La verdadera historia del asesinato de un inmigrante que transformo un acogedor pueblo de Long Island en la zona cero de la guerra contra la inmigracion.

En noviembre de 2008, Marcelo Lucero, un inmigrante Ecuatoriano de treinta y siete anos, fue atacado y asesinado por un grupo de adolecentes cuando caminaba por las calles de Patchogue. Los atacantes iban a cazar beaners -termino despectivo para Latinos- algo que formaba parte de su diversion habitual. Mientras el pais lucha contra el creciente numero de inmigrantes indocumentados y los politicos avanzan su carrera canalizando y propagando el odio al inmigrante, los latinos se han convertido en el blanco de multiples ataques de odio.

Lucero, un humilde trabajador de una tintoreria, se convirtio en otra victima de esta fiebre anti-inmigratoria. Tras su muerte, Patchogue, un tranquilo y casi desconocido suburbio Estadounidense, se convirtio en la zona cero en la guerra contra la inmigracion y Lucero en un simbolo de todo lo que no funciona en nuestro sistema migratorio: menos visas para viajar a Estados Unidos, fronteras porosas, pocos buenos trabajos y un grave aumento de la intolerancia y el racismo.

Basado en entrevistas de primera mano, Mirta Ojito- periodista que compartioun Pulitzer de equipo en The New York Times- ha elaborado un profundo retrato de una comunidad que intenta enfrentarse al odio y al miedo que yace bajo su idilica imagen. Con el compromiso de contar todos los lados de esta historia, Ojito ofrece una apasionante narracion y una vision aguda e indispensable sobre uno de los problemas mas acuciantes en los Estados Unidos de hoy.

ENGLISH DESCRIPTION

2014 International Latino Awards Finalist A Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist uncovers the true story of an immigrant’s murder that turned a quaint village on the Long Island shore into ground zero in the war on immigration.

In November 2008, 37-year-old Marcelo Lucero, an unassuming worker at a dry cleaner’s and an undocumented Ecuadorean immigrant, was attacked and murdered by a group of teenagers as he walked the streets of the Long Island village of Patchogue accompanied by a childhood friend. The attackers were out hunting for beaners. Some of the kids later confessed that chasing, harassing, and assaulting defenseless beaners -their slur for Latinos-was part of their weekly entertainment. In recent years, Latinos have become the target of hate crimes as the nation wrestles with swelling numbers of undocumented immigrants. Public figures fan the flames and advance their careers by spewing anti-immigration rhetoric. In death, Lucero became a symbol of everything that was wrong with our broken immigration system: fewer opportunities to obtain travel visas to the United States, porous borders, a growing dependency on cheap labor, and the rise of bigotry. Drawing on firsthand interviews and on-the-ground reporting, journalist Mirta Ojito has crafted an unflinching portrait of one community struggling to reconcile the hate and fear underlying the idyllic veneer of their all-American town. With a strong commitment to telling all sides of the story, Ojito unravels the engrossing narrative with objectivity and insight, providing an invaluable look at one of America’s most pressing issues.

Ojito has done truth an invaluable service. Extraordinary. -Junot Diaz, author of The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
Reminds us how we might think of each other and how we treat all of our neighbors, whether or not they look like us. This is our human story. -Wes Moore, author of The Other Wes Moore