Archive for May, 2009
13-year-old wrongly convicted, imprisoned for 16 years
8:36 am By la Macha · children|Controversia|crime|race|Violence|youth · 1 Comment
7 May 2009VL has talked before about the injustices of prison in the U.S., including young teens being locked up for crimes for life with no chance of parole–a heinous and (in my opinion) illegal practice that should have died with Inquisition. Why, you ask? Take a look at the following video (here’s a printed version for those who don’t have video):
How much horrific could this man’s life possibly get? Imprisoned for 50 years at 13-years-old–except, wait a minute, you aren’t guilty?
What does a kid that is raised in a prison do once he’s released? When he’s been taught sexuality, relationships, reasoning skills, etc in a place that has been proven to encourage violence rather than end it?
Has he been raped in prison? Has he been beaten? Has he been taught that hitting women is a good way to prove he’s a man?
And outside of the supposition of violence, what does a person do when that person “graduated” from prison instead of high school? Or the university? What life will Thaddeus Jimenez be able to build for himself when sixteen years of his life has been stolen–because it seems so much easier to lock of up Latino kids and throw away the keys rather than find some alternative? Any alternative?
Gracias to BHSEC II
7:17 am By Maegan la Mamita Mala · Education|media justice|youth · 1 Comment
7 May 2009
La Mala would like to publicly thank the administration, staff (especially Katie), and most of the the students of BHSEC II right in my home hood of Queens, who had me and other amazing gente represent for the school’s first community day.
We all had some really interesting discussions about the media, language, race and gender. I think one of the most amazing moments, was talking about the possibilities for all people to be media makers, even without them realizing it, as media is really just a method to send information about different aspects of identity.
Whenever I do workshops with students, it makes me feel old, jaja. Pero most importantly it makes me feel good about the next generation of leaders, artists, and activist coming up. I think one of the biggest mistakes people make with working with students is not being real, not being honest, thinking that they can’t handle it. In reality, it’s the deception that the world feeds them, including well meaning adults, that they can’t handle and that leaves them ill-prepared to interact with the bigger world.
I look forward to meeting and working with some of you again.
Music Wednesday: Mahina Movement
12:10 pm By la Macha · media justice|Music|society|Women · Comments Off
6 May 2009Just discovered Mahina Movement, an awesome all woman group that is based in New York. From their website:
Mahina Movement is the phenomenal 3 women trio who combine poetry and song to create passionate music tied to flesh and bone, straight from the heart. Mahina Movement’s extraordinary melodies tell stories of the personal and political wrapped with courage, strength and awareness of human struggle and connection. 3 voices and one guitar blend into a powerful force, mixing folk, rock and rhymes in English, Spanish, and Tongan simmered with indigenous roots and culture. Mahina Movement’s rare sound and vision not only creates a raw, fierce artistic “movement” combining traditional and contemporary poetry, music, painting, theater, and ritual but also, is constantly generating a strong, steady “movement” for community—consisting of radical love, unstoppable activism and ruthless compassion.
I found this video online, which shows a bit of their song black and white/Jasmine. It cuts off at the end, but otherwise–wow. I love it.
The hypocrisy kills
11:31 am By la Macha · GLBT|Women · 4 Comments
6 May 2009Miss California, of the “gays can’t marry” infamy, just won’t go away. After lecturing the world on how God made marriage for a man and a woman, it has now been discovered that Miss California has semi-nude pictures floating around–oh, and those pictures are of her.
Now, I’m the very last person to sit judgment on women taking any type of pictures of herself. In fact, the reason I personally think the various beauty pageants out there are bullshit and deserve to be closed down is because of how they blatantly insinuate that virginity is what makes a woman beautiful. They play on the belief that a woman should be a virgin until she finds the right man–and then she should be a whore. Just for him.
So I sit no judgment on Miss California posing for pictures. BUT–I do wonder at the hypocrisy of a woman who poses semi-nude, prances around in front of huge audiences (which include men) half naked, gets breast implants (to be more alluring to men?), and also manages to say it’s against God’s will for gays to marry.
When did God say it was ok for women to be running around half naked with the object of giving men hard ons so the women can be dubbed most beautiful?
A little consistency might make me take Miss California more seriously.
VL’s La Mala Hitting the Calle Hoy
5:56 am By Maegan la Mamita Mala · Education|Events|youth · 1 Comment
6 May 2009I won’t be doing much posting today and it’s not because I’m nursing a Cinco de Mayo hangover.
I’m spending the day speaking to some high school students about media and identity politics.
So while I go to shape young minds, portanse bien.
Wry humor for the holiday
7:56 pm By la Macha · Arts|Immigration · Comments Off
5 May 2009This comic is making the rounds:
Yay for anything that rips on Evil Death Monster Lou Dobbs.
No, I Don’t Hate Mexicans on Cinco de Mayo.
12:57 pm By Maegan la Mamita Mala · history|holidays|Immigration|Marketing|Media|media justice|mexico|race|society · 7 Comments
5 May 2009
Earlier today, a gringo ex of mine sent me a text message wishing me a happy cinco de Mayo. Hmmm ok. I thanked him and then reminded him that I wasn’t really celebrating because:
A: I’m not Mexican and
B: I’m not a Mexican from Puebla.
See Cinco de Mayo is not Mexico’s Independence Day and not even all of Mexico celebrates it, because the holiday commemorates the Mexican army’s unlikely defeat of French forces at the Battle of Puebla.
Let’s make this comparison: most people in the U.S. celebrate 4th of July not the battle of Saratoga.
Pero an article making it’s way around suggests that Cinco de Mayo makes other Latinos hate Mexicans. Porque? Because it’s more proof that the Mexicans are taking over sillies! Cue the reconquista music please:
But for Dagoberto Reyes, a Salvadorian immigrant living in Los Angeles, May 5 is more a reminder of the dominance Mexican culture has in a country that is home to immigrants from many Latin American countries. His prime example: Los Angeles-area public schools.
“Our kids go to this school system, and the school system is more preoccupied with Mexico’s history, and not the rest of Latin America’s, much less El Salvador’s,” said Reyes, director of Casa de la Cultura, a Salvadorian community center. “They came back celebrating Cinco De Mayo. That holiday means nothing to us.”
Supreme Court Decision Helps The Future Somewhat, Doesn’t Change the Past
10:06 am By Maegan la Mamita Mala · Immigration|Justice|Labor|Politics · 4 Comments
5 May 2009
Yesterday, the Supreme Court issued a decision that could change how undocumented immigrants are treated under the law, specifically in reference to the use of social security numbers.
Today, almost a year since it was used to deport nearly 400 Latino immigrants after the ICE raid in Postville, the Supreme Court issued its decision on Flores-Figueroa vs. United States. Justice Breyer authored the opinion which explained that for aggravated identity theft, the defendant must have known they were misappropriating an actual person’s identity…Ignacio Flores-Figueroa was a Mexican immigrant working in an Illinois steel facility. Unbeknownst to him, the papers he had procured bore the name and number of an actual person. When he was caught, Ignacio pled guilty to the immigration charges but refused to accept the aggravating sentence of identity theft. While the 8th Circuit upheld the conviction, the Supreme Court’s decision today means that Ignacio will serve less time before he is deported.
Obama Says Happy Cinco de Mayo, Gives Props to Mexicans, Pero Doesn’t Say a Thing About Immigration
7:00 am By Maegan la Mamita Mala · Immigration|mexico · 6 Comments
5 May 2009Cinco De Mayo commemorates Mexican army’s defeat of French forces at the Battle of Puebla on May 5, 1862. It’s not a drinking game, gringos (damn, why I gotta go make everything racial).
President Obama made a statement yesterday about the holiday. In his statement, he speaks bad Spanish, gives props to Mexicans, especially for how they dealt with the whole swine flu thing. Pero me thinks that it was a missed opportunity for President Obama.
Cuban Music Legend Lashes Out at U.S. Government
2:44 pm By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · Cuba|Immigration|Music|Obama|Politics · 2 Comments
4 May 2009
Legendary singer-songwriter Silvio Rodríguez — arguably Cuba’s most celebrated musician — is lashing out at the United States government because they have allegedly denied him a visa to travel to the country. Rodríguez was set to perform at a tribute concert for U.S. folk musician Pete Seeger on his 90th birthday, but ICE seems to have impeded that. In a letter sent from Paris and published in Cuba’s Granma newspaper, Rodríguez states:
“It’s Friday, May 1st, 8:40 pm in Paris and I just visited the U.S. Embassy’s website for France where information about visa appications is published [...] mine is still pending, the same state it has been in since I first applied. Since today was the day I was to fly to New York and the visa hasn’t materialized, tomorrow I am going back to Havana.”
Rodríguez says that his visa limbo is “contradictory” to U.S. President Barack Obama’s promises of a closer relationship with Cuba. Granma reports that Rodríguez stated: “As a worker for Cuban culture, I still feel as blockaded and discriminated against as I do by other administrations [...] and I truly hope that changes someday.”
We do too, Silvio!
Via / El País
Hola!
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