Occupy Oakland Holds Rally In Solidarity with Phoenix, Opposes ALEC

Written by Imagine 2050 Editors

At 5pm on Wednesday, November 30th, Occupy Oakland and community members will rally at Fruitvale Plaza to say no to criminalization, incarceration, and corporate profiteering at the expense of immigrant communities.

Fruitvale is a mostly Latino neighborhood in Oakland. According to a member of Occupy Oakland, “This is a moment of possibilities. We are using the momentum of the Occupy Movement to stand against injustices that have impacted communities of Oakland for a long time.”

Bigoted measures such as Secure Communities, Mandatory Minimum Sentencing, Truth in Sentencing, and Gang Injunctions impact Oakland’s communities in regressive ways. The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), an organization comprised of 2000 legislators and 300 corporate members, has… Read more

Race, Values, and the Environment (Part 2/2): How do we repair the racial schisms within the environmental movement?

Written by Guest Blogger

by Nicole Loeffler-G​ladstone

Barry Yeoman’s article “Facing the Future” carefully spells out the issue of “diversity,” as it were, both in the environmental biosphere and the environmental non-profit sphere.

Yeoman pointedly shows that issues of race, conservation, and justice have always gone hand-in-hand, mentioning how early conservation was fueled by a a desire to “set aside wildlife for the worthy” at the expense of subsistence farmers and hunter/gatherers. He also notes how struggles against industrial pollution were considered won when those industries were moved to poor neighborhoods. Yeoman also writes that mainstream environmental organizations have always been criticized for marginalizing the voices of people of color, and have often grasped at tokenizing solutions that… Read more

UAE Youths Removed from Flight Due to Fellow Passenger’s “Fears”

Written by Glenn Hutchinson

The skies weren’t too friendly in Charlotte, NC, on Thanksgiving.

Eight college students were identified as possible terrorist threats and taken off flight 1768 in Charlotte, which was headed for Washington DC. The students were going to a Conference called “Today’s Students, Tomorrow’s Leaders,” which was meant to help them prepare for their future careers.

However, according to news reports, one passenger on the plane worried that these students could be terrorists and alerted the flight crew.

So, the flight was delayed as security entered the plane and asked the students about their country of origin and whether they had any military training. The students were from the United Arab Emirates, and after… Read more

Race, Values, and the Environment (Part 1/2): why has the environmental movement divided itself along color-lines?

Written by Guest Blogger

by Nicole Loeffler-G​ladstone

Moralistic questions of worth and value contribute to a visible schism between two general categories of environmental groups. On one side we see organizations dedicated to conservation issues: habitat protection, wilderness preservation, protection of endangered animals and plants, etc. On the other we see organizations dedicated to justice issues: access to food in urban communities, our right to clean air and water, the reduction of pesticide use, etc. And it seems that these two hands, which help shape the environmental movement, often function independently without acknowledging that they are pieces of a larger movement.

Environmental activists should not have to ask themselves whether they want to bring an end to environmental crises… Read more

Cross-Post: Black Leaders Get Closeup View of Alabama’s New Jim Crow

Written by Imagine 2050 Editors

Originally published by Colorlines on November 22, 2011.

Recently I was invited to be a part of a delegation of labor leaders heading down to Alabama to speak out against one of the worst immigration laws in the country. I found it interesting, because the trip was billed as a “black” labor leader delegation. I’ve heard a lot about the black-brown discussion over immigrant rights, so I was ecstatic that this delegation of specifically black folks was going down to witness this law’s impact first hand. As a commentator on race and blackness, I felt it important that I join. Although there are those within the community who aren’t supportive, there are many… Read more

FAIR Issues Press Release

Written by Imagine 2050 Editors

Anti-immigrant group FAIR issued a press release this week. In it, the organization decries a “double standard” in a Department of Justice lawsuit against Utah’s anti-immigrant bill, H.B. 497, while ignoring another bill that would open up a guest worker program in that state, H.B. 116. According to FAIR, this action is but another indication of the Obama administration’s “true agenda” of enabling a “backdoor amnesty.”

Culture

Cross-Post: How White Supremacists Are Trying to Make an American Town a Model for Right-Wing Extremism

Written by Imagine 2050 Editors

Originally posted by Alternet.org.

At first glance the Pioneer Little Europe website seems like it could be the work of the Montana Office of Tourism. Photographs depict the rugged beauty of the Flathead Valley region near Glacier National Park in northwest Montana.

One image shows a young blond-haired girl playing in a meadow overlooking Kalispell, the largest town in the area, with a population around 20,000.

The site also features short news items about the Northwest Montana State Fair and a wildflower beautification program along with Kalispell job postings.

But then there’s this: A scan of a full-page advertisement in a recent edition of the Flathead Beacon, the local paper,… Read more

Voter ID Laws: Barricades to Democracy

Written by Charlotte Williams

As can often be the case, a plethora of misinformation is fogging the way to Election 2012. The tactic is not new: throughout history attempts have been made to block groups from participating in the democratic process, with proof of land ownership, poll taxes, racism, and gender discrimination just being a few examples.   

This time around, one issue in particular is being touted by some officials as the necessary key to securing our polls against invasive outsiders: Voter ID/ Voter Suppression. Amid concerns of voter fraud, several states have adopted legislation to change the requirements for voting in this year’s election. These concerns are unjustified and will suppress the votes of people of color, low… Read more

Workers Resisting Black Friday Shifts

Written by Catharine Debelle

This year for Black Friday stores are opening earlier than ever before.

Typically retailers open around 4 AM, offering promotional sales to kick off the shopping season. This year, though, retail giants like Target, Macy’s, and Best Buy are opening at midnight on Thanksgiving Day. Some other large stores announced they would be opening even earlier. Forcing employees to either go without sleep or skip Thanksgiving with their families is simply wrong.

That in mind, some workers are fighting back, with several having started online petitions. Anthony Hardwick, a part-time clerk at Target, is scheduled to start his shift at 11 PM on Thanksgiving Day, forsaking precious time with his fiancée. He launched a petition… Read more

CIS Releases New Backgrounder

Written by Imagine 2050 Editors

Last weekend, anti-immigrant organization Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) issued a new Backgrounder entitled Latino Voting in 2010: Partisanship, Immigration Policy, and the Tea Party. In it, author James Gimpel argues that Republicans have been largely unsuccessful in attracting Latino voters to their party–and that immigration policy rarely, if ever, has anything to do with the modest successes they have had. Instead, he argues that “Hispanics, like other ethnic voters, often use surname cues to guide their vote.”