Archive for January, 2009
Dear Colleagues, Supporters and Media Allies:
A sincere thank you for all your support during mine and Cynthia McKinney’s historic campaign this past year. I am booking now for Black History month, Women’s History month, Latino heritage month, Hip Hop Conferences, Symposiums, and Town Hall meetings.
Sincerely,
Rosa A. Clemente
http://myspace.com/rosaclemente
KNOW THY SELF PRODUCTIONS LLC, presents THE PATH OF MOST RESISTANCE TOUR 2009
EDUCATING, MOBILIZING AND ORAGANIZING THE NEW MAJORITY
Another Anti-Latino Hate Crime Hits the News Two Months After It Happened
7:01 am By Maegan La Mala · California|Immigration|Justice · 1 Comment
16 Jan 2009On November 19th of last year, a 19 year old Latino male was was knocked unconscious and then repeatedly stomped and kicked in the head by individuals who allegedly have ties to a white supremacist gang. The unidentified young man has permanent brain damage and is now in a long term care facility. In other words, his life will never be the same. The attack, which was clearly attempted murder, happened in Hemet, California, an area that has had a growing white white supremacist activity.
Crystal Lee McCann, 22, Derek Shane O’Brien, 22 and Darrin Peter Thibault, 24, were arrested between Dec. 19 and Thursday in connection with the Nov. 14 beating of a 19-year-old Latino whose name has not been released.
Thibault, arrested Dec. 19, has been arraigned on charges of attempted murder, membership in a criminal gang and assault with a deadly weapon other than a firearm, with gang, serious felony and great bodily injury allegations, according to court records.
McCann, arrested Dec. 26, has pleaded not guilty to attempting to dissuade a witness and gang allegations. She is to be arraigned Tuesday.
O’Brien was arrested Thursday on suspicion of attempted murder, violation of probation and membership in a criminal street gang. He is also to be arraigned Tuesday.
The first person arrested, Justin Tyme Hayes, 21, has been charged with attempted murder and participating in a criminal street gang, with serious felony, great bodily injury and gang activity allegations. He has pleaded not guilty.
U.S. Aiways Flight Plummets into Hudson River
5:56 pm By Maegan La Mala · New York City|society · Comments Off
15 Jan 2009
Plane crashes seems to fascinate people, and the fascination more than likely comes from the fact that the majority of them result in the deaths of hundreds of people. In fact, I can’t remember the last time I heard of a crash of a major commercial jetliner that didn’t result in mass casualties…until today. Amazingly, after ditching into the Hudson River this afternoon, U.S. Airways flight 1549 can boast zero casualties of passengers and crew:
“It was intense. It was intense. You’ve got to give it to the pilot. He made a hell of a landing,” Kolodjay said.The plane was submerged in the icy waters up to the windows when rescuers in Coast Guard vessels and ferry boats arrived, opened the door and pulled passengers in yellow life vests from the aircraft, whose fuselage appeared intact. The plane was sinking in the near-freezing water on one of the coldest days of the year, with the mercury around 20 degrees.
All of the crew and passengers were saved, and images of the downed jetliner look just like a boat with passengers disembarking como si nada. Pretty amazing.
The reason for the ditching (or crash, as most media is calling it)? Two birds stuck in the plane’s engine caused an explosion. Flight 1549 had left New York’s La Guardia airport and was bound for Charlotte, North Carolina.
Via / SFGate.com
Image via 20 Minutos, photographer Gary Hershorn / REUTERS
Mexican Televisa Attacked by Drug Cartels
1:04 pm By la Macha · mexico|New York City · Comments Off
15 Jan 2009
The news from Mexico’s “war on drugs” just keeps getting worse and worse. Now along with the beheadings, regular kidnappings, and other attacks, comes attacks on the media:
Editors at Televisa, the world’s most popular Spanish language network, were having a lively news meeting in the northern Mexican city of Monterrey when they heard a series of pops followed by a thunderous explosion. Running outside, the editors realized the top breaking news item had come straight to them. The pops were bullets sprayed from Kalashnikov automatic rifles directly into the facade of their offices. The blast was from a fragmentation grenade. Next to the debris was a message scrawled onto cardboard. “Stop just broadcasting us. Also broadcast the narco politicians,” it said.
Considering that Mexico already stands as one of the most dangerous countries for media to work in, it’s a little frightening to think that even mainstream media is being targeted. As of now, I have not found an English translation of a response from Calderon on these attacks–if his response is anything like it in the past–it will equal out to some growling and thumping on the chest before he goes back to sleep.
Oklahoma Tries to go English Only
12:34 pm By Maegan La Mala · Bilingualism|Immigration|language|midwest · 3 Comments
15 Jan 2009
While so much of the U.S. is focusing on the change that a new presidential administration is supposed to bring, Oklahoma lawmakers are trying something old and tired: to pass English only legislation.
Three members of the Oklahoma House and a state senator said Wednesday they will attempt to send a proposed constitutional amendment to Oklahoma voters that would make English the state’s official language.
They say it would save taxpayer money by not requiring the state to print documents, such as driver’s license tests, in foreign languages. They also say it would help legal immigrants assimilate into American society.
That’s right. They are actually trying to help immigrants, only the legal ones.
Gracias Oklahoma.
Via / Hispanic Tips, KJRH
Bolivia, Venezuela Cut Israel Ties in Protest
15 Jan 2009
Democracy Now! is reporting that Boliva has become the latest government to speak out against Israel’s military incursion into Gaza:
Bolivia, Venezuela Cut Israel Ties in Protest
Bolivia and Venezuela, meanwhile, have cut diplomatic ties with Israel in protest of the Gaza assault. Bolivian President Evo Morales also backed calls for investigating Israeli leaders.
Bolivian President Evo Morales: “The most serious international crimes should not go unpunished. Any government can back the investigation and punishment of these crimes. Bolivia, a sovereign state that shows it is against violence and respects life, will work with other governments and humanitarian organizations to ask for an investigation in international court for the crimes committed in the Gaza Strip by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and other members of the Israeli cabinet.”
I wonder what it is that makes me take Morales’s stance more seriously than Hugo Chavez. I (think) I trust where Morales is coming from in much the same way I (think) I trust Obama. I know that he’s, in the end, a political figure and prone to do really fucked up things the way all political figures are–but god, my faith in humanity would surge if just this once, a political figure would prove me wrong.
Catholics Converge on Mexico City to Discuss “Model Families”
9:50 am By Maegan La Mala · children|Family|GLBT|mexico|Religion|society|World · Comments Off
15 Jan 2009
If you’re sick and tired of the Christian Right and the Catholic Church forcing their idea of “family” — a unit made up of a man, a woman and some kids — on you, then you’d be better off not reading on. This week the infamous “Encuentro Mundial de las Familias” took place in Mexico City, and it was all traditional family model, all the time, with a whole lot of judgment and marginalization, as was to be expected. I mean, it is an event organized by the Vatican.
Here’s what church officials Ennio Antonelli and Marc Quellet had to say about gay families and those made up of unmarried couples:
The inaugural reception was over when, in the first talk given by the president of the Pope’s Family Council of the Vatican, Italian cardenal Ennio Antonelli said: “We think, and not only us, that the experience of living together between homosexuals should remain something private and within friendship relationships. Of course one can consider [these relationships] good or bad, that’s another story, but it should be considered a private relationship.”In addition, for the Archbishop of Québec, Marc Quellet, the “free unions” among homosexuals, but also among heterosexuals, should combatted by the Church and society itself, because they constitute a threat to “human ecology.”
Last Day to Vote for the DREAM Act
9:24 am By Maegan La Mala · Immigration|Internet|Politics · 1 Comment
15 Jan 2009Today, until 5 pm EST is the last chance for you to vote for change at Change.org.
VivirLatino is an official sponsor of voting for the DREAM Act. So you should vote too, for that and other issues that really will try and make the Obama administration about change.
On Friday Change.org will present the top 10 ideas to the Obama administration at the National Press Club in Washington, DC. We’ll then connect the winning ideas to leading nonprofits and launch a series of national advocacy campaigns to turn each idea into federal policy.
Ricardo Montalbán Passes at Age 88
7:24 am By Maegan La Mala · Celebrities · Comments Off
15 Jan 2009
Mexico City born Ricardo Gonzalo Pedro Montalbán Merino passed away yesterday in Los Angeles. Known to U.S. audiences from his role Fantasy Island, his unforgettable accent that he never tried to hide or change. Nor did he change his name, something many Latino actors did when he started acting in Hollywood in the 1940′s. He started acting in Mexican movies and continued to do so even after he made his Hollywood debut in 1947 in “Fiesta.”
That’s not to say that he wasn’t stereotyped, in fact I would argue that his accent and style made him ripe for the Latin lover stereotype who could make even Corinthian leather sound sssssexy.
Prayer Poem for Gaza
2:40 pm By la Macha · Gaza · 10 Comments
14 Jan 2009From the always amazing Suheir Hammad, comes the following prayer poem for Gaza.
gaza
a great miracle happened here
a festival of lights
a casting of lead upon children
an army feasting on epiphany
i know nothing under the sun over the wall no one mentions
some must die wrapped in floral petroleum blanket
no coverage
i have come to every day armageddon
a ladder left unattended
six candles burn down a house
a horse tied to smoke
some must die to send a signal
flat line scream live stream river a memory longer than life spans
the living want to die in their country
no open doors no open seas no open
hands full of heart five daughters wrapped in white
each day jihad
each day faith over fear
each day a mirror of fire
the living want to die with their families
the girl loses limbs her brother gathers arms
some must die for not dying
children on hospital floor mother beside
them the father in shock this is my family
i have failed them this is my family i did
not raise their heads i have buried them
my family what will i do now my family is bread
one fish one people cut into pieces
there is a thirst thefts life
there is a hunger a winter within winter
some must die to bring salvation
i have come to end times always present
the woman lost parents her children and screams
my sister i have lost my sister i want to die
my sister’s eyes were honey her voice mine
i can’t face this only god only god my sister
medics killed schools hit convoys bombed
the injured are dying the dead are buried in three
hours the people pray together and curse the people
mourn loud and quiet always too loud not enough
some must die because they are the vicinity
some must die because it was written
no army does not apologize has never
apologized authority chases paper assembly
occupation settles deeper
a great miracle here
the living are dying and the dying living
a festival of lights
a strip a land a blaze
the sea a mirror of fire
a casting of lead upon children
their heads roll off their shoulders into streets
their tops spin in hands
an army feasting on epiphany
driving future into history
carrying torches into women
–By Suheir Hammad
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.
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