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As Workplace Deaths Decline, More Latino Workers Die

5:27 pm By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · Controversia| Immigration| Labor| Texas| society · Comments Off

20 Jul 2009

danger_at_work Language barriers, non-affiliation with unions and the exploitation of undocumented immigrants appear to be the contributing causes for the rising number of Latinos who die while performing their jobs every year. Even more disturbing is the fact that the number is rising as stats for workers in general is falling. People’s Weekly World reports

The number of Latino workers who die on the job has risen 76 percent since 1992, even as the total number of workplace deaths has declined, federal statistics show.

In 1992 the number of reported Latino deaths on the job was 533. In a 2007 tally, the latest available from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 937 Latino workers died while working.

Overall fatalities throughout the U.S. fell from 6,217 to 5,657 within the same period.

Dangerous jobs are spelling death for Latino immigrants in Texas. PWW reports that workers there are dying falling off roofs and being crushed by heavy machinery, among other heinous accidents…which reminds me of this unspeakable incident.

As ICE raids continue across the country and more workers are forced into hiding (if you don’t exist, you have no advocate), expect more of these deaths, not less, and this won’t change until President Obama does something about this terrible situation.

Via / People’s Weekly World

72-year old Texas Woman Gets Tased

4:03 pm By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · Controversia| Justice| Texas| crime| society · 7 Comments

10 Jun 2009

What happens when a 72-year old Austin grandma talks back to a cop who shoved her on a routine traffic stop? This:

What’s pretty sick to me is that people all over the Web are justifying the tasing as if she was really some sort of a threat to the cop or to anyone else. Read more…

Texas Mayor Steps Down, Reveals His Love for Undocumented Immigrant

27 May 2009

Central Texas doesn’t get a lot of public officials coming out of the closet, either about their sexual orientation or about their emotional relationships with undocumented immigrants, but the city of San Angelo got a double whammy when Mayor J.W. Lown sent in a resignation letter “from an undisclosed location in Mexico“, revealing the nature of his personal life (see a video of the reading of the letter above). The Houston Chronicle reports:

What made it stunning wasn’t the status of Lown’s office, which pays $600 a year, but the status of his lover.

Lown fell for an illegal Mexican immigrant.

A man.

Lown told the San Angelo Standard-Times he had fallen for the man in March, after he had already filed for re-election. The man came to the U.S. five years ago to study at Angelo State University.

It was unclear whether he had a student visa, but if he did it apparently had expired.

Lown told the Standard-Times he chose not to take the oath of office while “aiding and assisting” a person who was illegally in the country.

Lown had been an extraordinarily popular mayor. Only 32 years old, he was elected in 2003 as the city’s youngest mayor. Serving in an office that inevitably requires decisions that accumulate enemies, he managed to get re-elected three times with increasing margins of victory each time. Two weeks ago he defeated two challengers by garnering 89 percent of the vote.

Lown did not give the name of his lover, but said he planned to stay in Mexico to try to obtain a visa so that his partner can return with him if “the people of San Angelo will welcome me back.”

Hats off to Mayor Lown on his courage and honesty. Here’s hoping his partner gets a visa and San Angelo will indeed let him come home.

Check out a tape of the official press conference after the jump. It’s quite poignant.

Texas Lawmaker Wants Asian Americans to Change their Names

1:39 pm By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · Controversia| Politics| Texas| language| race · 2 Comments

9 Apr 2009

This sounds like something out of The Onion, but sadly, it’s true. This disgusting piece of news comes to us from The Houston Chronicle, and it makes me fear a trip back home to Texas: a Texas legislator, one Rep. Betty Brown (R-Terrell) suggests that voters of Asian heritage change their names to make them “easier for Americans to deal with.” Take a deep breath before reading the following:

Brown suggested that Asian-Americans should find a way to make their names more accessible.
“Rather than everyone here having to learn Chinese — I understand it’s a rather difficult language — do you think that it would behoove you and your citizens to adopt a name that we could deal with more readily here?” Brown said.

Brown later told Ko: “Can’t you see that this is something that would make it a lot easier for you and the people who are poll workers if you could adopt a name just for identification purposes that’s easier for Americans to deal with?”

You can watch a video above of the House Elections Committee where this went down. Ramey Ko, a representative of the Organization of Chinese Americans, testified to the difficulties that Asian Americans often face when attempting to vote.

The Texas Democratic Party has demanded an apology from Brown, while the Republican party says Democrats “want this to be about race”.

If it isn’t about race, then what is it about?

Via / Chron.com

14 Years Without Selena

4:23 pm By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · Celebrities| Entertainment| Music| Tejano Culture · 6 Comments

31 Mar 2009

14 years ago, Tejano music and Mexican American culture lost one of its most beloved artists. Selena was gunned down at the age of 23 outside of a hotel in her hometown of Corpus Christi, Texas 14 years ago today, on March 31st, 1995. Her funeral brought fans from all over the country to Corpus (myself among them) to bid a final farewell to the amazing artist and humanitarian.

14 years later, Selena’s legacy lives on. Her music is unparalleled in the Tejano genre, a genre she proudly represented as much as she proudly represented her Texas-Mexican (a.k.a. Tejano) heritage. There have been many imitators since, but there will never be another Selena.

If you’ve never heard Selena’s music or heard her perform, you’ll get a taste of her at her best in the above clip from her last concert.

Website Makes Regular People Virtual Border Patrol Agents

13 Mar 2009

border When you think “stay-at-home-mom”, what comes to mind? I think diaper changing, grocery shopping and picking up kids from school. But at least one mom in Rochester, New York thinks “patrolling the U.S.- Mexico border via webcam”. Uhhhh…

When her baby girl takes an afternoon nap, or on those nights when she just can’t sleep, Sarah Andrews, 32, tosses off her identity as a suburban stay-at-home mom and becomes something more exotic: a “virtual deputy” patrolling the U.S.-Mexico border. From her house in a suburb of Rochester, New York, Andrews spends at least four hours a day watching a site called BlueServo.net.

There, because of a $2 million grant from the state of Texas, anyone in the world can watch grainy live video scenes of cactuses, desert mountains and the Rio Grande along Texas’ portion of the international border.

That’s right, Texas has people on the other side of the country virtually patrolling its borders in what they call “virtual stakeouts”. According to CNN, those who are participating are doing so out of a “sense of civic responsibility”.

The Texas Border Sherriff’s Coalition, the entity that runs the site, says that crime has decreased as a result of the cameras. They claim that multiple arrest have been made, all related to marijuana trafficking.

I tried to test the site out myself but the videos don’t load for me. Perhaps the site knows my politics? The sign-up form contains questions like “Do you think the border is adequately protected from crime and terrorism?” and “Do you think BlueServo’s Virtual Community Watch program will aid and improve Texas border security?” They give you the option of skipping those questions, which I did. I wonder if that’s why I can’t see the video…

What do you think of this initiative? Are the people watching these cameras from their homes couch potato versions of the Minutemen? Or just concerned citizens? Do you think this well help quell crime on the border? Let us know what you think in the comments below.

Via / CNN

MALDEF Sues Texas DPS Over License Rules

31 Jan 2009

It seems like the battle over whether or not undocumented immigrants should be allowed to have drivers licenses has been going on for decades now, with both sides celebrating gains and protesting losses in the fight. The newest chapter in this story is that The Mexican American Legal Defense Fund (MALDEF) is suing the Texas Department of Public Safety on behalf of some immigrant workers and their employer:

The men are landscaping workers in North Texas who need to drive as part of their job but could not obtain a Texas driver’s license under the new DPS policies because their visas are valid for only 10 months.

DPS rules exclude people from receiving driver’s licenses if they have a visa for less than one year or have less than six months remaining on it, MALDEF said.

Officials also changed the appearance of driver’s licenses for persons with legal permission to be in the U.S. so that they differ from licenses given to citizens and green card holders. MALDEF contends the Public Safety Commission, which oversees DPS, exceeded its authority and did not have Legislative approval to adopt the rules.

Very sneaky, DPS! I guess you thought as undocumented immigrants these people were defenseless, but luckily there are orgs like MALDEF around to (at least try) to fight the good fight.

Oh, and by the way, President Obama supported licenses for the undocumented during his campaign. Let’s see if he continues along these lines.

Via / Chron.com

Image via Erik on Flickr

Bush To Move to Dallas and Vecinos Say : ” There Goes the Neighborhood”

12:44 pm By Maegan La Mala · Politics| Texas · Comments Off

7 Dec 2008

On his way out the door President Bush has already got new digs for his post-presidential life, pero not all his soon to be neighbors are thrilled with the idea of having Georgie on their block.

George Bush has bought a new house in a wealthy part of Dallas, called Preston Hollow. The impending presence of a former President is ratcheting up security fears. “I am afraid with all the negative press the president has been getting, the whole neighborhood is going to be a target,” said a woman, who wouldn’t give her name. She carried her King Charles spaniel Friday past the Bushes’ new abode.

Other vecinos include Dallas Mavericks’ owner Marc Cuban and former presidential candidate Ross Perot.

Via / The Huffington Post

When “Special” Means Different and Unequal : Driver’s Licenses in Texas

11:30 am By Maegan La Mala · Immigration| Texas · 1 Comment

19 Nov 2008

Texas already has strict guidelines in place to make sure that undocumented immigrants can’t access driver’s licenses (apparently it’s safer for people to drive unlicensed). Since Oct. 1, Texas made the guidelines even more strict by requiring foreign nationals to prove they are lawfully here before they can get an original, renewal or duplicate driver’s license or ID card. Additionally:

noncitizens with legal permission to live in the country will now get special, vertical-shaped driver’s licenses bearing temporary visitor designations. The licenses will be valid only until the person’s legal status expires. Immigrants whose legal status is scheduled to expire less than six months from the time they apply cannot get a license or ID card at all.

Real Scary Stories : Poll finds 23% of Texans think Obama is Muslim.

11:21 am By Maegan La Mala · Religion| Texas| US Presidential Race 2008 · 6 Comments

31 Oct 2008

A University of Texas poll to be released today shows Republican presidential candidate John McCain and GOP Sen. John Cornyn leading by comfortable margins in Texas, as expected. But the statewide survey of 550 registered voters has one very surprising finding: 23 percent of Texans are convinced that Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama is a Muslim.

Obama is a Christian who was embroiled in a controversy earlier this year about his two-decade membership in Chicago’s Trinity United Church of Christ. Yet just 45 percent of those polled identified the Illinois senator as a Protestant.

The Obama-is-a-Muslim confusion is caused by fallacious Internet rumors and radio talk-show gossip. McCain went so far at one of his town hall meetings to grab a microphone from a woman who claimed that Obama was an Arab.

Via / Pam’s House Blend

Older Entries

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