August 12, 2009
Brooklyn street corner named in honor of murdered Ecuadorian immigrant
Michael K. Lavers READ TIME: 1 MIN.
The city has renamed a Brooklyn street corner in honor of an Ecuadorian immigrant who was beaten to death last December because his alleged assailants reportedly thought he was gay.
Jose Sucuzha�ay's family and friends gathered on the corner of Bushwick Avenue and Kossuth Place in Bushwick on Aug. 1. The ceremony took place after a march from Latinos Americanos Unidos on Wyckoff Avenue.
"This is a very important event to my family," the Sucuzha�ay family said in a statement. "[It] is a great opportunity to show that we as a community are united and reject deeply the intolerance of diversity, homophobia and all forms of crime in our neighborhoods."
New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn echoed this sentiment.
"Immigrants contribute immensely to our city," she said. "They are a vibrant, important part of our city and we must do more to respect and remember them."
Keith Phoenix and Hakim Scott allegedly attacked Jose Sucuzha�ay with a baseball bat and bottles near the corner of Bushwick Avenue and Kossuth Place on Dec. 7 as he and his brother Romel walked home arm-and-arm from a nearby bar. Sucuzha�ay, who owned a local real estate company and had two young children in his native Ecuador, succumbed to his injuries a few days later.
Quinn, Congresswoman Nydia Velazquez and others joined hundreds of people from across the city who marched through Bushwick after Sucuzha�ay's death to demand an end to anti-LGBT hate crimes. The New York Police Department arrested Phoenix and Scott in connection with his death in February.
Based in Washington, D.C., Michael K. Lavers has appeared in the New York Times, BBC, WNYC, Huffington Post, Village Voice, Advocate and other mainstream and LGBT media outlets. He is an unapologetic political junkie who thoroughly enjoys living inside the Beltway.
