Goin’ to Georgia for Sanctuary

MOST READERS HERE know by now of The Sanctuary. Maybe you’ve seen the graphics around the ‘Net, or read my posts on it. The Sanctuary is a group of human rights activists and pro-migrant bloggers and we came together to create a space where a sane (non-mainstream, non-apologetic, non-wavering) voice might be reinforced and amplified, and not be muted by the normal confusion or concessions that too often litter any post or page on the topics we center our writing around. Depending on who you ask, you might get different answers on this, or ones that vary slightly. My thoughts are that the dominant culture’s eye (which is great at erasing the margins and pretending no erasure has occurred) is pretty much useless at doing a few things, one of which is telling the stories of the Brown@. This becomes incredibly detrimental when an issue like immigration is involved. Which is why migration and all it involves is one of our flagship issues. Of course, we are not satisfied to simply write, and we have many plans for the future that involve more action on these matters we care so much about (more than those we’ve already taken). But even properly establishing or realigning the context of what is going on today is very important which is why there are awards for blogging in ethnic media. It’s the viewpoint.

Our recent article on the murder of Luis Ramirez was chosen by La Voz de Esperanza, a publication of the Esperanza Peace and Justice Center in San Antonio, Texas, to be printed in their June 2009 issue, as they feels it best contextualizes the event as well as the climate in our nation today that leads to such hate crimes. This particular accolade is very satisfying to me.

Here’s something else that makes ya feel what you are doing is having an effect:

Best Blogger on Ethnic Perspectives

Winner: The Sanctuary

The Sanctuary, a collective blog launched just a year ago at promigrant.org, has quickly emerged as a leading online voice for meaningful immigration reform and immigrant rights.

Declaring itself a “right-wing-noise-free zone,” it unapologetically positions itself as a foil to the immigrant-bashing practiced by some elected officials and mainstream pundits, such as Lou Dobbs. “The Sanctuary makes it sound like this peaceful, passive place, but we’re not passive people,” says Nezua, a founding editor who also blogs for The Media Consortium’s Immigrant Wire. [sic] Posts last year included topics like the Postville raids, U.S. citizens being treated as illegal aliens, Obama’s “illegal aunt” and how the topic of immigration was absent in the presidential debates. The Sanctuary even had a questionnaire on immigration for the presidential candidates. For example, it asked candidates, “Do you support the switch from family-based immigration standards to the merit based system?” What about “touchback” requirements?

The Sanctuary’s tagline, “building bridges and breaking down walls,” emphasizes its dual mission. It exists to link immigrant rights activists to media outlets, NGOs and human rights organizations, but also to challenge stereotypes and injustices, wherever these might appear. It’s affiliated with no political party but supports efforts for meaningful immigration reform. To do their work, The Sanctuary’s bloggers leverage the full arsenal of Web 2.0 tools, including social networking, feeds, cross-posts, and viral video.

Please see the page to read the full writeup.

FINALLY, I am going to appeal to any who have a few bucks to throw something in the guitar case for Nez, cuz I’m leaving on this trip with slim means, and I wouldnt even be making it if not for an amig@ or two who has helped in certain ways. Life is funny. You can help make things happen that win you awards and are reprinted in magazines and such, but still be broke as a joke. So if you have anything and want to show support, please Paypal to dolaresATxolagrafikDcom, or click the button lower on the page that says “feed the starving artist” and when I tell you that even five dollars will help, I mean it!

And if you’re in Atlanta, or close, please get in touch! Maybe we can meet up for coffee or something. Either way, send me all the good flying vibes you can. They aren’t as good as Xanax, but they’ll have to do!

Seeya on the other side.