Farmingdale Housing Discrimination Lawsuit Settled in Favor of Latino Plaintiffs

Victory! After calling the lawsuit 'offensive' -- How dare 9 Latinos demand justice! -- the Village of Farmingdale agreed to all of the plaintiffs demands, including building affordable housing and paying damages to the displaced residents. Which municipality is next?



Farmingdale Patch Photo
Article 

Housing Bias Against Latinos: LI's Dirty Little Secret Exposed in Court

We know that municipalities across LI, NY and the nation, have been working to limit and, in many instances, push out Latino and African American residents. The actions are often done quietly, justified as community upgrades or code enforcement. And the victims are rarely known or heard from. But this lawsuit brings to light some of what's really going on behind the doors of power and white privilege. If victorious, expect to see a string of new lawsuits on behalf of victims.



Newsday Photo
Article

Long Island's Spanish Speakers (Map)

Check out where LI's Spanish speakers live. (2011 US Census Language Mapper)http://www.census.gov/hhes/socdemo/language/data/language_map.html

Photo: Jessica and Joshua of Valley Stream

Some photos convey more than intended, right? This is one!

A photo of a brother and sister, but it's really a portrait of familia, warmth, fun and classic Boricua good looks.

Muchas gracias to Jessica and Joshua for allowing us to post their cool pic!

A Third of Jones Beach-goers Are Latino

A survey by the Alliance for New York State Parks found that nearly half of the visitors to Long Island's Jones Beach are from NYC and one third from Nassau and Suffolk counties. Also, a third of all visitors to the state's 2nd most popular park -- behind Niagara Falls, 33%, identified as Latino; 46% as White; and 11% as Black. 

Article 

Town of Hempstead: The Changing Demographics

"In many parts of Hempstead, more than a third of residents are foreign-born, coming primarily from Central and South America, according to the coalition. Those statistics should be no surprise. From 2000 to 2010, the Hispanic voting-age population grew across the county by more than 45,000, or 48 percent, to nearly 138,500. Hispanics now account for 13.5 percent of Nassau’s voting-age population, up from 9.3 percent in 2000." 

Article

afroTANGO by Thalia Spanish Theatre (Sunnyside, Queens)

Backstage Review

Latino Enrollment % @ Suffolk County Public Schools

75% BRENTWOOD SD

52% CENTRAL ISLIP SD

50% TUCKAHOE SD

47% COPIAGUE SD

47% SPRINGS SD

42% HAMPTON BAYS SD

38% EAST HAMPTON SD

(38% CHILD DVLPMNT CENTER CS)

35% AMITYVILLE SD

33% BAY SHORE SD

33% GREENPORT SD

32% HUNTINGTON SD

32% WYANDANCH SD

31% BRIDGEHAMPTON SD

(29% RIVERHEAD CS)

28% MONTAUK SD

28% PATCHOGUE-MEDFORD SD

25% SOUTH COUNTRY SD

25% SOUTH HUNTINGTON SD

25% SOUTHAMPTON SD

24% RIVERHEAD SD

19% BROOKHAVEN-COMSEWOGUE SD

19% FIRE ISLAND SD

18% WAINSCOTT SD

18% WILLIAM FLOYD SD

16% ISLIP SD

16% NORTH BABYLON SD

15% DEER PARK SD

14% LINDENHURST SD

14% SAG HARBOR SD

(13% LITTLE FLOWER SD)

13% LONGWOOD SD

13% WEST BABYLON SD

11% AMAGANSETT SD

11% EAST ISLIP SD

11% ELWOOD SD

11% MIDDLE COUNTRY SD

11% SOUTHOLD SD

10% WESTHAMPTON BEACH SD

9% EAST QUOGUE SD

8% BABYLON SD

8% CENTER MORICHES SD

8% OYSTERPONDS SD

8% REMSENBURG-SPEONK SD

7% CONNETQUOT SD

7% SACHEM SD

6% HAUPPAUGE SD

6% ROCKY POINT SD

6% SAGAPONACK SD

6% WEST ISLIP SD

5% HALF HOLLOW HILLS SD

5% HARBORFIELDS SD

5% MATTITUCK-CUTCHOGUE SD

5% QUOGUE SD

5% SHELTER ISLAND SD

4% COMMACK SD

4% EAST MORICHES SD

4% EASTPORT-SOUTH MANOR SD

4% MILLER PLACE SD

4% NORTHPORT-EAST NORTHPORT SD

4% SAYVILLE SD

3% BAYPORT-BLUE POINT SD

3% FISHERS ISLAND SD

3% MT SINAI SD

3% PORT JEFFERSON SD

3% SHOREHAM-WADING RIVER SD

3% SMITHTOWN SD

3% THREE VILLAGE SD

2% KINGS PARK SD

1% COLD SPRING HARBOR SD

0% NEW SUFFOLK SD

*NYS Ed Dept data for 2010-11 school year

US Census: 1,551,629 Latinos Live In The 4 Counties of Long Island

‎1,551,629 Latinos live in the 4 counties situated on Long Island: Kings (Brooklyn) 496,285, Queens 613,750, Nassau 195,355 and Suffolk 246,239. That's 45% of NY State's Latino population! 

The Long Island Latino International Film Festival Nov. 6-7-8, 2009

The Long Island Latino International Film Festival

Nov. 6-7-8, 2009

This year LILIFF is screening several premiers and world premiers including the film “Stereo Typed” produced on Long Island and features actor Frankie G. who has been in films such as “The Italian Job”, “Manito” and the upcoming film the “Devils Tomb”.Read more

Box Office
Festival Tickets: LILIFF offers 8 Screening Programs throughout the festival. Each program features a group of films for one price.

3-Day Festival Pass Price: $40
Festival passes allow access to ALL Screening Programs.Get your tickets
Individual Programs Price: $10Get your tickets

Latino Films @ the Brooklyn International Film Festival - June 5 -14, 2009

FALLING AWAKE by Agustin

Falling Awake" is the powerful story of Jay (Andrew Cisneros), a young man struggling to find his identity in The Bronx in a house crowded with family members and a neighborhood filled with loyal friends and dangerous enemies. A gifted musician, Jay hopes to leave it all and pursue his dream of composing and performing music. Once he meets Alessandra (Jenna Dewan), a beautiful young woman who lives in Brooklyn, his determination to defy the expectations of his frustrated, angry father become even stronger. Yet Jay is tied to his home through loyalty to his friends and to his brother, who has returned unexpectedly from service in the Marines. As he reaches toward a wider world, he is pulled back over and over by the cycles of anger and violence that have defined his life and neighborhood for so long. It takes love, a change of heart and a new understanding of life's elusive chance at happiness to finally help Jay make the long, uncertain leap to a fresh chance.
Trailer

DON ROBERTO'S SHADOW by Juan Diego Spoerer & Håkan Engström

A boy travels to a saltpeter office with his family, to the city of Chacabuco in the Chilean desert, where he walks along the old buildings. The years pass by and, as the wind erases the days and hours from yesterday, the boy is now grown up, a lonely old man, and that old man decides to move to Chacabuco.
Trailer

SIRENS (SIRENAS) by Alejo Levis

She lost the baby. She stares out the window. Every night when he arrives home, an argument. One day she told him, a few black women on the street walked strangely, like dancing, they looked like dark sirens.
Trailer

FLYING LOTUS by Daniel Garcia

Concentrate produced this music video for Flying Lotus. The video, 'Infinitum' was directed by Daniel Garcia
Trailer


COTTON CANDY by Aritz Moreno

The cold always complicates things.

Trailer


Links:
XII. Brooklyn International Film Festival
BiFF 2009 Trailer YouTube

Meet Alfonso Quiroz - Queens City Council Candidate, D25

Update: 6.5.09 - Alfonzo Quiroz, who had hoped that the term limit override would be ruled illegal, has pulled out of the race given that final appeals have been lost in that case.

On September 15, 2009, the people of Jackson Heights, Corona (including Lefrak City and Sherwood Village), Elmhurst, East Elmhurst and Rego Park have the chance to send a Latino to the City Council: Alfonso Quiroz.

Like Obama, Alfonso is a community organizer from the South Side of Chicago. A fourth-generation American of Mexican, German and Ukrainian descent, Alfonso grew up in a middle-class, union family; his dad was a Steelworker union member.

When he was 22, Alfonso served as a White House Intern during the Clinton Administration in the office of Hillary Clinton. In 2000, Alfonso served as a political aide in Vice President Al Gore’s presidential campaign.

After the 2000 presidential race, Alfonso settled in Queens and learned about city government as a member of Mark Green’s 2001 mayoral campaign. He subsequently worked for MTV News and then in the office of current City Council Member Helen Sears. After leaving Sears’s staff, Alfonso took a PR assignment with ConEd.

In June 2008, Alfonso was sworn in to a second term on the Queens Community Board 3. He is also a member of the Citizens Advice Bureau, the JFK Democratic Club, the Stonewall Democratic Club of New York and is active in the Jackson Heights Beautification Group.

Links:
Star Of Queens
Gay Candidate Series: Alfonso Quiroz
Alfonso Quiroz: JFK Democratic Club City Council Candidates Night

"A 20/20 Vision of Our Diverse Society" Featuring John Quiñones - 4.20.09

"A 20/20 Vision of Our Diverse Society"

featuring

John Quiñones

April 20, 2009 @ 7:30 p.m.

St. Joseph's College
D'Ecclesiis Auditorium, O'Connor Hall
155 West Roe Blvd, Patchogue

John Quiñones is anchor of ABC's What Would You Do?, a co-anchor of Primetime, a correspondent for 20/20 and the author of Heroes Among Us: Ordinary People, Extraordinary Choices (Harper).

Winner of seven Emmy Awards, Quiñones has also been honored with the Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Awards Grand Prize for International Reporting.

Sponsored by the Institute for the Study of Religion in Community Life. Lecture is free and open to the public. For more information, call 631.447.8252 or email jmcaleer@sjcny.edu.

Related: Latino Bashing, What would you do?

LI's 20 Latino Pols = shocking under-representation

The roster of Latino elected officials on Long Island increased by three in the last month to a total of twenty. Hurray!

(Now we need to elect 313 to reach parity with Whites!)

The newbies are:

1) Julissa Ferreras , Queens D , NYC Council
2) Livio Tony Rosario, Village of Hempstead Board of Trustees
3) Carmen Piñeyro, Village of Freeport Board of Trustees

It's progress -- although Latinos have a long way to go to achieve anything resembling fair representation. For example, there are about 800 White elected officials across Long Island (village, town, county, city, state and federal) excluding special districts and school boards. With a population of 3.6MM, Whites are represented on a ratio of about 4500:1. That compared to the 75,000:1 for Latinos (n=1.5MM). African Americans (n=1.7MM) do better at 41,000:1.

Include school boards and special districts and the White representation ratio drops below 2,000:1. Add in appointees on government commissions, nonprofit boards and business associations and the racial/ethnic representation gap grows exponentially.

This is not to advocate racial or ethnic proportional representation. There are wonderful examples of politicians very ably representing diverse constituencies. And then there are 'machine' politicians of all shades that are more interested in serving themselves and their political bosses.

Nonetheless, it is not healthy in a multi-ethnic community for one group to have so small a voice into the affairs and policies of government. A glaring example of the problems under-representation creates can be seen in the dismissive attitudes of Suffolk County officials to hate crimes against African Americans and Latinos. Another example--which no one talks about--is the distribution of government funding and philanthropic grants.

Long Island's 20 Latino elected officials:

Anthony Jimenez, City of Glen Cove Council
Carmen Piñeyro, Village of Freeport Board of Trustees
David Mejias, Nassau County Legislature
Diana Reyna, Brooklyn, City Council
Felix Ortiz, Brooklyn, NY Assembly
Hiram Monserrate, NY Senate
Jorge A. Martinez, Village of Freeport Board of Trustees
José R. Peralta, Queens, NY Assembly
Julissa Ferreras, Queens, NYC Council
Livio Tony Rosario, Village of Hempstead Trustee
Maria-Christina Poons, Town of North Hempstead Council
Mark A. Bonilla, Town of Hempstead, Town Clerk
Martin Malavé Dilan, Brooklyn, NY Senate
Nydia Velázquez, Brooklyn-Queens, U.S. Congress
Phil Ramos, Suffolk, NY Assembly
Ricardo Montano, Suffolk County Legislature
Sara M. Gonzalez, Brooklyn, NYC Council
Tony Martinez, Town of Babylon Council
Vito J. Lopez, Brooklyn, NY Assembly
Vivian Viloria Fisher, Suffolk County Legislature

Señor Oscar Martinez & Farmingdale State College

Three sons, two daughters, spouses, six grand children--and an older brother, were all present at last night's Farmingdale College Alumni Gala at the Chateau Le Mer in support of Señor Oscar Martinez.

An elegant, close-knit and multi-lingual family based in Monterrey and Mexico City, the Martinez family was in town to witness the family patriarch--Oscar Martinez--receive Farmingdale College's 2009 Outstanding Alumnus Award.

Señor Martinez ('50) took a mechanical engineering degree, a stint at the Carrier International and leveraged it into his own Bel Air, a leading Mexican air conditioning manufacturing and service corporation. Señor Martinez retired in 1995 after selling his business to his employees.

The highlight of the evening was when his son Alejandro, speaking in flawless and slightly accented English, talked about Señor Martinez and his journey as a beloved father and successful businessman. But it was the 8 year old grand daughter who stole the show in her own loving tribute to grand papa--again, in flawless English.

While the college also recognized a professor, administrator and a local business, it was Señor Martinez' story that offers important lessons for Long Island's past as well as its future. Shamefully, anti-Mexican propaganda, racism and the ongoing nativist spasm against Latino immigrants make reduce the possibility of future Martinez/FSC-type success stories. If so, we'll be poorer for it.

Photo: Oscar Martinez points to his graduation photo.

Rosario and Isabel Lucero in Suffolk County: Seek Justice for Marcelo; Feel Sadness for the Mothers of the Killers

Rosario and Isabel Lucero are in town as legal proceedings commence in the tragic murder of Marcelo Lucero. Speaking from a court house in Suffolk County, Rosario had this to say:

"As a mother, I feel this pain of loss. The parents of these children must be feeling a sense of loss, too, seeing their children in these circumstances. We are all human beings, and it is not right to take anyone's life."

(BTW: Newsday's coverage of the Marcelo Lucero murder has been exemplary.)

Links:
Marcelo Lucero's mom faces two hate crime suspects
Photo series (80 images)

Julissa Ferreras vs Francisco Moya in Queens D21 Special Election

Corona, Queens is represented in state legislature by newly elected Senator Hiram Monserrate and Assemblyman José R. Peralta. The vacancy in the New York City Council created by the elevation of Monserrate will be filled in a special edlection next week, February 24th, 2009. Vying to fill the seat by two Latinos: Julissa Ferreras (endorsed by 1199SEIU) and Francisco Moya (endorsed by Congresswoman Nydia Velazquez).

In addition to Corona, the district (21) includes East Elmhurst, Elmhurst and Jackson Heights -- all communities with high concentrations of Latinos.

Related:
Corona candidate steps up to plate
Council Candidates Both Cite Early Service
Francisco Moya Endorsed by Congresswoman Nydia Velazquez
Council Candidate Moya Gets the Obama Crowd

Healing & Improv Theatre in Patchogue

To Heal in Patchogue: Having a Say and Seeing It Come to Life Playback Threatre Troup performed recently in the Village of Patchogue as part of an effort to promote better understanding between Latinos and non-Latinos in the area following the killing last November of Marcelo Lucero.

Staff Sgt Edwin Gomez Surprises Angelica

“Daddy!”

Six-year-old Angelica Gomez looked up to see her father, Staff Sergeant Edwin Gomez, standing at the entrance of her kindergarten classroom. “I told ya,” she offered as an aside to her classmates as she rushed across the room and into her father’s arms.

Staff Sgt. Edwin Gomez reunites with his daughter Angelica in her kindergarten class at Southampton's Tuckahoe Common School.

Links:
Video
Photo series
Father reunites with his daughters after a year in Afghanistan - 27east

Suffolk's Festering Anti-Latino Hate Crimes Problem

WNYC's Amy Eddings talks with Newsday's court reporter Eric German about the latest allegations that the gang that attacked and killed Ecuadorian immigrant Marcelo Lucero last November, had been on a year-long rampage against Latinos.



Links:
Teenagers Charged In Hispanic Man’s Death Accused Of At Least Eight Other Attacks On Latinos - Feet in 2 Worlds
Alleged LI hate crime victim wonders what became of police probe - Newsday