Archive for May, 2011
This Weekend in NYC
8:18 am By Maegan La Mala · Arts|Books|Events|New York City · Comments Off
27 May 2011It’s the first unofficial Summer in NYC weekend and that means plenty to do. Check out some ways to kick off warm weather season that will also feed your head/heart.
Sunday
Families Impacted by Obama’s Deportation Policy Demand Meeting. Cue the Crickets.
9:31 am By Maegan La Mala · Immigration|Obama · 1 Comment
26 May 2011Yesterday at a press conference in Washington D.C., the organization Fair Immigration Reform Movement (FIRM), some members of Congress, and some individuals whose lives are impacted by the current federal deportation policy, called on President Obama to “deal with the immigration crisis” and meet with those directly impacted as opposed to his recent meetings with alleged stakeholders including Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Tony Choi, an undocumented Korean-American student, spoke directly to the President after telling his story: “We ask you, Mr. President, to provide safety and protection to those in our communities – the families and students – who look to simply live their American lives.”
Brittney Babo, whose husband Serge was deported last August, told her story: “On May 12, 2010 Serge was picked up by ICE officials while doing dishes at our home. He was put in immigration detention and after three long months, deported to his native Cameroon.” Babo also laid out their family’s extreme hardship: “You can’t imagine how devastating this was for me and for our family. Since he was deported I have struggled to care for my two sons. I work 10-hour night shifts with a lot of overtime just to make enough money to support my family.”
You can see videos of the press conference here.
Obama’s response?
Puerto Rico is Talking Gas : Green Way or Death’s Way?
8:00 am By Maegan La Mala · Environment|New York City|Puerto Rico · 5 Comments
25 May 2011I have seen alot more coverage of the struggle against the dam in Aysen, Chile than I have about another potentially environmentally devastating project in the Latin America that is the U.S., Puerto Rico.
Via Verde or Via de la Muerte, depending on who you ask, is a gas pipeline being pushed by the government of Luis Fortuño in Puerto Rico. The Gasoducto project would run through delicate ecosystems as well as through sacred Indigenous Taino areas. On May 1st, thousands marched in Puerto Rico to protest the way the project is being pushed through without transparency or input from the people of Puerto Rico.
Here is Congressman Luis Gutierrez speaking on the issue:
FBI Crackdown in Puerto Rico Post Nationalist Arrest a Reminder of Colonial Power
9:10 am By Maegan La Mala · Puerto Rico · 2 Comments
24 May 2011Following the arrest earlier this month of nationalist Norberto Gonzalez Claudio for his alleged involvement in the 1983 Wells Fargo robbery of $7.2 million, Puerto Rican independence activists on the island are saying that the FBI is conducting a new wave of intimidation. Manifesting as searches in Cayay, where Gonzalez Claudio was taken into custody after living “underground” for 25 years, the FBI has been entering the homes in the area, often without showing search warrants.
According to RNV/ La Radio del Sur, the FBI prevented those returning from work from entering their homes and took items from homes as evidence including computer hard drives. The Puerto Rican liberation organization, EPB-Macheteros affirmed in a communiqué that the FBI had created a battalion of 22 intelligence agents in order to follow independence supporters and social activists.
Read more…
Casa Blanca Camino 2012 : Newt Co-Opting Change and Challenging Obama’s Executive Order Use
10:33 am By Maegan La Mala · Casa Blanca Camino 2012|DREAM Act|Immigration|Politics · Comments Off
23 May 2011I never thought that my first official post regarding the 2012 U.S. presidential election and the campaigns to get there would be focusing on Newt Gingrich, Spanish language hater turned ghetto language lover and Republican presidential wannabe.
But here we go.
This video, via the Christian Science Monitor, was in VivirLatino’s inbox and features Gingrich talking about himself as the real “change” candidate which makes me wonder if this will be the regurgitated buzzword of the campaign trail. What I found really interesting, was that in talking to this small group, was the way Gingrich challenges Obama’s use (or really lack thereof) of Executive Orders. Needless to say ( I hope), while I am not in agreement with any of the Executive Orders Gingrich is all hyped up about signing if he were voted in (shudder), in the context of the DREAM Act and Obama’s continuous denial of the ability to do anything to protect DREAMers, I think we have an interesting opportunity for follow-up and pushing. Obama is using the DREAM Act as a fundraising buzz word while his Department of Homeland Security keeps putting DREAMers in deportation.
Some Good News from Department of Homeland Security? Extends Temporary Protected Status to Haitians
12:44 pm By Maegan La Mala · Haiti|Immigration|Politics · Comments Off
20 May 2011I spend alot of time pointing out the hypocrisy of the current immigration policy and practice. Early this week the Department of Homeland Security sort of took a step in the right direction, by extending Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for an additional eighteen months for Haitians currently residing in the United States. Additionally, Haitians who arrived up to the U.S. one year after the earthquake, many of whom came in on visitor visas and other authorized measures, can apply for TPS.
While this news is certainty good news for many Haitians in the U.S., it does nothing for the Haitians that have already been deported to the United States following the earthquake and does nothing for Haitians who may have arrived to the U.S. after the devastating earthquake last year. The question it also begs what will happen when this 18 month extension is up? Will Haiti be in any position, politically or in terms of health and infrastructure, that would make resuming deportations acceptable?
Evidence Shows No Confusion on Secure Communities, Only Deception
8:52 am By Maegan La Mala · Illinois|Immigration|New York|Politics|Secure Communities · 18 Comments
20 May 2011Coming on the heels of Wednesday’s rally in front of NY Governor Andrew Cuomo’s NYC office demanding that he pull the state out of the Secure Communities deportation program are letters which show that the so-called confusion regarding the ability to opt-out was more like a cover-up.
In letters, that I will admit to finding somewhat confusing (PDF of letters here), a fired contractor, Dan Cadman says that he told DHS/ICE, in documents that have to come to light as a result of a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit, that they had the right to tell states that Secure Communities was a mandatory program. Cadman asserts that he was then told to say that Secure Communities was voluntary, especially when pushing areas with many immigrants, like New York and Cook County – Illinois, to sign agreements. The head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, John Morton, points to Cadman as the source of confusion regarding the opt-out option. Cadman asserts that it seems to be part of the design, especially in order to get places like New York to sign on.
NY’ers & Others Want Out of Secure Communities While L.A’s Sheriff Says Immigrants Deserve It
1:53 pm By Maegan La Mala · Immigration|Los Angeles|New York City|Politics|Secure Communities · 3 Comments
17 May 2011Tomorrow, come rain or shine, individuals and organizations will gather outside of New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s Manhattan office to demand that he immediately end the agreement that brought Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE’s) “Secure Communities” mass deportation program to New York State exactly one year ago.
The rally, scheduled to start at 11 am EST, comes in the midst of heightened (and dare I say long overdue) controversy around the S-Comm program that requires police to automatically forward the fingerprints of every arrested person to federal immigration databases . Earlier this month the Congressional Hispanic Caucus asked President Obama for a moratorium on the program on the grounds that the program deports “good” immigrants not just those with criminal backgrounds. Last Friday, U.S. Congressional members representing parts of New York, Congresswoman Velazquez and Congressman Serrano, sent a a letter to NY Governor Cuomo requesting that he pull the state from the program citing how it has become “a mass deportation immigration enforcement tool.”
This assertion, that the problem with Secure Communities is not just that it targets “good” immigrants along with the “bad” criminal ones, but that it is part of a larger enforcement, detention, and deportation machine that has been amped up under Obama, sets this NY campaign somewhat apart from others. Campaigns in Maryland and bills like the SMART bill in Illinois and the TRUST Act in California focus on the “misuse” of the program in deporting those without serious criminal convictions as opposed to an all out recall of the program for the way it furthers a national immigration policy that refuses to acknowledge the humanity of immigrants in favor of deportation. Read more…
Marcha del Día Internacional contra la Homofobia y la Transfobia
11:44 am By BiancaLaureano · Justice|Puerto Rico|sexuality|Uncategorized · Comments Off
16 May 2011I saw this posted on Facebook and wanted to share with VL readers. If you know of similar events occurring in our communities and abroad feel free to send them our way! From the Facebook page:
Tuesday May 17, 4pm-7pm
El Capitolio
Lado NorteSan Juan, Puerto RicoEl Comité contra la Homofobia y el Discrimen (CCHD) te invita a participar en la Marcha del Día Internacional contra la Homofobia y la Transfobia, que se llevará a cabo el martes 17 de mayo en el Viejo San Juan y que conmemora los 21 años de la eliminación de la homosexualidad de la lista de enfermedades de la Organización Mundial de la Salud.
La marcha iniciará en el Capitolio y culminará en la Plaza de Armas. En esta ocasión:
- denunciemos la transfobia y la homofobia en los medios de comunicación,
- exijamos verdadera separación entre Iglesia y Estado,
- denunciemos las agresiones y los asesinatos por orientación sexual y por identidad de género, y
- concienciemos sobre la violación de derechos a las personas lesbianas, gays, bisexuales, transgéneros, transexuales, intersexuales y queer (LGBTTI/Q).
Te invitan:
Amnistía Internacional (Puerto Rico)
Clínica de Asistencia Legal de la Universidad de Puerto Rico
Colectivo Queer Sin Nombre
Comité contra la Homofobia y el Discrimen
Federación Universitaria Pro Independencia
Feministas en Marcha
Fundación de Derechos Humanos
Guerrilla Sex Education
Homoerótica
Iglesia Comunitaria Metropolitana Cristo Sanador
La Acción Libertaria
Movimiento al Socialismo
Movimiento Amplio de Mujeres de Puerto Rico
Organización Socialista Internacional
Partido Independentista Puertorriqueño
Proyecto Matria
Puerto Rico Para Tod@s
Unión de Juventudes Socialistas
Lunes Libro : Hey, Shorty!
7:55 am By Maegan La Mala · Books|GLBT|New York City|Violence|Women · 2 Comments
16 May 2011
As a mother with a teenage daughter about to enter the NYC Public High School system, as a woman of color with daughters of color living in New York City sexual harassment and violence is always somewhere on my mind. Sometimes these thoughts determine how I dress, what time I go out, where I go out to, and what streets to walk through or not. As a radical tutor who works with young women of color who are learning inside the NYC public school system and as a daughter who clearly remembers walking home from school in my neighborhood feeling a gauntlet of eyes and words against my body and the shame I felt when receiving my first piropo/catcall while walking with my mom, I was excited and feeling grateful for the release of Hey, Shorty! A Guide to Combating Sexual Harassment ad Violence in Schools and on the Streets by Joanna N. Smith. Mandy Van Deven, And Maegan Huppuch of Girls for Gender Equity.
The book follows two paths. One is a narrative path that looks at the process of organizing young woman, primarily of color, first in a public school in Brooklyn and later NYC wide around the issues of sexual harassment and violence experiences daily from the moment they leave their homes to go to school until they return home. The second path, which crosses and overlaps with the first, contains concrete strategies for understanding, confronting, and preventing sexual harassment and violence.
Read more…
Hola!
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- Washington DC Bound
- By Land & By Sea Drawing Attention to Puerto Rican Political Prisoner Oscar Lopez Rivera
- Welcome to NY Secure Communities
- DOJ Puts Sheriff Arpaio on Notice. Who Will Put the DOJ on Notice?
- VL at the 2012 Tribeca Film Festival: Babygirl
- 45th Precinct Residents to File Complaint Against Abusive NYPD Officers
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