VivirLatino

Hakim Scott is no longer the alleged killer of Ecuadorian immigrant businessman José Sucuzhanay. Last Thursday, Hakim Scott was acquitted of a hate crime and murder but convicted of first-degree manslaughter and attempted assault. Tomorrow, Monday May 8, at the Kings County Criminal Court in Brooklyn, NY, the family of the second accused killer, Keith Phoenix and the family of José Sucuzhanay will await the verdict against phoenix who is facing assault, deadly weapon possession, and multiple murder convictions, including second-degree murder as a hate crime convictions.

Scott will be sentenced on June 9th and faces up to 40 years.

I asked Diego Sucuzhanay, José’s brother, via facebook last night , how the family felt about last week’s verdict. He wrote back saying that he felt the verdict showed that the justice system doesn’t work for everyone and how difficult the judicial process has been because it keeps reminding them of the moments right after José and his brother Romel were attacked, especially the first five days José was in the hospital and all the familia tried to be optimistic that he would pull through. The verdict last week was a bitter reminder that their brother will not survive, will never come back regardless of any verdict. But still they hoped that their would be justice which it seemed to me meant a hate crimes conviction. Diego wanted the message against intolerance, racism and xenophobia to be severe and clear to make sure that there are no more José’s. Diego Sucuzhanay said that we have been robbed of justice and by we, he means New York City and society at large hence the title of this post which is a direct quote of what Diego wrote to me.

I’m wondering, as a Latina coming from a more radical place, how do we negotiate the idea of justice in our communities. Last year I wrote about about concerns I had with how this case was being framed, especially with calls for high sentences against men from communities who already are targeted by the prison industrial complex.

There have been more deaths since José’s. There have been transphobic murders and horrific laws in Arizona. When will we link all of this together in a more cohesive way so that the answer to the cries for justice from mourning families doesn’t always end in a jail cell or not.