Posts Tagged ‘hate crimes’
Justice (?) for Luis Ramirez
10:46 am By Maegan La Mala · Immigration|Justice|pennsylvania · 11 Comments
18 Oct 2010
Last week, a jury in a Federal Court in Pennsylvania convicted Derrick Donchak and Brandon Piekarsky of violating the civil rights of Luis Ramirez, when the two former high school football players from Shenandoah, PA beat and kicked the Mexican immigrant to death in July 2008.
From the Cypress Times:
The jury found the defendants guilty of violating the criminal component of the federal Fair Housing Act, which makes it a crime to use a person’s race, national origin or ethnicity as a basis to interfere, with violence or threats of violence, with a person’s right to live where he chooses to live. In addition, the jury found that Donchak conspired to, and did in fact, obstruct justice.
The Feds stepped in with Hate Crime charges after the state court allowed Donchak and Piekarsky to get away with murder. Now the two face life in prison. Sentencing will be Jan. 24, 2011.
Is this the road to justice though?
Seattle Police Videotaped Beat Down Not a Crime
1:26 pm By Maegan La Mala · Immigration|Justice|Seattle|Violence · 2 Comments
7 Sep 2010Remember this incident caught on video…..
Apparently in Seattle, two officers beating an unarmed man and calling him “a Mexican”, and not as an identifier but rather as a slur, is not a hate crime.
From Colorlines:
King County prosecuting attorney Dan Satterberg wrote in his decision:
Cobane will not be charged with the felony crime of malicious harassment because prosecutors have found that he did not intentionally target or assault a person because of their race or national origin, as required under the State’s hate crime statute.
Satterberg explained that in order to charge Cobane with a hate crime, the 15-year Seattle Police Department veteran would have had to “maliciously and intentionally target[ed] Mr. Monetti due to his ethnicity.” Cobane merely “lawfully detained Mr. Monetti and the other two men because they had a reasonable belief that the men were involved in two armed robberies.” The prosecutor acknowledged that Cobane detained Monetti and his companions because they fit a description of Latino males who had been involved in a robbery nearby.
Satterberg also defended Cobane’s verbal and physical abuse. Cobane’s actions toward Monetti were not racially motivated, the prosecutor wrote, because he did not also beat up the two Latino men Monetti was with. The prosecutor also wrote that police have the right to use physical force “beyond what an ordinary citizen would be allowed to use so long as the force is reasonable in the performance of their duties.”
Sentencing Day for Jose Sucuzhanay Killers
7:30 am By Maegan La Mala · GLBT|Immigration|Justice|New York City|Violence · Comments Off
5 Aug 2010Today in Brooklyn Criminal Court, the family of Jose Sucuzhanay awaits the sentencing of the two men convicted of killing the Ecuadorian businessman, brother, and son in a hateful attack.
I wanted to highlight this this morning and bring all of your thoughts to the Sucuzhanay for two reasons apart from the horrible injustice that no court will ever be able to fix. First, the sentencing is happening while New York City finds itself smack in the middle of another wave of anti-Latino/anti-Mexican hate crimes. Certainly, people will be looking to this verdict as a sign of what the NY justice system values the lives of Latinos at. However this is also dangerous, as the NY justice system is the same that incarcerates both Latinos and African-Americans at record numbers. Having working with families who have lost their children to hate crimes and racial violence, I understand the desire and want for the loss of life to come at some cost, for equal protection under the law to really work for once. But I also know that no time behind bars will bring back the Jose’s of the world.
Conviction in Second Trial Against Second Killer of José Sucuzhanay
4:42 pm By Maegan La Mala · Immigration|New York City|Violence · 1 Comment
30 Jun 2010As racially profiling Latinos gets more legal backing across the country, in New York City, where there is often an assumption of safety for Latinos, Keith Phoenix, the second accused killer of José Sucuzhanay, an Ecuadorian immigrant who two years ago was attacked along with his brother (who survived), was convicted of second-degree murder as a hate crime as well as attempted assault as a hate crime. Phoenix and Hakim Scott yelled anti-Latino and homophobic slurs at brothers Jose and Romel as they walked home from a party.
The first trial against Phoenix ended in a mistrial after the jury couldn’t come to a unified decision. Phoenix now faces life in prison.
“The absence of justice in one case robs justice from the entire society”
7:13 am By Maegan la Mamita Mala · GLBT|Immigration|Justice|New York City|Violence · 1 Comment
9 May 2010Hakim 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.
Thoughts Post the Conviction of Jeffrey Conroy, Marcelo Lucero’s Killer
8:48 am By Maegan la Mamita Mala · crime|Immigration|Justice|Violence · 3 Comments
20 Apr 2010We don’t have to call Jeffrey Conroy, the young man who killed Marcelo Lucero, alleged killer anymore but legally we can’t call him a murderer. Yesterday’s convictions of Conroy on hate crime manslaughter and gang assault mean that his actions were criminal and filled with bias and hate towards immigrants, especially “Mexicans” even if Lucero was Ecuadorian but the jury choosing manslaughter over murder, which was also on the table, means that the jury thought that Conroy didn’t mean to kill Lucero.
I have written over and over again some of the problems with the hate crimes context being expected to solve everything especially given the growing prison industrial complex that has historically used people of color as human fodder and most recently is looking to expand using Latino immigrants. Macha has written on the double edge sword in seeking justice when our killers look like us or are a part of us.
I have read and heard people saying that the verdict yesterday means justice has been served. Others have said that the lack of a conviction on the murder charge shows that there is still a disconnect in terms of how critical the situation is for Latinos when it comes to the way the anti-immigrant rhetoric has turned into a cry for action to many.
For Marcelo’s family, justice will never be fully served as no charge or years in prison can bring him back. And i will admit to a deep gut desire to wanting a murder conviction for Conroy, to wanting a life sentence. No it’s not radical, pero after years of seeing so many mothers weeping at the site of their child’s death, a grief-stricken part wants to sit smugly and watch someone go to jail for a long time for killing parts of our community, an eye for an eye justice as someone said in the comments yesterday.
Pero as people were talking about the Lucero verdict yesterday (although not enough people in my opinion were talking about it), I received an email from an amiga of Amanda Gonzalez-Andujar who is planning a memorial service and vigil. This morning I read about another mujer, Ashley Santiago, who was killed in Puerto Rico. I was thinking of all the vigils and rallies I have gone to, not just in this last year pero over my 15 some odd years in the “movements”. Finally I was thinking about how last month I had to explain to my 3 year old why Altagracia Mayi was crying and why we were marching.
Our communities are far from finding justice and I think part of it is that we are looking for it or expecting it from all the wrong places.
Explaining Anti-Immigrant Violence Committed by People of Color
8:45 am By Maegan la Mamita Mala · Immigration|New York City|race|Violence · 3 Comments
10 Apr 2010Watching the local television news for 5 minutes, I heard two reports of violence against immigrants. The alleged perps, caught on video in both incidents, are young men and women of color.
Earlier this week, at least four young men attacked 26 year old Mexican immigrant Rodulfo Olmedo with bats, two-by-fours, a chain and anti-Mexican slurs in Staten Island. All four of the young men are men of color. One is a Latino.
And in Downtown Manhattan, near Chinatown, Asian women between the ages of 50 and 70 are being physically assaulted in the housing projects where they live. The attackers are young African-American men and women.
Mother of Gay Undocumented Latino Hate Crime Victim Speaks Out in His Defense
1:55 pm By Maegan la Mamita Mala · GLBT|Immigration|New York City · 7 Comments
8 Apr 2010The other day I wrote about a gay Latino was assaulted here in NYC and after going to the police found himself facing criminal charges and deportation. Ricardo Muñiz’s mother spoke at a press conference in front of the Brooklyn Supreme Court.
The video, from Univision is in Spanish pero I will translate after.
Mala’s translation:
Anchorwoman: A Latina mother says that her son was savagely beaten for being gay and that when he went to press charges, he was the one that ended up behind bars and now could be deported. From New York, Natalia Cruz gives us more details on this case.Natalia Cruz: With tears, this Mexican mother begs for her son not to be deported.
Jorgelina Aguirre: My son is unjustly in jail, just because he is homosexual. They took all these things to use against him.
Natalia Cruz : The mother says that her son, 23 year old Ricardo Muñiz, went to press charges saying that he had been savagely beaten for being homosexual. The police, allegedly according to Muñiz’s mother, painted Ricardo as the villain.
Jorgeline Aguirre: We came from my country because they would attack him. They discriminated against him. They would beat him. It was never like this though.
Natalia Cruz : Muñiz told the police that last July 18th, he was dancing with a friend in an area bar and there two men starting screaming anti-gay insults at them. When Muñiz walked out on the street with two friends, the alleged aggressors intercepted them with their car.
Karina Claudio from Make the Road NY [full disclosure, I know Karina]: The men got out of the car and started to insult Muñiz and his friends again.
Natalia Cruz: According to Muñiz, he was attacked with fists, a bat, and a belt buckle. However, the alleged attacker, who appears in reports as Jose Cruz, is listed in papers from the District Attorney’s office as the victim. Cruz says that Muñiz and other men attacked him. Cruz was taken to a hospital and put in an induced coma. Jorgelina asks the the case be cleared and the charges dropped against her son.
The police confirmed that Muñiz was arrested August 6th of last year with 4 assault charges, one in the first degree. Muñiz returns to court May 5th. In the meantime, his friend, Danny Valdez, who was also arrested for the incident, was already deported to his country, El Salvador, according to the Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office
Are People Still Buying the “But Some of my Friends Are…” Line?
7:51 pm By Maegan la Mamita Mala · Immigration|New York|Violence · 1 Comment
5 Apr 2010In case people haven’t been paying attention, because you’re waiting for Comprehensive Immigration Reform, filling out your census, or like me, taking care of the off from school Spring Break children, in Suffolk County, Long Island the trial against the “alleged” killers of Marcelo Lucero continues.
The hate crime against the Ecuadorian immigrant for being a Latino immigrant has Jeffery Conroy taking the heat for the the stabbing death of Lucero in which at least 6 other young men participated in, now has it’s first Latino apologist with the media eating up one of the oldest racist defenses in the book : “But, he can’t be racist. His best friend was a beaner, spic, I mean Latino.”
Enter Will Garcia, the Ecuadorian friend of Conroy, who is quoted in the New York Times:
“How’s he going to be a white supremacist if he chills with Spanish people and he chills with black people? He’s my friend. He’s been there for me. I’ve been there for him. He wasn’t a racist.”
19 Years Without Justice for Young Dominican Killed in NYC Hate Crime
6:49 am By Maegan la Mamita Mala · Dominicans|Events|Immigration|New York City|Violence · 1 Comment
27 Mar 2010
While the trial against those who are accused of murdering Ecuadorian immigrant Marcelo Lucero wages on in Long Island, the memory of Manny Mayi Jr. and the relentless search for justice by his mother, Altagracia, is a reminder to the Latino community, and all communities that there is no expiration date in the struggle for our children.
March in Memory of Manuel Mayi Killed Brutally by a Racist Group
108th Street and 36th Avenue
(7 train to 111th Street)
2pm
March 27th, 2010
Manny was an 18-year-old Queens College honor student, Manny Mayi, was murdered in a racist attack on March 29, 1991. The young Dominican man was walking home in, what was then, the Italian section of Corona Queens when a gang of white youth chased him down 108th street. Manny’s life ended 16 blocks later when he was beat with pipes and baseball bats. The medical report listed as the cause of death: fracture of skull, and contusions of the brain due to blunt force impact.A report released by the Justice Committee found that police refused to drive around witnesses who wanted to identify the gang members who allegedly committed the violent act. The report also says police failed to secure a key witness and allowed her to flee the country; in addition, the D.A. postponed the case 47 times and did not keep the family informed about any developments. Of the three arrested, Joseph Celso was the only one who stood trial, but was soon acquitted.
We want to put pressure on the city, state and federal government showing that someone killed in the hands of racism will not be tolerated!!! Please join this family’s fight for EQUAL PROTECTION UNDER THE LAW.
Rally at 2pm where Manny was killed and step off to march at 3pm.
Justice Committee, P.O. Box 1885 NY NY 10159-1885
(212) 614-5343
On a more personal note, this happened in a neighborhood I grew up in and the neighborhood where my children grew up in. Altragracia Mayi came to my older daughter’s first birthday party. This is history, this is the future of my children, this is familia.
Hola!
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