Muslim Americans Wronged by Airline and Passengers
A family of nine traveling to Florida on New Year’s had a very unpleasant holiday. The family was benignly discussing the safest place to sit on a plane when fellow passengers became “suspicious”. The family, including three children, was escorted from the plane by federal marshals and questioned extensively. Once it became clear to the FBI agents interviewing them that they were in fact just a regular family traveling on holiday, they were cleared to fly. AirTran refused to rebook them on another flight however. The family had to buy tickets on a different airline.
I’ve heard the “safest place to sit” conversation at least a dozen times on airplanes over the years. I know several people who have to sit in particular places on planes, either through superstition or some silly belief that one can actually survive a plane wreck. I can’t even count the number of times I’ve had run of the mill conversations about the safety of planes. So I can only imagine that the “suspicious passengers” had to be just plain stupid or, more likely, racist. Read more
The Coming Year of Complex Intersections
As anticipation surges for January 20th and the possibilities for an Obama Administration, short-term solutions to long-standing problems dance illusively and elusively before our eyes: we did not get to this precipice overnight and we will not get off of it soon.
Tens of thousands of families are newly unemployed; home foreclosures are non-stop; businesses crumble; poverty and racism endures; new war rages in the Middle East—the economic-political chaos at home and worldwide is nothing short of sordid. Yet we hope, even audaciously. Read more
White Nationalists Prepare to Oppose Obama Administration
The Republican Party is in disarray after its loss to Barack Obama, and on the sidelines white nationalists are skillfully preparing political attacks on the new American president.
Since the weeks leading up to the most significant elections ever to take place in the United States, federal law enforcement agencies, the media and human rights organizations have paid close attention to threats made against Presidential-Elect Barack Obama. Some of these threats have been made by individuals with ties to the neo-Nazi movement in the United States.
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Hate Crimes and Hate Group Activity Rising
Last week I asked our readers if they thought hate crimes were increasing. I posted the poll on a whim; we’d been writing a lot about hate crimes at Imagine 2050 and felt that there was something deeper and more menacing behind the recent spree of attacks. As of this writing 63% of you thought that hate crimes were increasing, and there is mounting evidence that you were right. We already know there has been a steady increase in crimes against Latinos since 2003, as reported by the Southern Poverty Law Center. This has been attributed to anti-immigrant rhetoric that has gone mainstream thanks to groups like Federation for American Immigration Reform, anti-immigrant politicians and TV commentators, such as Lou Dobbs. And there is a very strong link between the communities where anti-immigrant groups are active and hate crime incidents. Read more
Hunger in America
Hunger in America seems to be excluded from general discussions, except during the holiday season when discourse focuses on appeals for individual donations to “those in need.” Little or nothing is said about complex nature of this issue. According to Feeding America last year 36.2 million Americans lived with food shortages, many of whom were working poor. Facing economic calamity, these numbers will increase creating a grim future for many more Americans. Including demographics of children, race and gender the picture becomes even more complex and worthy of comprehensive national discourse. Read more
Americans = Anglos: The Depth of Perception
Months had passed since I had been in town to meet with workers over steaming plates of good food at the local restaurant run by a family from Mexico. It was good to see everyone again and to get caught up. Gentle handshakes were exchanged with those long-pained from packinghouse jobs, and conversation took off quickly. My colleague who organizes in the area guided our conversation and translated for us as we talked about a wide range of issues and concerns. Read more
Today We Stand for Human Rights
Today is the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights - a document that has had a profound affect globally on human dignity. Despite 60 years of clearly defined and generally accepted freedoms, we are still struggling to meet the standards set down in that Declaration. Today is a particularly crucial time in our nation’s history to recommit ourselves to upholding human rights. Read more
Jane Addams: Advocate for Immigrants
By Joan Flanagan
Jane Addams was only 29 when she opened the Hull House Settlement in 1889 on Chicago’s tough west side with two friends, Miss Ellen Gates Starr and Miss Mary Keyser. All three were so naive they didn’t even lock the door the day they moved in. But they quickly learned the challenges facing their immigrant neighbors. Read more
The Americas. The America. Of Appropriation and Identity.
The ongoing debate over “who is an American” must seem old to our neighbors who have lived for generations with the appropriation of “America” by a single nation self-assured for generations by its own exceptionalism.
That this nation early on proclaimed itself the United States of America may have been well-intended (in the most generous interpretation) as a declaration of belonging with the rest of the Americas, but the cultural and political identity that eventually emerged to produce the singularity “America”—referencing the US alone—has long been commonplace across the globe. Read more
Bye Bye Black Friday
Black Friday is a perfect example of American consumerism gone awry. Shopping the day after Thanksgiving is a tradition for some that is more sacred than the holiday itself. But this year demonstrates once again that Black Friday needs to end. Read more
There is no Promised Land without Black America
The emerging new black leadership owes black America tangible change. Across the blogosphere, in newsprint and on television and radio pundits are breathlessly hailing the rise of the Joshua Generation.
While initially used by the Barack Obama campaign as a title of a program that reach out to potential young evangelicals and Catholic voters it is now used to distinguish a growing group of young black leaders from those that participated in the 1960s Civil Rights movement. In short while the biblical figure of Moses (i.e. Martin Luther King, et al) led people out of captivity it was Joshua (i.e. new black leadership) who finally got everyone out of the wilderness and into the Promised Land.
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Audio: November 2008 Imagine 2050 Blogcast!
This month we are on the streets in San Francisco, California as we join a rally of over seventy-five hundred people who have come to show their support of same-sex marriage rights. This historic rally is part of a large network of rallies taking place on the same day all across the United States. We are joined by Stuart Gaffney, who, with his husband John, are speakers at the rally read more
Neighbor Turns Ugly When American Dream Disappears
Buying a home can be a ticket out of poverty. It can symbolize a shift from the poor camp to the middle class. Owning a house can represent a sense of financial security and mobility for many families and their children.
A few days ago, Kate Brumback from the Associated Press reported that Lorenzo Jimenez finally found his ticket about four years ago to buy his first home in a suburb outside Atlanta. But Mr. Jimenez had one problem that many working fathers don’t have to consider when buying a house for their family. Read more
Gulf War Illness Proven But Not Cured
In this country when soldiers enlist, they know wars are possible, even likely. They accept the sacrifice of precious moments with their wives, children, and friends, and most acknowledge the possibility of the ultimate sacrifice, their lives. This dutifulness is what makes them admirable in the eyes of America; we afford them a special brand of dignity through our heart-wrenching movies and romanticized media coverage. What most wartime soldiers are not prepared for and never warned of, and what we civilians routinely ignore is that there is a good chance they will be stripped of that dignity when they come home. Read more
Casting My Vote
This past Tuesday, November 4th, I was one of hundreds of thousands of new naturalized immigrant voters. Prior to the election I made sure to conduct thorough research of local issues and candidates’ backgrounds, knowing that I am not only casting my vote for the President but for many other public servants whose performances will help shape the political and personal realities of all Americans. Intellectually, I understood the task ahead of me, but my emotional response to casting a vote for President caught me by surprise. While I waited in line to vote I felt anxiety building, and once I finally picked up the pen, I had to steady my hand and wipe off pesky tears in order to cast my vote. I left the voting area feeling a mixture of fear and excitement; fear that my vote will not help change the status quo, and excitement that it just might help create a better world. Now, reader, before you assign my response to emotional instability, let me place my reaction in a greater context. Read more
Obama Victory A Massive Setback for White Nationalists
After Obama’s landslide victory on November 4th we saw scenes of joy throughout the country and all over the world. People everywhere were speaking about their renewed hope. We also saw the reactions of those who voted for McCain, many of them blaming George W. Bush for McCain’s record loss. The media however did not portray the white nationalist community’s reaction to Obama’s victory. To gauge their reaction I paid a visit to arguably the most influential and popular white nationalist website; Stormfront. It was founded in 1995 by former KKK member Don Black. The website’s motto is “White Pride World Wide.” According to a June 2008 article in the Washington Post, Stormfront draws more than 40,000 users to its message boards every day. The message board is split into many categories including forums dealing with youth, education, activism and even a white nationalist singles forum. The forum also has an international section with different message board set aside for countries such as Britain and Serbia. Read more
One Day in America: November 4th, 2008
I woke up around noon, nice and late, just as I like it. I stretched and cracked my neck, and then I remembered what day it was. I threw on my clothes and ran downstairs to the coffee shop below my apartment, grabbed a mug and filled it with the dark blend (spice island, one of my favorites). Then I saw my dull, but strangely glowing, grayish gold bicycle u-locked to the pole outside, and decided it was time to ride. On my way to work, I fantasized about the day’s potential. Sure, I may be spilling burning hot coffee on myself and on my way to work now, but tonight was going to be awesome. Read more
Anti-Immigrant Groups Spread Lies & Contribute to Voter Discrimination
Social Contract Press spreads lies about voter fraud and contributes to suppression of the voting rights of Latino citizens. Anti-Latino groups, like the FIRE Coalition, are using SCP’s false findings to encourage their followers to man the polls and discriminate against whomever they perceive as “illegal aliens”. This is voter suppression and it’s downright un-American.
It’s Morning in America Again
I love those mornings!
You know the type of morning I’m talking about. The kind of morning when you wake up early and you have the whole day ahead of you. The sun is slowly rising in the east and your calendar is clear. You don’t have to work, your bills are paid (or at least up to date), there’s food in the fridge and no one gets to dictate what the day will hold for you. You can sit and quietly read the paper, take in the guilty pleasure of early morning TV, or surf the net without a care in the world.
Maybe you surprise the kids and take them to the park. Maybe you spend the time fishing, enjoying the quiet of the river. It’s not what you do that matters, but rather that the day is yours. These mornings are like a breath of fresh air that chase away the tension and stress of life. You savor the day, and at night when you close your eyes you know that it will be the memory of this day that will sustain you through the hard times. Read more
Response to Obama Murder Plot Says Much about Belonging
I was a 6th grader at Clara Barton Elementary School in 1976. The school bus I rode everyday was a multi-racial smorgasbord of young kids who were excited to get to school so that we could shoot marbles or show off our newest toy before class started. It was on one of those days, on my way to school, that I was told something that changed my life forever.
On a Monday morning one of my school mates whispered that the previous weekend neo-Nazis protested against Jews and blacks in one of the parks that we passed along our way to school and that it had been in the paper. No one really talked about it much, and I’m sure that the conversation quickly turned to our favorite television shows, but from that day forward this park took on a sinister form in my mind. Read more
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