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Tag Archives: California

Villaraigosa Bows Out, Won’t Run for Governor of California

June 22nd, 2009

Along with celeb Mayor of San Francisco, Gavin Newsom, L.A.’s Latino mayor Antonio Villaraigosa (and co-star of telenovela-like love dramas) had his sights set on becoming the Governor of the great state of California, but today has announced that he’s bowing out:

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa announced on national television today he would not be running for California governor in 2010 after flirting with a bid for higher office for months.

Elected to a second, four-year term in March, the mayor told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer that he wanted to devote his full attention to Los Angeles, which is facing its worst fiscal crisis in decades.

Villaraigosa’s decision adds a dash of clarity to the race for the 2010 Democratic gubernatorial nomination which, at the moment, appears will be between state Atty. Gen. Jerry Brown and San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom. Brown has yet to say if he will run, while Newsom already has announced his candidacy.

The L.A. Times attributes the bow-out to the Mayor’s low approval ratings – 55% on the job he’s currently doing as mayor in L.A. — and the fact that historically, Los Angeles mayors have had a very hard time at gaining support in their quest for Governor of California. Oh, and the $530 million deficit for the city in fiscal year 2009.

Meanwhile, Mr. Villaraigosa was just re-elected as Mayor of the great city of L.A., which apparently means he has a lot of trabajo to do.

Any L.A. reader want to let us know the real deal? Is L.A.’s crisis just an excuse? Did Villaraigosa ever even have a chance to be governor? What’s his report card for L.A. looking like? Let us know in the comments.

Via / Los Angeles Times and Politico

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Ex-Miss California: I Lost my Crown Because of the Gays

June 12th, 2009

carrie-prejean-parentsWow, I basically saw this one coming yesterday, word for pathetic word:

Former Miss California USA Carrie Prejean says she lost her crown because of a comment she made about gay marriage and not because she had been skipping appearances.

Prejean told Matt Lauer on NBC’S “Today” show Friday that she “absolutely” had been dethroned because of the comment, when she said marriage should be between a man and a woman.

Nice try, Carrie. But in another captivating display of my psychic prediction powers, pageant officials are saying exactly what I predicted yesterday: you couldn’t keep your commitments because you were too busy making anti-gay marriage appearances for the Evangelicals. And having hangovers.

So, bye-bye, La Jolla, Viva Miss Malibu!

Via / AP – Yahoo News

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Latinos the Target of Kidnappings in San Francisco

June 5th, 2009

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Some disturbing news out of San Francisco. In the city’s Mission District, Latino neighborhood par excellence, Latinos are reportedly being forced into cars and kidnapped. SFist has the frightening story:

Mission Loc@l reports that there have been three documented cases this month of Latinos being forced into a vehicle with the intent of mugging them, while walking in isolated parts of the Mission late at night. Police speculate that day laborers might be the target both because they carry cash and are often undocumented and are afraid to go to the police for fear of being deported.

The most recent attack occurred on Friday around 1 a.m., in which a 27-year-old Latino male was picked up near 20th and Bryant streets. He refused to give the assailant’s money, was hit over the head with a blunt object, and dropped off at 25th and Vermont Streets. Instead of going to the police, the victim went to San Francisco General Hospital, where a staff member then reported it to the police. Luckily, his injuries were not life-threatening.

Assailants are reportedly also using tasers to attack victims and steal their valuables. What pathetic excuse for a person preys on vulnerable people too afraid to report the crime to police? I’d like to know.

Via / SFist

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Latino Gang Suspected in California Hate Crime

June 4th, 2009

1A family in Pasadena, California thought they were moving into the home of their dreams. African-Americans who had no qualms about moving into an all-Latino neighborhood called Duarte, the Davy family they thought both the home and the area had everything they were looking for. That is, until their house was destroyed from top to bottom in an allegedly racially-motivated attack. The Los Angeles Times reports:

Davy never thought about the fact that they would be the only black family on the mostly Latino block — until someone reminded her in a way that still makes her eyes tear and her stomach twist.

On May 8, Davy opened the door to her home and was greeted by a barrage of spray-painted racial epithets. The hardwood floors, the mirrors, the televisions, the dressers — the vandals had turned the entire place into a canvas for that six-letter word used for decades to scare and scar African Americans.

Shaken, she immediately left and called police. And aside from one trip back to pick up some clothes, Davy has refused to return to a scene authorities believe was created by members of a local Latino gang.

“As far as hate crimes go, it’s probably one of the worst ones I’ve seen in my career,” said Sgt. Tony Haynes of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department’s Duarte station. “They trashed the furniture and tossed drawers — there was pretty much no room left untouched.”

Chanisse discovered this terrifying scene upon coming home from picking up her daughter from day care. Since then, the Davys have been living in a hotel and are afraid to return to their home.

The LA Times reports that interracial shootings have happened in the past in Duarte, but no one in the community seems to have been prepared for something of this magnitude.

Earlier this week, Latino and Black victims of hate crimes in Pasadena, including Chanisse Davy, came together to demand an end to the violence.

Via / LA Times

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San Francisco Saves 185 Youths from Deportation, Critics Rage

April 3rd, 2009

480676564_918c063f8cThe effects, both good and bad, of San Francisco‘s policy of being a “sanctuary city” for undocumented immigrants are emerging, one year to date after it was instated. The San Francisco Chronicle reports:

As many as 185 undocumented youths held on felony criminal charges in San Francisco were shielded from deportation between 2005 and last summer, when the controversial policy came to light, according to juvenile probation statistics obtained by The Chronicle.

City officials had previously said they had no way of telling how many youths had benefited from the policy. But a new preliminary report prepared by the Juvenile Probation Department at the request of Supervisor David Campos shows the number is much higher than previously suspected.

The report shows that between Jan. 1, 2005, and Feb. 28 of this year, 252 undocumented youths had cases in the juvenile probation system.

As you might expect, this data is not making some of the mayor’s enemies happy, and his opponents maintain that in its attempt to protect undocumented immigrants, San Francisco is instead harbouring drug dealers and other criminals. The Chronicle reports that 88% of the 180 were from Honduras and 83% were arrested on drug-related offenses, leading some to suspect a link to Honduran drug-related organizations.

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Prop 8 Vigils Across California

March 5th, 2009

ba-samesex05_0499868478“When all else fails, pray!” is what comes to mind upon reading about the multiple candlelight vigils that were held throughout my state on the eve of the hearing that will make or break California’s most discriminatory law against LGBT citizens. Last night San Franciscans, like Californians in other cities big and small, held vigils and marched. What else can you do at this point? The San Francisco Chronicle reports:

The crowd, bundled against the chill, carried signs reading, “We All Deserve the Freedom To Marry,” and “Down with Prop. 8!” as they marched along Market Street. The peaceful protest stretched for two city blocks past stopped Muni street cars while police held back traffic at the intersections.

The group made their way to City Hall, where a pianist and singer entertained the crowd with love songs. Some of the participants planned to camp out in the Civic Center Plaza to be there for the hearing.

It will be shown on a JumboTron for those who don’t have access to viewing rooms set up in the San Francisco Public Library.

Will the great State of California overturn what has been called “the will of the people”? Or will it let thousands of gay families remain together? I am pessimistic, but we’ll just have to wait and see. In the meantime, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom is reportedly all booked up…the media is just clamoring to get his take. Check out an interview with Mayor Newsom and hear his thoughts after the jump.

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i was having a party and i opened my door – why didn’t they come in?

November 7th, 2008

dan%20savage.jpgFrom the beyond irritating Dan Savage:

I’m not sure what to do with this. I’m thrilled that we’ve just elected our first African-American president. I wept last night. I wept reading the papers this morning. But I can’t help but feeling hurt that the love and support aren’t mutual.

I do know this, though: I’m done pretending that the handful of racist gay white men out there—and they’re out there, and I think they’re scum—are a bigger problem for African Americans, gay and straight, than the huge numbers of homophobic African Americans are for gay Americans, whatever their color.

This will get my name scratched of the invite list of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, which is famous for its anti-racist-training seminars, but whatever.

Finally, I’m searching for some exit poll data from California. I’ll eat my shorts if gay and lesbian voters went for McCain at anything approaching the rate that black voters went for Prop 8.

It’s interesting to me how mainstream organizations (oh, excuse me, I meant a few gay white guys) are only marginally racist (and yet they don’t even have signs printed off in different languages despite the fact that these organizations exist in one of the most diverse freaking states in the nation), but Black folks (and as usual, the marginalized Latino population) are *hugely* homophobic–homophobic enough, in fact, to deny all the mainstream white gay folks their rights.

But what really gets me is how freaking clueless us Black and Latinos really are. As one commenter noticed:

it’s bizarre that you’re talking about this. i just walked into work (in beverly hills) and sat down. the only two co-workers of mine that are in at the moment are black. we’ve spent weeks talking about politics, we all watched the debates together, etc. I just mentioned my shock and disgust at prop 8 getting passed. they didn’t say anything and quietly went back to work.

what.

the.

FUCK.

It’s a good thing that we have gay white folks running around covertly quizzing Black folks on their voting records. What better way could there be to let Black folks know that they were supposed to vote for Proposition 8 because they owed white folks something?

And never you fear, the quizz master will be sure to quizz Latinos about their votes once he’s figured out how to covertly ask questions in Spanish…

My, oh my, how far we’ve come since the days when racism existed…

::Queue La Macha pointing ironically at the ironic title of this ironic post::

via/racialicious
source/SLOG
title via/

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