Coming to PBS’s America ReFramed series on the WORLD Channel tonight, Tuesday, April 15: DEPUTIZED
Susan Hagedorn and Amanda Zinoman’s investigation of a brutal hate crime premiered at Hamptons Take 2 Doc in 2012. It has also screened at Durango, Arizona, and San Antonio.
In a Long Island community that has seen a rapid growth of a Latino immigrant population, and an increase in their scapegoating by elected officials, seven teens face hate crime manslaughter charges after beating Marcelo Lucero, an Ecuadorian man, to death. This tragic incident, the result of casual, random acts of violence pejoratively called “beaner hopping,” awakens awareness of other such crimes, under-reported when victims have been undocumented workers, and emboldens Lucero’s brother to become an advocate for his community. But Robert Conroy, the father of the supposed ringleader of the attack, takes issue with the media’s portrayal of his son. Hagedorn and Zinoman carefully balance their film, notably providing space for a multiplicity of perspectives, crafting an engaging and thought-provoking exploration of intolerance, scapegoating, and groupthink.
what (not) to doc 