Dear CIET Next Steps Class,

Welcome to our class blog project called, The Marcelo Lucero Project. Many of you have heard of Marcelo Lucero through the Spanish-speaking media. Now, we will revisit and follow the story in the English speaking media, specifically in The New York Times.

It is a tragic story that touches all Americans. Many of us can see ourselves in the shoes of Marcelo Lucero, an immigrant from Ecuador who was killed for no other reason but being Latino and who found himself at the wrong place, at the wrong time.

Our Class Blog

In this blog, we will read and write about the history of hate crimes in the U.S. and also in the world. We will read about the Japanese Internment Camps in the U.S. and the Holocaust in Europe during World War II. We will also look at more current Anti-Muslim sentiment in Europe. We will write about our own personal experiences with discrimination. But most of all, we will follow Marcelo Lucero's story as the case goes to court for the trial of the young perpetrators from Patchogue, New York.

Every Tuesday

As a class, we will work on this project every Tuesday of the week. I would like all of you to be prepared to come to class by reading the assigned news article from The New York Times. Make sure to underline words, phrases, and sentences you don't understand. Don't worry! We will read the article together on Tuesdays before we go to the computer room! Also, every week, we will post our personal writings on the blog. Since this is a group blog, everyone will have a chance to read your fellow classmates' works.

Important!

We will begin on Tuesday, April 20, 2010 in the computer room. I would like everyone to have an email address by creating one on http://www.gmail.com/. Please make sure you keep your email addresses and passwords. You will need them to access our class blog. If you have more experience using the Internet, please help your classmates who don't.

First Reading

The first articles we will read are below. Please click, read, and print.

A Killing in a Town Where Latinos Sense Hate

What is Racism, Prejudice, Discrimination, Bias, and Xenophobia?



Thank you. More written instructions will follow.


Your valiant teacher,


Bino