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Archive for November 24th, 2006

A moving story brings victory for janitors

5:42 pm By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · Health| Justice| Labor · 1 Comment

24 Nov 2006

A group of janitors in Houston have won a tentative case for higher pay and health insurance, helped by the SEIU (Service Employees International Union). The win comes after the moving testimony before attorneys and executives during which one Salvadoran janitor, Ercilia Sandoval (see video), told her story of battling cancer without health coverage:

Last September Sandoval began feeling worn out on the job. She scrubbed bathroom fixtures through headaches and fevers, emptied trash cans with sore arms and a tight back. Lacking health insurance, she couldn’t afford to see a doctor. Nearly a year passed before she forked over $200 for a consultation. A mammogram confirmed her worst fears: She suffered from advanced-stage breast cancer. Yet hospitals in Houston wouldn’t treat her because she was uninsured. She waited two months to be approved for state disability coverage. In June, doctors finally began chemotherapy treatments but say she probably has only a few months to live.

Read more…

obama-wireimage.jpgWhile many liberals anxiously await the announcement that Illinois senator Barack Obama will make a bid for the presidency in 2008, some Latinos are up in arms over Obama’s support of the proposed fence on the U.S. Mexico border:

Hispanic leaders say he has betrayed the trust of the people who always gave him their votes.

“He’s lost his vision; he’s lost his feet on the ground,” said Hispanic leader Carmen Velasquez.

Obama is being criticized after siding with Republicans in the Senate to approve a 700-mile wall across the Mexican border. The vote happened almost two months ago.

Obama defended his position, saying “I am confident that, if you look at my track record, there hasn’t been a stronger friend to the Latino community than me.” Chicago’s CBS2 reports that Obama met with Latino leaders in Illinois and assured them that the vote was “part of a larger strategy”.

Via / CBS2 Chicago and Hispanic Tips

El Caballero de la Salsa Declares His Opposition to Iraq War

3:00 pm By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · Celebrities| Politics · Comments Off

24 Nov 2006

GilbertoSantaRosa%2C%20Anais%20003.jpgWhile Gilberto Santa Rosa celebrated his 30 year salsa career at Madison Square Garden, he took time out to tell the crowd his opinion on the escalating crisis in Iraq.

We have many of our fellow countrymen fighting in this absurd war…and the best Christmas will be when they return. I am speaking for the innocents who are fighting and dying over there on both sides.

The Latin Grammy winner and featured artist on the new Cocorocos album has spoken in public about his position against the war in Iraq before, specifically at a concert in Puerto Rico earlier this year.

Via / El Diario/La Prensa

bostonu.jpgMost people know that $250 won’t you that far in any college or univeristy these days, but the amount offered by the College Republican’s of Boston Univeristy vie their Caucasian Achievement and Recognition Scholarship isn’t really the point.

The application itself offers an explanation: “We believe that racial preferences in all their forms are perhaps the worst form of bigotry confronting America today.”

According to Joe Mroszczyk, president of the College Republicans, his group is offering the scholarship to point out “how ridiculous it is to have any sort of racially based scholarship.”

Of course this hardly addresses the real issue behind affirmative action, the disadvantage that people of color and women have from jump because they are people of color and women, combined with poorer quality educational resources available to people of color. But we all know racism and sexism aren’t that serious anymore, right?

Via / ABC News

Image Via / Boston University News


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VivirLatino is a daily publication published by 2 Mujeres Media, dedicated to featuring all the latest politics, culture, entertainment of interest to the diverse and influential Latino and Latina community in the U.S.

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