Advertisement

Archive for the ‘North Carolina’ Category

In 1998, Wyoming college student Matthew Shepard was brutally murdered for being gay, drawing attention to the problem of hate crimes against LGBT people in this country and becoming a catalyst for much needed hate crime legislation. Since then, the Shepard case has been a cultural reference point both in the good and the bad sense; hate mongers like Fred Phelps have used Shepard as the target of their disgusting campaigns, and the general public has become more aware of hate crimes as a result of this much-publicized crime.

We all know this brutal murder was a hate crime. But one Republican Congresswoman, Rep. Virginia Foxx of North Carolina, wants you think otherwise. Check out her speech on the subject in the video above.

Might this be a good example of the reasons why Senator Arlen Specter believes his party has moved too far to the right?

Angry? Give Rep. Foxx a call and tell her so: DC office Phone: (202) 225-2071 NC District office: Toll Free: 1(866) 677-8968 Phone: (828) 265-0240

Via / Politico

Not all cities and counties in the U.S. are putting anti-immigrant measures into effect. Chatham County NC, which towns include Pittsboro and Siler City, home to the majority of North Carolina’s poultry processors, passed a resolution indicating strong opposition to any of its law enforcement agencies contracting with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. (ICE)

The program in question is called the 287(g) program. It authorizes ICE and local law enforcement agencies to enter into an agreement to provide local law enforcement officers with training so they could function under the supervision of sworn ICE officers.

Under the program, every person charged with a crime, whether it’s for driving without a license or murder, is asked certain questions to determine if they are legally within the United States. If a person is determined to be an illegal alien, then the person would be held for deportation.

Meanwhile, in Oregon:

Columbia County Circuit Court Judge Ted E. Grove today issued a preliminary injunction that will prevent an anti-immigrant ballot measure from taking effect on February 2.

The ACLU/NWJP challenge contends that Measure 1-590, which would fine employers for hiring or employing undocumented immigrants:

• Exceeds the powers of Columbia County as granted by the state of Oregon;
• Violates the Single Subject requirement of the Oregon Constitution; and
• Is preempted by existing state laws, as well as land-use statutes and regulations.

Measure 5-190 relies on E-Verify, a federal database designed to check employees’ names against Social Security records. That database has proven to be very flawed and ineffective. One transposed digit or misspelled name could flag longtime citizens as “illegal.”

Read more…

image.jpgCommemorating the 20th annual World AIDS Day, today at noon EST, the Latino Commission on AIDS will release a new report focusing on the state of HIV/AIDS prevention and care services for Latinos in the Deep South: North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee, Mississippi and Louisiana. The report, Shaping the New Response: HIV/AIDS and Latinos in the Deep South, follows 2 years of fact finding.

Date: Monday, December 1st

National Call-In Press Conference: 12:00 PM EST ( English and Spanish). Dial-in number (888) 387-8686 password 4615450

In-Person Press Conference: 1:00 p.m. EST (English and Spanish) Latino Commission on AIDS at 24 West 25th Street 10th Floor, New York City (Bet 6th Avenue & Broadway)

For more information and to arrange interviews, call
Guillermo Chacón (212) 920-1611 or gchacon@latinoaids.org (Spanish)
Tim Frasca (917) 689-9475 or tfrasca@latinoaids.org (English)

For more information visit The Latino Commission on AIDS.

Problems with Early Voting

7:55 am By Maegan La Mala · North Carolina| US Presidential Race 2008| race · Comments Off

22 Oct 2008

VoteHere.jpgJack from Angry Brown Butch blogs that various news outlets are already reporting problems in early voting that has begun in some states. Not surprisingly, mots of these problems favor John McCain voters while disenfranchising likely Barack Obama voters, that is voters of color. This doesn’t look good for actual election day, now less than 2 weeks away.

McCain Supporters Harass Obama Voters in North Carolina

In North Carolina, over 200,000 residents have already cast ballots in early voting. In Fayetteville, a group of John McCain supporters heckled and harassed a group of mostly black supporters of Barack Obama as they voted on Sunday. The Washington Times reported the McCain backers shouted and mocked the voters as they walked into the voting place. The website Facing South reports the McCain supporters likely broke the Voting Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits anyone from intimidating or threatening a person for voting or attempting to vote. On that same day in Fayetteville, North Carolina, thirty people reported having their tires slashed after attending an Obama rally.

More voter harassment after the jump.

Read more…

ice.jpgPresident Bush’s administration has made it very clear that he’s gonna go out with a bang, not with a wimper when it comes to attacking immigrant communities.

Just yesterday there was a report of another raid by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), this time in Ashville, North Carolina.

Federal officials have taken nearly 60 employees of an
Asheville company into custody as part of an operation to arrest suspected
illegal immigrants.

The 57 people are employees of Mills Manufacturing Corporation, a government
contractor that makes parachutes for the U.S. military.

U.S.Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesman Ivan L. Ortiz-Delgado said
that arrests are part of a targeted investigation.

Ortiz-Delgado said that Mills Manufacturing is not a target of the
investigation and has been fully cooperative. The 59 workers who have been
detained are out of a total company workforce of 160, Ortiz-Delgado said.

In all the case so far, the workers detained used fraudulent documents, ICE
officials said.

Most of the people detained are from Mexico, but others are from Guatemala,
Ecuador, Honduras and El Salvador.

About half of the people detained were released for humanitarian reasons,
ICE said. Those reason include child care and medical situations.

The rest are being held at the Henderson County Detention Center. The county
has a an agreement with ICE to process and hold people accused of
immigration violations.

Read more…

07obama07_600.jpgThere were no big surprises coming out of yesterday’s Democratic primaries, held in North Carolina and Indiana. Barack Obama won North Carolina easily (by 14 percentage points), and Hillary Clinton just barely won Indiana. Many have attributed Hillary’s slight victory in Indiana to older voters who have been loyal to her, and Obama gaining votes from lower class white voters who have traditionally voted Clinton.

Obama’s clear victory in North Carolina, besides raising his delegate and popular vote count, also proved that the Rev. Wright drama hasn’t impacted his campaign as many thought it would.

Via / NYT

The Face of North Carolina Latinos

12:55 pm By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · North Carolina| US Presidential Race 2008 · Comments Off

6 May 2008

gmap.gif

North Carolina has the fastest growing Latino population in the country.
According to the US Census, the Latino population in North Carolina has grown 394%, from 76,726 in 1990 to 378,963 in 2000.2 Latinos now make up 4.7% of the North Carolina population in comparison to 1.04% in 1990.3 Other sources estimate the population to be even larger, with numbers closer to 530,328 in 2002.4Many terms are used to refer to the richly diverse Hispanic/Latino communities. No consensus has emerged among the Hispanic/Latino community on which term to use.

Most of the Latinos in North Carolina are of Mexican origin (65.1%).7 Puerto Ricans (who are US citizens) comprise 8.2% of the North Carolina Latino population, and Cubans or Cuban-Americans are 1.9%. The remaining 24.8% are from other Central or South American countries, or other Hispanic categories.

Nearly two-thirds of the North Carolina Latino population are foreign-born (64.2%) (Table 2:1). Almost all of North Carolina’s foreign-born Latinos are non-citizens (58.3%); only 5.9% have been naturalized.

North Carolina Latinos are younger than the general population. The median age of all people living in North Carolina is 35.3 years whereas the median age of Latinos is 24.

Via / The North Carolina Institute of Medicine

Good Morning North Carolina and Indiana : You Have Primaries Today!

10:55 am By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · Indiana| North Carolina · Comments Off

6 May 2008

VoteHere.jpgNo pressure to the voters in the Democratic Primaries in Indiana and North Carolina today, but according to the NYT, these two states “have more delegates up for grabs than any of the remaining contests”.

Do you know where to vote?

North Carolina voters click here to find your polling place.

Indiana voters click here to find your polling place.

banned_smll.jpgSadly, banned books are not exclusive to third world countries run by alleged dictators. Banned books happen right here in the USA. One of the latest is a book by Dominican author Julia Alvarez : How the Garcia Girls Lost their Accents.

A mother with a daughter in a Johnston County high school cites Julia Alvarez’s novel about four sisters who must adjust to life in the U.S. after fleeing the Dominican Republic as inappropriate for the high school age group.

Profanity in the book and graphic content were cited as the reasons.

Read more…

Jail denies mom right to feed her child

11:16 am By Maegan La Mala · Justice| North Carolina| Women| children · Comments Off

27 Nov 2007

812-1127souza.embedded.prod_affiliate.57.jpgA North Carolina jail is denying a Brazilian woman held in the facilities the right to pump breast milk for her 2 month old baby in spite of the fact that the child is rejecting formula and becoming ill:

Ezequiel Oliveira, who is helping care for the woman’s two children, said he spent hours at the jail Monday trying to get a breast pump to 29-year-old Danielle Ferreira. He said Ferreira’s baby, Samuel, is crying incessantly and keeps spitting up baby formula.

“We give him formula and put in the pacifier but he is crying day and night, day and night, all the time,” Oliveira said.

Jail officials say they can’t discuss conversations inmates have with medical staff, but are aware of the situation. In general, spokeswoman Julia Rush said, inmates are not allowed to express milk without a court order. She said mothers are treated for symptoms when they must abruptly stop nursing.

According to the Charlotte Observer, Ferreira was picked up on a shoplifting charge after her brother hid a CD in her baby stroller without her knowledge on a visit to a local mall. She is currently being held because she is undocumented. The Observer points out that “U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement formally adopted guidelines that allow pregnant women or nursing mothers to be released under supervised conditions” but I guess that doesn’t apply to state or municipal jails.

Via / Charlotte Observer


Hola!

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.

About | Advertise with us | Contact | Twitter