Archive for February, 2011
Stats on Hate Crimes Against Latinos Likely Undercounted Due to Deportation Fears
11:59 am By Maegan La Mala · Immigration|Secure Communities|Women · 1 Comment
28 Feb 2011In an interview with NotiMex, the Vice-President of the National Council of la Raza, Lisa Navarrete, said that the stats on hate crimes against Latinos are an underestimate and part of that is because many of the undocumented who are the targets of anti-Latino and anti-Latino attacks are afraid of being deported.
The FBI statistics have shown a decrease in hate crimes against Latinos. In 2007, there were 830 reported hate crimes against Latinos. In 2008 the number dropped to 792. In the last year that data is available for, 2009, the number of reported and recognized hate crimes against Latinos is 692.
The latest threat, especially to immigrant women, is hidden in a program with a misleading name, Secure Communities. According to a recent article in Women’s eNews :
While federal law protects crime victims from having to reveal their immigration status, if these victims are arrested or have been arrested in the past Secure Communities now discloses that.
This can affect victims in a scenario where a police officer arrives at the home and can’t communicate with the couple. Police may arrest both parties or even arrest the victim if the abuser speaks English and twists the series of events that led to the police call.
This is not theory. We have already seen it happen.
Where’s The Pro-Union/Worker Outrage? Entire Leadership of Puerto Rican Teachers Federation (FMPR) Fired from their Teaching Positions
10:13 am By Maegan La Mala · Education|Labor|Puerto Rico · 2 Comments
27 Feb 2011I hate to be the mean one, really (ok maybe not) but reading the outrage over the lack of mainstream media coverage over the masive pro-union, pro-worker, pro-gente rally in Wisconsin yesterday again had me thinking about Puerto Rico, also part of the United States. Anti-union, anti-worker, and anti-gente moves by a Governor who would be/could be a “tea party” poster child, and his administration, have been largely ignored in the U.S. media and even in the independent “progressive” media.
One of the latest actions was the firing of the entire leadership (11 people) of the Puerto Rican Teachers Federation (FMPR) from their teaching positions by Puerto Rican Education Secretary Jesús Rivera Sánchez. The union’s president, Rafael Feliciano, together with the ten other dismissed leaders, had their teaching licenses permanently revoked, blocking them from exercising their profession in public and private systems.
The FMPR is an independent democratic social justice justice union that has defied their version of the repressive Taylor Law (Law 45) and have had successful strikes and continuously organizes walk-outs with parents, students and communities against the horrible school conditions.
Calle 13 Kicks It at Viña del Mar
8:44 am By Maegan La Mala · Chile|GLBT|Music · 8 Comments
25 Feb 2011Not having satellite television means missing out on the Festival de Viña del Mar en Chile. While some of the lesser known artists can be reminiscent of a bad American Idol audition video, when the stars come out on stage they really shine. Case in point Calle 13. And as much as I want to dislike some of their sexist messaging, there are times like two nights ago at la Quinta Vergara where they make you go hmm.
Not only did they call out homophobia, which has been in the headlines in Chile recently, including criticism at the Festival itself, but Residente, also had a message for the Mapuche written on his back. Now this last action, reminded me of Lady Gaga’s so called pro-DREAM act act where wearing a tee shirt = activism. But who knows if Residente’s body graffiti made people google Mapuche.
Plus, They performed with Inti-Illimani and the song Latinoamérica felt especially powerful in that place.
Check it…
Via / Digital Girl
More on UPR Protests : Police Return to Campus on Governor’s Orders
12:10 pm By Maegan La Mala · Education|Puerto Rico · 1 Comment
24 Feb 2011The police have officially returned to the University of Puerto Rico at Rio Piedras on the orders of Governor Luis Fortuño. This is the regular police, who according to William Ramirez of the Puerto Rican ACLU, have actually never left the campus.
According to El Nuevo Dia, the riot police have not been called to campus but remain on alert and nearby in case, according to Fortuño, “A violent group tries to bring violence and intolerance to the University”.
There were incidents of violence on campus yesterday due to some students blocking at least one entrance to the campus as part of a a strike action. The incident that I witnessed via video was a professor physically attacking students blocking the entrance and students responding in self-defense. The governor has called the student strike a “dictatorship”.
The violence of the police against the student protesters is the focus of close scrutiny of the Puerto Rican ACLU which released a report calling the situation a human rights crisis (PDF file).
The Not So Silent ICE Raid in Mississippi
8:21 am By Maegan La Mala · Immigration|Mississippi · 16 Comments
24 Feb 2011There has been much talk of the Obama administration moving towards more “silent” immigration raids, that is targeting workplaces. The perception and narrative is that targeting immigrants and their employers in this way is kinder and gentler. But the reality looks more like what went down in the Jackson, Mississippi metro area this past weekend.
ICE agents were “knocking on doors, saying they were selling Avon or with Domino’s,” said Glenda Arevalo, who lives in the complex. “They said, ‘Come out, come out, y’all are going back to your country.’”
When some responded they were in the country legally, she said ICE agents replied, “We don’t care. You’re going with us.”
Angella Rector said she saw an ICE agent put a gun against the head of one Hispanic and say, “If you move motherf—er, we’re going to kill you.”
The father of her three young children was among those arrested by agents, she said. “He was in his boxers. They told him, ‘You’re f—ing illegal.’”
Her husband is being taken back to Mexico, she said. “Now I have to raise the kids by myself.”
Puerto Rico’s ACLU Identifies Pattern and Practice of Abuse Against UPR Students
9:19 am By Maegan La Mala · Justice|Puerto Rico · 7 Comments
22 Feb 2011Last night I attended an educational meeting at the Julia de Burgos Cultural Center in el Barrio NYC that featured William Ramirez, Executive Director of the American Civil Liberties Union in Puerto Rico. The meeting was to update those in solidarity with the students and other protesters in Puerto Rico as to what is happening on the ground and what are some possible next steps, in terms of fighting back against the brutality that has been unleashed upon students exercising their constitutional rights.
Ramirez lamented the lack of U.S. media coverage of the goings on and expressed how Al Jazeera and the BBC have both been on the ground in Puerto Rico demonstrating that the international media seems more interested than U.S. media (a complaint VivirLatino shares). Ramirez urged the audience that grew to about 75 people, to compare how police in Wisconsin are treating protesters and the media coverage given to those actions to how police are treating protesters in Puerto Rico and media coverage (or lack thereof).
In response to the U.S. media ignoring the situation and various gag rules that have been put on students by the University of Puerto Rico, the students have rallied behind the slogan “Callar Jamas” – Never Silenced. Certainly the videos, images and first hand accounts circulating via social media and independent media networks is proof of this slogan in action.
Read more…
Monday Musical Interlude : ¡NOTA!
21 Feb 2011Ay so much politica is making my head hurt a little so I bring you this musical break featuring ¡NOTA,, a Puerto Rican a capella group with with version of “My Girl”.
Some people will think that redoing this classic song is disrespectful and I am a little concerned about the musical trend of adding a bachata rhythm to everything but still I thought it was kinda sweet.
This Wednesday in NYC : HISPANIC PANIC!, TRANSFORMATIONS
3:17 pm By Maegan La Mala · Culture|Events|GLBT|Linking Latinos|New York City · 1 Comment
21 Feb 2011HISPANIC PANIC!, New York City’s most avant-garde and experimental Latino reading series, has been featured on CUNY-TV’s Spanish-language culture show “Nueva York,” as well as in the Daily News. Shrugging off the icy world around us, six Latino/a writers and poets are set to share their stories of change and metamorphosis—sexually, artistically, and spiritually.
Readers include the NYC-area poets and writers Ema Lia, Tomas Rafael Montalvo, Consuelo Arias, Brittany Maldonado, and Miguel Angeles. Our featured guest reader will be novelist and writer Vanessa “La Loba” Martir, who is the curator of the successful La Loba reading series in Soho. Come experience the edge of the queer/Latino avant-garde for yourself!
Cheap drinks, great music, and even better people.
Organized and hosted by Charlie Vázquez
Info: http://www.firekingpress.com/
When : Wednesday, February 23 · 7:30pm - 10:30pm
Where : Nowhere 322 E 14th St (1st/2nd) – 21+ – free
Latinos, Immigrant Advocates Nationwide Send Unambiguous Message in Light of Brisenia’s Murder: Stop the Hate, We are Watching
12:55 pm By Maegan La Mala · arizona|Immigration|Justice · 1 Comment
21 Feb 2011VivirLatino is a proud endorser of the statement below.
The guilty verdict in the case against Shawna Forde is not justice, as it doesn’t bring little Brisenia Flores or her father, Raul, back from the dead. The verdict will not stop hate crimes, it will not stop the waves of anti-Latino and anti-immigrant laws being presented across the country. But yes we are watching, we are taking note and taking action(s).
From Presente.org
Thursday, February 17th, 2011, Tucson, Arizona – As Latinos and immigrant rights advocates from all over the United States applaud the guilty verdict in the trial of Shawna Forde – a leader of the hate-group Minuteman American Defense (MAD) convicted of murdering 9 year-old Brisenia Flores and her father Raul Flores – a strong message resonates throughout the nation: We Are Watching. We are watching those who provide a platform to promote hate-crimes and call on the media to be socially responsible by reporting the linkages between Forde’s proven extremism and that of extremist groups she represents.On May 2009, Forde and two accomplices – MAD Operations Director Jason Bush and local MAD member Albert Gaxiola – broke into the Flores’ home in the border town of Arivaca, Arizona. Without compunction, they shot Raul Flores, his wife Gina Gonzalez and their daughter Brisenia who screamed, “Please don’t shoot me!” before being shot twice in the head; Gonzalez survived the incident.Brisenia’s murder has galvanized the entire Latino community. This gruesome act reflects in the starkest terms the anti-immigrant, anti-Latino hatred promoted by extremist groups. Latinos – the fastest-growing and largest ethnic minority group in the U.S. – understand and experience the hatred gripping the United States. In response, Latinos and immigrant advocates are closely watching media outlets that provide a platform for hatred promoted by extremist groups like MAD and the Federation for American Immigration Reform – a group Forde represented on a PBS show, for instance.
The details revealed in the murder trial have touched us all in a deep and unique way; indeed, no one will forget Brisenia. These important details-the organized hatred, the dehumanization of Latinos, the utter disregard of a child’s innocence- reflect the deepening and mainstreaming of the most noxious and dangerous strands of hatred in the United States. The growth and expansion of this hatred moves us to continue efforts to make sure there are no more hate-crimes and to take action condemning those media outlets that help disseminate hatred.
We call on the all media to be socially responsible by, for example, reporting the intimate link between Forde’s proven extremism and that of extremist groups she represents, so that the intellectual authors of the anti-Latino, anti-immigrant industry that has been growing in the nation -and the violence they perpetrate- may be known, discussed and confronted with greater urgency.
Endorsed by:
America Para Todos, Houston, TX
America’s Voice Educational Fund, Washington, DC
American Association of Jews from the Former USSR, National
Brazilian Total Assistance, Inc., Massachusetts
CARECEN, Los Angeles, CA
CASA de Maryland, Maryland
Center for Media Justice, Nationwide
Central American Resource Center (CRECEN), Houston, TX
Chicano Consortium de Sacramento, Sacramento, CA
Coalición de Derechos Humanos, Tucson AZ
Cuentame, Nationwide
El Centro del Inmigrante, New York
FIEL Houston, Inc, Houston, TX
Florida Immigration Coalition, Miami, FL
Fresno Unit of the Brown Beret National Organization (FresnoBBNO), Fresno, CA
Georgia Latino Alliance for Human Rights, Atlanta, GA
Latino Leadership, Inc, Orlando, FL
LatinoPolitico.net, Nationwide
MinKwon Center for Community Action, New York
New Immigrant Community Empowerment, New York
New Mexico Media Literacy Project, Albuquerque, NM
New York Immigration Coalition, New York
OurNewAnahuac.net, Houston, TX
Ohio Action Circle, Ohio
Presente.org, Nationwide
Rockland County Immigration Coalition, New York
Salvadoran American National Network SANN, Nationwide
The Hispanic Community Dialogue of Virginia, Virginia
Virginia Coalition of Latino Organizations, Virginia
Vivir Latino, Nationwide
Voces de la Frontera, Milwaukee, WI
Westchester Hispanic Coalition, New York
William C. Velasquez Institute, Nationwide
On Friday, the Pence Amendment passed in the House of Representatives 240-185. This bill prohibits all Planned Parenthood health centers from receiving any federal funds to provide affordable cancer screenings, birth control, HIV testing, and testing and treatment for other sexually transmitted infections. Of course all Pence, the GOP Congressman from Indiana talks about is abortion.
There has been little talk of the other services that Planned Parenthood provides and from the GOP/conservative side there has been false pontificating on how the measure helps to save the lives of “babies of color” by blocking access to abortion. This of course is an attempt to take the racist history/theory of Margaret Sanger, the founder of Planned Parenthood, and attach it to what Planned Parenthood does now. Except it’s not a good fit.
The Pence amendment is more than about Planned Parenthood. It is about attacking access to healthcare for poor women, especially woman of color. The House Republican leadership’s latest
proposal to completely eliminate the national family planning program, called Title X (ten).
In 2009 alone, Title X providers performed 2.2 million Pap tests, 2.3 million breast exams, and over six million tests for STIs, including nearly a million HIV tests. In 2009, 28% (1,447,422) of users identified themselves as Hispanic or Latino, including 28% (1,336,324) of female users and 30% (111,098) of male users. Yes, men in the Latino community are also impacted by the proposed cuts.
So being against the Pence Amendment is not about pro-Planned Parenthood, it is about being for access for reproductive health care for men and women.
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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