Dear Urban Jibaro,

I work in the toy department of a major retailer in a pretty diverse part of Pennsylvania. I see a lot of Latino families and I am curious about something. Whenever a kid throw a tantrum in my department, I hear their mothers threaten them with "John Kletter" and they immediately start behaving in most cases.

I have 3 kids myself and I would love to know how John Kletter can help me when they act up.

My question is "Who is John Kletter, and why are Latino children so afraid of him?

"Gracias" (thats all the Spanish I know)

Misty (Lancaster PA)

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Ok...so being that fact that I am completely new at this, I honestly did not know what the hell Misty was talking about. I googled "John Kletter" and did not find much...and was about to move on to our next submission...that is until I mentioned the question to one of my friends (she made me swear not to reveal her name) who has a thick accent and she said "que eso de jon kleta?"and then it hit me me like a ton of bricks...we had a phonetic translation issue here....John Kletter doesn't exist...at least not in the Latino universe what Misty actually witnessed was the power of the almighty "CHANCLETA".

This whole ASK A LATINO thing is gonna be fun...

So now that we got that squared away...Click below to read my official response to the first "ASK A LATINO" question.

Check after the jump to see when he's coming to a city near you.

The dates and locations are as follows:
June 06 - Poughkeepsie , NY - Mid Hudson Civic
June 07 - Asbury Park NJ - Convention Hall
June 08 - Wallingford , CT - Mountain Ridge
June 13 - Green Bay , WI Riverside Ballroom
June 14 - Highland Park IL - Ravinia Festival/ Martin Theater
June 15 - Stateville, NC - Plaza Mexico Lindo
June 20 - Jacksonville , FL - El Moroco Shrine
June 21 - Lumberton , NC - Lumberton Fairgrounds
June 22 - Columbia , SC - Columbia Armory
June 27 - Tampa , FL - Florida State Fairgrounds
June 28 - Gaffney SC - Plaza de Toros La Guadalupe
June 29 - Hardeville , SC - Far West Rodeo

May 29 8:00P House of Blues (w/ Maneja Beto), Dallas, Texas
May 30 8:00P Sam’s Burger Joint, San Antonio, Texas
May 31 1:00P Waterloo Park, Austin, Texas
May 31 8:00P Talento Bilingue de Houston, Houston, Texas
Jun 6 7:00P Detroit Festival of the Arts, Detroit, Michigan
Jun 7 8:00P Green Dolphin Street, Chicago, Illinois
Jun 8 2:00P Marquette Waterfront Festival, Madison, Wisconsin
Jun 21 8:00P Clearwater Festival, Poughkeepsie, New York
Jun 22 8:00P Clearwater Festival, Poughkeepsie, New York
Jun 22 8:00P Festival of Arts and New Ideas, New Haven, Connecticut
Jun 28 8:00P Montreal Jazz Feztival, Montreal, Quebec
Jul 10 8:00P The Jewish Museum, New York, New York
Jul 17 8:00P The Kimmel Center, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Jul 19 7:00P Kingsboroguh College - Accordion Festival, Brooklyn, New York
Jul 27 5:00P Sfinks Festival, Boechout, Belgium
Aug 9 4:00P Central Park SummerStage (with Kinky and Alejandro Escovedo), New York, New York
Aug 13 7:00P MacArthur Park, Los Angeles, California
Aug 16 8:00P Roots and Blues Festival, Kelowna, British Columbia
Aug 17 8:00P Roots and Blues Festival, Kelowna, British Columbia
Oct 17 8:00P Leaf Festival, Black Mountain, North Carolina

Check after the jump for a preview of what Pistolera will bring you (hint: I think a mujer with a guitar in her hands is sexy).

May Day 2008 Call to Action!
On May Day 2008, National Immigrant Solidarity Network is calling for a multi-ethnic, decentralized, multi-topic and multi-tactic national day of mobilization to support immigrant workers rights.

1. No to anti-immigrant legislation, and the criminalization of the immigrant communities.

2. No to militarization of the border.

3. No to the immigrant detention and deportation.

4. No to the guest worker program.

5. No to employer sanction and “no match” letters.

6. Yes to a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants.

7. Yes to speedy family reunification.

8. Yes to civil rights and humane immigration law.

9. Yes to labor rights and living wages for all workers.

10. Yes to the education and LGBT immigrant legislation.

We acknowledges that there’ll be multiple call to actions from across the country to organize May Day 2008, and each coalition will present their sets of demands. We should respects each other organizing and encourage and supports everyone’s issues:

1) Multi-ethnic, Decentralized and Multi-topic mobilization: while everyone will pledge to support immigrant workers rights at May Day 2007, local groups can choose to includes any other topics for their mobilizations: civil rights, anti-war, Katrina, labor rights, health care…., etc.

2) Decentralized Multi-Tactic May Day organizing: We will encourage everyone to organize their actions at May Day, but will let local groups to decide what they want to do at the day: march, boycott, strike, lunch action, vigil, community event, conference or congressional lobby day, etc.Understanding the connections between our individual conditions of life and the lives of people everywhere in the word allows us to come together and organize across all borders. WE NEED to link the connections between: wars in Africa, south America, Asia, Iraq, Palestine & Korea with sweatshops in Asia as well as in Los Angeles, New York; international arm sales and WTO, FTAA, NAFTA & CAFTA with AIDS, hunger, child labors and child solider; multinational corporations and economic exploitation with racism and poverty at home–then we can win the struggle. Let’s all come together, on May Day 2008, to build a new immigrant rights
and civil rights movements!

If you want to follow what I'm doing. I'll be twittering all day from mamitamala. Add me and follow the live march action. Later I will have videos, photos, and stories to tell.

Check after the jump for where you can get your march on.

No to anti-immigrant legislation, and the criminalization of the immigrant communities.

2. No to militarization of the border.

3. No to the immigrant detention and deportation.

4. No to the guest worker program.

5. No to employer sanction and “no match” letters.

6. Yes to a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants.

7. Yes to speedy family reunification.

8. Yes to civil rights and humane immigration law.

9. Yes to labor rights and living wages for all workers.

10. Yes to the education and LGBT immigrant legislation.

Federal immigration agents raided Pilgrim's Pride poultry plants in five states today in a crackdown on an alleged scam to provide fake identification for illegal immigrant workers.
Julie Myers, Immigration and Customs Enforcement assistant secretary, told The Associated Press that more than 100 people were expected to be arrested on criminal charges related to identity theft.

There is talk that this recent wave of raids is a scare tactic. Is it coincidence that the raids happened on the same day that the pro-immigrant May Day Marches were announced? Certainly, in my immigrant 'hood, there is fear of living day to day, never mind exposing yourself in a very public display of activism.

Check out the video for Mexican Radio and find out when Kinky is coming to your city after the cut.

Immigrants long have flocked to major metropolitan areas and helped them grow. But increasingly, native-born Americans are moving from those areas and leaving immigrants to provide the only source of growth.
The New York metro area, which includes the suburbs, added 1 million immigrants from 2000 to 2006. Without those immigrants, the region would have lost nearly 600,000 people.
Without immigration, the Los Angeles metro area would have lost more than 200,000, the San Francisco area would have lost 188,000 and the Boston area would have lost 101,000.

Via / MSNBC

Puerto Rican population growth was fastest in states that have not been locations of traditional settlement. Fast Puerto Rican growth took place in states such as Nevada, Rhode Island, Florida, Georgia, Arizona, Tennessee, New Hampshire, North Carolina and Virginia. Puerto Ricans grew in these mostly Sunbelt states at rates that fluctuated between 300 percent and 400 percent between 1980 and 2000. The ten fastest growing counties in the survey were located in Florida (eight) and Pennsylvania (two). Puerto Rican growth was slowest in states of traditional settlement, such as New York , New Jersey , Illinois or Hawaii . The slowest growth counties were also located largely in these states.

City Councilman Mark Ellis is trying to force a vote on a plan directing police to enforce immigration law and requiring proof of citizenship for people receiving social services. The local effort coincides with a push by President George W. Bush and bills in Congress to crack down on illegal immigration.

``The federal government, they're not going to be able to get their arms around this issue alone,'' Ellis said in a telephone interview. ``They're going to have to have assistance from the local government and state government.''

Officers - 576 of them - will get awards ranging from $3,500 to $400,000 from the suit, which the city settled just over a year ago. The victims charged that the Police Department created a hostile work environment for black and Latino cops, especially when it came to disciplinary matters.

"Cops have their own disciplinary system. The penalty for black and Latino cops were disproportionately higher," said Diane Paolicelli, an attorney with the firm that represented many of the plaintiffs.

Paolicelli said some cops lost pay, others were given bad assignments or even fired in the retaliatory climate.

She said awards, which varied based on the duration and scale of discrimination plaintiffs allegedly endured, will be sent out over the next month.

Yes, folks, racism exists even in fundamentally racist organizations like the police, and even in the "most liberal city in the nation".

Via / NY Daily News

To submit an event, please use our contact form.

OPENING THIS WEEK / THIS WEEK ONLY

Houston
Gloria Estefan Book Signing
When: Thursday, October 20, 5pm
Where: Barnes and Noble, 7627 Westheimer @ Voss
Cost: Free

Los Angeles
Latino Film Festival
When: October 22 - October 30
Where: Varies by event
Cost: $8 per film

Latino Book & Family Festival
When: Saturday, October 22 10am-6pm & Sunday, October 23 10am-5pm
Where: Fairplex in Pomona, CA
Cost: Free

Miami
Pianist Sets World Record
When: Thursday, October 20, 11am-11pm
Where: Manuel Artime Theater, Miami Beach
Cost: Purchase at entrance, part of proceeds go to Katrina victims: 11am-3pm $25, 3pm-7pm $35, 7pm-11pm $50

New York
Forging a New Path: Contemporary Latino Authors Featuring Angie Cruz
When: Tuesday, October 18, 6:00 p.m.
Where: Queens Library, Jackson Heights Branch, 35-51 81st Street, 718-899-2500; by train: 7 to 82nd Street; by bus: Q19B, Q32, Q33.
Cost: Free