Archive for July, 2010
On These Shoulders We Stand
3:50 pm By la Macha · California|GLBT · 2 Comments
19 Jul 2010So far, I’ve only made it through the first two parts of this documentary–but it’s so good, I had to share. Usually, most of us in the LGBT/queer community know all about Stonewall and the organizing in the East. It’s more rare to really know anything at all about the organizing in the West, much less organizing that queer Latin@s and people of color did. This is fabulous. Espcially stay on the look out for Nancy Valverde!
On These Shoulders We Stand tells the stories of 11 older members of the Los Angeles lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community from the 1950s into the early 1980s. According to the filmmakers, the documentary, showing at film festivals around the country, “brings to light Los Angeles’ significant, yet hidden, role in U.S. gay history by interweaving first-person accounts with narration and seldom-seen archival materials.”
The producers want to spread the word that “not everything began with Stonewall.”
The 11 participants in the film, directed by Glenne McElhinney, are:
Dr. Maria Dolores Diaz: Activist in the Chicano and Feminist Rights Movement.
Nancy Valverde: A barber who was arrested and jailed many times.
Kevin Thomas: Los Angeles Times writer and film critic.
Dr. Marsha Epstein: Founding physician at the Herself Feminist Women’s Health Center.
Dale Reynolds: Hollywood actor, founder of Gay Actors Rap in Los Angeles.
Margo Strik: A graphic artist, active in Southern California Women for Understanding.
Miki Jackson: Friend of Morris Kight, early volunteer at the Gay Community Services Center.
Ivy Bottini: A founding member of the National Organization for Women.
Don Norman: Came out at a very early age in Los Angeles, Chemical Dependency Counselor.
Troy Perry: A Pentecostal Preacher, founded Metropolitan Community Church, in Los Angeles.
Mia Yamamoto: Attorney, Los Angeles Public Defenders Office.
ETA: Apparently there are only two clips! I thought that the whole documentary was online, I guess not! Anyway, the two clips are really good–they point to a really important time in our history and they highlight non-white folks, which I think is especially important. If white LGBT folks don’t know much about their history, non-whites know even less. So it’s good that they have multiple communities highlighted.
Monday Movie : Yo Soy Lloréns
12:10 pm By Maegan La Mala · housing|Puerto Rico · 1 Comment
19 Jul 2010The seven part short film, Yo Soy Lloréns, came to my attention via Facebook and I was really struck. The short clips all focus on life in the largest housing project in the Antilles, Lloréns Torres, in Santurce, Puerto Rico.
The reason why this series affected me is that when I was child, spending many of my holidays in Puerto Rico in the house of my Stepmother’s family in Santurce, Lloréns Torres was right across the street. I and the other children were warned to never to speak to anyone on the stress because they might be from there and we were taught to be wary of stray bullets, especially on New Year’s Eve. There was so much fear put in us over a caserio, a project, even though the only thing that separated “us” from “them” was a bit of concrete and iron gates. When I became politicized, I revisited Lloréns Torres through poetry and as an adult, traveled to Santurce and through Lloréns Torres with my then small daughter.
Can a Law Stop Racial Profiling
8:44 am By Maegan La Mala · race · 4 Comments
19 Jul 2010In the late 1990′s, when racial profiling, especially framed in terms like “driving while black”, was in the headlines, Congressmen like John Conyers spoke out about the possibility of legislation aimed at stopping racial profiling. Now, ten or so years later, House Judiciary Chairman John Conyers Jr. and Judiciary Subcommittee on Constitution,
Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties Chairman Jerrold Nadler introduced H.R. 5748, End Racial Profiling Act of 2010 (ERPA).
This bill is being introduced in the context of the rising use of police tactics like stop and frisk in NYC and of course laws like Arizona’s SB1070 which make it suspicious to be alive while brown.
From the official press release announcing the legislation late last week:
“The debate over racial profiling has become a central element in a much larger history of adversarial relationships between the police and communities of color,” Conyers said. “Over the past two decades, the tensions between police and minority
communities have grown as allegations of racial profiling by law enforcement agents, sometimes supported by data collection
efforts, have increased in number and frequency. The recent passage of Arizonaʼs new immigration law has crystallized the terms
of the profiling debate and demonstrates that the combination of racial discrimination and law enforcement represents a volatile
mix across all strata of the minority community. In 2001, we achieved a bipartisan consensus with the Bush administration in
support of profiling legislation and hope that we can rebuild that momentum in support of this long overdue federal action.”
I was originally going to make all of this week’s morning musica posts related to Las Vegas given that I will be heading out there for Netroots Nation (more on that later) pero when I heard this jam via Remezcla, I decided to go with this. You really have to listen to the lyrics and apologies for my non-Spanish speaking peeps. Calma Pueblo which can be translated as “stay Calm Community/town/my people”, makes reference to the Puerto Rican governor’s mass firing of workers on the island, mass media misinformation, using corporate sponsorship, the Vatican as a mafia, and using music a voice of the people.
Border Volleyball
10:23 am By la Macha · Immigration · 1 Comment
18 Jul 2010Thursday, July 13th, 2006: On the San Diego-Tijuana border American’s Brent and Josh initiate an impromptu volleyball game with two formidable opponents: Jerry and Eric. Playing over the dividing pylons between the two nations, the Americans ponder the implications of their game on U.S. customs law.
Some Native Tribes in Arizona Will Not Enforce SB1070
10:18 am By Maegan La Mala · arizona|Immigration · 6 Comments
18 Jul 2010Before there was the state of Arizona, before U.S. colonial westward expansion, and before the Spanish even, the land now known as Arizona was populated by indigenous nations and tribes and some of those tribes are rejecting the imposition of SB1070.
Many tribes within the Arizona state borders say that they had no input into the law and it’s implementation and how SB1070 would negatively impact their community, many whose identity crosses with the mestizaje of many Latinos. Indigenous communities across the United States, additionally, never asked to become citizens of the United States. As lands were taken, so were they and now many are angry that they have to prove that they “belong”.
Navajo Nation Councilman Delegate Kee Allen Begay, Jr. said Arizona’s new law violates the civil rights of members of the Navajo Nation, the largest Native American tribe in the U.S. He said tribal members will be disproportionately targeted because some police might conclude that they are Hispanic.
“In a way, the immigration bill is an attempt to harass Native Americans,” Begay said. “When we are pulled over or stopped we are usually pulled over and asked for our IDs. Sometimes we do not carry those things, and perhaps at that time we will have difficulty proving we are Native American.”
Begay said the new immigration law does nothing positive for Native Americans. He hypothetically asked what non-Native Americans would think of a bill they perceived as targeting them for their ethnic appearance.
“What if we had a law that said whenever a white person is traveling through the Navajo Reservation, we have reasonable suspicion that they’re carrying drugs? Where would the outcry on that be?” Begay asked. “We were here before anyone else, before any white people, and now we’re going to be questioned about being here legally?”
Inspired by Obama, Governator Sends National Guard to Cali/Mexico Frontera
6:13 am By Maegan La Mala · California|Immigration · 1 Comment
18 Jul 2010In Obama’s last speech on immigration, he said with great pride that his administration had more boots on the ground at the U.S./Mexico border than during any other presidential administration. Two months ago, Obama ordered an additional 1,200 National Guard troops to the border to crack down on drug smugglers.
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is using the same line to send 224 California National Guard members to back up Obama’s 1,200.
Interestingly enough, the last time Schwarzenegger sent guard members to the border was in 2006, when there was an immigration reform bill was presented in the Senate and died there.
Already we have seen what additional boots on the ground at the Frontera has meant for those crossing and those living in border communities.
English Only as Support for Arizona’s SB1070
7:09 pm By Maegan La Mala · Illinois|language · 4 Comments
17 Jul 2010While some cities and states are writing copycat laws to show their support for Arizona’s SB1070, which goes into effect in less than two weeks, some towns are using English first/English only legislation to promote anti-immigrant nativism.
The bustling township of Homer, Illinois, population 30,000, with 12 percent Latinos, passed a resolution last week making English it’s official language. They have never had an issue with immigration and all of the town’s official documents have always been printed in one language, English. The resolution was passed without opposition as a way to show support for Arizona’s SB1070 and like laws.
“We recognize Native Americans had the first language in our Country, followed by Western European dialects, with English eventually becoming dominant,” the resolution reads in part. “The Homer Township Board supports actions to enforce existing Immigration law, enforce residency requirements in our school districts, and acknowledge that English the dominant language of Homer Township.”
Utah State Employees Behind “Undocumented Immigrant List”
5:09 pm By Maegan La Mala · Immigration|utah · 1 Comment
17 Jul 2010The “anonymous” group behind the list of over 1,000 suspected undocumented immigrants released in Utah last week isn’t so anonymous anymore.
At least two Utah state employees have been identified as being behind “the list” that included the names, addresses, birth dates, due dates, social security numbers, and places of employment of 1,300 “suspected” undocumented immigrants including about 200 children.
The workers, whose ironically have not have their names released, were employed by the Department of Workforce Services. There also may be 3 to 10 other state employees involved.
Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff said that in addition to the state charges the two would be facing, there is the possibility of Federal felony level charges as well.
Gov. Gary Herbert also said that the state of Utah would not investigate any of the names of the people on “the list” but did not dismiss the possibility that the Federal government could and at publication date I.C.E. has not said that they will not use the list.
For those who say that anti-immigrant sentiment isn’t racialized as “brown”, the majority of the names on “the list”, some belonging to people who have since come forward and are not undocumented, are Latino.
Via / The Salt Lake Tribune
LGBT Orgs and Catholic Bishops Reiterate Support for Immigration Reform
11:32 am By Maegan La Mala · GLBT|Immigration|Religion · 1 Comment
16 Jul 2010A coalition led by U.S. LGBT organizations and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) issued separate (of course) statements in favor of comprehensive immigration reform.
Yesterday, a joint statement was released praising efforts by lawmakers to get Uniting American Families Act (UAFA) language as part of any comprehensive immigration reform bill.
Today’s united front in support of UAFA – with key lawmakers from the Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC); Congressional Black Caucus (CBC), Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus (CAPAC); Congressional Progressive Caucus and Congressional LGBT Equality Caucus – could not be more urgent for the families who are facing separation, or already living in exile, because of our country’s discriminatory immigration laws. An estimated 17,000 young children are being raised by LGBT parents in binational families and those children face the very real possibility of losing a parent, or leaving the only country they have ever called home. The United States can do better, and we stand with these courageous Members of Congress who are leading the way to ensure these families can be together.
This comes a long way from when Gutierrez’s CIR ASAP bill first came to light WITHOUT UAFA language, likely a move meant to keep evangelical support for the bill.
Hola!
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