Real Health Reform Leaves No Human Behind
Rosa Parks was well respected in Montgomery’s segregated world of black and white. Nearly fifty-five years ago today she chose to represent those who faced the daily indignities of being treated as a second class citizen by refusing to give her bus seat up to a white passenger. To be clear, the struggle to secure full civil and human rights continues to exist today.
Discrimination continues to deny many equal access to employment, housing, education, and health care—opportunities no person should be unfairly denied. It is clear that what made a defiant Rosa Parks successful was a movement which had come to realize that no one, from the most powerful clergy to the lowliest sharecropper, could be left behind. Read more
Finding the Birds Eye View
by Tom Lally
I have been passionate about birds all of my life. Since I was a little kid, if it had wings and feathers, I was fascinated by it. Consequently, I have always tried to share this passion with those around me.
Recently, the family and I were enjoying a very pleasant fall evening on some friends’ rooftop patio. While we were sitting there, a young Cooper’s Hawk landed on the building next door. My friends commented on how they have never seen anything like that here. Cooper’s Hawks, a bird of prey, slightly larger than a crow, are relatively common, even in a large city such as Chicago. They have learned to take advantage of backyard feeding stations, where they can find an endless supply of medium sized birds, such as Mourning Doves, pigeons, robins, and the like to feed on. Read more
Lou Dobbs Eyeing Public Office?
Joshua Holland at AlterNet posted this fantastic article on Thursday, Lou Dobbs, Eyeing Public Office, Endorses Policy He’s Long Spun as “Amnesty for Illegals”.
First, under pressure from above, Lou Dobbs gave up on the birther conspiracy theories.
Then he said that perhaps he’d been wrong to assert that illegal immigrants were spreading leprosy far and wide across the U.S. (or at least he claims to have said he’d been wrong).
And now, in the ultimate betrayal of the faux-populist shtick he’s been riding all these years, Dobbs told Telemundo (in an interview caught by the Wall Street Journal) that he now favors the very legalization process for immigrants living here illegally that he’s long derided as a brain-dead “amnesty” policy pushed by pernicious liberal elites in order to keep down the wages of good, hardworking Americans. Read more
Let’s Pause
I was put back together again-literally. After a major accident, resulting in a traumatic brain injury, I experienced what could be called another passage through childhood learning how to walk, talk, dress myself, tie my shoes, brush my teeth, bathe, write and even spell again. I would mix up people, places and yes, things; naturally sometimes I still do.
A little over three years later the changes are astounding. Although I still suffer from various after affects, I am leaps ahead of where they predicted I would be. It’s a testament to the care I received, the encouragement and support of my friends and family, and my determination to get better. I’m not going to say I was a peach through good chunks of time as I recovered, but people stuck in there with me and I stuck in there with myself. My recovery was not an individual task. Clearly, I have much to be thankful for and about. Read more
Have a Happy, Sustainable Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving – the time to think about whom and what we are thankful for – has arrived! After you figure out where to go, what to eat and who to see today, consider the individuals responsible for your thanksgiving meal.
Conditions for workers are instrumental in making sure that the food that comes to us is safe. Workers (often immigrants and refugees) at meat processing plants do the most dangerous jobs in America at low wages. Recently, there were cases against facilities for not paying their employees. If this wasn’t bad enough, mentally disabled Iowa turkey workers were being exploited. Alarmingly, as the NY Times highlighted last week, work related injuries are underreported.
What can you do? Even if you cannot do anything directly to reduce the plight of hard working immigrants, here are a 10 things you can do for your fellow earthlings before, while and after you focus on your turkey, stuffing, yams and pumpkin pie. Read more
Give Thanks to the People who Process Turkeys
The original article was published in The Progressive on Nov. 22, 2009.
We should know where our turkeys come from, and who processes them for us.
The turkeys piled into supermarket freezers carry their own stories. Raised primarily in massive confinement buildings by low-paid growers under contract to corporate food giants, they are genetically designed for plentiful breast meat to grace our Thanksgiving platters. They are then trucked to a processing plant, where they meet their demise. Read more
Safe Food Relies on Safe Workers
I recently attended a conference that addressed the safety of food. It was called Empowering Employees to Protect Food Integrity and Protection for Whistleblowers, and was coordinated by the Government Accountability Project in Washington DC. Joining me was an immigrant worker named Maria, who spoke about the working conditions at her job and how safety for workers affects the quality of food which they produce on a daily basis. Maria called on the Government Accountability Project and others to look into the working conditions in the meat processing industry, which remains one the most dangerous places to work in this country.
I admire Maria, and the thousands of immigrants, refugees and workers of color that feed us every day. If we, as consumers, require safe quality food, then it is only fair that we push for safe working conditions in this industry. Maria and other workers in her plant are required to produce quality meat cuts for 8 to 10 hours a day, while conveyor belts carry chunks of meat at extremely fast speeds. Maria describes this as “humans competing with machines”, not safe production. She asks,“where is the safety in all this? Yet they ask us to produce quality products.” Read more
Anti-immigration is White Nationalism
After reading about the John Tanton Network’s relationship to eugenics and possibly sterilization, I finally broke down in tears. As a researcher who studies white nationalism and anti-immigration for a civil rights organization, the majority of what I read is deeply offensive. It usually doesn’t bother me; I see my work as a necessary tool to educate people about white nationalism in a post-civil rights era. But as I re-read how eugenics scholars may have advocated for the forced sterilization of non-Christian people who weren’t white, I turned off my desk lamp and went home for the night.
As Barry Mehler points out in the video, Immigration and the White Nationalist Movement, modern day anti-immigration is rooted in the eugenics movement of the 1920s, similar to anti-immigration in the 20th century. Both fought, and are fighting, to preserve the idea of a white nation. However, unlike today, anti-immigration of the 1920’s openly fought to preserve white supremacy. Since it’s no longer socially acceptable to openly promote eugenics, modern anti-immigration hides its white nationalist roots.“The movement to restrict immigration, legal immigration and illegal immigration is a white nationalist movement. The concern is for white control of the United States”, says Mehler when addressing the links between the two movements. Read more
Blog Highlight: The War on Soy
Tara Lohan of AlterNet published the following article, The War on Soy: Why the ‘Miracle Food’ May Be a Health Risk and Environmental Nightmare. Looks like soy is proving to be too much of a good thing.
Vegetarians aren’t the only ones who should be concerned; there’s soy in just about everything you eat these days — including hamburgers, mac ‘n cheese and salad dressing.
These days, you can get soy versions of just about any meat — from hot dogs to buffalo wings. If you’re lactose-intolerant you can still enjoy soy ice-cream and soy milk on your cereal. If you’re out for a hike and need a quick boost of energy, you can nibble on soy candy bars.
Read more
Hate Group FAIR Looking for “Ethnically Ambiguous” Actors
Adam Luna posted this awesome blog article yesterday, Hate Group FAIR Looking for “Ethnically Ambiguous” Actors—Think You Have What it Takes? Live in Atlanta and feel like having a little fun today? Find out what it takes to be one of FAIR’s “ethnically ambiguous” bigots.
We just got word that the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), which the Southern Poverty Law Center has designated a hate group, is holding a casting call in Atlanta tomorrow for a new web video that will change the hearts and minds of the average American.
Think you have what it takes to be a mouthpiece for hate?
They will pay $500 to “ethnically ambiguous” actors in their 20s or 30s, with no Southern accent, who can work with a teleprompter — to help them put a modern face on their extreme agenda and disguise their clear ties to white nationalism.
FAIR spends millions of dollars a year on online ads to promote videos like this on websites — including some progressive ones you know and read. So if you get the part, you could be the envy of “ethnically ambiguous” racists across the country!
Watch this to learn what FAIR’s like when the teleprompter turns off:
Read more
American Dream Can Be Lonely Dream
Earlier this week, I had the pleasure of welcoming three very special guests to my office for lunch. A co-worker brought his mother, brother and nephew, whom had just arrived from Guatemala for a visit. Over the next hour, he and his family shared their compelling stories about family, and the hardships that come from moving to a new country and leaving everything behind.
He told us that it had been three years since he’d been able to see his mother, something that is unimaginable for most of us. And explained to us how hard it is to be living in a country without your family; something all immigrants, myself included, have to go through. Seeing him sitting next to his mother and brother beaming was a sight that I will not easily forget. Read more
Millions of Children Depend on Compassionate Change
The United States risks forsaking millions of children.
When hate groups are permitted to guide national policy and social attitudes, we abandon the most vulnerable of Americans: children existing in the shadows of society.
Recently, anti-immigrant groups released a rash of opinion pieces in mainstream newspapers across the nation. Groups like FAIR and Center for Immigration Studies enjoy sharing their views on varied topics. When it comes to compassion for other human beings however, these same groups have nothing to say.
Listen closely to the most fervent of anti-immigrant voices and try to detect even one note of concern for the millions of children whose hopes and dreams hang on the realization of rational immigration reform. Read more
Make Your Own Media
I’m not educated in the realm of psychology, but I try and observe the socio-political effects of everything I experience. I’d like to express my appreciation to Imagine 2050 for providing an avenue by which to share these observations.
I understand that society is heavily influenced by the media it produces. We are products of our environment and there’s no broader environment than the one delivered through radio, television, and print. Media gives us the ability to communicate to audiences beyond personal interaction. Thus, in wake of this age of evolution, our world is given an opportunity to transform the way society develops. Read more
Anti-immigrant Sentiment is Racism
The United States has struggled historically when it comes to race. Slavery and the conquering of North America from the indigenous populations are two examples of how the wealth and prosperity of this country came at the expense of so many others. In both instances, the ‘others’ were people of color.
With immigration coming to the forefront of discussion in the coming year, it is a good time to remember the values this country has always taken pride in: equality, democracy, freedom and rights for all people. While we have yet to see such values come to full fruition, the fight to strive for them has made the United States a starship of civil rights. Read more
Will Lady Justice Be Saved?
The once strong and proud Lady Justice, protector of human rights and civil liberties, has herself become a victim and her moral voice has been muted. She’s been bound and gagged (by the Patriot Act) and some government officials are trying to lock her in history’s basement. Two cases are indicative of Lady Justice’s peril.
First, in 2002, Maher Arar a Syrian-born Canadian citizen was abducted by the U.S. government on false information from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police that he was a terrorist. The United States held Arar for 12 days before handing him over to Syria, even though Syria has been listed as a state sponsor of terrorism by the U.S. since 1979 and the U.S. knew that the torture of Mr. Arar was very likely. In Syria, Mr. Arar was tortured and kept in a grave-like cell for over 10 months. Read more
Racism & U.S. Immigration Policy
Michelle Chen posted “How Racist is U.S. Immigration Policy?” on RaceWire, the Colorlines blog. In it, she explored the analysis of constitutional scholars Liav Orgad and Ted Ruthizer.
It’s been over a century since the U.S. government wrote racial exclusion into law, and for the past few generations, American immigration policy and race have courted each other without directly overlapping—at least not on paper. Yet, even in a post-Jim Crow era, race continues to color the politics and mechanics of immigration policy. A scholarly analysis of immigration law questions whether, 120 years after the Chinese exclusion act, the government carries out racial exclusion by proxy.
In “Religion and Nationality in Immigration Selection: 120 Years after the Chinese Exclusion Case,” constitutional scholars Liav Orgad and Ted Ruthizer say immigration policy may enable the use of certain racially freighted criteria, like cultural factors or national identity, to filter immigration. Just as police may rely on “gut” feelings to invoke racial profiling, so policymakers can craft restriction rules that elevate people of a certain color or ethnicity. Racial exclusion in immigration regulation plays out in various ways: policies might appear “neutral” but nonetheless influence the racial composition of in-migration; they could be inadvertently racially exclusive by favoring certain qualities—more education or job skills, for example. As with many issues of “race-blind” versus “race-conscious” policy, the balancing act lies in being cognizant of racial disparities without entrenching harmful discrimination.
Continue reading at www.racewire.org. Read more
Gary Shapiro: Reflections on Lou Dobbs’ Turbulent Departure
Shapiro posted this great piece on Huffington Post, making sure the coffin on Lou Dobbs’ mainstream media career is nailed shut for good.
Lou Dobbs quickly and unexpectedly announced his resignation from CNN this week, terminating his reported multi-year contract with the cable network. I have been calling publicly for months for CNN to stop putting Dobbs on the air, so I think it worthwhile to reflect for a moment on why his resignation was the right decision.
Although some have decried CNN’s censorship of a self-labeled opinionated voice, I reject that notion. First and foremost, I am a champion of the First Amendment. The Media Institute, a non-profit organization that includes CNN and many other major news outlets as supporters, recently honored me with their annual First Amendment award for my work in championing free speech.
I believe free speech includes the right to be heard, but not everyone has a right to his or her own television show. Lou Dobbs exploited his position as a news anchor with his own nightly show and used it as a platform to advance his xenophobic and anti-business agenda. Now that he has lost that platform, he can pitch an op-ed as readily as anyone else can – and indeed his opinions belong somewhere other than on a serious news network. Read more
Roundup: Lou Dobbs Off the Air
www.americasvoiceonline.org
Here at Imagine 2050 we are so excited about this development, we decided to share posts from across the blogosphere.
First up is this post from Nezua, Weekly Diaspora: Deporting Dobbs:
After 30 years, commentator Lou Dobbs—infamous for his tirades against undocumented immigrants—has left CNN, as TPM reports. Dobbs employed disturbing, dangerous, and dated language to slur immigrants, often equating them with disease and infection. There is a connection between this type of demagoguery and violence.
Clearly, the organizing efforts of groups like Basta Dobbs have borne fruit, as even Dobbs admits. GRITtv recently covered the “way the mainstream media equates ‘Latino’ with ‘immigrant.’” and Latino organizing efforts to correct this perspective.
“Over the past six months, it’s become increasingly clear that strong winds of change have begun buffeting this country, and affecting all of us,” Dobbs said in his last live broadcast for CNN. Other commentators belonging to the old school of racist separatism ought take note. It’s a new day in the USA.
Read the entire post at theunapologeticmexican.org/elmachete
Bastadobbs.com released this statement on its blog yesterday:
“Our contention all along was that Lou Dobbs – who has a long record of spreading lies and conspiracy theories about immigrants and Latinos – does not belong on the ‘Most Trusted Name in News,’” said Roberto Lovato, co-founder of Presente.org, a national online advocacy organization coordinating the BastaDobbs.com campaign in conjunction with more than 40 local and regional Latino organizations from across the country. “We are thrilled that Dobbs no longer has this legitimate platform from which to incite fear and hate.” Read more
CNN Finally Drops Dobbs
National civil rights organization, Center for New Community, and a partner in the Drop Dobbs Campaign, released this statement today regarding Dobbs’ resignation.
Yesterday Lou Dobbs announced his departure from CNN effective immediately. His abrupt announcement comes amid mounting pressure from civil and human rights organizations concerned about Dobbs’ blatant use of hate speech.
“Lou Dobbs’ departure is a long-overdue turning point for CNN,” said Rev. David Ostendorf, Executive Director of the Center for New Community, “Only now can the American public trust the network to fairly and accurately report the news.” Read more
Discussions on Race and Climate Change
It is imperative to incorporate conversations about racism in a discussion about climate change. There is a lot of talk these days about the climate change bill, also known as the clean energy bill being considered in the Senate. On the eve of the United Nations Climate Change Conference about to take place in Copenhagen from December 7th to 18th 2009, this is especially important. The climate change bill addresses important issues such as green jobs, clean energy, etc. The bill would require industry to cut emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases 20 % by 2020 from 2005 levels.
Left out of the discussion however, are issues of race, environmental racism, environmental justice, and how climate change and a climate bill will affect communities of color. This comes at a very interesting time in history where controversial individuals like Frosty Woodridge, and politically extreme organizations like the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) in their articles on population and the environment, are suggesting that environmental organizations should take an anti-immigrant stance. Read more
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