowledged the staff and students at Eastern Suffolk BOCES for production of the PSA, and also thanked Five Towns College for duplicating the monologue production onto DVD format for all Suffolk schools.

Along with these announcements, Levy has taken a number of other steps to combat bias and to foster communication between the Hispanic community and government, including:

Creating and sponsoring the first Student Congress for Justice;
Printing and distributing pamphlets available in all precincts assuring victims of a crime that Suffolk Police have not, and will not, ask a victim’s citizenship status;
Appointing top-ranking Hispanics in the Fifth Precinct, Inspector Ty Mojica, and in the Third Precinct, Inspector Jan Rios; Naming Police Officer Lola Quesada as special liaison to the commissioner for Hispanic affairs; Identifying Hispanic clergy to serve as community liaisons in all seven police precincts.

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