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Que Pasa, Long Island? The Story of The Secatogue Nine A FIVE-PART SERIES PRODUCED AT HOFSTRA UNIVERSITYThe focus of the series is on an important housing discrimination case that unfolded in the early 2000s, culminating ten years ago – in 2014 - in an important victory for the tenants involved in the case. Latino immigrant residents, under the Fair Housing Act, successfully fought back an organized attempt by a developer and local officials to displace them from their homes in a residential housing complex in Farmingdale, New York. In the series, we explore several aspects of the case and how it developed over time, from a community organizing perspective to the legal strategy employed by the members of the Hofstra Law clinic who argued the case. In the process, we demonstrate how these experiences are not exclusive to this one particular community on Long Island. In fact, the story of the Secatogue Nine serves as a case study of the policies, attitudes and patterns seen throughout the country when battles related to affordable housing, community participation, and racial discrimination directed at immigrants have resulted in a disruption of civic life. We hear about the struggles of immigrant day laborers on Long Island and how their attempts to find a decent paying job often resulted in a public backlash by people who were not comfortable with their visible presence in public spaces. We look at how misguided development approaches factored into what happened in Farmingdale, and why the case involving the Secatogue Nine is a textbook example of how smart growth development, if not carried out equitably and with adequate community participation, can be counter-productive despite its potential for positive outcomes. Finally, we describe in detail the discrimination case itself, and how a group of Hofstra University Law Students, under the guidance and leadership of the veteran, feisty civil rights attorney, Professor Stef Krieger, were able to turn back these discriminatory practices impacting so many Latino immigrant
Que Pasa, Long Island? The Story of The Secatogue Nine

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Que Pasa, Long Island? The Story of The Secatogue Nine

Que Pasa, Long Island? The Story of The Secatogue Nine

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A FIVE-PART SERIES PRODUCED AT HOFSTRA UNIVERSITYThe focus of the series is on an important housing discrimination case that unfolded in the early 2000s, culminating ten years ago – in 2014 - in an important victory for the tenants involved in the case. Latino immigrant residents, under the Fair Housing Act, successfully fought back an organized attempt by a developer and local officials to displace them from their homes in a residential housing complex in Farmingdale, New York. In the series, we explore several aspects of the case and how it developed over time, from a community organizing perspective to the legal strategy employed by the members of the Hofstra Law clinic who argued the case. In the process, we demonstrate how these experiences are not exclusive to this one particular community on Long Island. In fact, the story of the Secatogue Nine serves as a case study of the policies, attitudes and patterns seen throughout the country when battles related to affordable housing, community participation, and racial discrimination directed at immigrants have resulted in a disruption of civic life. We hear about the struggles of immigrant day laborers on Long Island and how their attempts to find a decent paying job often resulted in a public backlash by people who were not comfortable with their visible presence in public spaces. We look at how misguided development approaches factored into what happened in Farmingdale, and why the case involving the Secatogue Nine is a textbook example of how smart growth development, if not carried out equitably and with adequate community participation, can be counter-productive despite its potential for positive outcomes. Finally, we describe in detail the discrimination case itself, and how a group of Hofstra University Law Students, under the guidance and leadership of the veteran, feisty civil rights attorney, Professor Stef Krieger, were able to turn back these discriminatory practices impacting so many Latino immigrant

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5: The Legal Strategy That Brought Victory for the Secatogue Nine

In this episode, we tell the story of how the Secatogue Nine, through their persistence and determination, and with the legal work of the Hofstra University Law Reform Advocacy Clinic, stopped the discriminatory cycle playing out in Farmingdale. The struggle lasted for over eight years, and the challenges facing the plaintiffs were profound. – uncertainty about outcomes, precarious living conditions during the litigation, working with dozens of law students over the many years of the legal process. We hear about the legal philosophy of attorney Stef Krieger, and how his years of experience fighting for the rights of marginalized communities in Chicago, New York and elsewhere, prepared him for this unprecedented, drawn-out legal fight. And we show how the case, settled ten years ago still has relevance in today's climate, in which the problems that were the basis of this years-long fight continue, almost unchanged. Learn more at qpli.hofstra.edu This five-part podcast is the product of a multi-disciplinary collaboration between the National Center for Suburban Studies, the Law Reform Advocacy Clinic at the Maurice A. Deane School of Law at Hofstra University, and the Lawrence Herbert School of Communication's online hyper-local news site, The Long Island Advocate.

4. Smart Growth and Development – Another Way to Keep People Out?

The "Secatogue Nine" felt like a part of the Farmingdale community, but were consistently marginalized on several fronts. And while they received support from a certain sector of the local activist community, the larger plans being hatched in the Village were developing without their input. Village officials had resurrected a proposal to redevelop the buildings at Secatogue Avenue as part of their larger revitalization plan for Farmingdale. So as Farmingdale considered plans for revitalization, officials and residents had to confront the mix of economic, social and political issues involved in what form redevelopment would take. In this episode, we examine how the revitalization approach of Farmingdale officials did not adequately take into account the concerns of the local Latin American immigrant community. Learn more at qpli.hofstra.edu This five-part podcast is the product of a multi-disciplinary collaboration between the National Center for Suburban Studies, the Law Reform Advocacy Clinic at the Maurice A. Deane School of Law at Hofstra University, and the Lawrence Herbert School of Communication's online hyper-local news site, The Long Island Advocate.

3. Combining Forces: How Housing Discrimination and Rights of Day Laborers Converged

In this episode, we hear the story of how Farmingdale officials and some of their constituents were growing increasingly hostile to immigrant day laborers in the village. The workers had been congregating at a day-laborer pick-up site close to the housing complex at 150 Secatogue Avenue. While many Latin American immigrants lived there, most of the people involved in the case were NOT day laborers. Nevertheless, they were still ostracized by other Farmingdale locals. We hear from local immigrant rights and worker advocates who were involved in campaigns defending the rights of day laborers to congregate safely in neighborhoods where very often local white residents did not want them. It was almost inevitable that the immigrant worker struggle soon merged with the housing discrimination case, just as the local, racist backlash against the Secatogue Nine was bubbling over in online chats and public meetings. Learn more at qpli.hofstra.edu This five-part podcast is the product of a multi-disciplinary collaboration between the National Center for Suburban Studies, the Law Reform Advocacy Clinic at the Maurice A. Deane School of Law at Hofstra University, and the Lawrence Herbert School of Communication's online hyper-local news site, The Long Island Advocate.

3. Combining Forces: How Housing Discrimination and Rights of Day Laborers Converged

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2. Yearning to Breathe Free: The Journey to Farmingdale

This episode's theme focuses once more on the trauma the Secatogue Nine faced, but this time on their long journey to the US. We hear first-hand of the many challenges they experienced, once they decided to leave their homes and families behind and travelled to the United States. They were from Honduras, Mexico, El Salvador and Guatemala, each of them facing unique circumstances back home. We also look at how they landed in Farmingdale, Long Island and found themselves slowly building a new life. And once in their new home, we see how they continued facing bigotry and marginalization. But we also highlight their own community's efforts to combat this bigotry. Learn more at qpli.hofstra.edu This five-part podcast is the product of a multi-disciplinary collaboration between the National Center for Suburban Studies, the Law Reform Advocacy Clinic at the Maurice A. Deane School of Law at Hofstra University, and the Lawrence Herbert School of Communication's online hyper-local news site, The Long Island Advocate.

1. Who Are the Secatogue Nine?

When we started talking to the residents involved in the lawsuit, we were eager to know more about their lives before they came to the United States. Our story begins with the experiences of the residents of 150 Secatogue Avenue in Farmingdale. In this episode, the "Secatogue Nine" recount their traumatic journeys from their native countries in an effort to start a new life in Long Island, New York. Social unrest, domestic abuse, and gang violence are only a few examples of the trauma they experienced in their native countries. Facing such adversity, they made the courageous, and often life-altering decision to journey to America in hopes of escaping these experiences. How did these families come to settle in Farmingdale? What were the circumstances like back home? And what made them eventually leave their families behind and risk the long journey to the U.S.? Learn more at qpli.hofstra.edu This five-part podcast is the product of a multi-disciplinary collaboration between the National Center for Suburban Studies, the Law Reform Advocacy Clinic at the Maurice A. Deane School of Law at Hofstra University, and the Lawrence Herbert School of Communication's online hyper-local news site, The Long Island Advocate.

Qué Pasa, Long Island: Trailer

The focus of this five-part series is on an important housing discrimination case that unfolded in the early 2000s, culminating ten years ago – in 2014 - in an important victory for the tenants involved in the case. Latino immigrant residents, under the Fair Housing Act of 2006, successfully fought back an organized attempt by a developer and local officials to displace them from their homes in a residential housing complex in Farmingdale, New York. In the series, we explore several aspects of the case and how it developed over time, from a community organizing perspective to the legal strategy employed by the members of the Hofstra Law clinic who argued the case. In the process, we demonstrate how these experiences are not exclusive to this one particular community on Long Island. Ultimately, our objective in telling this complex story is to shed light on one aspect of the immigrant experience, particularly for Latinos in the U.S. Many of these immigrants migrated here after fleeing traumatic experiences back home. They took this extraordinary risk with the hopes of building new communities here in the U.S., in the best interest of their families. And in demonstrating how the Latino immigrant community has had to endure difficult, often traumatic circumstances here in the U.S., we hope to contextualize the anti-immigrant discourse that seems to make headlines almost daily. Learn more at qpli.hofstra.edu This five-part podcast is the product of a multi-disciplinary collaboration between the National Center for Suburban Studies, the Law Reform Advocacy Clinic at the Maurice A. Deane School of Law at Hofstra University, and the Lawrence Herbert School of Communication's online hyper-local news site, The Long Island Advocate.

Que Pasa, Long Island? The Story of The Secatogue Nine

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