Amy Richards & Maegan "Mamita Mala" Ortiz
Radical Mommyhood: A Coversation with Amy Richards and Maegan "Mamita Mala" Ortiz

Thursday, November 13 @ 7:00PM

Arlington St. Church, 351 Boylston St. Entrance, (Corner of Boylston and Arlington), Boston

Join Amy Richards and Maegan “Mamita Mala” Ortiz for a frank conversation on radical mommyhood—how making the decision to have a child impacts who we are and who we want to be (as women, feminists, anti-racists, and artists). We’ll chat about the intersections of feminism and motherhood and how race and class in particular, play an important role in how motherhood is encountered, seen, and experienced.

Amy Richards is the author of Opting In: Having a Child Without Losing Yourself, and the co-author of Manifesta: Young Women, Feminism, and the Future and Grassroots: A Field Guide for Feminist Activism (both with Jennifer Baumgardner). She is co-founder of the Third Wave Foundation and the feminist speakers bureau Soapbox. She lives in New York City with her family.

Maegan “Mamita Mala” Ortiz is a radical Nuyorican mami, blogger, poeta, and freelance writer. La Mala is currently co-Editor of one of the top U.S. Latino blogs, VivirLatino. She is also a contributor on Anti-Racist Parent. Her words , blogging, and opinions have been featured at the Washington Post, The Huffington Post, NPR, and Latina Magazine. Check her out at: http://mamitamala.com/.

It should get interesting....

In May 2007, 56-year-old Jesus Bracero was attacked in Washington Heights by NYPD officers while dropping his 15-year-old daughter off at school. The catalyst? Bracero not complying immediately when asked for id. This is where people will say to themselves, why did he not just follow the police order? The answer is simple. In the words of Bracero: “I had not done anything illegal.” This was enough to unleash the NYPD choking and beating him.

They dragged Bracero out of his car with a chokehold on his neck. Bracero says he was assaulted by many police, who handcuffed him and repeatedly banged his head on the ground.

I don't lie about my own ambivalence after stolen elections and the fact that my own familia who lives in Puerto Rico can't vote ambivalent. Pero given the reality of the day, what is happening in our communities, can we afford not to vote, not to engage?

I just wanted to warn people about something that I learned when meeting with a PC this morning. ICE is apparently now picking up people who go to the airport to pick up children coming from other countries. This PC had sent her U.S. citizen children with a family member out of the country for the summer. The family member had a letter from the mother giving her permission to do so. When the family member returned with the children, CBP asked her about the mother. ICE came to the baggage claim area and arrested the mother. I thought you might want to warn clients about this.

Now people can't even to meet their children at the airport. Makes me want to send out a whole different kind of warning.

Via / Immigration Prof Blog

Originally the buzz about Palin, focused on her having a vagina. Her presence was analyzed as a calculated McCain strategy to lure disgruntled, hard core Hillary Clinton supporters.

Then the shift went internal, to her uterus, her identity as a mother to five, the youngest with some form of developmental delay, and a 17 year old daughter, unmarried and pregnant.

So what does this Palin parranda of information and analysis mean to mamis of color, Latina mamis like me? Not surprisingly, nada.

Gay rights activists are praising the move as a huge step in the recognition of their civil rights. The Argentine government says its part of a larger human rights plan under the administration of president Cristina Fernández.

To be eligible for the benefit, couples must prove that they have lived together for at least 5 years.

Via / El País

If that wasn't bad enough, Villegas DeLaPaz went into labor while in prison. The results were horrific.

Villegas DeLaPaz was arrested, incarcerated and forced to go through labor under armed guard handcuffed to by her wrist and ankle to a hospital bed. When she arrived at the hospital, the nurse asked the accompanying officer to step outside while Villegas DeLaPaz changed into her hospital gown - he refused, forcing Villegas DeLaPaz to unclothe before him. Then she was shackled on her legs whenever she went to the bathroom. The nurse asked that the shackles be removed because she wanted Villegas DeLaPaz to be able to clean up after childbirth and do other hygiene to prevent infection. Again, the attending officer refused. Her newborn was taken from her and did not receive needed breast milk for several days. She was re-jailed and denied a breast pump to express her milk. Nurses attending her were crying. She could not sleep in the jail because of the intense pain from her swollen breasts. She was not allowed to call her family so her husband could be with her for the birth.

Many nativists are making the rounds to Latin@ blogs covering this issue. They are arguing the same basic tired argument, that if 'illegals' don't want to be treated like criminals than they should stop being criminals (aka go back to where they came from). I personally question why any criminal anywhere should be treated in such a manner. In this day and age, a country like the U.S. has not managed to find any possible alternatives to handcuffing laboring women to beds so they don't escape? We haven't figured out ways for lactating women to be given breast pumps in jail (oh, wait a minute, we have!)?

Being a "criminal" does not equal or even imply the loss of basic human rights. I think that's something we should ALL be able to get on board with.

“The two resident living units should be located such that the front doors of the units open onto the quad/green space. The educational and indoor recreational program buildings also face onto the quad/green space and are easily accessible to the resident living units…. The site should provide numerous open/green space areas for both large and small group recreational and educational program opportunities to take place. Fenced-in play areas for toddlers are located directly adjacent to the living units, allowing for parent supervision. Soccer, volleyball and basketball areas should be nearby but separated from the living units. The main quad shall also provide small group gathering areas for the residents to gather or for staff to utilize for different program services.” (pg. 8)

The single building plan contains the same basic components as the campus plan, but in a single building, with green space around the building. This plan is “more conducive to an urban site.” This building is organized as follows:

“A centralized interior circulation spine acts as the organizer to which the components of the [facility] are attached. The administrative functions are located near the front entry to the site. The appearance of the administration building should be non-institutional, warm, welcoming and incorporate such features as a gabled or sloped roof for a more residential style/appeal. The resident living units are located along the main circulation spine and surround a common outdoor activity/program service area. All of the resident services functions are also located along the main circulation spine, each having a designated entry or “store front” appearance, similar to a mall concept. The location of these functions will allow for easy access by residents. The services located along the main spine include recreational and educational programs, resident services, visitation, health services, library and dining…. The site provides numerous open/green space areas for both large and small group recreational and educational program opportunities to take place. Fenced in play areas for toddlers are located directly adjacent to the living units, allowing for parent supervision, while the soccer, volleyball and basketball areas are nearby, but separate from the living units.” (pg. 9)

Via / T. Don. Hutto

Image Via / Justice for Immigrants

Anna Gorman of the Los Angeles Times reports that ICE has solicited bids for three more family detention centers, to house 600 men, women, and children:
"Immigration and Customs Enforcement issued a call for proposals last month and set June 16 as the deadline. New facilities are being considered on both coasts and on the Southwestern border. The agency calls for minimum-security residential facilities that would provide a 'least restrictive, nonsecure setting' and provide schooling for children, recreational activities and access to religious
services."

From the mouths of babes: My 10 year old, the MapucheRican wondered if it wouldn't be a better use of money to build more schools, to keep children out of jails instead of locking them up.

Via / T Don Hutto

Half of the school system's 600 students were absent Tuesday, including 90 percent of Hispanic children, because their parents were arrested or in hiding.
Spencer S. Hsu - Washington Post (18 May 2008)

Via / Citizen Orange

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

Puerto Rico's governor said Wednesday he would not block a referendum to toughen a ban on same-sex marriage in the U.S. island territory even though he believes the proposed constitutional amendment is unnecessary and divisive.

Gov. Anibal Acevedo Vila told reporters he would sign the bill authorizing a May referendum if the measure gets the required two-thirds majority of votes in the island's House of Representatives. It has already passed in the Senate.

It's a sad day when Cuba is significantly more progressive on a human rights issue than Puerto Rico. What happened to this?

Via / USA Today

This book is not for the faint, especially those not used to seeing real women and their bodies. And I say bodies I mean every part of our bodies: cellulite, piercings, tats, bellies, rollos, tetas, culos, and vaginas. Yes, vaginas.

The country's president said he is taking the measure -- seen by some as extreme in that it ignores the fate of what will quickly be thousands of abandoned children -- amid growing concerns about the current system, which opponents say has led to paying mothers for children or coercing them to give up their babies.
An average of 17 children born in Guatemala leave the country for the United States every day with the parents who adopted them. Guatemala has long been considered a place where adoptions are relatively fast and uncomplicated. The Central American country is behind only China in the number of children adopted out to American families every year.
Guatemala has the highest per capita rate of adoption of any country in the world. One of every 100 children born in the country is adopted internationally. American officials say 5,000 adoptions have been approved this year, an all-time high for Guatemalan adoptions to the U.S. American officials also say that last year's 4,000 adoptions were legal and untainted by any problems.