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The Face of New York Gay Marriage is Latino

7:38 am By Maegan la Mamita Mala · GLBT| Media| New York · 2 Comments

2 Jun 2009

The New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU) launched a website to push for the New York State Senate to pass a gay marriage bill before the legistlative terms ends. The focus of the site is featuring gay couples in New York as legitimate families that should have the right to get married. Pero the majority of the couples featured are white couples and males.

An exception to this is the couple featured in Blabbeando , who get an English video and a Spanish video about their coupledom (and they live in Queens)

See the English video after the jump
Read more…

New York State’s Most Vulnerable Immigrants Even More So Now

5:58 am By Maegan la Mamita Mala · Immigration| New York · Comments Off

18 May 2009

cher-elderly-depression The line coming from the anti-migrants is that they aren’t against all immigrants, just the “illegal” ones but a New York State Court of Appeals decision takes a blow at some legal immigrants and their access to aid when they are elderly and or disabled.

Thousands of impoverished elderly, disabled or blind legal residents of New York State, including refugees, will be limited to $352 a month in public aid — about half of what lower courts have said they should get — under a decision by the Court of Appeals, the state’s highest court.

The 5-to-2 decision, rendered on Tuesday, overturned the rulings of two lower courts, which had held that under the state and federal Constitutions, such legal residents could not be denied a higher level of benefits simply because they were not citizens. On narrower grounds, the high court held that the state had no duty to fill in for a federal program that had stopped benefits to most disabled legal immigrants in 1996

See the benefits of waiting in line and being a “good” immigrant? Too bad many of those legal immigrants who were plaintiffs in this case died.

Via / NYT

Images from NYC May Day 2009 Immigrant Rally & March

3 May 2009

You may have noticed that I didn’t post on Friday, May Day. It wasn’t cuz I was being lazy. I was in Union Square, NYC with my daughters, at the May Day Rally and March for Immigrants.

The number of people at the rally this year was much smaller than last year, and I’m sure the sudden downpour didn’t help. Pero the energy of the people that were there was strong, especially the many Latino workers and community members who were there, singing, chanting, and dancing.

I put together this little slideshow cosita con musica de Lila Downs. And yes, that is amigo Kaieating an empanada during the march. And yes those are my chicas at the end.

Enjoy.

P.S : i have some video clips that I will share soon as well.

Were you at any May Day Immigrant events? Tell us.

La Macha Has Salma, Mala Has……

6:00 am By Maegan la Mamita Mala · Movies| New York| mexico · 2 Comments

29 Apr 2009

Don’t think Macha is the only one who can do some objectifying.
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Gael Garcia Bernal and Diego Luna are in New York City to see me. Pero first they had to stop at the Tribeca Film Festival for the U.S. premiere of Rudo y Cursi.

Gael can give me his Mexican flu whenever he wants.

Via / Lossip

Who Said Latinos Are Against Gay Marriage?

6:15 am By Maegan la Mamita Mala · Controversia| GLBT| Media| New York · 1 Comment

20 Apr 2009

Huge props to Blabbeando for posting and translating this debate on the “storm” of gay marriage in NYS.

Sometimes leaders say things on the Spanish language media that they wouldn’t say in the English marriage media, or take an issue from a perspective that isn’t usually covered. For example, is Luis Tellez, a board member behind NOM (who are behind the storm commercial)really saying that no fault divorces have done more harm than good to women of color since apparently they are to blame with the problems people of color families face? Sure sounds like it.

Message from the Sanctuary about Binghamton Immigration Center Shooting

4:17 pm By Blogs Media · Immigration| New York · Comments Off

4 Apr 2009

More details on the shooting at the American Civic Association in Binghamton, NY are coming out la Macha first wrote on it as it was unfolding yesterday.

The Sanctuary, which VivirLatino is a proud part of, released this statement yesterday:

The Editors of the Sanctuary send our heartfelt thoughts, prayers and energies to all families and community members affected by the tragedy in Binghamton today.

We are concerned with the immigrant community given our lives, our collective function and the fact that the shooting was reportedly done in a room of people testing (or taking a practice test) for their citizenship. It is especially heartbreaking that the dreams of so many were ended in such a violent way, and so very close to their fruition.

We will be paying close attention and working together to update you on this unfolding story.

People shot and killed at immigrant center in NY

3:07 pm By la Macha · Immigration| New York · 3 Comments

3 Apr 2009

This is all breaking news, so there’s no real definite answers yet–but there was a mass shooting at an immigrant center in New York. At least 12 people taking their U.S. citizenship tests have been confirmed dead at this point.

I’ve been following this on CNN, not the greatest coverage in the world, but Rick Sanchez did ask why there weren’t more interpreters available with news updates when this shooting is largely effecting the immigrant community. He didn’t get much an answer (that costs money, Rick), but at least he asked.

VL will keep you updated as news becomes available.

ETA: According to several news reports, the shooter was Jiverly Voong, 42, from upstate New York.

Celebrating the Latina Mujer This Friday in NYC

9:23 am By Maegan la Mamita Mala · New York| Women · Comments Off

23 Mar 2009

There is a saying que la patria es una mujer : that homeland is a woman and given the strong leadership role that Latina women have taken up in various struggles, it’s time that people step back to give some of these mujeres some props.

This Womyn’s History Month, join The ProLibertad Freedom Campaign as we honor the contributions of Boricua/Latina Women to the Puerto Rican INDEPENDENCE Movement ¡QUE VIVA LA MUJER!

Recipients of the Doña Adelfa Vera Award for 2009:
Yasmin Hernandez, Artist/Activist/ Educator
Teresita “Lah Tere” Ayala, Poet/Activist/ Rebel Diaz
Claudia de la Cruz, Pastor of La Iglesia San Romero de Las Americas/UCC

Mistress of Ceremony:
Haydee Morales, Casa Atabex Ache Co-Founder

Keynote Speaker:
Prisionera, Poet/Activist/ Partido Nacionalista de Puerto Rico

Sample Work Presentation:
Our Women, Our Struggle (working title) is a 70-minute long documentary that chronicles the life of Puerto Rican revolutionary – Isabel Rosado, — who dedicated her life to the Puerto Rican Independence movement and has become a symbol of the island’s patriotism. Other women such as Lolita Lebron and Dylcia Pagan will also be highlighted. All three women were subjected to FBI surveillance and each spent many years in prison as a consequence of their radical political actions or as some might refer “terrorist activities”.
Melissa Montero is a Latina filmmaker living in Queens, New York of Puerto Rican and Ecuadorian heritage. She has co-produced and directed a non-broadcast ten-minute promotional video/documentary on Casa Atabex Ache, a non-profit organization that does healing and transformation work for women of color.

Poetry by:
Mariposa and Prisionera

Hand crafts and Natural Products:
OLGA AYALA HANDICRAFTS (HECHO A MANO)
Botanicafe (Lourdes Garcia)

FRIDAY MARCH 27, 2009 AT 7PM!
St. Mary’s Episcopal Church 521 W126th St.
Between Amsterdam Avenue and Broadway Take the 1 train W125th St.
Suggested donation: $5 (no one will be turned away)
LIGHT REFRESHMENTS WILL BE SERVED!
For more information contact ProLibertad: 718-601-4751 * www.ProLibertadWeb. com

NYC Public Schools Pay $35 million per Year for Nothing

11 Mar 2009

I was dumbstruck after listening to last week’s episode of Chicago Public Radio’s This American Life program this morning. The episode featured a story so Kafkaesque I first doubted its veracity and then just sat shocked. It’s simple enough to sum up in just a few words: the New York City Public School system sends teachers who “misbehave” or are suspected of having done something wrong to what amounts to detention hall for teachers. Teachers are told they will be going to a “reassignment center” and when they arrive, wait to meet with district authorities.

But there will never be a meeting. The teachers sit in rooms for hours doing nothing. Those hours turn in to weeks. Weeks into months for most. And for some into a year or more than one year. Doing nothing.

A culture emerges within this confinement. It is reported by those who have been in what is called “the rubber room” – the informal name for the facility — that the overwhelming boredom and depression felt by the teachers translates into childlike behavior, violent fights and territorial squabbles. In effect, they become a lot like children in detention.

Teachers awaiting their fate — a decision by the NYC school system on whether they will be reinstated and return to teaching or terminated — continue to earn their full salary, even though they are doing absolutely nothing in the rubber room day in and day out. The estimated cost to NYC taxpayers? Some 35 million dollars per year. Read more…

Second Attacker of Jose Sucuzhanay Arrested and Claims Self-Defense

7:00 am By Maegan la Mamita Mala · GLBT| Immigration| New York · Comments Off

2 Mar 2009

Last week I wrote how one of the men who killed Jose Sucuzhanay in a racist and homophobic hate crime in Brooklyn was arrested. A second arrest has been made. Keith Phoenix was arrested on last Friday and is claiming that the fatal beating was provoked when Jose and his brother kicked the car door Phoenix was driving and that Jose looked like he was reaching for a weapon.

During Phoenix’s arraignment, his lawyer Jay Schwitzman told the court, “Mr. Phoenix went to break up the fight, and during the fight, there was a weapon brandished by the deceased…It is not gay bashing or a hate crime.” The lawyer also countered Friday’s accounts from Police Commissioner Ray Kelly that painted Phoenix as a cold-blooded killer who questioned, “What’s the big deal?” Schwitzman said that Phoenix is “remorseful and he recognizes the seriousness” of the accusations against him.

No weapon was recovered at the scene to my knowledge.

What disturbs me most about this defense is how it sounds like the defenses we have heard so many times coming from police officers who brutalize people, especially in people of color communities. Often the defense of “I thought he had a gun” has been enough to excuse brutal police behavior. I’m thinking cases like Amadou Diallo and Anibal Carrasquillo where no gun was ever found. To have people of color use this defense for the murder of another person of color really bothers me. To have this defense used for a homophobic murder really bothers me.
It makes me wonder how do we within people of color communities talk about and deal with how divide and conquer politics are contributing to anti-immigrant hate? How are we dealing with the homophobia we see in our communities. How do we build coalitions that create space to talk about these things and recognize and act together against hate crimes based on race and identity?

Via/ Gothamist

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Maegan La Mala: I don't think so [...]

Maegan La Mala: I was thinking about this...how the two are connected [...]

Maegan La Mala: Well I certainly don't condone an eye for an eye politics and don't think that that kind of "justice [...]

Raymond Lee: This is an outrage, again a young gay man attacked and killed and the fact that they where gay or bi [...]

adriana: I have been following this too, as my alma mater is one of the colleges that banned the Russell gear [...]

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