Over a thousand people gathered for a candelight vigil in memory of Marcelo Lucero.
It is shocking and disheartening to report yet another killing of a young Latino immigrant by a group of teenagers, who admit they were “looking for a Mexican.” 37-year-old Marcello Lucero, who had come to the U.S. 16 years ago from Ecuador, was beaten and stabbed to death. Seven young men from Patchogue, NY were arrested in connection to his murder.
A thousand people gathered at the Patchogue train station on Friday to remember Lucero.
Blog
November 12, 2008 - 9:00pm
November 11, 2008 - 9:00pm
We’ve just released the latest Not In Our School video, Not In Our School: Mountain View/Los Altos, on our YouTube site!
This short video tells the story of last November’s Not In Our School event at Los Altos High, where over 300 students, parents, and school leaders from Mountain View, Los Altos, and St. Francis high schools gathered for a screening of NIOT: Northern California, an art show to promote acceptance, and a lively and meaningful discussion about inclusion and diversity.
October 28, 2008 - 9:00pm
Margaret MacDonald, a leader in the Not In Our Town Movement in Billings, Montana, wrote the following letter to people in Brattleboro, Vermont who are uniting in response to incidents of racism and violence.
I have been reading with a sinking heart about the activities in Brattleboro, and my sympathies go out to the community as it struggles with hate groups cropping up among the youth of the city. Billings was in a very similar state of consternation and dismay back in 1993, when we began to organize the community to confront this phenomenon in ways that were creative, but firm.
Here is a review of some of the guiding principles that helped shape the responses, which were later recognized by the Working Group documentary “Not In Our Town.”
October 28, 2008 - 9:00pm
It was the worst kind of nightmare for the mother of a bi-racial high school student. In June, the people of Brattleboro, Vermont learned that a racist youth group called NHRA (“N—– Hating Redneck Association”) was active in the local high school. Larry Pratt Jr., a 17-year-old NHRA member, was arrested after waving a weapon at a multi-racial group of students near the high school grounds. Pratt and several other NHRA members were suspended from school and placed in a restorative justice program, but the alarm bells were ringing for parent and musician Barbara Holliday.
October 8, 2008 - 9:00pm
It was ten years ago this week that gay college student Matthew Shepard was brutally beaten and left hanging on a rural fence in Laramie, Wyoming. His murder stirred a profound response that would galvanize communities and states across the U.S. to fight for hate crime laws that include protection for gays and lesbians.
In an interview with CBS News, Judy Shepard, Matthew Shepard’s mother talks about the young men who were convicted of killing her son and her ongoing work against anti-gay bias:
“I’m pretty sure that they actually wonder still why they’re in such trouble for what they did, just, you know, killing a young gay man. The environment was set up for them that it was OK to do that to Matt.”