motherface
RealPoor Guru
Joined: 12 Mar 2003
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 Posted: 10/05/05 - 20:16 Post subject: Steve Levy, American Hero
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An interview with Steve Levy, Suffolk County (Long Island, NY) county executive, who's been accused of being a racist xenophobe for evicting illegal aliens who were packed 60 to a house.
| Quote: | October 4, 2005
Steve Levy, the Suffolk County executive, has been characterized as both a bigot and a homeowner's hero. We sat down in his office yesterday to talk about Long Island, racism, Hispanic day laborers and immigration. I wanted to find out how he came to see things the way he does. So I asked.
On immigration: "You can be totally in favor of more immigration, which I am, yet still be in favor of enforcing our borders and having control of who is coming in here in a post-9/11 world and making sure that 60 people are not forced like cattle into a 900-square-foot house.
"But the extremist advocates of illegal immigration who are borderline anarchists are very clever and they know how to push the right buttons. And the use of the word xenophobe and bigot comes off their lips very easily and it really intimidates a lot of officials and residents. I am not intimidated because I know I'm right."
On his supporters: "There's no Hispanic family or African-American family that I know of that wants to live next to a house with 60 people of any race inside it and no one was speaking to this ... I am totally in the mainstream, and inclusive in that mainstream are white, African-American and Hispanic families."
On racism: "I don't play the politically correct card and that's why it's so newsworthy, because I am really the first at this high level to say it like it is. The opposition is used to having elected officials back down to their intimidation tactics, because of their race baiting."
On the news media, including Newsday: "There is always a tendency to portray the illegal alien as the underdog, the advocates for illegal immigration as the do-gooders and the authorities trying to enforce the law as the demons. Furthermore, these articles have tended to either ignore the average homeowner who has had to deal with the impact of these slums in their neighborhood or go further and demonized these residents as being xenophobic when all they are saying is, 'Hey, I didn't sign up for this, to have five houses on my block with 20 people or more.'"
On his opponents: "I always thought ... [the Rev. Allan Ramirez] was a publicity monger, who was very clever at intimidating those without a backbone by using the race card. And who is very clever in getting a lot of press. When you say that cracking down on illegal housing is 'ethnic cleansing,' you know, I think it's ludicrous. And, you know, the folks at the The Workplace Project, these are very political organizations that are really an offshoot of the old communist - seriously - anarchist groups that always hovered around, there's always a cause that they are looking to wrap around. And what's going on right now with the tent city folks, they have now had a month to look for other housing."
On Farmingville: "If you ask the average person within the Farmingville community, they don't want to see people hurt. They don't want to see vigilantes. They have respect for other human beings, regardless of their documentation. But they believe that the laws should be enforced and they are not."
On housing undocumented immigrants: "I strenuously object to those who suggest that the Suffolk County government or Suffolk County taxpayers have an obligation to find long-term housing for people who are not here legally in the first instance ... I can't be distracted from housing [Suffolk residents] from those who cross this border illegally and are engaging in an illegal underground economy. Now, with that said, you don't want people to be exposed to the elements. ... And that's why we've been working with the towns to tell them that when they have a particular site they are looking to close because it is illegal and overcrowded, give us some notice so we can work with some of the not-for-profits to deal with the undocumented and we can work with Social Services to work with those who are documented."
On neighborhoods: "I was a kid who grew up in a ... regular Long Island middle class neighborhood. You go to school. You come back with your buddies. You play baseball and football out in the street. You ride your bikes to the store and that was suburban life ... I have a deep affinity to protecting people's neighborhoods for the suburban lifestyle for which they moved here in the first place. Young couples of all races save up money so they can get their dream house, so they can have their 2.4 kids and have them play safely on the front lawns. They don't want 20 trucks coming down their road. They don't want 60 people next door. They don't want people defecating in the backyard. And they are not unreasonable or cold-hearted."
On elected officials: "It is a tragedy that over the last decade elected officials were asleep at the switch and allowed neighborhoods to be turned upside down in this fashion."
Joye.Brown@Newsday.com
Copyright 2005 Newsday Inc. |
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