Oscar Bermeo

Don’t believe the hype – its a sequel

[it’s incredible to think that after this election–where president-elect obama was at various points accused of plagiarism, derided for being over eloquent, and praised for his rhetoric–the power of speech is being minimized by suffolk county executive steve levy. levy doesn’t see the connection between anti-immigrant opinion and the death of marcello lucero even as long island doorsteps are being littered with kkk flyers in an area where residents draw “sharp distinctions between assimilated immigrants, who they said should be welcomed as friends and neighbors, and newly arrived illegal immigrants, who they said do not belong.”

the rhetoric gets deeper as ecuadorian officials want stiffer charges to be brought forward in the attack and others feel that hate crime charges shouldn’t be inflated “even if you choose racism.”

all this speechifying can take a back seat as marcello lucero’s mother has the ultimate say:

“The pain is so great, there aren’t words to describe what I feel,” Rosario Lucero said in Spanish yesterday by telephone from her home in Gualaceo on the death of the second of her four children.]

Vigilia para Marcello Lucero: 14 de Noviembre

Vigilia a la luz de las velas para MARCELLO LUCERO
FECHA: Viernes, 14 de Noviembre
HORA: 7:00pm
LUGAR: Railroad Ave y Sephton St
Patchogue, NY 11772
EstaciÃ³n del tren y Lugar del crimen

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Candle Light Vigil for MARCELLO LUCERO
WHEN: Friday, November 14
TIME: 7:00pm
PLACE: Railroad Ave y Sephton St (Patchogue NY)
Patchogue, NY 11772
Train Station and Scene of the crime

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Se organiza vigilia de protesta
Noviembre 12, 2008

La AsociaciÃ³n Alianza Ecuatoriana convoca a los latinos en Estados Unidos a una â€œvigilia masivaâ€ bajo la consigna: “No mÃ¡s crÃmenes raciales en Long Island”, para protestar por el asesinato del ecuatoriano Marcelo Lucero, cometido el sÃ¡bado pasado.

Puedes leer mÃ¡s aquÃ

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Gobierno pone a disposiciÃ³n dos abogados a familia de ecuatoriano asesinado
Quito, EFE

El Gobierno de Ecuador condenÃ³ hoy, por medio de la SecretarÃa Nacional del Migrante (Senami), el asesinato de un inmigrante de este paÃs en EE.UU., apuÃ±alado el sÃ¡bado pasado por una pandilla de jÃ³venes que supuestamente salieron a la caza de hispanos en las afueras de Nueva York.

“La Secretaria Nacional del Migrante en nombre del Gobierno y de todos los ecuatorianos condena este acto de odio racial”, seÃ±alÃ³ en un comunicado esta dependencia, que aÃ±adiÃ³ que realizarÃ¡ “un seguimiento directo del crimen para que sea castigado de acuerdo a la ley”.

La Senami y la Casa Ecuatoriana en Estados Unidos y en Ecuador ya se han puesto en contacto con la familia de la vÃctima, Marcelo Lucero, de 37 aÃ±os, y ofrecieron su ayuda judicial y psicolÃ³gica, agregÃ³ el documento.

Puedes leer mÃ¡s aquÃ

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A community looks to heal after death of Hispanic man

Last Saturday, on a balmy night, four blocks separated two very different images of the village of Patchogue.

At the Congregational Church on the north side of Main Street, nearly 200 people of different races danced at a concert as they raised $1,500 for famine relief.

On the same evening, though, police said, seven high school students encircled a mild-mannered immigrant from Ecuador, punched him, and stabbed him to death.

Under Patchogue’s easygoing surface, Hispanics said, they’ve been living with fear.

“We often hear about immigrants who are beaten up,” said Luis Olloa, who, like Marcello Lucero, Saturday night’s victim, is from Ecuador. For months, he said, he’s been afraid to walk alone in Patchogue, after hearing accounts from friends of Hispanics being harassed.

Read more here

Patricia Smith for Inaugural Poet

Patricia Smith signing Blood Dazzler
Originally uploaded by kleopatrjones

I just nominated Patricia Smith for Inaugural Poet and I hope you do the same.

You can peep over Ms Smith’s bio page to see her very impressive writing and performance credentials. But in my mind, what really distinguishes Patricia over any other candidate and makes her the best choice for Inaugural Poet is her love for the people and ideals of Chicago, the President-elect’s home base. Chi-town, represent!

You can nominate Patricia (or your favorite poet) over at the Office of the President-elect’s official website contact page.

[Mad props to Emily for coming up with the idea first in her blog.]

I Speak of the City: Bob Kaufman

[AS USUAL]

As usual
     the usual axe
          falls on the usual neck
             in the usual place
                 at the usual time
as usual.

No Middle Ground

[i’ve always said that i come from the middle ground, never ecuadorian enough and never american enough. now i can see that my statement reeks of privilege.

for josell lucero, the brother of slain ecuadorian marcello lucero, there are precious few privileges–when it comes to living in this country, it’s either survival or extinction. even worse is how he will probably end up staying in the same neighborhood comforted by familiar faces and wondering which ones would turn and hunt him the way they did his brother.]

Long Island ‘lynch mob’ killed our American Dream

The brother of an Ecuadoran immigrant who was murdered on Long Island for being Hispanic said Monday his “American Dream” was crushed.

His words came as the teenagers accused of killing 37-year-old Marcello Lucero were denounced in court as a “lynch mob” by a prosecutor.

“Sometimes the dream comes true,” Lucero’s brother Josell said outside his Patchogue home. “Sometimes they take your life, like my brother.”

Read more here

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Brother: Hate crime victim wanted ‘the American dream’
BY DAVE MARCUS | dave.marcus@newsday.com

Marcello Lucero liked playing volleyball and lifting weights. He rented movies with friends and called his mother in Ecuador several times a week.

“Even though he’d been in the United States for 16 years, he always said, ‘I miss home. I’m going back,'” his brother Joselo said yesterday. “Now he’ll never be able to go home.”

Read more here