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Obama on Letterman: How long have you been a black man?

7:26 pm By la Macha · Health| Obama · Comments Off

21 Sep 2009

Obama gave an interview to David Letterman earlier–and the follow has a few preview clips of the interview. Among some of the questions Obama faces: how long have you been a black man? A funny quip–what gets me, however, is the answer. Which seems to be “coded” remarkably well.

He’s saying what we all know–99% of the screaming teabaggers at the town hall meetings are white folks. And that there’s pretty much nothing he personally can do about it. So he might as well just go on about his business.

I can’t help it. I know that Mamita and others have said that they’ve gone their separate ways with Obama. And that’s a position I respect–but maybe it’s because I never had any hope for Obama to begin with that he still has my interest. I don’t see him doing anything amazing, I don’t see him changing the world, hell, I don’t even see him fixing immigration. But it is really interesting to me how he is negotiating racism. And it makes me wonder if his negotiating (rather than his policies or legislation) will make a difference for average people of color.

Hate Crime Survivors Victimized Again by Racist Immigration System

6:18 am By Maegan la Mamita Mala · Immigration| Philly| race · 5 Comments

26 Aug 2009

When an immigrant, or two in this case, don’t fit into the the “good” immigrant narrative because of a criminal (in)justice system based, since its inception, on oppression, does the community turn it’s back? That is the question that the pro-migrant movement needs to ask itself in the face of the case of cousins Denis Calderon & Julio Maldonado who were victims of a hate crime yet find themselves behind bars, awaiting deportation.
Read more…

Justice? Ohio Latino Teen Tied to Truck and Dragged in Hate Crime, Attacker Sentenced to 10 Days in Jail

4:11 pm By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · Controversia| Ohio| Violence| race| society · 1 Comment

22 Jul 2009

An Ohio Latino teen, Robert Cantú (seen in the video above) was allegedly the victim of an unspeakable hate crime: last year, he was reportedly tied by his neck with a noose and dragged by a pickup truck in his hometown of Mount Vernon.

According to Cantu the incident occurred on or about May 30, 2008. Cantu said he was with a friend when Klein and three others jumped him, and tied a rope with a noose around his neck. The other end of the rope was tied to a truck and Cantu said he was dragged for several feet. After stopping the truck, the attackers, allegedly including Klein, exited the truck and began to attack Cantu. According to Cantu, a passer-by, Ezzy Thompson, who was known to Cantu, intervened, chasing off the attackers and removing the noose from Cantu’s neck.

“[Thompson] was with his girlfriend,” said Cantu. “He saw me on the ground and ran over and pushed the guys off me. He got the noose off me. I’ve known Ezzy for about eight years. He was just in the area.”

Cantú’s mother said it took police 10 months to make an arrest, and that only happened after the Anti-Defamation League applied pressure to authorities.

But that’s not all. A second victimization of Robert has also just happened, as his harasser, also a teenager, has been sentenced to a mere 10 days in jail after a plea deal.

LULAC Ohio is hosting a “Vigil for Justice” this Friday in Mount Vernon. Details after the jump.

Eco-Tourism : Where Native Service is Part of the Experience

9:17 am By Maegan la Mamita Mala · Ecuador| Media| travel · 5 Comments

8 Jul 2009

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Sometimes, I ‘m a little ashamed to admit that I read Gawker. Most of the time, I find what they write offensive, and the hipster’er than thou comments piss me off. This morning though, a post on a PR pitch for an Amazonian Spa in Ecuador, opened up my head about the economics and identity politics behind eco-tourism, specifically in Latin America.

Here’s the orginal PR pitch that got my wheels spinning:

The women, who are immaculately clean and wear uniforms which do little to conceal their glowing aboriginal cheekbones and other attractive features, have very strong hands after toil since childhood in fields and in the home virtually without tools,but are surprisingly soft and tender when they massage just the right places…

An intimacy has been shared, for the women, who speak only a handful of words in English and speak Spanish as a second language to their native Indian dialect have communicated much to their guest. And their guest understands everything.

You have to love the emphasis on how clean the Indigenous woman are, as if usually they are dirty, so it needs to be pointed out. Also I found the statement on how the uniforms do not conceal their cheekbones written in a way that was intended to sexualize which is made more explicit with how the mujeres know where to touch. Then there is the glamorization of labor, which goes back to what a surprise that they are so clean since they spent their childhood sweating in the dirt without “civilized” tools. Wrapped up in the pretty bow of their Indigenous language. Forget the fact that here in the U.S., speaking an Indigenous language can allow the state to take away your child.

Pero perhaps that was just crappy ass pitch from a crappy ass PR dude. So I went to find out some more about this Amazon resort and spa.
Read more…

New Sotomayor Stereotype : The Latina Housekeeper

11:52 am By Maegan La Mala · Media| Politics| Women · 4 Comments

18 Jun 2009

Ah I knew we were missing a stereotype. Sotomayor has already been sexualized,objectified and dehumanized . She’s been called angry and a reverse racist. And now, yes she’ll clean up after you too.

Transcript:

Today, my friends, we turn our attention to the latest revelation from Judge Sonia Sotomayor. It appears that Ms. Sotomayor, the model of diversity and inclusion, has some explaining to do regarding her membership in a club.

Not just any club — a club whose members are all female. In documents provided to the Senate Judiciary Committee, the honorable judge wrote this: “I am a member of the Belizean Grove, a private organization of female professionals from the profit, nonprofit and social sectors. The organization does not invidiously discriminate on the basis of sex. Men are involved in its activities — they participate in trips, host events and speak at functions — but to the best of my knowledge, a man has never asked to be considered for membership.” (I don’t blame ‘em!)

The group includes over 100 high-level executives and upper-crust women from the corporate and government worlds.

However… the Code of Judicial Conduct bars judges from belonging to any organization that practices discrimination based on race, sex, religion, or national origin.

I wonder. If Justices Roberts or Thomas belonged to an association that discriminated against females, if Justices Alito or Scalia were discovered to have membership in a group that excluded females, how would liberals have reacted? Would they have forgiven the judges’ involvement in an “old boy’s club”? Or would they have erupted in a full-blown, five-alarm rage?

Safe to say, any conservative in this situation would find their nomination dead in the water. Clubbed — like a baby seal. No question about it. I think I’m going to send Sotomayor, and her club, a bunch of vacuum cleaners to help them clean up after their meetings.

Well Rush, at least you didn’t say she was your drug dealer.

Via / Media Matters

Latino Gang Suspected in California Hate Crime

10:50 am By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · Los Angeles| crime| race| society · Comments Off

4 Jun 2009

A 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

Feminism, Latinidad and Silence : Ain’t Sotomayor a Woman?

7:00 am By Maegan la Mamita Mala · Immigration| Politics| Women| race · 6 Comments

1 Jun 2009

sotomayorphotos-1048-200x300 I can’t read most of the mainstream feminist websites. As in I can’t because doing so will likely make me really really angry and I’m angry enough about shit to purposely piss myself off. It’s the same reason I don’t watch Fox news or read the National Review. It’s an act of self-care and a decision to move my words and thoughts forward. Amiga Blackamazon reminded me how in the context of the Sonia Sotomayor nomination, mainstream feminist icons have been largely silent.

From Racism Review:

Funny how I haven’t heard any statements from these women castigating G. Gordon Liddy, Karl Rove, Newt Gingrich, or Michael Steele for their repugnant, sexist, and racist remarks about Judge Sotomayor. Funny how they haven’t jumped out in front of this issue the same way they did when Hillary Clinton was the one on the receiving end of a barrage of sexist statements. Funny how the PUMAs (Party Unity My Ass) who were so outraged at the way the Democratic Party ostensibly treated Hillary Clinton now don’t seem to see this as a worthy cause of their efforts, and aren’t outraged by Democratic politicians’ unwillingness to call these abhorrent statements the blatant misogyny that they are.

What’s not funny are the implications this has for women of all races. When white feminists look the other way when Michelle Obama is callously referred to as “Obama’s Baby Mama,” when Sonia Sotomayor is savaged by right wing conservatives who engage in the basest types of sexism, or more broadly, when women of color across the country face higher rates of abuse, incarceration, and poverty than white women, it sends a clear message about their lack of respect for and interest in the ways sexism impacts women of other racial groups and class positions. It reinforces the idea that white women feminists are interested in maintaining their white privilege while undermining sexism, a process that keeps women of color oppressed but broadens the category of whites who have access to and are able to wield power over others. It perpetuates the (erroneous) message that feminism has nothing to offer women of color, even though they too suffer from the gender wage gap, sexual violence, and all the other manifestations of gender inequality.

I do not understand why white feminists like Steinem, Ferraro, Burk, and others still don’t seem to get this message that intersections of race and gender matter and that the feminist movement cannot succeed without the influence and involvement of ALL women.

This point has been made for years, by many progressive white women (playwright Eve Ensler, sociologist Margaret Andersen) and feminists of color (sociologist Patricia Hill Collins, activist Pauli Murray, writer Alice Walker). It would be really nice if the rampant sexism being directed towards Sonia Sotomayor finally served as an overdue wake-up call about the importance of both race and gender.

Cry Me a Reverse Racism River : Sonia Sotomayor Scares the White People

9:17 am By Maegan la Mamita Mala · Politics| Women · 3 Comments

29 May 2009

Want to scare some white people? Put a Latina on the cusp of history and watch the “media” who have made their career on using stereotypes against people of color, lately immigrants, suddenly cry oppression.

Yes , yes as much as we all know that race is an artificial construct, suddenly those who have benefited the most from that construct are acting as if the fact they are white men has nothing to do with their position.

13-year-old wrongly convicted, imprisoned for 16 years

7 May 2009

VL has talked before about the injustices of prison in the U.S., including young teens being locked up for crimes for life with no chance of parole–a heinous and (in my opinion) illegal practice that should have died with Inquisition. Why, you ask? Take a look at the following video (here’s a printed version for those who don’t have video):

How much horrific could this man’s life possibly get? Imprisoned for 50 years at 13-years-old–except, wait a minute, you aren’t guilty?

What does a kid that is raised in a prison do once he’s released? When he’s been taught sexuality, relationships, reasoning skills, etc in a place that has been proven to encourage violence rather than end it?

Has he been raped in prison? Has he been beaten? Has he been taught that hitting women is a good way to prove he’s a man?

And outside of the supposition of violence, what does a person do when that person “graduated” from prison instead of high school? Or the university? What life will Thaddeus Jimenez be able to build for himself when sixteen years of his life has been stolen–because it seems so much easier to lock of up Latino kids and throw away the keys rather than find some alternative? Any alternative?

It all started here….

10:40 am By la Macha · Controversia| Health| U.S.-Mexico Border| animals| children · 10 Comments

29 Apr 2009

childwswineflu I’m not really sure why CNN feels the need to run the story about where swine flu started. According CNN, this little boy is “ground zero” of the swine flu–which means what? That this little boy is the original site of destruction and violence? And wouldn’t you figure it, this original site of destruction and violence is a Mexican that is eating ice cream while the rest of us scream frantically and crawl on our hands and knees through the street.

Damn Mexicans.

I don’t know, though. I found this part of the article to be much more beneficial in understanding the whole scope of things:

Edgar has managed to bounce back from his symptoms and playfully credits ice cream for helping him feel better.

His mother blamed the virus on a huge pig farm in the neighborhood. Officials have conducted tests at the farm owned by U.S. company Smithfield Foods, and those tests came back negative.

Meanwhile, Mexican health officials suspect the swine flu outbreak has caused more than 159 deaths and roughly 2,500 illnesses.

That little section made me remember that factory pig farms are some of the worst polluters in the world.

“North Carolina’s ten million hogs produce twice as much feces and urine as the populations of the cities of Los Angeles, New York and Chicago combined. Industrial farms, most with thousands of hogs each, store the waste in open-air pits, called lagoons. They spray the waste, untreated, as manure on adjacent fields.”

So those dear little piggies may be as healthy as can be, but anybody breathing in their shit being sprayed on adjacent fields is probably going to have some problems.

But who wants to talk about the ethics and problems of factory farming practices when we can demonize ice cream eating little boys?

Older Entries

Link Cariño | Hissip: [...] Who’s your mama? [...] [...]

la Macha: I agree totally with you bubbles. [...]

Bubbles: Re: "Many women have mental, emotional instabilities which cause them to end up in abusive relations [...]

la Macha: and whaaaa? women who have mental health issues are suddenly to blame for getting beaten? [...]

la Macha: gabriel--i don't agree with you that women have a submissive nature--but that's ok, I guess. I agree [...]

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