I’VE TOUCHED ON THE SUBJECT in a couple small ways lately. I don’t have much more than that to say now…except to remember out loud that when I lived in Miami Beach for a few years—a place that brought me great happiness as an adolescent aged boy—Haitian gente were as common as Cubanos, just part of the everyday. No doubt, the island of Quisqueya (Hispaniola) cannot be further from Florida than where I happen to live now.

And then I think of how much I miss Florida….

How will Haiti and Haitians come out of this? Will the big players in the First World take their revenge and remove any vestiges of independence from the only nation to rise from a successful revolution of slaves? Shock Doctrine in hyperdrive? I don’t know. But we can learn a lot about our world just by watching—and truly seeing—Haiti, I think.

Here is a video featuring the voice of Telesur and Narco News Authentic School of Journalism reporter Reed Lindsay that gives a small street level glimpse of Port-au-Prince, Haiti:

And here is some more reporting by Narco News vatos:

• Nobody is Coordinating the Aid
(Haití: “Nadie esta coordinado la ayuda”)

• Video Footage of Immediate Aftermath of Earthquake in Port au Prince, Haiti

Hope you and your family are well. And warm.

THIS MAY HAVE BEEN the hardest news I’ve had to sit on for a full week, ever. I’m ecstatic to announce that after a written application that daunted any I’ve filled out yet, a phone interview and a bit of waiting, I’ve won a scholarship to the 2010 Narco News School of Authentic Journalism this coming Febrero, on the Yucatán peninsula.

From Narco News:

They work or hail from 24 countries across the five major continents. They investigate and write news reports, create documentary films and viral videos, and among them are up-and-coming pioneers of Internet journalism. Many of them do that through multiple forms of media. They hush the imposed silences from above and make the voices from below heard. They are aged 18 to 65, from diverse economic, social, political and demographic backgrounds. And each one’s experiences are compelling and unique.

…

Thankfully, none of these talents of conscience need me or anyone else to speak for them. They were chosen because they are already maestros at presenting themselves and the stories they report and care deeply about.

As you read a little about them here, please think about supporting them – as individuals and as a group – so that each can fully realize his and her scholarship and become even better, faster and more coherent than they already are at this work.
Everybody complains about the media, and for good reason. Here are the people who, together with the Narco News Team and our amazing roster of volunteer professors, are doing something about it.

Ladies and gentlemen: It is my distinct honor to present to you… The future.

Al Giordano
President School of Authentic Journalism

and en español:

Ellos y ellas trabajan o provienen de 24 países de América, África, Europa y Asia. Investigan y escriben reportes, crean documentales y videos viral, y entre todos son las promesas del periodismo en Internet. Muchos de ellos lo hacen a través de múltiples medios de comunicación. Desafían el silencio impuesto desde arriba y permiten que las voces de abajo sean escuchadas. Sus edades oscilan entre los 18 y 65 años de edad, y provienen de distintos orígenes económicos, sociales, políticos y demográficos. Y las experiencias de cada uno son absorbentes y únicas.

…

Afortunadamente, ninguno de estos talentos con conciencia me necesitan a mí o a ningún otro para hablar por ellos. Fueron escogidos porque ya son maestros al presentarse a sí mismos y a las historias que reportan y por las que se preocupan profundamente.

Al leer un poco acerca de ellos aquí, por favor considere en apoyarles—como individuos y como grupo—para que cada uno pueda cumplir plenamente su beca y pueda ser mejor, más rápido y más coherente de lo que ya son en su trabajo.

Todo el mundo se queja de los medios de comunicación, y por una buena razón. Aquí están las personas que, junto con el Equipo de Narco News y nuestra asombrosa lista de profesores voluntarios, están haciendo algo al respecto.

Damas y caballeros: Es para mí un claro honor el presentar a ustedes… El futuro.

Al Giordano
Presidente, Escuela de Periodismo Auténtico

Long time readers will, no doubt, understand much about my feelings on winning this without my having to speak too much of it. I guess I’ve competed for and won a few things here and there, been lucky enough to have a couple opportunities. This little trip and bit of education I’ll receive—direct and incidental—interests and excites me more than anything I can remember for a while.

One of the reminders of other lands and people to which I am related that I kept close to my heart when younger (aside from the food my abuela would prepare, and the language that some of my family used) were fotos of the Lacandón people (that my father took), and books he wrote after visiting the Southern reaches and jungles and indigenous peoples of México in his twenties. But that’s all so ethereal. This is air I need to breathe for a little while. Those are skies I need to be under. There is sand, soil, and stone I need to have under my feet. That said, I welcome wherever this path may lead and I don’t expect a lot aside from to see what México wants to show me for herself.

That’s the México part of it. That’s the history and identity and familia part of it. On the journalism angle, this is also wildly exciting. Narco News is one outlet I’ve long respected (and there isn’t a ton of them out there doing what they do) as they report news from México that feels real, and does not pass through the typical grimy lens that US MSM employs almost every time it reports on her. I am looking forward to being part of Narco News in even a minimal way. It is an honor and a challenge I hope to meet well.

You know, I got into this ‘New Media” movement incidentally. Never set out to do it, did not breeze in with some org or company or site looking to capitalize on NEW MEDIA or UNDERSTAND THE NEW TERRAIN OF JOURNALISM or any of that. It has all been extremely organic in my case. I just used the Internet to disseminate my art, once I saw the potential there in 1999 or so. Found LJ and then hopped off to a blog in 2003. And then did that for a while without a specific focus aside from my music. I had three blogs. One private, one political and public, one geared to my music.

And then in 2006 I focused. And that’s when I began writing The Unapologetic Mexican. Here I am now in the midst of this New Media movement, and honestly I also feel honored to find myself where I am. Able to take advantage of opportunities here, be part of this new essence of journalism, and I’ve reached the goal I had when I began: to push back on the racist messaging that was everywhere and to insert my own views on my people and people like me into the stream of media conversation. My purposes have grown since then, and are not entirely vested in my individual welfare or plight quite as much.

Today, I understand I have a responsibility to employ each and every power and privilege and talent and skill with every ounce of mobility and energy I possess in confronting, exposing, and righting the imbalances and injustices in our world. It sounds pretentious, I know. It probably is. Damn arrogant Mexicans. But something like this trip/curriculum makes me happy because as Al G said in his intro to the 31 winners, through the opportunity I can become even more efficient, coherent in my messaging, and more effective in my role. And that brings me a joy deep in my being, where that restlessness and agitation inflamed by the evils of our society and world lives.

It’s very possible I am simply humming like a tuning fork with the moment, as I am wont to do in my artist role. But I see this as a possible pivot point from where I can step up my goals, actions, and reach. Let’s see how it plays out. This trip threatens to be the most photographed and recorded and tweeted one ever, though. I know that!

Another thing I’m used to doing when I am fortunate enough to gain a scholarship or membership to some kind of selected group is looking around at the other winners to gauge what kind of crowd I’m in. And honestly, this is one crazy crowd of talent. I am also humbled to be part of the group…and it takes a lot to make me feel humble (again, as my readers already know . I will definitely be soaking up info and lore and craft from any one of these people I can. I can’t even imagine the levels of creative energy gonna be gathered in this one spot. Wow.

Finally, I’ll be posting the link to my individual scholarship fund now and then until February. I know we are all struggling out here, but if you are in the position to help fund my trip, I’d be grateful of course.

[For those new to UMX, The Weekly Immigration Wire is my weekly (paid) article I write for The Media Consortium. It is a column that runs on a few other sites (see end of post). However today I am posting a version of this post that varies from the one that is edited & published on the TMC blog.]

By Nezua, TMC Mediawire Blogger

Once upon a time, Barack Obama told the nation that we could not afford to approach immigration reform in a piecemeal fashion, and that his administration would tackle the issue in 2009. The surety of this sentiment has since trickled down into distillations fraught with equivocation and the apparent reality that there will be no legislative movement this year. While many advocates are hopeful that today’s meeting will result in tangible legislation instead of acting as a stall, aggressive stances by even key Democrats raise the question of how effective a result could possibly be when couched in terms of punishment.

At at time when the deportation industry shows no sign of slowing, hate crimes are rising and hate groups are being mainstreamed, this week’s Wire looks at the growing polarization between advocates and foes of immigration reform.

Writing for New America Media, Jun Wang reports on the disappointing consensus that emerged from at least one panel of immigration activists last Thursday, In Immigration Reform? Wait ‘Till Next Year. The panel was titled “Are We On Our Way To Immigration Reform?” and its roster included Nancy Ramirez, western regional counsel for the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF), Gary Toebben of the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce, and anti-immigration hate group FAIR’s Ira Mehlmen. The overall agreement was that legislation will not, in fact, happen this year, which doesn’t bode well for the rising hate crimes against Latinos/as which are compounded by other instances of othering and racism, such as “employers in conservative cities” learning that “they are better off not hiring people who are ‘foreign looking or having foreign sound names.’” These reactions only reinforce the idea that Latinos/as are to be singled out and demonized and practically, they hurt the community’s ability to survive and earn a living.

Not content with simply raiding homes, workplaces or storming 7-11s, Immigrations Customs and Enforcement (ICE) is pulling unprecedented moves as of late, such as demanding to see the papers of 16 year old brown girls at train stations who are on their way to school and coercing them to sign away their rights to see an immigration judge right before they are deported out of the country. Also from New America Media, Three Deported Students Return to the U.S., Hiram Soto reports on the joint operation between the Border Patrol and the Transportation Security Administration (TSA). Representing the three minors who were deported and then brought back while they fight deportation, Immigration attorney Lilia Velasquez said she “hasn’t seen anything like this in her 25-year career,” regarding the children being let back into the US. The fact that “[a]fter analyzing everything, it was determined that it was in the best interest of the young people and their families, and also the United States, for them to return to the country on a conditional basis” seems a dangerous admission for Border Patrol agent Daryl Reed to make. Because one can extrapolate that logic to argue the entire destructive deportation fetish that has swept the Department of Homeland Security the last few years and is increasingly producing ridiculous results.

Also feeding the violent and anti-immigrant/anti-Latino/a energy in today’s US are hate-pundits like Michael Savage. In Things That Make You Go, “OMFG STFU,” Samhita Mukhopadhyay at Feministing reports on one of many broadcasts she deems are created “for the purpose of inciting violence against immigrants and to fuel racial tension.” Exposing his “paranoid” and fearful obfuscation of reality, Samhita clears up the anti-immigrant propaganda by pointing out that despite Savage’s tortured logic, the truth is that Immigrants are the “working base” of California, and not the ones creating a drain upon it. California’s immigrants pay roughly $40 billion in taxes every year.

One of the loudest politicians adding to anti-immigrant (and consequently, anti-Latin@) hostility is Tom Tancredo. So it may not be too much of a surprise to read The Colorado Independent’s article Tancredo linked to Minuteman group accused of Arizona double-murder in which the affinities, solidarity, and gratitude of Tom Tancredo are expressed in a letter to alleged murderer and leader of the anti-immigrant group The Minuteman American Defense (MAD)  for organizing a rally. It turns out that not only was this beaming “boilerplate rejection letter” (as campaign chair Bay Buchanan hopes to position it) sent to Forde, but a story published by the Everett Herald in 2007 places official Tancredo campaign staff at the event. The connections don’t end there, however and only grow more unsettling.

But those fighting for justice and on the side of human rights are hardly laying low. Undocumented immigrant Sonia Guinansaca writing for RaceWire tells an engaging and personal story in Mock Graduates Lobby for Dream Act in D.C. in a guest column. Tuesday, over 500 students from all over the US were mobilized to Capitol Hill in a “Mock Graduation ceremony” which was intended to both draw attention and show support for the DREAM Act, before heading into legislative meetings with members of Congress and Representatives. Guinansaca reminds us, gently, of the US’s most inspiring ideals: to be a land where any child believing their dreams are as real and worthy as any other child’s. To be a nation where “[n]othin’ is impossible.”

RaceWire also brings us more news of youth behind change in Immigrants’ Kids File Lawsuit Against US, and Other News. In this political lull, where immigration laws strain terribly in their inadequacy and in the lack of reform, “hundreds of deported parents are filing a lawsuit against the government claiming their constitutional right to stay in the US is violated by the deportation of their parents.”

Finally, in Juneteenth Launches African-American Immigration Reform Initiative, community organization ACORN “intends to raise the banner of comprehensive immigration reform by announcing the launch of The Black Leadership Immigration Project from the pulpit of a Phoenix, Ariz., church” and Public News Service reports on a study that finds one in three immigrants in New York is living without medial insurance coverage due to private insurance companies that do not go to adequate lengths to include them.

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Also featured at The Sanctuary, Huffington Post, Talking Points Memo, Open Salon, DailyKos, MyDD, Open Left, FDL, Rabble, Immigration Attorneys Online…

THAT SOUND YOU HEAR is the moan of the Newspaper industry as readers abandon the pulpy, stinking ship in droves. The newspaper industry is trying to rebrand, reshape, go “Web 2.0,” install pay-barriers, dress up advertisements as front page images….all kinds of fun stuff. Hasn’t quite occurred to them that newspapers had, somewhere along the line, come to be seen as a way for us to read provoking thought, to read the truth about our world, to inform us. Somewhere along the way, the corporate masters thought the People were too stupid to notice when the Paper was gutted  of essence, and instead offered either advertisements or word-collections that served as advertisements. For war, for government control, for wiretapping, for torture….

Well, this itself is old news, of course. That’s why the blogosphere has taken off and in part, why some bigmouth like myself can gain a platform that grows larger every day. That, too, is why groups like the Commonweal Institute are introducing new projects such as this one:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Commonweal Institute Announces Progressive Op-Ed Program

Summary: Commonweal Institute, a Northern California-based think tank, will produce and distribute weekly progressive op-ed columns, available for publication in print and online news outlets.

Menlo Park, California (June 16, 2009) – With the goal of providing an opportunity for local and national news outlets to publish opinion and commentary from a progressive political perspective, Commonweal Institute—a Northern California-based think tank—announced today it will produce and distribute weekly op-ed columns starting July 1, 2009.

Commonweal Institute Fellows, public intellectuals who have organically developed large audiences and authority in their field through their blogs, publications and academic work, will write the columns on a rotating basis. …

Commonweal Institute’s op-ed columns will be available for reprint free of copyright restrictions, with the only requirement that the authors be identified as Commonweal Institute Fellows.

Among the topics that will be covered in the op-ed columns: Sustainable Living (food, design, architecture and urban planning); Corporations and Society (civil justice, labor rights and transparency); Progressive Strategy (psychology, progressive political infrastructure, the conservative movement); Justice and Equal Rights (LGBT rights, gender equity, immigration and racial justice).

So I’ll link you when those come out, or just keep an eye on it.

Finally, a heartfelt thank you to the Commonweal Institute, and a big WASSSUP? to my fellow, er,Fellows.

[For those new to UMX, The Weekly Immigration Wire is my weekly (paid) article I write for The Media Consortium. It is a column that runs on a few other sites (see end of post).]

by Nezua, TMC MediaWire Blogger • [this post originally titled Weekly Immigration Wire: Why Are Hate Crimes on the Rise?]

On May 30, 29-year-old Raul Flores and his 9-year-old daughter Brisenia Flores were shot to death, purportedly by a group of far-right anti-immigrant activists who broke into the Flores home by posing as police officers. On Friday, Shawna Forde, anti-immigrant activist and Executive Director of the Minutemen American Defense, (MAD) along with accomplices Jason Eugene Bush and Albert Robert Gaxiola were arrested on two counts of first-degree murder and burglary charges related to the Flores murders.

Josh Marshall of Talking Points Memo notes that the MAD website denounces the murders, but wryly adds that the distancing is “a tad belied by headlines down the page,” like “Subhuman Mexicans (God’s Children?) Prey on Countrymen.” The Flores murders are part of a palpable political and social climate of hostility and revulsion toward Latin American immigrants that is running amok in our nation.

As Democracy Now reports, the FBI has noted a rise in hate crimes against Latinos, which isn’t difficult to verify anecdotally. And, according to Laura Flanders at GritTV, “economics, racial panic, immigration, [and] right wing rhetoric” all play a crucial role in this rise. If our government continues to spend resources that help portray people as both predatory and “subhuman,” it will continue to foster a perception that violence against this class can be committed in good conscience.

This national, anti-immigrant fervor has resulted in a courts system in which “countless immigrants are subjected to harassing or denigrating treatment” and “have no assistance in navigating the byzantine court process,” writes Mary Giovagnoli at AlterNet. She reports that “misguided deportation-only strategies have led to a breakdown in our immigration court system.” The system is overloaded, backlogged, and not operating effectively or humanely.

The U.S. immigration process is in disrepair due to neglect and improper stopgap measures (like agreement 287(g)), just as broken bones will fuse in any manner if not set correctly. We are mired in an interim period and tensions will continue rising until we take on the challenge as a nation. In any part of the process, from application to arrest to detention to deportation, there are glaring problems. RaceWire touches briefly on the lack of accountability in the detention system.

Is the increasing absorption of virulently racist mentalities into mainstream groups a terrible confluence of unrelated factors, or a predictable reaction to the “browning” of this country? At the same time the U.S. military has relaxed its rules on accepting recruits with ties to white supremacist movements, so have circumstances allowed for “a new crop of anti-immigrant groups to enter the mainstream dialogue, even though many have ties to hate groups with violent records,” as Miriam Zoila Pérez writes for Feministing.

The video above depicts Shawna Forde as a spokesman for one of these hate groups, the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR). FAIR made news on Tuesday for disingenuously presenting statistics that demonize immigrants as a strain to the economy. At AlterNet, Walter Ewing exposes the tortured logic FAIR employs and makes the case that “once … inconvenient truths are taken into account, FAIR’s ‘cost’ evaporates.”

It wasn’t long ago that we reported on how many anti-immigrant pundits were using the Swine Flu to create a toxic  anti-immigrant/anti-Latino climate. And sadly, none of those people understand how hate speech leads directly to violence. Talking Points Memo makes the alleged murderers’ ties to the anti-immigration movement clear.

When the government build walls to stave off fears, it is, ironically, reinforcing that same emotion of fear. When hostile and punitive legislation is enacted, fear of the Other is mixed with aggression. When a fearful and aggressively rigid mindset is applied to social fluctuations that require flexibility and change, the result is an increase in the return of that negative energy.

And yet, hope will live on. And sometimes that hope will lead to historic change. Which is why we must keep writing and talking, keep pushing, and keep challenging all the injustice we find.

————————————

Also featured at The Sanctuary, Huffington Post, Talking Points Memo, Open Salon, DailyKos, MyDD, Open Left, FDL, Rabble, Applied Research Center, Progressive Book Club, America’s Voice….

[For those new to UMX, The Weekly Immigration Wire is my weekly (paid) article I write for The Media Consortium. It is a column that runs on a few other sites (see end of post) and is written with a more formal voice than other blog posts found on this site.]

by Nezua, TMC MediaWire Blogger

On Tuesday, President Obama announced Sonia Sotomayor as his pick to replace Supreme Court Justice David Souter. Sotomayor could be the first Latina appointed to the Supreme Court. Predictably, attacks and slurs from the Right are already flying. Regardless, Sotomayor would be an excellent choice for the Supreme Court, signaling to Latino/as that the White House is aware of our need for more representation in government.

Reporting on Sotomayor’s nomination, the Washington Independent’s Daphne Eviatar notes that, while the choice doesn’t push the envelope in terms of liberalness, it does indicate that Obama was “willing to stand up to unfounded criticism of Sotomayor as a far-left liberal.” Interestingly enough, President George H. W. Bush originally nominated Sotomayor for the district court, and her life reads like Many GOP-adored tales of hard work leading to success.

Which leads one to wonder why are they attacking Sotomayor’s nomination with such vitriol, by painting her as a “radical, judicial activist/scary Latina feminist/underqualified diversity pick“? As Michelle Chen reports for RaceWire, Sotomayor has a reputation for “principled independence suffused with real-world experience” and the GOP’s squawking is a typical barrage of “hypocrisy, shrill animosity and racist code words.”

Sotomayor describes herself as a “Newyorican,” which is someone who has been born in New York City from parents hailing from Puerto Rico. While her nomination sparked controversy as to whether or not one can technically “immigrate” from Puerto Rico, there is no denying the country’s colonial history. Many see Sotomayor’s nomination as a success story for immigrants. She certainly does.

New America Media’s Roberto Lovato writes that despite the GOP’s desire to overlook Sotomayor’s uplifting and quintessentially “American” story, the Republican party would do well to use this opportunity very carefully. Sotomayor’s nomination provides an opportunity to draw a line between the GOP that bled Latino/a votes due to their immigration stance and what they hope to become. According to Lovato, Sotomayor—and we—should view the confirmation hearings as “nothing less than a trial to determine whether the GOP is ready to make restitution for its role in a number of judicial and political wrongdoings perpetrated in the Bush era.”

But it doesn’t seem that the Republican party is very concerned with the Latino/Hispanic vote, let alone common decency, judging by the desperate moves of California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, an immigrant himself. In an attempt to clean up the state deficit, Schwarzenegger would “eliminate four programs that provide money and food to more than 100,000 legal immigrants,” many “elderly and disabled.” This action will hurt many people who are a vital part of our social fabric.

Daphne Eviatar, writing for the Center for Independent Media, reports on the perversely-named “Secure Communities” initiative, in which ICE officals are quoted defending a program that aims to deport those ticketed for so much as a red light. Under this soon to be expanded program, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) plans to deport “tens of thousands” of immigrants in 2010. Under the Secure Communities initiative, even a legal immigrant could be deported if accused and not able to hire or enlist legal representation.

Secure Communities “represents a new comprehensive approach to remove all criminal aliens held in the United States prisons and jails.” Even the phrase “criminal aliens” conjures up visions of hooded creatures with sinister intent…and maybe dangling antennae. Little is required to sweep an immigrant into the detention system and classify them as “criminal.” It can be nothing more than an overstayed visa, or being profiled at a 7-11 by ICE officials looking to make quota. It’s all part of a thriving detention industry: DHS projects a budget for new detention centers, including the needed number of arrests (400,000 are planned for next year) to fund and staff said centers. As a result, arrests are made for any infraction, imagined or real, the beds are filled, the lawyers can’t be afforded and aren’t provided, workers and family members are deported, the budgets justified, the checks cut, and the detention center industry looms larger every day.

In Deportation While U Wait, RaceWire’s Michelle Chen reports that ICE has found a way to further expedite the process. “At one downtown Los Angeles courthouse,” Chen writes, “Officials have found an efficient way to cut through the red tape: kicking people out of the country without waiting for a decision from the judge.” If there is a previous deportation order in their records, ICE rules on their own and deports the man or woman. But we should be careful to rush to judgment as often, “what looks on paper like a justifiable deportation often masks the nuances of individual hardships and structural problems that limit immigrants’ ability to press their legal cases.”

In the Colorado Independent, Erin Rosa reports that the Obama Administration is moving forward with plans to end the State Criminal Alien Assistance Program, which funds local jails and state prisons to house undocumented immigrants. Rosa notes that Colorado “netted $3.1 million from the program last year, and $3.3 million in 2007.” The White House defends the move by saying the resources can “better be used to enhance federal enforcement efforts.”

There are many people waiting to see those “enhanced” efforts in the shape of legislation. There is hope these efforts will improve the quality of peoples’ lives, not DHS’s budget. Many people who harbor those hopes demonstrated in Postville, Iowa in memory of the ICE raid that shattered the community a year ago. Lynda Waddington writes of this year’s difference in attitude for the Iowa Independent. In 2008, emotions were raw and more anger was expressed, but this year, there was “a specific focus and call for comprehensive immigration reform.”

I AM HAPPY to announce that The Sanctuary (ProMigrant.Org) will be receiving an award that, in 2006, Hillary Rodham Clinton described as  “the equivalent of the “Pulitzer Prize” for journalism (including New Media this year) in ethnic media! I leave it to politicians wielding impressive phraseology for various reasons to convince you that the award is quite that important, but nonetheless. We are very proud to be recognized for the work we do at our little human rights agenda community.

I will be in Atlanta, Georgia for the NAM National Ethnic Media Expo & Awards event June 3 -5 to receive this award on behalf of my compas and separately, to do some talking on New Media as I’ve learned to use it and think of it.

If you live nearby, holla at me so we can meet up! And of course, gracias to New America Media. You cats do some fine work, and moreover, ya sure know a good thing when you see it.

Crossposted to The Sanctuary

by Nezua, TMC MediaWire Blogger

[For those new to UMX, The Weekly Immigration Wire is my weekly (paid) article I write for The Media Consortium. It is a column that runs on a few other sites (see end of post).]

This week’s Wire [originally titled Weekly Immigration Wire: Fighting H1N1 Hype] focuses on the opportunities for change that crisis can introduce. From the H1N1 “Swine” flu’s declining fervor to 2009′s May Day marches for worker rights and immigrant solidarity; from the tragic killing of Luis Ramirez to legislative movement on immigration, these are tumultuous times. But it is precisely such conflict and challenge that provides the best opportunities to make lasting change.

Last week, we highlighted how anti-immigration voices were exploiting the nation’s fear of the H1N1 flu to their own advantage. While still no joke (except in biting satire), the flu is an overhyped event used by Republicans to push an anti-immigration agenda, according to the Colorado Independent’s Daphne Eviater. While not all immigration comes from Mexico, the country and its people are often used as convenient scapegoats.

Mexico is suffering most from both the virus and an intensifying conservative backlash, as New America Media (NAM) revealed in several articles this week. As if the confluence of these forces weren’t enough, an April 27th earthquake struck Mexico, adding to the atmosphere “in an almost surrealistic fashion,” writes NAM’s Kent Paterson. At least truths are beginning to surface as to the flu’s origin:

News reports link the possible start of the health crisis to a huge, runaway U.S. pig farm located in the Veracruz-Puebla borderlands. The farm in question is owned in part by U.S.-based Smithfield Foods, the largest hog and pork producer in the world and a company with a record for environmental violations on this side of the border.

Will the government or agricultural industry look into the complaints against Smithfield farms’ with the fervor of anti-immigrant pundits? Unfortunate events like the H1N1 flu can be opportunities to make positive changes to the systems involved. The agricultural sector and its crowded animal farms are clearly in need of reform.

Many supporters of workers’ rights and humane immigration reform came together on May 1. Yes! Magazine’s Colette Cosner explains why solidarity around immigration reform is stronger this year, and why May Day is so inspiring. Workers are standing united, rather than divided: “Work-place raids are being preceded by union drives,” Cosner writes. “Traditional labor groups are recognizing that these raids hinder their organizing capabilities. So too do the immigrant rights activists now see the unions as an integral part their work-place security. … The united platform is spun from our collective desire to live lives free of fear. This fundamental concept is the backbone of each of the May Day demands.”

Fearmongering from the Right has been crowding sense from the airwaves, and it’s a distraction from issues that matter. Such was the case for Luis Ramirez, a recent hate crime casualty. RaceWire’s Michelle Chen tells his story, which echoes civil rights-era cases in its iconic extremes of race-based violence and subsequent lack of justice:

Harsh words between Luis Ramirez, 25, and a group of four local boys, including the convicted teens Derrick Donchak, 19, and Brandon Piekarsky, 17 … escalated into anti-Mexican epithets and a physical confrontation. Despite efforts by his friends to intervene, Ramirez was soon lying on the sidewalk, his skull cracked open by a kick to the head, and his assailants had bolted off into the night.

This brutal murder ended with simple assault charges for the white teenage assailants. The all-white jury threw out charges of third degree murder, aggravated assault, reckless endangerment and ethnic intimidation. Equally amazing is the eyewitness account that reveals willful police negligence in pursuing the killers. The Mexican American community and growing numbers of human rights and immigration activists are springing into motion to demand accountability.

The Ramirez murder is, like the H1N1 flu, another opportunity to examine what protections are in place to guard human health and life. As Chen notes, the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crime Prevention Act has passed the house and will soon be before the Senate. It would be a grievous error and abdication of opportunity to not pass this into law, given the ubiquitous waves of hostility aimed at immigrants as well as gays, transgendered people, and others.

RaceWire also covers the Supreme Court’s May 4 ruling that nullifies another injustice: Charging immigrants who use a sequence of numbers in place of an actual Social Security number with willful identity theft. In To catch a thief: SCOTUS on undocumented workers, Michelle Chen discusses the ruling, which sides with Mexican immigrant Flores-Figueroa, who worked at a steel plant in Illinois. Flores-Figueroa was flagged, then arrested, when he tried to arrange his situation more legitimately. While the case has changed law for so many other immigrants, Flores-Figueroa will most likely be deported, once done serving his time.

In other immigration news, Maryland’s state assembly ruled that undocumented high school graduates should pay three times that of citizen high school graduates attending college; Homeland Security signals a new focus on employers, not workers; and Oregon hopes for a new wave of income by urging the U.S. Senate to legalize the state’s nearly 400,000 undocumented and put them on the tax rolls.

Finally, do take a moment to celebrate the spirit and actions of Arizona public defender Isabel Garcia, profiled recently for In These Times. Garcia’s fight against injustice is well-documented. She works tirelessly to change to the surreal and perilous game that is played out in the borderlands human rights struggle. Garcia was the first non-Mexican to receive the National Human Rights Award from the Comisión Nacional de los Derechos Humanos de Mexico, but refused to speak at the acceptance ceremony because her speech about the militarization of the U.S.-Mexico border was censored. Garcia is not concerned with image, but with changing the standards of living on the borderlands. Let’s hope that while President Obama buys time to negotiate a humane solution to the immigration issue, he keeps this in mind.

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Also featured at The Sanctuary, Huffington Post, Talking Points Memo, Open Salon, DailyKos, MyDD, Open Left, FDL, Rabble, In These Times Blog, RaceWire, America’s Voice and Alternet

by Nezua, TMC MediaWire Blogger

[For those new to UMX, The Weekly Immigration Wire is my weekly (paid) article I write for The Media Consortium. It is a column that runs on a few other sites (see end of post).]



It’s no shock that those long-opposed to All Things Immigrant are using the Swine Flu outbreak—which has mostly affected Mexicans at this point—to ratchet anti-immigrant rhetoric up to an irresponsible level. It’s disappointing though, especially because the last few weeks saw more rational dialogue emerging in media coverage. This week’s Wire examines the voices talking about immigration both in the media and on the ground, from those recycling age-old “eliminationist” rhetoric to those who put their own bodies on the line to fight for inclusive justice.

In AlterNet, Joshua Holland uses history to contextualize virulent statements hurled by anti-immigrant pundits like Michael Savage. Holland deftly debunks numerous anti-immigrant, right-wing myths using a historical lens: By tying the source of contagion to immigrants, today’s pundits are echoing age old patterns that “contributed to a series of pogroms in which thousands were burned alive” in 14th Century Europe. Just what are today’s pundits saying? Savage asks “Could this be a terrorist attack through Mexico?” Michelle Malkin, Bill O’ Reilly and Neil Boortz agree: “[W]hat better way to sneak a virus into this country than give it to Mexicans?” shrieks Boortz.

While Colorado lawmakers aren’t using such frantic hyperbole, they are doing nothing to dispel the state’s reputation as heavy-handed when it comes to immigration enforcement. On Monday, the Democratic-controlled state legislature introduced a non-binding Joint Memorial that requests the use of DNA technology and expanded local police powers to “identify, arrest, and detain” immigrants. If granted, the request would allow the state to use “biometric identification—like DNA tracking—and federal databases to create in enforcement dragnet,” according to Erin Rosa of The Colorado Independent. Rosa also reports on scary developments in enforcement technology that attempt to mend the gap between the federal government’s lack of reform and the needs of each state.

Not all harsh enforcement measures result from a lack of federal legislation. A Republican-led Congress passed a law in 1996 restricting the ability of immigrants to challenge the legality of their deportation,” as Rochelle Bobroff and Harper Jean Tobin report for New America Media. The measure is pointedly cruel: It allows courts to proceed with deportation even if an asylum-seeker will be endangered upon their explication. Though there is a provision that the courts can use to rule otherwise, this law represents yet another policy that needs to be revisited when the White House negotiates humane and effective reform.

Writing for AlterNet, Frank Sharry reports on the divide deepening between moderate Democrats, who are “ready to tackle common sense reform” and Republican “hardliners.” “While Democrats seem to be making headway,” Sharry writes, “The Republican Party continues to be dogged by Minutemen hard-liners who oppose practical solutions.”

The political gap is growing, as other groups draw together. RaceWire’s Michelle Chen reports on the Black Immigration Network, “the first national network concerned about immigration issues and racial equity issues surrounding both African Americans and immigrants of African descent.” This Network is important because it bridges historical tensions between the two communities. And as Chen makes clear, there are people who exploit such divides to their own benefit.

The effects of the Iraq war, while a much quieter subject in today’s news cycle, are still playing out. AlterNet’s Nina Berman tells the tragic story of Iraqi refugees who are struggling in the poor U.S. economy and lack adequate help to get ahead. Omar Ibrahim is one such refugee who came to Texas in 2008. He is still jobless and family back in Iraq doesn’t quite understand. “They know that America is a dream,” Ibrahim says, “but it is a bad dream.”

Finally, in an inspiring show of activism, Public News Service’s Mary Kuhlman reports on two nuns who engages in civil disobedience at a Chicago ICE detention facility to draw attention to the fight for human (immigrant) rights. Obama’s 100th day marked their “tipping point,” after more than two years of prayer vigils. They needed to try something different. The nuns’ agenda? Making it possible for detained immigrants to see religious workers. Immigrants, many of them asylum seekers, are isolated even from their families. In this particular case, the women’s actions paid off.

At play today in our immigration debate are warring philosophies of who a “people” are and what we owe each other for simply belonging to the same human family. On one side, frothing, fearful punditry stoke division and hostility. And on the other, fearless and brave activists champion for our better natures. It is no small battle.

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Also featured at Alternet, Huffington Post, Talking Points Memo, Open Salon, DailyKos, MyDD, Open Left, FDL, Rabble, The In These Times Blog, America’s Voice, The Sanctuary, NYT Topics, RaceWire ,…

I PROMISED YOU a film review yesterday and you can now find it here, at the XOLAGRAFIK Theater.

The still below is an image from that same film, Made in L.A. (Hecho en Los Angeles). I’d love it if you could check out that trailer and review before you read the press release below, which asks for your help in a little organizing that is going on between The Media Consortium and the makers of this film to spread the word about the film for the May Day screenings that are planned.

Full disclosure: I blog for the Media Consortium on Thursdays and I, too, was Made in L.A..

The Media Consortium and  the Emmy-winning documentary Made in L.A. have an exciting new partnership in the form of a very cool new widget with up to the minute news on immigration and grassroots events.

For those that haven’t heard about Made in L.A. , the movie tells the story of three Latina immigrants finding their way in the U.S. It’s a very personal, human story that puts a face on the immigrant experience and draws parallels between today’s immigrants and those whose families came to the U.S. generations ago. We just kicked-off a  grassroots community screening campaign in honor of May Day using the film’s content and web videos as tools to educate and build support for humane immigration reform. You can check-out these efforts here:http://www.madeinla.com/mayday – and Rep Luis Gutierrez’ recommendation of the film here.

To help get the word out, we’re partnering with The Media Consortium’s MediaWires project. Made in LA is co-sponsoring an immigration headline widget, [You can see this in my sidebar to the right --Nezua] which features top immigration-related content produced by Media Consortium members along with information about the May Day screenings. You can see the widget here: http://www.widgetbox.com/widget/the-latest-news-on-immigration-policy-us-immig

The Immigration Wire (immigration.newsladder.net) is a one-stop shop for the best independent reporting about immigration rights and policy reform. We believe that the more people have access to strong, independent reporting, the more we can positively impact the public and political dialogue. This project is highly beneficial to organizations looking to inform, engage and activate their constituencies.

Using the stories posted to Immigration.Newsladder.net, we’ve created a series of new media tools to help get the word out about this critical issue, listed below. Contact Erin Polgreen, erin@themediaconsortium.com to learn how you can become a part of this dynamic project.

• Widgets: Our simple headline widgets allow you carry up-to-the minute news about immigration on your website. These widgets are very easy to install (only copy/paste the code) and update 24/7. To see the Made in LA widget, visit: http://www.widgetbox.com/widget/the-latest-news-on-immigration-policy-us-immig
• Blogs: Every Thursday, The Media Consortium publishes a free, open source blog reviewing the week’s top news about immigration. It’s a great way to help inform and engage your audience! These blogs are free for anyone to repost on their own sites–we’ll even email them to you fully coded, so that all you have to do is copy/paste. Click here for samples: http://www.themediaconsortium.org/author/nezua/
• Twitter: Follow ImmigrationLadr on Twitter to get the latest headlines as they are submitted to the Immigration Wire.

If you are interested in hosting an immigration widget on your site, I’ve included the HTML coding below.

JAVASCRIPT:

<mce:script type=”text/javascript” src=”http://cdn.widgetserver.com/syndication/subscriber/InsertWidget.js” mce_src=”http://cdn.widgetserver.com/syndication/subscriber/InsertWidget.js”></mce:script>< script>if (WIDGETBOX) WIDGETBOX.renderWidget(‘ b5d91b35-477e-40c2-b6db-f5d50ab3ee3e’);</script><noscript>Get the <a href=”http://www.widgetbox.com/widget/the-latest-news-on-immigration-policy-us-immig” mce_href=”http://www.widgetbox.com/widget/the-latest-news-on-immigration-policy-us-immig”>The latest news on immigration policy, U.S. immig</a> widget and many other <a href=”http://www.widgetbox.com/” mce_href=”http://www.widgetbox.com/”>great free widgets</a> at <a href=”http://www.widgetbox.com” mce_href=”http://www.widgetbox.com”>Widgetbox</a>!</noscript>

FLASH:

<span class=”mceItemObject” classid=”clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000″ codebase=”http://fpdownload.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=9,0,0,0″ type=”application/x-shockwave-flash” width=”170px” height=”423px” id=”InsertWidget_9cb24367-4c7d-4c9a-9a06-7ecfd0f738e0″ align=”middle”><br /> <span name=”movie” value=”http://widgetserver.com/syndication/flash/wrapper/InsertWidget.swf”class=”mceItemParam”></span> <span name=”quality” value=”high” class=”mceItemParam”></span> <span name=”wmode” value=”transparent” class=”mceItemParam”></span> <span name=”menu” value=”false” class=”mceItemParam”></span> <span name=”flashvars” value=”r=2&appId=9cb24367-4c7d-4c9a-9a06-7ecfd0f738e0″ class=”mceItemParam”></span> <span class=”mceItemEmbed” src=”http://widgetserver.com/syndication/flash/wrapper/InsertWidget.swf” mce_src=”http://widgetserver.com/syndication/flash/wrapper/InsertWidget.swf” name=”InsertWidget_9cb24367-4c7d-4c9a-9a06-7ecfd0f738e0″ width=”170px” height=”423px” quality=”high” menu=”false” pluginspage=”http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer” type=”application/x-shockwave-flash” wmode=”transparent” align=”middle” flashvars=”r=2&appId=9cb24367-4c7d-4c9a-9a06-7ecfd0f738e0″ /></span></span>

May Day is the perfect time to provide your audience with more information about immigration reform and to think about sharing . All you have to do is copy/paste the below HTML wherever you’d like to place the widget on your site. This widget is a great way to push independent reporting to new audiences–and by hosting it, you are also supporting the work of your fellow Media Consortium members. You can also click here to see the widget and get coding to place it in a blog or on a Facebook page. Please contact Erin Polgreen,erin@themediaconsortium.com, with any tech-related questions.

If you have questions about the film, want to host an event or talk to me or the filmmakers, just let me know.

all best,
Tracy
–
Tracy Fleischman
(323) 424.3010 office
(310) 916.7977 cell
tfleisch@gmail.com