May 23, 2015

Lindenhurst Family Receives Hateful Letter

An anonymous letter sent to an African-American family living in Lindenhurst urged the family to move out of the community because of their race. The letter, which stated that they should "find a town where there are more people like you", was turned over to a Suffolk County Police Hate Crime Unit to conduct further investigation.

HOW DOES THIS CONNECT TO STRUCTURAL RACISM?:

Long Island is one of the most racially segregated regions in the country. The population of Lindenhurst is 98.1% white. According to ERASE Racism's research, this hyper-segregation is due to housing discrimination and other structural impediments to fair housing choice. The research found that contrary to the commonly accepted myth that blacks only want to live in communities with neighbors who share their own race or ethnicity, 70% of African Americans on Long Island said they would prefer living in a community that is 50% African American, 50% white. Only 1% said that they would prefer a completely homogenous African-American community.

For more read, " You Don't Belong Here, Family Receives Hateful Message Asking Them to Move Out of Community"