Health

Immigrant and Refugee Workers Share Health Concerns

Written by Guest Blogger

by Axel Fuentes
En español y ingles

A momentous event occurred this past weekend. Sixteen Latino immigrants and Somali refugees, all workers coming from different communities around the nation, got together to discuss common issues that are affecting and limiting access to health care in their communities, including the meat processing plants where they work.

At this meeting both groups agreed that there were common issues affecting their health. Issues such as a lack of interpreters at health care facilities, the high speeds of work lines, and supervisors who ignored their needs by denying bathroom breaks and penalizing workers who need time off to attend to medical appointments. Arrogant and degrading treatment from some… Read more

Politics

Americans Fed Up with Broken Immigration Policies

Written by Cloee Cooper

Current U.S. detention and immigration enforcement policies pose a grave threat to civil and human rights. The recent expansion of flawed enforcement programs is bad for America, and Department of Homeland Security head, Janet Napolitano, is not upholding the Obama administration’s promise to find workable solutions. The abuses carried out under 287g agreements, which relinquish authority to enforce federal immigration laws to local law enforcement, are causing an outcry from immigrant and civil rights organizations across the country.

This video and petition by America’s Voice highlight the dangerous and expensive operations by DHS.

According to Reform Immigration FOR America, organizations are coordinating efforts to condemn DHS’s illegal… Read more

Increased Dangers for Afghan Girls Attending School

Written by Amy Spicer

On February 18, 2009, the president of Pakistan, Asif Ali Zardari signed a deal with the Taliban to implement Shariah law (Islamic religious law) in some parts of Pakistan banning all girls from school.

With more than 28,000 US troops still fighting “Operation Enduring Freedom” this is a startling piece of information. As our brave military men and women endure what is to be the 8th year of war the re-emergence of the Taliban is threatening some of Afghanistan’s greatest achievements in the post-Taliban era.

These achievements, education of female students and the opening of over 200 schools, are at grave risk. More than 90 schools have been… Read more

Food Justice

Chicago Ready for Action on Green Food

Written by Katie Bezrouch

Chicago is poised to be the first city in the nation to pass a resolution for a healthier, more sustainable food system. Last week Chicago’s Energy, Environmental Protection and Public Utilities Committee presented a proposal to the city council called the “green food resolution”. It is a nonbinding initiative that encourages the city to help make fresh, locally grown food available to Chicagoans.

“BE lT RESOLVED, that the Chicago City Council encourages individuals, civic associations, and community based organizations to grow local, organic gardens, and institutions and businesses to offer more plant based foods; and

BE lT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the Chicago City Council promotes the… Read more

Immigration

The Minutemen Want to Talk about Bigotry

Written by Jill Garvey

The Chicago and Illinois minutemen showed up to protest the National Council of La Raza’s (NCLR) Annual Conference yesterday. When I spoke to the 10 or so minutemen members gathered outside the first thing one of them said to me was “La Raza is a racist organization, in my opinion.” When I pressed several members to explain why NCLR was racist, I received responses like “they don’t support English,” “we have to protect our borders,” and that they promote “ethnicity over nationality.”

Just for the record I am including an excerpt of NCLR’s mission statement from its website: “The National Council of La Raza (NCLR) – the largest national Hispanic civil rights and… Read more

Social Media Reflects Social Divisions

Written by Jill Garvey

Today I participated in a new media panel at the National Council of La Raza’s (NCLR) annual conference with esteemed experts Edmundo Rocha, Kety Esquivel, and Murray Mann. While we tried to cover a wide range of topics from the basic to the advanced, I found the topic of social divisions continued to come up.

As we seek to navigate rapidly changing technologies and social formations online, there are a few things to consider. Just because we are all communicating from behind computer screens doesn’t mean we are suddenly color blind. In fact, bigotry can flourish and spread online in a way that it never could before. Social networking has not… Read more

Orphaned Father

Written by Ana Turck

A man of brilliant intellect and sparkling humor, tata went through life largely unrecognized and unrewarded for the depth of his observations and quickness of his wit. Abandoned and neglected at the age of four, after his mother’s tragic death of a botched abortion, tata and his brothers spent most of their childhood being shuffled from homes of relatives and orphanages in between my grandfather’s eight unsuccessful marriages. In his possession, he held only two pictures, a reminder of a family that he once had. First, a sepia tone photograph, ripped and torn at the edges, showing three dirty- faced boys with shaven heads, ripped clothes and no shoes on their feet.

Arpaio Sued for Detainee Mistreatment and Death

Written by Jill Garvey

Sheriff Arpaio of Maricopa County is facing two more lawsuits due to the mistreatment and death of inmates at his prisons. The details of the death of David McClurg are especially tragic. A diabetic, McClurg developed gangrene within six weeks after being detained. He was a pretrial detainee, which means he had not been convicted of a crime

His family maintains that he was housed in overcrowded conditions and not provided a diet necessary for a diabetic. Apparently McClurg’s diet changed so radically for the worse upon entering the Maricopa County jail system that it was the first time he experienced symptoms.

Politics

Hate Activity Increasing, it’s a Fact

Written by Stephen Piggott

Last month, the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights released their brand new report on hate crimes in America entitled, Confronting the New Faces of Hate: Hate Crimes in America. The report was co-authored by Wade Henderson and Michael Lieberman. Earlier this week I listened in as both men hosted a phone press conference to promote their report. Both Wade and Michael introduced the report and its findings before opening up the floor for questions. Before describing the reports disturbing findings, Henderson described two high profile hate crimes that have gained national attention. He first talked about last week’s murder at the Holocaust Museum in Washington DC before moving on to the story of Luis… Read more

News

The Tanton Network’s Victory on 287g, with Kobach of Kansas

Written by Rev. David L. Ostendorf

This week’s New York Times profile of Kris Kobach, the John Tanton Network lawyer from Kansas, is a reminder that even an outspoken, virulently anti-immigrant, restrictionist, Obama-joke-cracking attorney/professor with Ivy League credentials, not to mention a stint in the Ashcroft Justice Department, can land favorable press, make extremists look mainstream, and erase any party distinctions on 287g and other Homeland Security enforcement tactics.

It was just last week that Kobach — a candidate for Secretary of State in Kansas — publicly repeated the “joke version” of the growing attack line on the President for his alleged lack of a US birth certificate, a mantra picking… Read more