Sports

America’s Sports Superstars: Pawns or Players?

Written by Jill Garvey

The reaction of Cavaliers majority owner Dan Gilbert to LeBron James’ move to Miami says a lot about America’s conflicted history of preaching individuality while practicing ownership.

Many of America’s shared values connect to the ideal of the strong, hard-working, free individual. And yet James, an American hero who epitomizes these traits by all accounts, seems to be judged only by his loyalty and humility- or lack thereof. Sports analysts insist that his decision to go to Miami proves that he is doing what’s best for his legacy and that staying in Cleveland would not have been in his best interest. In effect, LeBron epitomizes American capitalism more than anything else. He is in… Read more

Sports

Cross-post: Rally Against Arizona Immigration Law at MLB Headquarters

Written by Imagine 2050 Editors

Posted on Long Island Wins blog, July 8, 2010 by Ted Hesson.

UPDATE: Several hundred people turned out for Thursday’s rally against Arizona’s misguided immigration law, calling for Major League Baseball to move the 2011 All Star Game out of Phoenix and into a city that will respect the civil rights of residents and visitors. Among the speakers at the noontime rally—situated outside MLB’s Midtown Manhattan headquarters—were Rep. Charlie Rangel (D-NY), New York City Comptroller John Liu, and the head of The New York Immigration Coalition, Chung-Wha Hong.

To see more photos and video from the rally, visit www.longislandwins.com.

Politics

United Farm Workers on Colbert: “Take Our Jobs”

Written by Imagine 2050 Editors

United Farm Workers President Arturo S. Rodriguez appeared on “The Colbert Report” on July 8 as part of the national “Take Our Jobs” campaign aimed at recruiting U.S. citizens and legal residents to fill jobs that frequently go to undocumented farm workers and to urge enactment of immigration reform.

The UFW has launched the national “Take Our Jobs” campaign that invites U.S. citizens and legal residents to replace tens of thousands of immigrant field laborers, most of whom are undocumented.

The Colbert Report
Mon – Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c

Arturo Rodriguez

www.colbertnation.com

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2010 Election
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Immigration

Anti-Immigrant Leader Defends Controversial Environmentalist

Written by Jill Garvey

Imagine 2050 hit the nail on the head a nerve with anti-immigrant groups a few weeks ago when we posted an article about one of the anti-immigrant movement’s environmentalists-for-hire, Philip Cafaro.

Leah Durant, executive director of Progressives For Immigration Reform, sent us a rebuttal defending her friend (Cafaro) and attacking me. In her email she asked that we publish her lengthy response on our site. Normally, we would, but we have this policy about providing platforms for bigots - we just don’t do it.

However, I would like to share some of what she said in an effort to help the public get a feel for Durant’s connections to… Read more

Politics

Immigration Reform Caucus Elevates Anti-Immigrant Paranoia

Written by Stephen Piggott

Over the past few weeks, the anti-immigrant movement has been on high alert after rumors surfaced that President Obama may be planning to use his executive powers to fast track a pathway to citizenship for America’s undocumented immigrants. One player in the anti-immigrant movement, the House Immigration Reform Caucus, sent a letter to Obama on July 1, voicing its opposition to Obama’s supposed plan. In total, thirty-nine members of the Caucus signed on to the letter.

The relationship between the Immigration Reform Caucus and FAIR is clear and irrefutable. Former IRC Chair Tom Tancredo was supported throughout his congressional tenure by FAIR and the John Tanton Network. After Tancredo launched… Read more

Immigration

Anti-Immigrant Groups Respond to Obama Immigration Speech

Written by MJ Olahafa

As expected, the President’s immigration reform speech on July 1 was a pebble that produced a serious ripple effect on the anti-immigrant movement.

Mark Krikorian, executive director of Center for Immigration Studies, an organization founded by John Tanton, a well known white nationalist, was clearly not pleased with the message. He was especially irked by the President’s quote of a sonnet ‘The New Colossus’ by Emma Lazarus, a European immigrant who fled persecution generations earlier. Inspired by what she saw and heard in America, she wrote the lines that appear in a bronze plaque in the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty.

“Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty

… Read more

Sports

Alternative Right Gets Soccer Wrong

Written by Stephen Piggott

Alternative Right, the sleek new white nationalist online magazine, has decided to use the world’s most famous sporting event, the World Cup, to talk about race and promote white superiority. I am not surprised that a racist publication is writing about the competition considering the World Cup’s massive following in the U.S. What is surprising is the writers’ approach, and the amount of factual errors.

In the article “Black Men Can’t Kick,” Joe Kowalski, a sports writer of all people (albeit for the website Caste Football, a site that promotes the achievements of white athletes), commits many factual errors. First, he states, “France has shown no such resistance. Historically not a soccer power,… Read more

Politics

Feds Handcuff Racist Arizona Law

Written by Jill Garvey

Some lawmakers in Arizona like to think of their state as the wild, wild west – a lawless place where it’s every man for himself. Arizona certainly has some unique qualities, but this romanticized idea that modern life in Arizona is akin to bygone days of shoot-’em-ups and Wyatt Earp is ridiculous. However, some in Arizona have built careers and gained national publicity on this perception.

Yesterday the U.S. Justice Department reminded those same lawmakers that Arizona is in fact part of the United States and subject to the very same Constitution that the rest of us abide by (and uphold.)

In a lawsuit filed in Phoenix yesterday, the federal government challenged the… Read more

International

Somalis in Minnesota Celebrate 50 Years of Independence

Written by Garat Ibrahim

Somalis in Minnesota marked the 50th anniversary of the Somali Independence Day on Thursday at Saint Cloud’s State University Hall. Hundreds of Somalis and their friends gathered to celebrate the 50th anniversary. In 2007, Ghana became the first African country to celebrate fifty years of independence from European colonial rule .This year sees several African countries celebrating half centuries of independence – the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ivory Coast, Madagascar, Mali, Niger and a couple more.

Several parts of Somalia gained independence from different colonial powers on or around July 1, 1960: former Italian Somaliland gained independence from Italy and British Somaliland gained independence on the 26th of June from Great Britain. July 1… Read more

Culture

Fourth of July Then and Now

Written by Joan Flanagan

When I was growing up in a small town in Illinois during the Eisenhower administration, Fourth of July was pure and simple: the children decorated our bikes and tricycles with red, white, and blue crepe paper to ride around the flagpole in the center of town.  A Republican politician would remind us to be grateful that we lived in America so we could see these beautiful children on their bicycles, because if we lived in Red Russia we would see tanks rolling down our streets!

We revered Abraham Lincoln, who saved the Union and freed the slaves and Dwight D. Eisenhower, who had saved Europe from Fascism and was fighting a Cold War… Read more