5 Chilean Students Shot, 2 Killed in Florida Hate Crime

Written by Stephen Piggott

Six days ago in Miramar Beach, Florida, a group of Chilean students were sitting around the kitchen table in their beach house talking and cooking. The next minute they heard a blast followed by broken glass. Before they knew what hit them, 2 of the students were killed and 3 were critically wounded by gunfire. The shooter, 60 year-old Dannie Baker shot the students through their kitchen window in an act of racist hate. The students, studying in Florida had never seen nor heard of Baker before the attack. According to the county sheriff “there had never been an issue with the victims at the residents or anything of that nature. They were totally harmless… Read more

Culture

Ida B. Wells and the Campaign Against Lynching

Written by Joan Flanagan

We don’t know our own history. I aced the mandatory eighth grade Illinois Civics class in 1960, by repeating what I had been taught about Abraham Lincoln. But I was not taught about Ida B. Wells, the African-American journalist who did as much as anyone to stop lynching in the United States, even though I had probably gone past her home in Chicago on the way to White Sox games.

How did Ida B. Wells get written out of history? First, lynching is such a horrific subject, that most adults don’t want to think about it, let alone teach it to children. Second, Ida was a “difficult woman”, who antagonized everyone from President McKinley to… Read more

The Endless, Surreal War Grinds On and On

Written by Rev. David L. Ostendorf

All the emergency vehicles in town were on the streets, lights flashing. Police and Sheriff cars were rolling in. Cars were parked everywhere and crowds lined the sidewalks for a close view. Cameras rolled for footage to be used on the Sunday evening news.

The 652nd Engineering Company was leaving town once again for Iraq and the endless, surreal war.

The buses rolled out accompanied by sirens, cheers, tears, and final goodbyes from those on flag-bedecked streets—loved ones and residents honoring those on their way to yet another deployment. For hundreds of families another chapter in the saga of the all-too-real war had begun.

Politics

De La Rocha Speaks to Thousands in Phoenix

Written by Guest Blogger

By Dan Weiss

On Saturday February 28th, I joined thousands in Phoenix, Arizona to march against America’s most hated Sheriff, Joe Arpaio. The four mile long march was the latest step in bringing national attention to Arpaio’s blatant civil and human rights violations.

Men and women of all ages attended the event with shirts, signs, and banners expressing their outrage. Small children showed their pride, holding signs reading “We are Human” and wearing “un-sentenced” t-shirts. Police watched and listened as chant after chant blared, and fist after fist pumped.

Politics

Attempts to Normalize Arpaio Only Embarrass Arizona

Written by Eric Ward

A March 1, 2009 column by Arizona Repbulic’s E.J. Montini proclaims that Sheriff Joe Arpaio is no ‘Bull’ Connor. Actually, Maricopa County Sherriff Joe Arapio is more like the Southern segregationist Bull Conner than Arizona is ready to admit.

Montini points to the most visual abuse that occurred at the hands of Conner and his lackey’s, the turning of fire hoses on young children, to argue that there can be no comparison made between Arapio and Conner. What Montini ignores in his rebuke is ‘Bull’ Conner’s attempt to force the New York Times into silence through legal wranglings, his efforts to intimidate local politicians and, as well documented in Spike Lee’s… Read more

Thousands March Against Sheriff Joe

Written by Jill Garvey

Thousands gathered in Phoenix yesterday for a four mile march to protest Sheriff Joe Arpaio and his 287(g) agreement with the federal government that allows him to enforce immigration laws. According to reports it was a peaceful march of local residents and supporters from around the country.

Below is a video taken by Border Action Network at the march. Click here to sign the petition to have Sheriff Joe investigated by the Dept. of Justice.