Seattle School Board Decides to Close Schools with 99% Minority Enrollment

Written by Stephen Piggott

In January, the Seattle school board controversially voted in favor of closing down schools and relocating many programs which will go into effect in the fall. The public meeting to decide the fate of the schools was attended by many parents and the local branch of the NAACP. The vote of approval for the school closures was met with a tremendous outcry. The school closures disproportionately affect minority students in Seattle, many of which have a 99% minority enrollment rate.

The reason given by the school board for the closures was a $24 million funding gap in next year’s budget. All in all 5 schools and 8 after-school programs will be closed as of the… Read more

Frozen River, Reviewed

Written by Guest Blogger

By Jane Beckett

When is a boundary not a boundary? The 2008 movie Frozen River takes place on and near the Mohawk Indian Reservation, which sits astride the US-Canada boundary between upstate New York and Quebec. But the St. Lawrence River, which is an international boundary both upstream and downstream from the Rez, is not a boundary to the Mohawk nation.

Not only is the river not a boundary, but many of the laws that apply in the US and in Canada, hold no force on the reservation. In addition, the poverty and isolation that are rampant here and on other reservations in both countries mean that there’s no need to try to exclude opportunity-seekers,… Read more

Politics

President Obama and Janet Napolitano Need to Stop Raids

Written by Jill Garvey

The first workplace raid of the Obama Administration’s Presidency occurred on Tuesday in Bellingham, Washington. 28 workers were detained when ICE agents in full riot gear stormed Yamato Engine Specialists manufacturing plant with buckets of handcuffs and ankle shackles.

The Bush Administration’s enforcement-only approach to immigration and routine work-site raids generated widespread abuse, civil rights violations, and emotional stress for parents and children separated from one another. President Obama promised to address immigration reform during his campaign, and now is the time for him to make good on that promise.

Beyond Belief: The Exploitation of Mentally Disabled Iowa Turkey Workers

Written by Rev. David L. Ostendorf

If Postville, Iowa is the poster story of meatpacking companies and immigration enforcement run amok, Atalissa, Iowa is the latest snapshot of horrific exploitation of vulnerable workers in the nation’s poultry industry.

In recent days the Des Moines Register and other Iowa newspapers broke the sordid story of the three-decade ordeal during which Henry’s Turkey Service, in concert with West Liberty Foods, employed mentally disabled workers to pluck and gut the company’s turkeys for America’s tables. For thirty four years workers were paid as little as 44 cents an hour. After deductions for room, board, and other “costs” the workers netted $60-70 per month; their Social Security checks, in turn went to the Texas-based company… Read more

Culture

Audio: (Part 2) One Be Lo on Hip-hop and Being American.

Written by Noah Chandler

What does it mean to be “Hip-Hop”? What does it mean to be “American”? In part two of our visit with Michigan-based hip-hop artist One Be Lo, we get his take on both of these questions and what he feels they have in common. We also get treated to two more songs from this positive hip-hopper.

Diversity. Strength. Global Community.

Download the .mp3 version here. [length - 2:15]

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What do YOU think:

  • What are your responses, thoughts, and

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Disparity in the Digital Age

Written by Jill Garvey

I’m no techie. If that wasn’t clear to me before, it certainly was by the end of a technology conference I attended last week. The keynote speaker for the event whipped out an iphone at one point and showed the crowd his favorite features, shazam and ibeer. As a looked down at my new blackberry curve I felt like a dinosaur and only partly because I don’t know how to use it (blackberries are to iphones as PCs are to Macs by the way).

The speaker then continued to scare me half to death with his sobering survival rates for non-profits that do not invest in technology. Inevitably I started to think about the survival… Read more

Center for Immigration Studies Plays with Numbers and Bigotry

Written by Eric Ward

British statesman George Canning once said, “I can prove anything by statistics – except the truth.” It seems anti-immigrant organization the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) believes the opposite, that reality will always lie in how they spin the “truths” they’re inventing.

In reality, however, nothing could be more false.

In January, for instance, the Immigration Policy Center blasted CIS for distorting their “data” for simple political advantage.

“Statistics are no substitute for judgment.” ~ Henry Clay

Founded in 1985 to serve as the statistical arm of an anti-immigrant network created by notorious nativist and white nationalist John Tanton, CIS, sadly, has been quoted and cited frequently by incognizant… Read more

Politics

Migrant Children in Greece:Unintended Victims of the “War on Terror”

Written by Ana Turck

Collateral Damage is one of those terms that we learn to use when talking about wars, but we seldom, if ever, stop to think what it entails. It’s a nice word that helps obscure the true nature of wars, and it desensitizes the general public to the plight of those directly affected by them.

Discourse on “unintended victims of war” is used as a crutch in arguments against wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and for the most part that is where it stops. “Collateral Damage” is treated as an inevitable by-product of war, and as such the vast scope of human tragedy remains unexamined, making it easy for most people to accept the terror tactics… Read more

Po Boy Tango, Reviewed

Written by Joan Flanagan

Food is so much more than just food. It is how babies bond with their mothers, how we woo our sweethearts, and how we comfort the bereaved. We serve special foods to show respect or to ask for forgiveness.

Kenneth Lin’s Po’ Boy Tango is a new play that shows how food can do all that and much, much more. There are three characters: Richie Po, an immigrant from Taiwan, who wants to prepare his Mother’s “Great Banquet” for his daughter’s upcoming wedding. Gloria B, an African American woman who Po hires to cook the feast. And Po’s mother, who is the star of “Po Mama’s” cooking show on TV back in Taiwan.