Staten Island’s First Latina Assemblywoman Sworn In

Staten Island, New York recently elected its first Latina assemblywoman — Nicole Malliotakis, 30. The half-Cuban, half-Greek Malliotakis is a Republican and has worked in public affairs and handily defeated the Democratic assemblywoman in this district.

This is a huge deal for another reason, though: Hate crimes against Latinos in Staten Island.

If you recall, Staten Island has something of an epidemic of hate crimes against Latinos and African-Americans. According to this report, “Since April, the Hate Crimes Task Force has investigated 11 attacks on Staten Island, most of them in the Port Richmond area involving black suspects and Mexican victims.”

Malliotakis is an educated woman who is representing an obviously changing and torn constituency, I personally think she’s very brave to do so. On the one hand she has the people who elected her to represent them, on the other there are Latinos who are the victims of hate crimes. Tough situation, we wish her the best.