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20 Years of Injustice for Family in NYC Anti-Latino Hate Crime

10:55 am By Maegan La Mala · Activism|Immigration|Justice|New York City|race · Comments Off

27 Mar 2011

On the night of March 29, 1991, Manny Mayi, an 19 year-old Dominican college student was chased and beaten to death by upon crossing over to the Italian-American section of Corona, Queens.

Following his murder, the Queen’s District Attorney’s Office [DA] struggled to produce an effective case against the alleged defendants as the Italian-American community became reclusive and shielded by police investigators. A young Italian-American woman admitted to police investigators that she heard one of the defendants confess to the crime. Nevertheless, her family relocated her to Italy one week prior to the start of the trial in 1993. She was never subpoenaed, thus her testimony was never heard.

The trial jury was selected from a pool of residents from Northern Queens and yielded a sole person of color. And while the crime was committed on a populous street during a warm spring evening, the DA’s office and the NYPD produced only two material witnesses. Compounded by the absence of hate crime legislation at the State or Federal levels, the criminal proceedings resulted in the swift acquittal of a lone defendant.

For years, rumors and accusations of police negligence lingered over the verdict. Most recently an investigation by the NYPD Cold Case Squad, —the results of which have not been shared with the family nor, to their knowledge, the Queens DA—have yielded no movement in the case.

It has been 20 years and this family continues to call for justice for the brutal murder of Manny Mayi. Join them to demand justice.

COME OUT TO THIS EVENT AS YOUR PRESENCE IS NEEDED AND SHARE THE INFO WITH OTHERS!

Today, Sunday March 27
1 pm to 4 pm
One Police Plaza (NYPD Headquarters)
Park Row (entrance is near the corner of Chambers and Centre Street)
New York City

U.S. Helped Create Toro’s Situation, Now They Want to Rid Themselves of It via Deportation

9:45 am By Maegan La Mala · Activism|Chile|Immigration · 5 Comments

15 Mar 2011

Local NYC and international Chilean activist Victor Toro lost his bid for asylum. He is set to be deported to Chile, a country he left during the U.S. sponsored dictatorship of Pinochet, a country where he is legally dead.

From the NY Daily News :

ICE took Toro to court after he was arrested on an Amtrak train near Buffalo in 2007 for not having immigration papers.

Toro, a longtime advocate for immigrant rights who waded across the Rio Grande in 1984 to enter the U.S., claims he was afraid to turn himself in and request asylum, citing U.S. support for Pinochet’s brutal regime.

A democracy replaced the regime in 1990, but some of the leaders who had Toro tortured remain powerful, his lawyer says. They expelled Toro from Chile in 1977, declaring him dead.

Judge Sarah Burr said in a written ruling that Chile is a changed country and a safe place for Toro.

The Pinochet regime imprisoned Toro because he co-founded the Revolutionary Left Movement, known as the MIR, an anti-Pinochet group briefly labeled a terrorist organization by the U.S.

He was blindfolded for months at a time and had electric shocks applied to his genitals. He twice faced firing squads that shot blanks to scare him.

With President Obama set to visit the capital of Santiago later this month, Toro and Moreno are begging the White House to intervene. They argue the U.S. owes Toro because it tacitly backed Pinochet for years.

Latin@ Citywide Panel To Focus On Latino Community & Response To Homophobic Hate Crimes

21 Oct 2010

Many of our NY area readers may have already heard of the brutal and violent crimes against three gay Bronx Latino men (two who were 17 years-old) who were allegedly sodomized and tortured by several youth and adults involved with a gang. Eight men have been arraigned for gang assault, sexual abuse and unlawful imprisonment and a total of eleven men have been arrested.

In response to these acts of violence Latin@ Citywide has invited me to sit on a panel to discuss ways we can respond to such acts of violence, homophobia, and misogyny among our community. This is not the first conversation to occur in the LGBTQI community in The Bronx since these attacks, but it may be the first one to be led and centered in the Latino community.

I’ll be sharing this opportunity with Rev. Carmen Hernanded, Founder / President of NYC LGBT Chamber of Commerce who I met earlier this year at the 2010 El Diario Mujeres Destacadas Awards ceremony as we were both recipients this year. Also in attendence wtill be Andrés Duque, Blabbeando Blogger and LGBT Activist, and Ephraim Cruz, Co- Founder of Bronx for Change.

I’m happy to have been invited to speak at this space, it represents an attempt to expand this conversation in ways that are often ignored. As many VL readers know, my ideas on gang involvement and affiliation as well as sexuality education and access for youth of Color, are not very popular; and I’ll be speaking from this space. Because there is no press or elected officials allowed I will be speaking as Bianca the sexologist, professor, educator and activist.

This event is open to the public and I do hope that if you are in NYC and are able to attend that you please do so. I’d love to meet some of our readers in 3-D and have this conversation and action plan moved in a way that is productive and inclusive! If you are interested in attending please RSVP via email by October 22, 2010 to: jcartagena@CSSNY.ORG

The original email invitation is below with full details. Read more…

Video from Yesterday’s Protests in Arizona

11:45 am By Maegan La Mala · Activism|arizona|Immigration · 1 Comment

30 Jul 2010

Puente AZ has some amazing, inspiring video up from some of yesterday’s actions on the ground in Arizona yesterday, showing people resisting the part of SB1070 that went into effect and perhaps more importantly, rejecting the rhetoric of hate that led to SB1070 including 287(g) and Secure Communities.

VivirLatino will be at a marcha/rally in NYC today against SB1070 and the Arizona Diamondbacks playing in Queens, one of the hearts of the immigrant comunidad.

UPDATE: UPR Student Strikes

10:27 am By BiancaLaureano · Activism|Puerto Rico · 3 Comments

17 Jun 2010

Two months of protesting and demonstration by students attending various campuses of the University of Puerto Rico seem to be close to finding a resolution with University administration.

Democracy Now reports:

Students at the University of Puerto Rico have declared victory in their two-month strike against massive budget cuts at their school. The students and the university’s Board of Regents have signed an agreement that includes an extension of tuition waivers, the cancellation of a fee that would have drastically raised education costs, and a commitment not to arbitrarily punish strike participants. The students also say the University of Puerto Rico has agreed to reject a series of initiatives that would have increased privatization of the school. The students will hold a general assembly on Monday to seek campus-wide approval for the agreement.

Students also created and celebrated a communal commencement at the Rio Piedras campus. Berta Joubert-Ceci at Workers World reports:

On the 52nd day of a strike against privatization and tuition increases, the students of the University of Puerto Rico celebrated a symbolic yet very genuine act of commencement right on Ponce de León Avenue, in front of the Río Piedras campus. Accentuating one of the strike’s main slogans — “Eleven campuses, one UPR” — it was the first time a graduation was held of all 11 campuses and the UPR High School together. This was a graduation that rewarded the most essential education — the commitment to a just society shown by these students, who are aware of their historic role and loyal to their people, particularly the poorest on the island. Dressed in a variety of ways, from graduation gowns to jeans, the students wore ribbons that read, “UPR 2010 Dignity.”

Read more…

The Non-Profit Industrial Complex Eats Reform and Spits Out DREAMs

10:25 am By Maegan la Mamita Mala · Activism|Immigration|Justice|Politics · 6 Comments

16 Jun 2010

The Non-Profit Industrial Complex is like the Prison Industrial Complex in that despite the name, it is a capitalist model based in struggling for money. While private prisons fight amongst themselves for contracts with the Federal government and cut corners that usually equal abuses against those housed behind concrete and barbed wire, non-profits fight amongst themselves for money given out by corporate tax shelters and cut corners by watering down what should be revolution for reform and the end result is abuse against those whom orgs claim to represent and help in their mission statements. And just like private prisons would rather have rival gangs attack each other and distract from the bigger picture, non-profit organizations, whether on purpose or by default, also engage in divide and conquer politics that serve to dilute struggles rather than strengthen them. Need an example? Just look at the latest beef between some orgs in the Comprehensive Immigration Reform movement and the DREAM Act students.

VL’s Own Maegan One of 5 Influential Puerto Ricans Creating Buzz!

8:43 am By BiancaLaureano · Activism|Arts|Culture|New York City|Poetry · 6 Comments

12 Jun 2010

If you live in NYC then you had the opportunity to see Vivir Latino’s Maegan La Mala in AM New York. Maegan is one of two women who made the list of five Puerto Ricans who are making “buzz,” which is code for creating social change in the community in NYC and internationally!

We are so proud that poet’s, mami’s, writer’s, and radical women of Color media makers were represented through the work our Maegan continues to create! Here’s a close up of her section!

Update on Those Starving for a DREAM in NYC

3:14 pm By Maegan la Mamita Mala · Activism|Education|Immigration|New York City|youth · 1 Comment

3 Jun 2010

I went back to 47th Street and 3rd Avenue, in front of Senator Chuck Schumer’s office, to check up in how the 9 young people engaged in a hunger strike were doing as they entered Day 3 of their fast for a stand-alone DREAM Act.

All of the participants were in good spirits and were reading recent media coverage from the New York Times and the NY Daily News.

Senator Schumer’s office has yet to acknowledge that there are 9 young people outside his office demanding action. The fasters will be holding a vigil tomorrow night, at 7 pm, at 47th Street and 3rd Avenue.

Starving for a DREAM : Interview with DREAM Faster Gabriel Martinez

2 Jun 2010

Earlier this morning, I wrote about a 72 hour fast that was being supported by some local non-profits and NYC politicos for comprehensive immigration reform and the DREAM Act.

But….

All my sources in D.C. tell me Comprehensive Immigration Reform is dead, so why all the fronting? Why the show for the media and why not support the students who have been risking deportation by putting their undocumented lives on the line through civil disobedience actions? Seems like there is a rift in the struggle. So today, instead of going downtown to where the politicians would be, I went to where the students were, 47th and 3rd Avenue in Midtown Manhattan. There 9 young people are camped out in front of Senator Biometric Chuck Schumer’s office on an indefinite fast demanding that he stop bs’ing and get to stepping on the DREAM Act.

One of the Starving for a DREAM activists, Gabriel Martinez, was nice enough to allow me to sit with him on the sidewalk and speak with me as traffic rushed past.

I will be adding a transcript after the video later.

72 Hour Fast for Our Communities, for Just Immigration Reform and for the DREAM ActJumps Off in NYC Today!

6:02 am By Maegan la Mamita Mala · Activism|Immigration|Justice|New York City · 5 Comments

2 Jun 2010

Fasting, denying oneself food has been done for spiritual reasons & political reasons. Today, more than 50 immigrant community members, clergy, NY City Council Members and advocates will go on a 72 hour fast to demand comprehensive immigration reform in 2010, among them are Puerto Rican Congresswoman Nydia Velasquez.

The fast is being paired with an education campaign that highlights the contributions immigrants have made to New York City and the United States, and illustrate the need for changes in immigration policy on both a national and local level.

Make the Road NY and New Sanctuary Coalition members will also be conducting a massive community education and outreach effort to engage thousands of community members in the national campaign to pass comprehensive immigration reform, the local campaign to end New York’s collaboration with immigration enforcement at Rikers Island and to repudiate the signing of SB 1070 into law by Arizona Governor Jan Brewer (R-AZ).
Read more…

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