Two supervisors spoke out today against the raid in San Francisco, which a sanctuary city. That status has allowed the city to refuse to cooperate with federal immigration authorities except in felony cases.
"As a government, we are trying to reduce fear and violence," said Supervisor Sophie Maxwell, in whose district the raid occurred. "My primary concern is about the families and, in this instance, the young girl whose mother was taken into custody."
Supervisor Tom Ammiano agreed, saying, "This is yet another example of how ICE operates. There is no humanity in harassing children and leaving them behind."
School District Superintendent Carlos Garcia's concern was for the students in his district and commented on possible parental concerns.
"A student came to school today and told teachers that immigration had taken all members of her family," he said. "I want to assure all of our families that our schools are a safe place for a child to turn for support and we do not ask anyone's legal status."

Mil gracias to Nicole Rivera for giving us the update and permission to use some of her pics!!

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)

***************************************************

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.

Reporters at San Francisco’s leading Spanish-language TV news station, KDTV/Univision, make roughly one quarter less in base pay than their English-language counterparts. This despite the fact that the Spanish newscast attract more viewers in the 25-54 demographic than every other newscast in the Bay Area save the top-rated KGO-TV.

A group called the Presidential Memorial Commission has reportedly picked up more than enough signatures to put the ballot initiative to the San Francisco public in the November election.

If the measure passes, it would rename the city’s Oceanside Treatment Plant as the George W. Bush Sewage Plant.

That’s not exactly a presidential library, but sponsors of the ballot measure say it’s a fitting tribute to a president who made a big mess.

Via / Fox News

More than 60 percent of all prisoners are African American, according
to a survey of the city jail's population. And of the 282 female
prisoners, 67 percent are black.
About 42 percent of the jail population is in custody for drug
offenses, the study found.
A similar study in 1996 found that half of the jail population was
African American. A 2005 study put the number at 53 percent.
In contrast, 6.7 percent of San Francisco residents are black- a number that has been in steady decline, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

On May 1, all 29 ports on the U.S. West Coast are to be shut down by the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) in protest against the U.S. war on Afghanistan and Iraq. The Bay Area ILWU local was the first American union to condemn the war. In April 2003, as invading U.S. troops reached Baghdad, six longshoremen were injured and a union official was arrested as police fired on hundreds of antiwar protesters in the port of Oakland. The Pacific Maritime Association (PMA) notified the union on April 3 that it “doesn’t consent to a stop-work meeting or any other effort to disrupt port operations.” Subsequently the PMA threatened union leaders with court action under Taft-Hartley if they don’t call it all off. Supporters of the ILWU will meet in San Francisco at Mason and Beach (in Fishersmans' Wharf) at 10:30 am on May Day. There will then be a march to a 12 noon rally in Justin Herman Plaza.

Via / IMC

And then there's the big one. I didn't vote in the primaries in 2004, and I must say that when I voted for John Kerry 4 years ago in the elections I did it with vigor. I was confident that our 4 torturous years of the Bush machine were about to come to an end. Sadly, we all know how that one turned out. Kerry just didn't have the pizazz. He was a weak candidate, and lacked the ability to drum up any excitement.

I'm off to my polling place folks, and I'm hoping I won't have face any of the irregularities that are being constantly reported both here and in Southern California when I get there. Here in San Francisco (video of our Super Tuesday above) and other parts of the Bay Area, many voters who aren't registered with any political party (like myself) have been told that they aren't allowed to vote in the Democratic primary. Not true!

See you guys later as the returns come in!

Via / SF Gate

...just four years ago, current Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama is said to have declined to have his picture taken in San Francisco with Newsom, who was then at the center of a national uproar over his decision to allow same-sex marriage in San Francisco.

"I gave a fundraiser, at his (Obama's) request at the Waterfront restaurant," said former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown. "And he said to me, he would really appreciate it if he didn't get his photo taken with my mayor. He said he would really not like to have his picture taken with Gavin."

Via / KSBY

While the rally was lively and and attendees very enthusiastic yesterday, San Francisco's Civic Center square was less than 1/4 full, a sharp contrast from last year, when the crowds stretched from the steps of City Hall and the federal building spilling into the neighboring streets of the Tenderloin.

Yesterday morning Gustavo Arellano was on NPR talking about whether the lower number of attendees (because this was being predicted hours before the rallies actually started) had to more to do with the fact that the rallies last year were so successful that people simply think that the struggle is over.

The truth is there are rallies, and following is the logistical info:

San Francisco:

Tuesday, May 1, 12 noon
Gather at Dolores Park, Dolores and 18th Streets
(Mission District, 16th St. BART)
March to Civic Center
More info at IndyBay

More rally information after the jump

"I don't think the way they enforced the law is right, or just, or moral, or tolerable, especially for children," said San Francisco Auxiliary Bishop Ignatius Wang, who was born in Beijing.

"We all are immigrants some way or another, and why should we treat other immigrants as aliens?" he added. "If the government wants to secure the borders, it is right. But if they treat human beings inhumanly, it's not right."

We are a lot of other things, among them blogger, writer, artist, business people, parent, activist and a host of other words can describe us. We're not journalists in the traditional sense. We are regular people who care enough about something (Latino issues) to post about it every day, and state our opinions. BUT, we are in fact the media. Right?

If a controversy that has unfolded right here in San Francisco is to be a case study on that statement, the government probably doesn't share that sentiment. Today San Francisco blogger Josh Wolf becomes the journalist (there's that word again) who has spent the most time in prison for refusing to hand over information to the U.S. Government. While his friends and family held a press conference at our City Hall this afternoon to rally support for his release, Josh sat in a Federal prison in Dublin, California, all because the government doesn't buy that he deserves the journalist's right to withhold information.