Immigration

Howard University students screen film on anti-immigrant bigotry

Written by Cloee Cooper

“This issue is so big, it’s affecting all people”
-Howard University NAACP member

Thursday night, in honor of the Anniversary of the Civil Rights Act, Howard University’s NAACP chapter hosted a documentary screening and student panel on controversial Arizona law SB1070 and the rise of the anti-immigrant movement.

Howard University students have been central to a student movement dedicated to taking on the anti-immigrant movement. In August of 2010, Howard University students participated in a student delegation to Arizona in order to get a deeper perspective on SB1070.  Upon returning, they organized a speaking tour at historically black colleges and universities on the east coast entitled, “No More Arizonas.”

The tour addressed… Read more

Politics

Day one of CPAC brings out usual cast of anti-immigrant players

Written by Imagine 2050 Editors

The 2011 Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) began yesterday in Washington DC. The big names in conservative America featured this year include Newt Gingrich, Donald Rumsfeld, Michele Bachmann and Mitt Romney.

The conference focuses on a range of issues, but one that seems to be getting little attention this year is immigration. Day one saw only one panel and one speech concerned with the issue. The speech was by xenophobic Congressman Steve King of Iowa.

For the past few years King has spent his time demonizing immigrants and at last year’s conference he told attendees to “implode” IRS offices.

Politics

Defend the Rights of Farmworkers

Written by Guest Blogger

by Minnie McMahon

Big agriculture must stop exploiting its workers.

The majority of America’s agricultural workers are undocumented people subject to sub-human treatment from their employers. Because of their lack of legal status, these workers have limited recourse to advocate for their human rights.

Agricultural workers in Immokalee, FL, and across the country find themselves in positions of indentured servitude.

Immigration

Nativism lurking within gun advocacy, the NRA’s “single-issue”

Written by Brian Schultz

No one wants to take sides anymore. In a noncommittal state every noncommittal idea can contribute to the political framework, and we find ourselves bombarded with singular ‘issues’ or ‘causes’ rather than the actual approaches that connect them. No lobby or interest group wants to alienate itself from its basis of support, and so this strategy seems to dominate within many popular organizations.

Unsurprisingly, this tactic benefited the NRA Political Victory Fund (PVF) during the midterm elections. To bolster the credibility of its endorsements, Chris Cox (executive director of the organization’s Institute for Legislative Action) gave an interview in the National Review Online, emphasizing that policies—and not politics—informed its choices.

CIS Testifies Before House SubCommittee

Written by Imagine 2050 Editors

The anti-immigrant group, Center for Immigration Studies recently testified before the House Committee on the Judiciary
Subcommittee on Immigration Policy and Enforcement. CIS’s executive director Mark Krikorian and CIS fellow Michael Cutler testified in favor of mandatory E-verify, a measure designed to prevent the hiring of undocumented workers. Many experts believe that E-verify contains too many flaws and is not suitable for use.

Politics

White nationalist conference officially canceled, would-be attendees lash out

Written by Imagine 2050 Editors

Last week, for the second year in a row, the American Renaissance Conference was canceled. American Renaissance (AmRen) is an organization run by white nationalist Jared Taylor. His conferences are well-known and attract some of the biggest players from white nationalist circles around the world.

Last year, AmRen tried to hold its conference in Washington D.C. only to have it canceled after anti-racist activists convinced four successive hotels to deny AmRen a venue. In 2011, Taylor decided to move the conference to Charlotte, North Carolina, perhaps thinking that a southern location would be more successful.

However, it was not just local activists but a Charlotte city councilman who succeeded in canceling the conference.

Immigration

Keep the Classroom Door Open

Written by Glenn Hutchinson

50 years ago, 4 students in Greensboro sat down at a lunch counter and helped spark a movement across North Carolina to end segregation in our state.  Let us be inspired by their courage.

Students can make a difference.

But there are those today in our country who want to close the classroom door.

In North Carolina, we are trying to send a message to the sponsors of a bill that attempts to ban undocumented students from college, HB11: in 2011, do not shut the classroom door.  Keep it open.

Immigration

Social Justice Movements Standing Strong Against Anti-Immigrant Inroads

Written by Imagine 2050 Editors

The Population and Development Program at Hampshire University just released its January DifferenTakes journal.  The journal looks at the anti-immigrant movement and the greening of hate.  It includes a piece written by Imagine 2050 writer, Rebecca Poswolsky, titled, “Social Justice Movements Standing Strong Against Anti-Immigrant Inroads.”

The article begins with an excellent editor’s note by co-Editors Katie McKay Bryson and Betsy Hartmann of the Population and Development Program:

“January, 2011 has already proven a sobering transition into the new year and new de­cade. Continued political violence in Arizona, the state that entrenched discrimination against immi­grants through legislation last year, and a concerted effort across fourteen states to attack the birth­right citizenship guaranteed in

… Read more

Immigration

Climate Culprits Hide Behind Immigration and Overpopulation Fears

Written by Guest Blogger

by Jesse Sanes

Those concerned with global warming must abandon population control as a relevant strategy to reduce carbon emissions.

Powerful actors are largely responsible for climate change: oil companies, coal giants, and industrial farming corporations. All of these profit directly from fossil fuel emissions.

These climate culprits are able to conceal themselves when groups point to population growth and immigrants as the main drivers of global warming.

ProEnglish Issues Press Release

Written by Imagine 2050 Editors

Anti-immigrant group ProEnglish issued a press release on February 2 to show its support for a Georgia bill which would make all Georgia residents take the drivers license test in English only. White nationalist John Tanton is the founding chairman of ProEnglish. He still sits on the organizations board today.