10:46 am By Maegan la Mamita Mala · Blogs| Linking Latinos| Media| VivirLatino| Women| media justice · No Comments
4 Nov 2009I’m really honored that Guanabee named yours truly one of their favorite Latinas on the web.
Some deal explicitly with Latino issues, some don’t. Some are funny, some are creative, some are activists, all are uniquely amazing, inspiring women who, we think, are some of the best at what they do.
I am especially honored by some of my company on the list, including dear mami amiga, Noemi Martinez of Hermana Resist. As a single mami media maker, I appreciate what Noemi does and understand the struggle it is to express yourself in a given medium with no source of funding and with kids yelling, learning, laughing and getting sick as your background soundtrack. Which is why I am asking you to help my mami hermana.
3:10 pm By Maegan la Mamita Mala · Immigration| Media · 2 Comments
2 Nov 2009Last week I wrote about how Lou Dobbs’ twisted obsession with framing reality to fit his hateful agenda has been stepped up. Turns out that Dobbs’ characterization of the “attack” on his home was ::gasp:: not entirely accurate. I mean, hell even the NY Post, who usually is an apologist for racist behavior and attitudes even wrote it up. Our Unapologetic Mexican friend, Nezua, breaks it down.
9:05 am By la Macha · Blogs| Quicklinks| race · No Comments
2 Nov 2009Maia is asking all the right questions in her essay, “anti racism…what went wrong?”
the problem is that when he [tim wise] does anti racism work. he explains that he ‘opens the door’ for other poc to be considered leaders and experts in anti racism. why the fuck in the anti racism movement to we still need white gatekeepers? this is what gets me. it’s the anti racism movement! we dont have a bunch of men leading and speaking as the voice of feminism. we dont have a bunch of skinny chicas being the (body) of fat acceptance. we dont have a bunch of straight folks being the voice of lbgtqia ness. but in the anti racism movement. it is white folks who speak. so that white audiences with money are not required to listen and take seriously the voice of color.
9:12 am By Maegan la Mamita Mala · Immigration| Media| TV · 2 Comments
30 Oct 2009Let’s clear a few things up shall we? Last time I checked there wasn’t a campaign supported by mainstream media distortions and government policies that encourage profiling that puts the lives of white male television pundits. There are no hoardes of Latinos going white pundit hunting. Pero Lou Dobbs, who yes is the target of multiple campaigns to get his hate speech off the airwaves, or at the very least off CNN, now is claiming that he and his wife were the targets in a shooting and who is to blame? Latinos of course.
And as if Dobbs’ claims aren’t ridiculous enough, Maricopa country Sheriff Joe Arpaio wants to jump on the “protect me from the scary Latinos” bandwagon too.
Stay tuned because there will be more to come as it seems that Dobbs and his friends want to make Latinos out to be the scariest thing out there this Halloween.
1:40 pm By Maegan la Mamita Mala · Immigration| Media| TV · 4 Comments
29 Oct 2009When America’s Voice raised enough cash to buy a spot for their Drop Dobbs ad in a Latino in America time slot, CNN felt that their loyalty to hateful Dobbs was worth more so they passed.
Knowing an opportunity when they see one, the Drop Dobbs ad will play tonight on MSNBC during the Rachel Maddow show at 9:00 pm EST. America’s Voice was able to purchase air time on local cable networks in Atlanta, Los Angeles, Chicago, New York City, and Washington, DC. So tune in and even if you can’t tune in because the ad isn’t running in your ‘hood (or if you don’t have cable like me), let the CNN head know that one thing you aren’t watching is his network, especially as long as Lou Dobbs is on.
6:13 am By Maegan la Mamita Mala · Bilingualism| Immigration| Media| Politics| language| media justice · No Comments
28 Oct 2009It’s not just immigration that is being criminalized as some people have commented. Any trace of Latinidad deems people as targets for varying forms of harassment ranging from traffic stops, to tickets, to jails, to beat downs, to deaths. While some think that skin color alone can “mark” someone as other, and in this case Latino, language and varying levels of accents also brand. Just look at how much time is spent in this discussion on Latino in America on the issue of assimilation, acculturation and the role of language.
The issue always is how can you speak Spanish and still assimilate/aculturate with the ultimate goal seemingly being not being labeled/identified/called out as “other”. If you are going to insist on speaking Spanish then for everyone’s sake do it at home, where no one else can see or hear you or else face the consequences:
Let us not forget that we started 2009 with someone getting physically attacked while having a cell phone conversation in Spanish.
Sometimes we don’t even need language. Just having a name that could remind someone that you are Latino is enough to get you fired.
9:01 am By Maegan la Mamita Mala · Immigration| Media| Politics| Puerto Rico| economy · No Comments
26 Oct 2009I just finished listening to a really great report on Latino USA featuring two Puerto Rican experts, Juan Manuel García Passalacqua and Angelo Falcon. The two do a really good job, I thought, at explaining how migration from Puerto Rico has always been driven by economic crisis exacerbated by its colonial status. Given how badly things are going in Puerto Rico, Angelo Falcon and Juan Manuel García Passalacqua agree that a new wave of Rican immigration is happening and what exactly does that mean in a United States that has shown it’s anti-immigrant side especially when the haters, in the words of Angelo Falcon, don’t make distinctions among different Latin Americans and they certainly don’t ask to see papers when they unleash violence on our communities.
6:45 am By Maegan la Mamita Mala · Media| Movies| Peru| TV| dance · 4 Comments
26 Oct 2009The more I think about the series Latino in America, the more comments I read here and on other sites, and the more I seek out real lives of Latinos and Latin Americans. Who needs cable when I found another documentary in the PBS Voces series, Soy Andina.
What really resonated with me about this film was how the young Peruana went to Peru and struggled with being confronted about her identity. Because she was born in the United States, she was viewed as gringa not as the Peruana she felt she was. This was done through exploring the folkloric dances of the “home of her heart”.
9:06 am By Maegan la Mamita Mala · Controversia| Immigration| Media| TV| media justice · 9 Comments
22 Oct 2009
After a successful day of events across the country yesterday that coincided with the airing of Latino in America, seems like CNN’s Lou Dobbs realizes that it’s gonna take more than calling Latinos who call him out “fleas” to get rid of us. The producers of Lou Dobbs’ show emailed Roberto Lovato of BastaDobbs to be on the show. Roberto, never one to shy away from a good opportunity, said claro pero on one condition…
6:12 am By Maegan la Mamita Mala · Media| TV · 31 Comments
22 Oct 2009Last night CNN’s special, Latino in America aired. Not being able to afford cable (the blogger life is so glamorous), is only one reason. CNN refuses to accept any responsibility for who it puts on the air and thinks it can give us tired old stereotypes and tired old white men.
I understand, it’s easy to get excited and caught up in the hype. They are talking about us! Latinos! In America! The same way Dobbs talks about us, Latinos, in America everyday. The same way they attack us, Latinos, in America everyday.
I’m too busy living Latina in the Americas to watch a projection of what I’m supposed to do or be.
Those who did watch it…thoughts?
VivirLatino is a daily publication published by 2 Mujeres Media, dedicated to featuring all the latest politics, culture, entertainment of interest to the diverse and influential Latino and Latina community in the U.S.
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