· Asian American or Pacific Islander – 40 percent · White – 39 percent · American Indian – 19 percent · Latino – 15 percent · Black – 12 percent

Here's an excerpt of the letter from some members of the Latin American Studies Association (LASA):

There are many other challenges, too. Colombia, the main focus of the
Bush Administration's policy, is currently the scene of the second
largest humanitarian crisis in the world, with four million internally
displaced people. Its government, which criminalizes even peaceful
protest, seeks an extension of the free trade policies that much of the
hemisphere is already reacting against. Cuba has begun a process of
transition that should be supported in positive ways, such as through
the dialogue you advocate. Mexicans and Central Americans migrate by
the tens of thousands to seek work in the United States, where their
labor power is much needed but their presence is denigrated by a public
that has, since the development of opinion polling in the 1930s, always
opposed immigration from anywhere. The way to manage immigration is not
by building a giant wall, but rather, the United States should support
more equitable economic development in Mexico and Central America and,
indeed, throughout the region. In addition, the U.S. must reconsider
drug control policies that have simply not worked and have been part of
the problem of political violence, especially in Mexico, Colombia and
Peru. And the U.S. must renew its active support for human rights
throughout the region. Unfortunately, in the eyes of many Latin
Americans, the United States has come to stand for the support of
inequitable regimes.

Read the entire letter and it's signatories after the jump.

New York State law prohibits children younger than 16 from being arrested for minor, non-criminal violations like loitering. If a child commits a minor infraction at school, he may be disciplined, but the Family Court Act prohibits police from arresting the child. But according to NYPD data obtained in a Freedom of Information Law request, between 2005 and 2007, approximately 300 New York City public school students were illegally arrested in or on school grounds for non-criminal violations. And when the children were arrested, they were handcuffed, forcibly removed from school and taken to police precincts.

Just like ICED, Homeland Gitmos just doesn't spit out facts and figures, but engages the user to find them through a virtual visit inside the horrific conditions of the federally run immigrant jails.

Having covered the issue, the information wasn't surprising, but I can see Homeland Guantanamo's potential as a learning tool , especially for youth. I'm gonna show my 11 year old daughter the site today and see what she thinks. She's a big fan of ICED.

What do you all think?

A majority of Hispanic students — about 75 percent — live in what the study calls "established" Hispanic states: Texas, Colorado, California, Arizona, New Mexico, Illinois, New York, Pennsylvania and New Jersey.

In Texas, more than 40 percent of enrollments from 1990 to 2006 were Latino students.

Almost 20 percent of the nation's Hispanic students — nearly 2 million — live in Texas.

Via / Chron.com

Harrold ISD Superintendent David Thweatt said his school board unanimously passed the concealed weapon policy in October to protect employees and students in the case of an armed intruder or hostage situation.

The school sits near a major highway and is a 30-minute drive from the Sheriff's Office.

Gov. Rick Perry said Monday that local school districts should be able to decide whether to allow concealed weapons on their campuses.

"I'm pretty much a fan that if you've been trained, if you are registered, then you ought to be able to carry a weapon," Perry said.

A local school board, Harrold Independent School District, in rural North Texas unanimously passed the policy to allow its teachers and staff to carry concealed hand guns to school. According to Fort Worth Star-Telegram, since the tiny 110-student school district was just off a heavily trafficked freeway, US 287, they felt the police was too far to respond quickly if there ever was an emergency. Therefore, the school board passed CKC (LOCAL), Safety Program/Risk Management Emergency Plans, which states:

Recognizing that District schools are located in a somewhat isolated area and that response from emergency first responders, including law enforcement personnel, takes a minimum of approximately 30 minutes, the Board adopts the following policy to address concerns about effective and timely response to emergency situations at schools, including invasion of the schools by an armed outsider, hostage situations, students who are armed and posing a direct threat of physical harm to themselves or others, and similar circumstances.

For a teacher to carry a conceal handgun, they are required to have a Texas concealed handgun license, undergoing training in crisis management, and hostile situations and must use ammunition designed to minimize the risk of ricocheting bullets.

In reaction to an article in USA Today titled Well, I Would Hope So [Kathryn Jean Lopez]
"Illegal immigrants face threat of no college", Katherine Jean Lopez of the National Review Online (full disclosure, she graduated from the same high school as me) writes in response (with no further explanation: Well, I Would Hope So.

The National Organization of teachers has called for a strike which was set to begin yesterday and extend into Thursday, and its spokesperson said that 90% of the schools in the Santiago metropolitan area would stop classes, while the Chilean Minister of Education debunked the claim, saying that 1800 schools in the capital were having classes.

Meanwhile, several schools and universities have been taken over by student protesters, and according to Mexico's La Jornada, at least two -- the University of Santiago and the University of Valdivia -- have been "vacated" by the carabineros.

The new Chilean education law at the center of this public backlash is said to perpetuate the breach between rich and poor with regard to education, and is costing president Michelle Bachelet some major popularity points. For some background on the LGE, check out Chilean college student-blogger Ernesto Manriquez's analysis of the legislation and what it will change.

Via / La Jornada

Image via Arriving at the horizon on Flickr

I am being fired because I am trying to ensure that my curriculum is relevant to my students' daily lived experiences, and in the process, create a space for them to be critical of Eurocentric society and curricula that only serve to reinforce their dehumanization, subjugation, and oppression. Many of you have been forwarding messages about the Arizona bill that seeks to end Raza Studies and MEChA, and while my situation is not as large scale, it is still an attack on the quality, culturally-relevant education Students of Color deserve.

I have been harassed by administration since last school year for my alleged encouragement of "militancy" among students. Last year there was a group of students, called the Watts Student Union, who began organizing themselves and created a list of demands they presented to the school and district. The administration did not think students were capable (smart enough?) of organizing themselves and articulating their demands on their own, so another colleague and I were accused of being the real "masterminds" behind their work.

This year, administration has continued their vendetta against me. I have been observed in the classroom and evaluated by administration over a dozen times (almost twice a month) this school year, whereas in comparison, most teachers are observed and evaluated 1-3 times per school year. The evaluations claim that I am creating "militancy" within students, promoting my personal political beliefs, and presenting a biased view of the curriculum. It has also been implied that I have been teaching students "how to protest."

Three weeks ago, things began escalating when I was again observed, and in his evaluation, the administrator accused me of "brainwashing" my students and "forcing extremist views" on them. The class had been reading a 3-page excerpt of the Autobiography of Malcolm X (an LAUSD-approved text, of which we have several class sets in our school bookroom), in which Malcolm describes the first time he conked his hair...My contract is being terminated because according to the principal, I am "indoctrinating students with anti-Semitism and Afrocentrism." The anti-Semitism accusation comes solely from the fact that I have an Intifada poster hanging in my classroom (a symbol of support for a free Palestine), and the Afrocentrism accusation comes from the fact my culturally-relevant curriculum reflects the demographics of my students, though I am surprised I am not being accused of Raza-centrism as well.

Arthur Mkoyan's 4.0 grade-point average has made him a valedictorian at Bullard High School in Fresno and qualified him to enter one of the state's top universities.
But while his classmates look forward to dorm food and college courses this fall, Arthur Mkoyan may not make it.
He is being deported.
Arthur, 17, and his mother have been ordered out of the country. By late June, they may be headed to Armenia.
Arthur hasn't seen Armenia since he was 2, and he doesn't want to return. The thin, rather shy teenager doesn't speak Armenian and barely understands the language when it's spoken to him.
"Hopefully, I can somehow stay here and continue my studies here," he said. "It would be hard if I go back."
The family fled from the old Soviet Union and has been seeking asylum since 1992. The appeals ran out this year.

Later this week, the official signing of the Immigrant Safe Zone Declaration will take place at Hillcrest High School in Jamaica, Queens.

Wednesday, June 4th at 3:30 PM
PRESS & COMMUNITY SIGNING OF IMMIGRANT SAFE ZONE DECLARATION
Hillcrest High School
160-05 Highland Avenue
Jamaica Estates, New York 11432
[Take the F train to Parsons Blvd. in Queens]

There have been other cases of ICE targeting parents through their children. Remember the case of the girls who were deported for cutting school?

This is completely unacceptable. As a parent with a child in public school, I should not be afraid of taking my child to school or picking her up because of ICE agents menacingly parked outside. Personally I am trying to find out what the NYC Department of Education policy is regarding ICE. I urge people to do the same.

Via / Latina Lista, Personal email

Hundreds of foreign-born families have pulled their children from Prince William County public schools and enrolled them in nearby Fairfax County, Arlington County and Alexandria since the start of the school year, imposing a new financial burden on those inner suburbs in a time of lean budgets.