Inauguration 2009: end of an error, beginning of a movement

 Posted by on 2009/01/25  Comments Off
Jan 252009
 
Inauguration 2009: end of an error, beginning of a movement

One woman’s story who was there for the event. January 20, 2009 was a day of rewriting and redefining possibilities in America. It was a day of triumph and celebration, of sacrifice and tears. A beautiful black family, full of love and no stranger to hard times, will enter the history books as 44th President of the United States, Barack Obama, begins his journey as Head of State. I initially did not want to go to the inauguration. I planned to go to D.C. the day before to see good friends who live in the city and reunite with college friends; but watching Obama enter office didn’t really lodge into my brain as something to do. When I told a MORE

Bush’s Parting Shot: Kiss my Ass!

 Posted by on 2009/01/23  Comments Off
Jan 232009
 
Bush's Parting Shot: Kiss my Ass!

New America Media, Commentary, Roberto Dr. Cintli Rodriguez, TUCSON, Ariz. — On his last full day in office, ex-president Bush chose to commute the sentences of ex-border patrol officers Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean. They had been convicted of shooting a Mexican man in the buttocks, covering up the evidence and lying about the shooting. The shooting took place as Osvaldo Aldrete Davila was fleeing across the border into Mexico near El Paso, Texas. With a stroke of his pen, Bush gave the Mexican and migrant community a message: “Besar me culo.” The controversial commutations were ripe with symbolism. They took place hours before Bush went back to Texas and hours before President Barack Obama was sworn in.

White Nationalists Prepare to Oppose Obama Administration

 Posted by on 2009/01/01  Comments Off
Jan 012009
 
White Nationalists Prepare to Oppose Obama Administration

The Republican Party is in disarray after its loss to Barack Obama, and on the sidelines white nationalists are skillfully preparing political attacks on the new American president. Since the weeks leading up to the most significant elections ever to take place in the United States, federal law enforcement agencies, the media and human rights organizations have paid close attention to threats made against Presidential-Elect Barack Obama. Some of these threats have been made by individuals with ties to the neo-Nazi movement in the United States. During the Democratic National Convention in August police in Denver, Colorado detained three individuals after a weapon, drugs and wigs were discovered in their possession. The individuals, eventually released, were described as white supremacists. MORE

Getting Immigration Right for a Change

 Posted by on 2008/12/26  Comments Off
Dec 262008
 
Getting Immigration Right for a Change

It’s way too early to tell whether the United States under President-elect Barack Obama will restore realism, sanity and lawfulness to its immigration system. But it’s never too early to hope, and the stars seem to be lining up, at least among his cabinet nominees. If Mr. Obama’s team is confirmed, the country will have a homeland security secretary, Janet Napolitano of Arizona, and a commerce secretary, Bill Richardson of New Mexico, who understand the border region and share a well-informed disdain for foolish, inadequate enforcement schemes like the Bush administration’s border fence. And it will have a labor secretary, Hilda Solis of California, who, as a state senator and congresswoman, has built a reputation as a staunch defender of MORE

Change Immigrants and Labor Can Believe In

 Posted by on 2008/12/02  Comments Off
Dec 022008
 
Change Immigrants and Labor Can Believe In

Since 2001 the Bush administration has deported more than a million people–including 349,041 individuals in the fiscal year ending just prior to the election. It has resurrected the discredited community sweeps and factory raids of earlier eras, and started sending waves of migrants to privately run jails for crimes like inventing a Social Security number to get a job. Every day in Tucson seventy young people, including many teenagers, are brought before a federal judge in heavy chains and sentenced to prison because they walked across the border.  It’s no wonder that Latinos, Asians and other communities with large immigrant populations voted for Barack Obama by huge margins. People want and expect a change. Ending the administration’s failed program of MORE