NEW YORK.- December 17, 2007, was the fateful date in Yonkers is among the crimes which has most affected this suburb’s Hispanic community in the last few years.

Dominican restaurant worker Martin Antonio Perez was murdered in an attempted robbery while he tried to deliver an order from where he worked, with led to the arrest of several adolescents linked to area gangs, investigators said.

Aware that only from elected municipal posts an official can enact laws to deal with heightening violence, organized crime and drug trafficking with drastic measures to halt those crimes in the area, community activist and the victim’s sister Virginia Perez decided to enter local politics for the first time in her life two years ago. “Nobody opened their door, nobody called the police, somebody must have seen and heard something, but nobody moved a finger.”

Interviewed by El Nuevo Diario reporter Miguel Cruz Tejada, Perez recalls the tragic night in which her brother was slain. She blames people’s fear for the fact that no one intervened.

The victim was studying to become a member of the Fire Department and worked as a deliveryman. She said Martin wanted his son of seven months to enjoy his first Christmas without economic limitations. “This senseless violence must end and I’m on a mission to end it, so that my brother didn’t die in vain. Since that day I decided to enter public service to make a difference”

Her work has been so intense that she knocked on every door of the residents in her el district, prompting the powerful Democratic Machine to be set in motion, at once securing its support for her candidacy.