Archive for November, 2008
La Lucha Sigue Sigue : Marcelo Lucero Vive Vive
1:39 pm By Maegan La Mala · Immigration|Justice|New York · 1 Comment
21 Nov 2008
Excuse me if I have little sympathy for parents at a meeting at Patchogue-Medford High School, where the accused in the racist hate driven murder in the death of Marcelo Lucero, especially one who yelled :
“What are we doing to make sure the media doesn’t grab our kids to be interviewed?” and then many parents screamed and confronted the Newsday reporter–who was escorted out even though she was given permission to attend.
I have little sympathy because these parents and so many others like them were not and still are not screaming the way I and other Latinos have been screaming for years: “What are we doing to make sure that my neighbor, lover, father of my child, tio, hijo, familia and comunidad are not grabbed to be killed.”
Marcelo Lucero’s story, sadly is not a new one. It is one of many instances of hate fueled by anti-immigrant policy and rhetoric coming from both ends of the political spectrum. The fact that Marcelo is another Mannuel Mayi is the reason why I take no issue with calling Marcelo an immigrant, while some Latino blogs have taken issue with that labeling. When Marcelo was targeted for death, the killers didn’t ask to see his papers or engage in conversation to hear if he spoke with an accent. He was tagged a Latino which has been made to equal immigrant which has been made to equal not having the right to exist. It didn’t matter what Latin American country Marcelo came from. It mattered that he was “other”, the way my own children can be othered by the color of their skins and their names.
Make Up Your Minds About Latina Women and Their Uteruses
11:39 am By Maegan La Mala · children|Health|Immigration|Politics|Women · Comments Off
21 Nov 2008
You can’t have it both ways. You cannot in one breath say that abortions are the cause of illegal immigration and criticize a woman’s decision to have a child outside of marriage especially if both decisions are based in “American uteruses”. You can’t pick and choose your female reproductive organs.
Latina Congresswoman Linda Sanchez is receiving criticism for her decision to have a child for the simple reason that she is not legally married.
Twenty years ago, it simply wouldn’t have been possible — pregnant, single and a member of Congress? Oh, the scandal! But Hester Prynne has morphed into Juno MacGuff . . . and “unwed mother” has been recast as “single mom.”
Who do we have to thank for that? Thousands, from Madonna to Dan Quayle. In 1992, Quayle waged moral warfare on the sitcom character “Murphy Brown” — famous, rich, single and pregnant. . . . And, of course, Bristol Palin.
Yes I am One of Those People : I Saw Twilight Last Night
9:39 am By Maegan La Mala · Movies · 4 Comments
21 Nov 2008
I have been accused of not having enough of a sense of humor, pero as a mami to a pre-teen chica, a sense of humor is all you got, especially in a theatre full of pre-teens and teens at midnight swooning over teen vampires in love. Yes, I saw Twilight last night.
My 11 year old had read all the books (and so have I- pero I always read what she reads so we can discuss etc), so she just had to be at the local movie theater’s first showing at 12:01 early this morning/late last night to get her some Edward Cullen and she wasn’t the only one.
Do Not Watch While Eating Breakfast : Sarah Palin and the Decapitcated Turkeys
7:39 am By Maegan La Mala · Alaska|Women · 2 Comments
21 Nov 2008Regular readers know of my dislike (to put it mildly) of the Thanksgiving holiday. Pero if I needed a reason to not celebrate, it could very well be this video of the once starry eyes U.S. VP hopeful, Alaska’s Governor Sarah Palin going on and on about the holiday as turkeys are being killed behind her. It’s like a scene out of a horror movie.
Cuz La Macha Can’t Take Even One More Second Of Bad News
2:57 pm By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · Celebrities · Comments Off
20 Nov 2008The bad news just keeps piling up higher and higher, and as such, I will share with you my primary coping strategy. I recently discovered the quaint blog, Cisoto Fotos, a blog that caters to the “shirtless male celebrities from all over the world”–with a primary focus on Latinos (prolly not safe for work).
It features photos like this:
Who is Paulo Quevedo? Who the hell knows? All I know is that when I am finished surfing CF’s for the day, I always feel better–no matter how gray, nasty, snowy, and violently cold it is outside. Leather is a great way to stay warm and happy, don’t you think?
Spain hiring soldiers from Latin America
2:09 pm By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · Latin America · Comments Off
20 Nov 2008
So, the U.S. isn’t the only nation that hires poverty stricken people to do the job citizens don’t want to do or refuse to do. Spain, who recently turned to an all volunteer army, is currently struggling to make recruitment quotas for their military. So who are they turning to? Latin America:
For these soldiers from mostly poor countries like Ecuador and Bolivia, the advantages are clear: a steady monthly salary of $1,300, which is not that bad by Spanish standards and rises significantly with overseas assignments, and the possibility of obtaining Spanish citizenship.
“Who would have thought I would end up taking part in missions with the Spanish army? It is odd, different. But it has opened up a lot of doors for me,” said Dalton Rafael Jimenez, a 22-year-old Ecuadorean who has been in the Spanish army for nearly three years.
The question I have about all these rich Western countries hiring Latin@s to run their military is: What effect does training whole generations of Latin@s in the ways of the military have on the women in their lives? Especially seeing as those people who suffer from PTSD are much more inclined to be abusive and violent towards partners?
Transgender Day of Rememberance
20 Nov 2008Little Light breaks it down:
The Day of Remembrance is ours, and it is sacred. It is the one day we set aside to honor those in our community, overwhelmingly poor trans women of color, who were killed due to bigotry and hatred. It is a single day in the year where we make certain that the names of the murdered are heard and held up, so we can all remember that these people mattered, were real, were loved, and are missed. It’s a day to gather the community together and call attention to the violence directed against us and the caring we have for each other. It came from us. It was built by us. It was never supposed to be flashy or glitzy. It is a solemn mourning for the dead, a place to hold hands, and a promise to those who violence took away from us that we who are still living will hold together, take care of each other, and push forward together into a world where that violence is only a painful memory…
…My right to stay alive is more of a priority than my right to get legally married. And right now, as this society and its culture and its legal system stand, I’m one of many people who don’t have either right. You want to fight for my right to marry? Wonderful. Thank you. But those hours protesting, those donations, all that outrage and community support and work–I’d prefer they went, for a start, to keeping me alive out here. And I think the “GLBTQ” community in the United States, such as it is, needs to take a long, hard look at why they have money and time to fight Measure 8, but nothing to give but silence, co-opting, and more requests for us to pipe down and lighten up when it comes to the more than monthly murder of trans people. Show us our lives and deaths matter to you. Show us you acknowledge that the violence against us is worth paying attention to, that our dead were real people who deserved far better, and that our living shouldn’t have to live in fear.
San Diego to Clean Out It’s Jails With Help of ICE
11:04 am By Maegan La Mala · Immigration|san diego · 1 Comment
20 Nov 2008
My mentor Richie Perez said once that people of color are the raw material/human fodder for the machine that is the prison industrial complex. And when that machine gets clogged what do you do? You take a page from San Diego County, California and clean up with the help not of Joe the Plumber, but ICE.
San Diego County recently announced that it would soon be partnering with ICE and dedicating its energy to identifying immigrants in jail for deportation. ICE unveiled its new program – The Secure Communities Program – in March 2008. It gives jails access to ICE and FBI databases so that they can identify inmates who lack legal status or have a criminal history and then turn them over to ICE for deportation. Through this new initiative, ICE plans to eventually have a presence in every one of the 3,100 local jails throughout the U.S.
Colombia Attempting to Appeal to Green Guilt Side of Anglo Coke Users
9:00 am By Maegan La Mala · Colombia|Drugs|Environment · Comments Off
20 Nov 2008
Since being green is in, the Colombian government is trying to appeal to the environmentalist side of the British cocaine users by telling them how bad the stuff is for the environment.
These people, who have good jobs and drive a hybrid car or cycle to work because they care about the environment, may go to party and do some lines of coke and they are thinking it is no problem,” Francisco Santos told The Associated Press Tuesday. “They are absolutely unaware of the ecological impact of their drug taking and we want to change that.”
Obama’s Attorney General Pick, Holder, Has a Latin American Problem
8:55 am By Maegan La Mala · Latin America|Politics · Comments Off
20 Nov 2008
The would be Attorney General, Eric Holder, has a questionable relationship with Latin American politics. First:
Holder is defense lawyer for Chiquita Brands international in a case in which Colombian plaintiffs seek damages for the murders carried out by the AUC paramilitaries – a designated terrorist organization. Chiquita has already admitted in a criminal case that it paid the AUC around $1.7 million in a 7-year period and that it further provided the AUC with a cache of machine guns as well.
Hola!
VivirLatino is a daily publication published by Mamita Mala Media, dedicated to featuring all the latest politics, culture, entertainment of interest to the diverse Latin@ diaspora.
About | Advertise with us | Contact | Twitter
blog advertising is good for you
blog advertising is good for you
- vikki: I'm so sorry for your loss. Warm wishes, vikki [...]
- Scrying Nicki Minaj, Stupid Hoe, and #Afrofutures | Nuñez Daughter: [...] forest of things that seem to matter a lot–like  fingers waving in presidential faces [...]
- Karen: http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2012/01/09/120109fa_fact_auletta [...]
- Karen: I just read this about Rubio. Let's see the GOP make him a VP nominee. LOL http://www.democraticu [...]
- Martes Media Minute : Roe v. Wade Anniversary, Medicaid Mama y Midwife Victory, Cervical Cancer Awareness month, & Mala’s Mami Closeup, | VivirLatino: [...] last week’s liveblog of a conversation on cervical cancer and Latin@s, Bianca Laureano s [...]
- Sexy Singing and Scary Primetime TV Latino Stereotypes : Glee & The River
- Explaining the Sudden Hiatus
- Eye on the Florida Primary : Mirror on the Wall, Who is the Most Anti-Immigrant of All?
- Live Blog/Tweet of Obama’s SOTU Address Tonight 8:45 EST
- Martes Media Minute : Roe v. Wade Anniversary, Medicaid Mama y Midwife Victory, Cervical Cancer Awareness month, & Mala’s Mami Closeup,
- VL Pelicula Giveaway!
- Today at 1 pm EST : Conversation on Latinas and Cervical Cancer
- Today in Latin@ History : Birthday of Martha P. Cotera
- Mistaking Immigration Proposals for Policy in an Election Year
- Casa Blanca Camino 2012: DREAMing of Hypocrisy in Iowa
