A small measure of justice was enacted yesterday at the trial of a man accused of the senseless beating and murder of an 18-year-old transgendered Latina (image).Allen Ray Andrade was convicted and sentenced to life without parole in the landmark hate crime murder case of Angie Zapata. Prosecutors were able to successfully argue that Andrade became enraged after finding out Zapata’s sexual orientation and plotted to kill her. His grisly plan came to fruition after he beat “it” (as he referred to Zapata) by repeatedly punching her and then assaulting her with a fire extinguisher.
Though the defense tried to argue that Zapata’s murder was not premeditated, it took the Colorado jury only two hours to punish Andrade for last July’s murder.
In her assessment of the Zapata case for VivirLatino, fellow contributor Maegan la Mala admonished Latino rights groups and the media for a perceived lack of coverage and outrage.
(…) where was the Latino media, both mainstream and not in covering Angie’s story? The Latino blogosphere and Latino orgs jump on stories when an immigrant is killed or attacked in a hate crime. Where were orgs like the NCLR and where are their statements? Are we as Latinos still so uncomfortable, still so transphobic that we can’t discuss, report, speak on cases like Angie’s? Was she not as much a part of the Latino community as Marcelo Lucero for example.What do you think?
Image- denverpost.com
Online Sources- VivirLatino, The Latin Americanist, New York Times, ABC News
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