VivirLatino

On Saturday evening I took the trip from NYC into it’s suburbs, specifically Patchogue, Long Island. On about an hour and a half drive out there, it’s easier to try and understand why immigrant communities are more isolated and why Lucero’s family and his case hasn’t gotten the support that it deserves. At only 5:30 at night, the streets were dark and isolated and I remembered the Southern Poverty Law Center report telling of people being driven off the rode and not walking alone after dark. This is a stark contrast to my immigrant hood where yes, people look over their shoulders and put their heads down as they pass the police that patrol, but it never stops. The traffic, the hum of conversation, musica and children. Stores stay open late as do restaurants. In Patchogue, at the end of a road that led to the tracks of the Long Island Railroad, a crowd of a few hundred gathered where Ecuadorian immigrant Marcelo Lucero was killed by a gang of racist youth to remember.

Remembering Marcelo Lucero, One Year Later from VivirLatino on Vimeo.

Images from November 7, 2009 vigil remembering Marcelo Lucero, an Ecuadorian immigrant killed in Patchogue, Long Island in a hate crime.

The Lucero family asked that the vigil not be political, rather that the message stay focused on peace and unity and everyone in attendance respected the wishes of the family, I will do that as well by not inserting political commentary here but rather just showing what I saw, heard, and felt.

Marcelo Lucero Vigil : America the Beautiful from VivirLatino on Vimeo.

Scenes from vigil in memory of Marcelo Lucero. 11-07-09 Patchogue, Long Island, NY.

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