AND SO IT FALLS ON US here at UMX—as well as at other blogs and independent news sites—to spread the word; to remember the name and smile of Brisenia Flores; to make clear that this killing is no isolated event perpetrated by a couple “crazies,” but is woven tightly to the anti-Mexican/anti-immigrant/anti-Latin@ sentiment that festers in so many layers of popular US culture.

From the fearful, punitive talk about immigrants espoused by Republican and Democratic politicians alike, to the video games that posit Mexicans as criminal invaders, to the movies that only present Latinos as gangbangers or cocaine kingpins or street thieves or knife wielding degenerates, to the movements in states like Arizona to wipe out Chican@ culture and history and aim to have us living in fear, to the judicial brutality and disproportionate police punishments meted out to the brownskinned, signals are continually broadcast to the public at large that mark us as less than human and offer us as viable targets for derision, fear, and violence.

Uncovering that—clearly—is far too big a story for any station today to break.

This episode of News With Nezua throws a pointed jeer at the contortions these mainstream news sites must adopt in order to justify turning away from this particular story and stories like this.

This episode of News With Nezua is brought to you by Center for New Community.

Apologies to my deaf friends; I will do my best to find time very soon to make another edit and manually add subtitles, at which point I’ll substitute a link for this apology. YouTube version here.

Past episodes of News With Nezua are archived here.

DESPITE my many misgivings on how What-May-Become-CIR is shaping up, the energy at the rally on Sunday in DC was undeniably strong, fresh, vibrant, positive, and loud. More like a loving block party, concert and picnic than a “march,” the National Mall hosted hundreds of thousands of people supporting our fixing the broken immigration system. I’ll have a video for you (the next News With Nezua video) that I am going to use to convey some of that energy to you.

Because there are separate aspects of any “cause” or political issue. Which is what makes the whole thing so frustrating sometimes. We all forget, we all remember, are reminded, when we talk it over. We begin pushing for the very best we can, as we should. Ideals lead the way. Then some others get angry and say that the first group is being too purist, or non-pragmatic. Compromises must be made. Then your undocumented friend says those compromises are cruel and unneeded and unnecessary. And then another undocumented friend says, hey—I’m willing to make those concessions. Then another citizen friend says but I am not willing to have a biometric Social Security card, and we shouldn’t let that be ushered in using this issue. Then someone else passes a link about a protest or march action and then someone else says isnt there more to making change than protests, than making noise? And then you attend a massive gathering like this in the absence of any movement from the white house after all the beautiful speeches made to la comunidad and you remember that every gathering is not about making an immediate change. Or rather, more comes out of something like this event than just definitive legislative action.

Sometimes you need to be around people who feel as you do, who look a bit like you, or have a name like you—especially when those things are under attack by various groups and voices in our nation. Especially when you are out there working that activismagic-whatever you do, making your heart visible and evident in the world, trying to chip away at wrongness because that gives you a lust for life, that makes you feel you have done more than take from the world. And that good things can happen, and that you are not alone, and that you stand with hundreds of thousands of other people. And that even though the people who would stab the very balloons out of the hands of mimes may be given too loud a voice at times, on the other hand, the people who know that justice is a right all humans have can gift each other with a very powerful weapon to place in the arsenal. And the event had a lot of that energy. It was very comforting to know that with so many Latinos around, even if we were dissimilar in many ways, we were standing together at the moment for things that go so often unchampioned or unmentioned by the most powerful voices in media, if not altogether slurred and derided. We were, for a handful of hours, a city of solidarity and flava and positivity.

And at the same time, all those aforementioned currents that can sometimes complement and sometimes contradict, were in play.

I saw a number of people who work this scene, the regulars, the activists (undocumented and citizens), some org people, some new media people…you get to know each other after a while! We always see each other at these events. Our feelings on what is right and what is possible overlap in places. And not in others. And always varying at different times, perhaps, depending on how the issue is playing out in Congress or on TV or in the White House. And to see that weave of multiplicity on the issue just in that group of people gives you a peek into how tough it has to be to move legislation with so many people in government, many whom are not just sometimes at variance with, but directly opposed to each other’s value systems and desires and ideologies, and many who don’t even deal in good faith, who are simply making decisions on cynical and power-based motives. It’s a wonder anything gets done. And it explains why so many of us on the Left are beaming sunshine out of our blogholes because the White House just passed insurance reform that still leaves us with a health care system that should hide in shame compared to that of many “less powerful” nations—not to make light of the very big deal that is this bill being passed, nonetheless….

One of these activist type friends I know—he is involved with one of the current orgs that speaks for/stands for/benefits from the Latino&Immigration type issues—was a bit bitter about the event. It was “cynical,” he said. “Why aren’t they telling people” that this is a big hoo-rah event when in reality, Schumer and others are lining up a nasty little deal before they even consider trying to sell it; a deal that involves National biometric ID cards/SS cards, and passing an English test (who says you have to speak English in the USA, we still don’t have any “official language,” after all!), admitting shame and criminality in being here at all (I’m still waiting to hear the US govt explain the reneging on NAFTA as well as many other actions that contribute to global inequality and spur immigration in the first place!) and blowing more money on a militarized and harmful border mentality and weaponry/wall, as well as funding (in part) Felipe Calderón’s drug war that has claimed over 17,000 lives by now. And I understand what he is saying. These things are not acceptable, in reality. At least not to me as a citizen. And I do live here, and have to live here for now. And so I feel I have a right—while not speaking for anyone else—to take part in pushing, shoving, nudging the world closer to where I feel it should be. Beginning here.

At the same time I could have said “Okay. Fair enough. But if that is cynical…then why don’t you tell that truth through the org you are attached to?” Because he does not, either. Nor do they. They stand for good things, too. But not the whole truth. Does anyone? Does anyone think the whole truth stands a chance in this nation? And yet you can’t really aim any lower and have too much self-respect. Because you know invariably that ideal will fall short, being channeled through an imperfect vessel—be it your own humanity, or Congress.

So it’s never cut and dry. We all have our interests, we all have to make a living, we all have to make compromise, we all have our hands stained from rowing in the Empire Ship, and even in those moments we truly want to do only good, only the right thing, that still doesn’t mean we’ll agree on what exact shape that Thing will be. We come from different places. We stand in different places. We’ve had different beginnings. I’m still personally trying to learn how to be true to my own vision, and at the same time make room for yours. In a way, I guess at heart, that is what the USA is supposed to be about. (At least judging by the mantras children are pressured to speak to the flag in school.) Lately I feel we are not being too successful at making that vision happen. But maybe as a nation born squalling and bloody and steeped in lust and reverence for property, as well as violence and exploitation of the Other, we just take smaller steps than those that satisfy me right away.

What is there to do but to keep putting energy toward such an idea, and toward fighting the good fight?

Which is why I thank Reform Immigration for America very much for making my trip possible. I appreciate the help in getting there, and the no-strings freedom to report the way I report. Speaking of which, I have to get back to editing the video. Meanwhile, here’s a slideshow of the fotos I took. Maybe they will give you an idea, for now, of what I’m talking about….

PROFESSIONAL VITRIOL-SPEWER Lou Dobbs claims that shots were fired at his house, and that this violence is due to his views on immigration. Implied in his words are the connection between focused ire and public violence.

They’ve created an atmosphere and they’ve been unrelenting in their propaganda,” Dobbs said in reference to pro-immigration groups.

—Shots Fired at NJ Home of Lou Dobbs

Get that? It’s the people fighting for the rights and humane treatment of immigrants who are creating a violent atmosphere. Yeah. Nothing like a little projection to help a ghoul live with itself.

Also chiming in is William Gheen, anti-immigrant president of ALIPAC, who tellingly admits in a newsletter that when you create an atmosphere of revulsion and loathing around people, this leads to violence: [my emphasis]

Friends of ALIPAC,

We have just learned that someone has fired a gun at the home of Lou Dobbs, with his wife just a few feet away from the incident. The gunfire followed a series of threatening phone calls.

Lou Dobbs is being targeted by the pro-illegal alien groups and pundits who feel that Dobbs is stopping Amnesty from passing.

The Southern Poverty Law Center, the Anti Defamation League, the National Council of La Raza, Media Matters, and Geraldo Rivera of Fox News are using false information to foment hatred towards Lou Dobbs or any American who speaks out against Amnesty or illegal immigration.

They have pushed for Lou Dobbs to be fired and since CNN has refused to do that some people are now turning to violence to try and achieve their goals.

The lies and hate coming from these radical pro-illegal alien groups is now manifesting in the form of gunfire fired into the occupied home of an innocent multi-racial family.

What conclusions can we draw from their only now admitting this connection many of us have been trying to underline for so long?

1. Lou Dobbs and William Gheen understand that what they do normally leads to the violence that continues to bring death and fear to our communities

thus

2. They enjoy causing that violence.

But now, ALLEGEDLY, shots are fired near Lou’s house, and they are up in arms talking about this dangerous environment. It is to laugh.

Lou, for the first time in his skanky life, is being held to account by organized groups online and off for the negativity and hostility and vile things he puts out into the air all year. And all he can come up with is calling people “fleas” as a response, go back to his daily demonization routine, and then whine about a violent environment from which he is normally cushioned due to his station, class, and situation.

Live by the sword, Lou?

(PS: Well, hardly a sword. And hardly a bullet, apparently! After all, if the projectile “struck the siding and then fell to the ground,” I’m guessing it was a slow moving BB, perhaps. Which means Lou’s well-layered makeup would have stopped it cold.)

THE ANTI-IMMIGRANT/Anti-Mexican/Anti-Latin@/Anti-Reason crowd was kind of holding down the Sane and Well-Meaning façade more or less okay…until one of their own pushed it a little too far and went on a little murder spree against a Mexican American family. Now? The façade falls a bit more. Now the naked, grimy cheekbones jut out.

Ted Hesson, the online editor of Long Island Wins sent me this gem. He further notes via email that he has “verified by phone that the email was sent by Melissa Jaramillo.” Melissa Jaramillo is Glenn Spencer’s secretary. Glenn Spencer is the leader of American Border Patrol, and the sage who bestows us with ideas such as “”Mexican culture is based on deceit,” and “Chicanos and Mexicanos lie as a means of survival.”

Below is reprinted the full letter sent from American Border Patrol’s Melissa Jaramillo to ALIPAC founder William Gheen, and without any edits:

First – this email is from me and me alone. I am using my personal email

address to send it as I am NOT writing on behalf of any organization. No one
asked me to write this email. We are in America and we still have Freedom of
Speech. Know that Freedom of Speech does not include libel and slander.

Second – you using the murder of that poor girl to attack others and solicit
funds shows me how disgusting your character is. You didn’t give two-shits
about that girl or that incident until Shawna was arrested. Instead of
attacking and blaming everyone, send that girls family some money and apologize
for not trying to help psycho girl get better. Instead, you created a movement
for everyone to show hatred towards her. What did you expect would happen after
you were done “ruining her” and made sure that not just the opposition hated her
but those within the movement hated her as well. You really gave her nothing
left to live for. While Shawna had a thug with a gun to kill people, you are no
different, you just use a different media. Yes – you are no better than she!

You’re such a liar. Why is it so hard for you to keep your facts straight?

You wrote:
~ “While Spencer denies knowing what Chuck Stonex (Forde’s Executive Officer in
her group MAD) was up to, he admits that Stonex came to Glenn Spencer’s American
Patrol HQ from another state, was treated to BBQ, left that property to treat a
gun wound. Furthermore, we find the admission that Spencer was in phone contact
with Stonex after he left the BBQ to be highly suspicious and indicates that
Glenn Spencer also knew that someone had been shot and that Stonex was going to
treat a wound! ” ~ end quote

You’re so full of it. I haven’t the time to set all of your claims in your rant
straight, but I will on this one paragraph. Chuck did not leave the BBQ to
treat the wound. Chuck came to the BBQ AFTER treating the wound. He called in
the morning to say he wasn’t going to make it to the BBQ. He did make it – he
showed up late. He stated an animal had been hurt. Glenn was not in contact
with Chuck after Chuck left. We find Chuck’s involvement questionable as well
and he is no longer welcome at the ranch.

Glenn did not like Shawna. Glenn was not in phone contact with Shawna earlier
this year. I was. I never had an issue with Shawna. I believed he rape story.
I saw the paperwork from the hospital. So shoot me for befriending somebody
that was just a bit off. Attack me and leave Glenn out of it. I find you to be
a little off as well. I find there is something wrong with you. You lack
character and integrity. You are not trustworthy and I think you are a bit
psychotic. There must be something wrong with you, as your vicious and
continued attacks against others fighting for the same cause is nothing but
destructive for the movement and they make you look obsessed. That’s it, you’re
obsessed with the destruction of anyone who does not bend to your will. God, I
hope you don’t have a wife or children – especially teenagers because they have
a mind of their own. I believe it is your actions and the actions of those like
you who helped to drive Shawna over the edge. Go after her family – they knew
of her plans. Go after the MM in Colorado – they knew of her plans. None of
them tried to talk her out of it or stop her. You did nothing to stop her
either. Hell, not even you thought she would end up doing something so
atrocious. Furthermore, it is not aiding and abetting to have a brief chit chat
with somebody who came by out of the blue. Believe you me, had I known about
the incident in Arivaca and the Shawna was wanted for questioning, I would have
shut the door in her face and contacted the authorities.

Stop your lies and retract your libel for your own good.

And another thing – I choose my friends. I talk to who I want to talk to.
Nobody chooses them for me and nobody tells me who I can and can not talk to -
not even Glenn. I am my own person with my own thoughts. Search your forum and
find the disclaimer I made when I first signed up that says my views and
opinions are my own and not those of American Border Patrol. Ken Dreger does
the exact same thing. He’s a member of your org, does that mean he speaks on
behalf of you everytime he posts? Does he speak on behalf of MCDC or BPAUX
everytime he posts? Do his views and opinions reflect those of ALIPAC? Ask him
if a person can be a member of an org yet speak on their own behalf. I bet you
and he disagree on that point.

Do you think Bush will be charged with something for his false military record
claims? What’s your thoughts on that? Let’s play the guilt by association
card, shall we? That’s the card you are playing against Glenn and that is the
exact same card that will have all anti-illegal immigration organizations balmed
for the murders. We’d only seen her a few times last year, but you want to
blame us for what she did or accuse us of aiding her? Then I accuse you of the
same thing. I accuse you of attacking her so viciously that you sent her over
the edge and made her do what she did. How’s that?

The caution: Think very carefully and be sure to be clear on the facts. Think
about what you are doing and know that it is wrong and it is a crime. I find
your statements to be libelous and your actions to be harrassing and I, as an
individual and not as a spokeperson for any organization, will not tolerate such
behaviour.

I am generally a nice person and I like to help people in need. I have 6
children, am a full-time college student, take care of an uncle who can not take
care of himself and run a teen’s auto shop – most of that with the help of my
husband.

I am too busy to play your games. Be well William and end it here. If you
continue, things will only get bad for you. The media and opposition are
soaking all of this up right now and they will use it against all orgs in the
movement. You know it and I know it. Now get on with the real mission -
immigration.

Warmest Regards,
Mel

Ken – I’m sorry to use you as an example, but you’re the only one I could think
of who posts of his own free will and not on behalf of any org and you state it
perfectly clear.

Ouch.

WHEN LUIS RAMIREZ WAS BEAT TO DEATH in the street for simply being Mexican While in Public, the Founding Editors of (award winning site!) The Sanctuary penned this piece. We did it carefully and over a few days, because we had a point we wanted to make very clear; one we did not see being underlined in the media. A point crucial to understanding the Ramirez killing as well as the killing of Marcelo Lucero and Wilter Sanchez and Jose Sucuhañay…and so many other vicious attitudes and assaults against the Latino comunidad.

The point was that this was not A Killing, not even simply A Hate Killing. (Hell, the all-white jury decided Ramirez’s cracked-open-skull-n-brains wasn’t even worth a murder charge, but only a Simple Assault!) The point is, this most-decidedly hateful Hate Crime was but one “data point” (if you like phrases like this) in a larger quotient. As such, all these killings are.

That is, it does not help us see any valuable truth or approach any larger societal problem to isolate the event and wall it off from the larger context of anti-immigrant and thus anti-Latino hate and hostility in this nation. The pandering anti-immigrant politicians (mostly on the Right tho not all by any means); the Lou Dobbs/BilloReilly/Glen Beck/Rush Limbaugh/Sheriff Arpaio (and I include this creaky bigot with this crew because he fancies himself a TV star now)/Jon Justice entertainerhaterz; the stall on humane immigration legislation combined with the ICE movement/detention industry which paints immigrants/latinos as criminals; and the thinly-disguised hate groups like FAIR and the Minutemen and NumbersUSA and ALIPAC—all these factors collude to create an intense soup of racist hate that is marking Latinos/as fair game for violence and for the dehumanization that makes it possible to view this violence as nothing more than “isolated incidents” as well as let hate-motivated murderers off with a “Simple Assault” charge.

Obviously, we—The Sanctuary editors—were on target with our message, as the Ramirez piece has been picked up 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. They told me they feel it best contextualizes the event as well as the climate in our nation today that leads to such hate crimes. This was a great satisfaction to us, but obviously getting even the right message into print will not stop the hate or the violence. That will take all of us. Though to get there, we do need to be having the right conversation. That’s hard to do when even people who condemn the killing equate murdering children with “extremists” on the other “side.” As if pro-migrant groups could ever be compared with such vile actions!

I agree that it is important to delve into and discover the other criminal associations and deeds of Shawna Forde and Eugene Bush and all the Minutemen who are murderers, thieves, rapists, etc. Dig it all up and put it in the light. Of course we must and should. Sadly, though, the effect of all this digging, unfortunately seems to be coupled with the message that so many hate groups would also want to broadcast, a message not unlike the one that says Conservatism can never failed, only be failed by poor actors. It is “these were lone wackos not acting in line withour movement.” This would be an utterly deceitful line to offer, as it’s well-known that Forde was not an unknown outsider within the anti-immigrant (and… more to the point… anti-Mexican) movement, as amigo Richard puts it.

The truth is, it really doesn’t matter how wacked out Eugene Bush or Lou Dobbs or Shawna Forde are, or if Forde was crazy or planning to overthrow the US. What matters is how well she fit into the FAIR/Minutemen/CIS/NumbersUSA/ALIPAC crowd, how on-point and on-message Bush and Forde were, and how indicative their attitudes and messaging is of the current anti-immigrant “Nativist Lobby” that the Southern Poverty Law Center reports on.

Media Matters is holding a panel on this topic, and drawing the frame around on consequences of growing culture of violent rhetoric in right-wing media. And that’s good. But that’s not the bullseye, to my way of aiming.

No matter what legislation passes, no matter what pundits are censured, no matter what mealy-mouth backpedaling any politicians do when they sense the sway and national mood is not with anti-Latino hate, no matter how high in number the hate crimes against my people grow, what WILL continue, I’m afraid, is the detention industry’s growth. As Amnesty International reports, “[t]ens of thousands of people languish in U.S. immigration detention facilities every year — including a number of U.S. citizens — without receiving a hearing to determine whether their detention is warranted.”

ICE projects 400,000 more arrests this year. And these ain’t hotels they are sticking people in.

And why is this business so untouchable? Why is this business kept out of the spotlight? Because the US Prison Industrial Complex needs it’s cashola.

It is not just “Right Wing” “violent rhetoric” that poses danger to Latin@s, though that is no small thing to be dismissed or overlooked. But this violence and this view on migrants, Mexicans and brown people in general is part and parcel of our entire national lust for incarceration. And the stats will tell you who beyond a shadow of a doubt that it is non-whites being locked up in greater numbers. Sadly, even the US military is doing its part.

The Liberal blogosphere and Left wing groups can stand apart and aside from the Wackiest of Loners and point at them if it makes them feel better. But the wise would lift their eyes and see the larger picture unfolding before us all. It is not pretty. After all, when you send a message to the nation in many ways—large, small, loud and quiet—that brown people are criminals and the way to deal with their growing numbers and power is to break down their doors with weaponry and jail them…why do you imagine humans will not learn the lesson and join in? They will, as we see from incident after “isolated” incident. And now, a dour and fearful miasma surrounds us all. The nation—in the form of pundits, radio hosts, politicians, ICE, and “anti-immigrant groups”—is terrorizing Latin@s.

And that stink? It is not a bushel of rotten apples we can toss in a box. It is an orchard full of trees, and many of them drooping with insidious rot.

Related links:
1
2
3
4
5
6
7

I’M VERY SORRY TO SAY that Brisenia Flores and her father Raul are dead. That’s Brisenia on the left. The Flores familia was sleeping when anti-immigrant crusaders busted down their door and invaded their home, ICE-style, before shooting the father and daughter to death.

A real class act, these anti-immigrant Minuteman types. Whether it’s being thieves and deceiving those they work with as well as whom they raise money from, or kicking down doors and shooting little girls and their families in bed, they are hard at work defending their diseased sense of reality from the world.

An outspoken anti-immigration activist who was at the center of a series of violent crimes in Everett earlier this year now stands accused of the home-invasion killings of an Arizona man and his 9-year-old daughter.

Hyper-Tanned Anti-Immigrant Minuteman Leader Shawna Forde Charged With Murder

Shawna Forde, 41, and two associates in her Minuteman American Defense group are charged with two counts of first-degree murder, one count of first-degree burglary and one count of aggravated assault, according to the Pima County Sheriff’s Department in Arizona.

Eugene Bush

The May 30 killings were believed to be premeditated and part of a plan to steal money and drugs to finance the Minuteman group she leads. Forde’s own family said that the woman weeks ago had discussed using robberies to raise money for her cause.

Pima County Sheriff Clarence Dupnik told the Green Valley News and Sun that Forde was trying right up until her arrest Friday “to get together a large amount of money to further sophisticate the type of operation she’s interested in.”

—[Anti-Immigrant] Activist Shawna Forde charged in double slaying

Salud, Raul y Brisenia. I can only imagine the pain your wife/mother has to live with, now. May she find some relief and healing as soon as possible. And may justice come swiftly for those who have gouged so much amor y sangre from her life, and taken you all away from each other for a while.

THE SANCTUARY EDITORS have posted an article on our collective stance on the latest viralicious anti-immigrant memes being cultivated in the malaised minds of the Nativist Lobby.

The moment that the news of the “Swine Flu” or “North American Influenza” hit the wires, it was easy to predict what the anti-immigrant faction would have to say about it. People like Michael Savage, Neil Boortz, Michelle Malkin, Glenn Beck, Pat Buchanan, and groups like CIS, FAIR, and NumbersUSA are so locked into their views that their voices are unnecessary in a dialogue that actually preferences truth—which by nature requires flexibility and bravery. The stances of those who most vocally oppose immigration today are so predictable that one could paint a face on a septic-tainted soccer ball and paste up word balloons and rest well, knowing that The Nativist Lobby point of view on any immigration-related topic will end in “deport them all” and “seal the borders” if not “round them up” and other tired ideas. …

Please read the whole thing and pass it on.

Tweet: ProMigrant.Org: Virus Brings Swine-Hearted Lobby Into Foreground http://tinyurl.com/dmwvcd #immigration @promigrant

I KNOW THE TRADITION en el viernes (on Friday) is generally to offer music or light fare and I pretty much enjoy following that one. I plan to hit you later with a small film review/recommend. But what caught my eye this morning was this sudden “startling and rare” outbreak of Swine Flu that has been found in Texas and California as well as México. That’s not my phrase, “startling and rare,” I found it here.

A startling and rare outbreak of swine flu has left more than 60 people dead in Mexico with another 800 suspected cases of infection, reported the World Health Organization on Friday.

“To date there have been some 800 suspected cases with flu-like illness, with 57 deaths in the Mexico City area,” explained Fadela Chaib, spokeswoman for the UN health agency. She added that swine flu is rarely transmitted to humans and that this relatively large outbreak is an unusual exception. …

This news comes as health officials in the U.S. are already examining several new cases of a novel swine flu virus that appears to have combined genetic elements of swine, bird and human flu viruses. In all, seven patients in California and Texas have been identified as being infected with the virus, though medical experts remain baffled as to the virus’ origin.

—Swine Flu Outbreak Extended To Mexico

You ought to read the entire article to get all the facts. But all the sites I’ve seen are using words like this. “Startling and rare.” “Mysterious.” “Unprecedented.”Eyebrow-raising.” “Worrisome.” “Unusual.” “Mystified.” “Never Been Seen Before.” “Baffling.” (And in one case beneficial.)

The two cases in Texas have left researchers particularly mystified. Though the young boy from San Diego County reported flying to Texas earlier this month to visit family, he claims to have stayed in the Dallas area – some 270 miles north of San Antonio.

Health officials in China do say that the “whole health system is on high alert” for bird flu due to birds migrating south, but this warning doesn’t seem to be related to the Swine flu breakout in México and the Southwest US as of yet.

On the HISTORICAL/CULTURAL/MEDIA TIP

The article Swine Flu Outbreak Extended To Mexico, linked first on this page, makes clear that the US was already looking into cases within our own currently designated borders. And yet, of course we have articles that will frame this as more of one or another kind of Mexicanicky “spillover,” with titles like Swine flu kills 60 in Mexico, moves to US. This sentiment, this type of reporting, this age-old embedded imagery I fear. I fear for people and I call them “my people” (tho some take offense at the agenda of “special interest groups”) not because if you are not Latina/o or Mexicano/a you are less than that, but because some of us must always think of nuestra gente (our people) or nobody will. So I make it my business to do this, still. [And I don't lay those links down to stir up old pots, because the more of us working together, the better. But they are good examples of what I mean, they are real life, and they deal with this very issue.]

Since those who would demean Mexico and Mexicans and other brown nations have historically used language about disease and infection (I read the vile Pat Buchanan’s book State of Emergency and he goes so far as to incite panic about who is working in fast food joints just dripping with malaria and such), I fear for this.

Let’s keep our heads and let’s be ready to combat the haters (especially those aided by the MSM and quoted as “groups for restricted/reduced immigration“) who never fear to speak of gente in dangerous and malevolent manner, as it is. They care not that this type of talk actually has a real effect on human beings. And I’m sure they will seize on this the moment they hear of it, as their methods are predictable. Let’s also continue to hold MSM and any others who need it to account on quoting any of them in this manner/context.

If there is a sudden outbreak of disease and virus being found in Mexico and also in US “border communities” we simply need to find out why, why it is so mysteriously appearing now, there, and how to stop it from spreading.

This most recent version of swine flu was first identified in two children in Imperial and San Diego County in southern California earlier this week. Officials say the virus may have already existed for a while or may be entirely new. They added that it was discovered thanks to improved testing facilities and expanded disease surveillance; one at a Navy clinic and the other at a specialized clinic that monitors border communities. …

So far, the majority of the Mexican cases reported have been in healthy young individuals without prior medical history.

—Swine Flu Outbreak Extended To Mexico

UPDATE Sat, April 25: Some more facts on Swine Flu, this outbreak, and vaccines.

UPDATE, SUNDAY April 26: Perhaps this is a more informative or helpful link, though.

WE KNEW THAT THERE WOULD BE a faction of people so wed to their own racist thought patterns they would be incapable of dealing with the fact that a non-white person was president of the US.

Unnecessary Nuance Alert: I’m not, of course, talking about those with complaints about Obama in general. I have my own. (And I have to say, just as troubling as those who refuse to see anything negative about Obama or his actions are those who leap all over your junk when you don’t immediately condemn him on every issue, so let’s just try to have a conversation here).

I’m talking about the freakshow. The Palin Crew, the pitchfork bunch. The ones who are enamored of words that imply an ENEMY is WITHIN.

What gets me is that I thought the racists would be honest. I really did! I thought they’d simply be able to say “A black man has no business being president/in power/in White House/on front of bus.” But I guess just as a little knowledge is dangerous, a little bit of self-awareness can be dangerous, too. Steve Martin in one of his early albums used to ask the audience (I had the record as a child but I’m paraphrasing) “Who here took Philosophy in college? [pause] …you can always tell the Philosophy Majors because their hands are … [makes a wavering halfway motion] You remember just enough to f*** your head up for the rest of your life!” And maybe that humor resting on an understanding of intellectual rhetoric directly relates to Marimba Ani’s piece that details the dishonesty inherent in Euro-American culture. As well as what Mai’a said about continuing oppressive behaviors while using better language for it.

Years ago, these people would have felt confident simply voicing their support of a (backward) idea. In certain pockets of the US (and I’ve lived in one or two) people talk this way all the time. But they get out in public, or maybe even to themselves, and they know it doesn’t look good or sound good…they understand they will appear ugly or be thought of that way (or is it even thought out so much?) and so they find new “N” words. Like Muslim. And Socialist. And Fascist. And Marxist. It all means the same thing. It means their world has been turned upside down, and their mind can’t make the leap to mirror it. We expected this. But I hadn’t counted on their own simple cowardice in speaking their feelings. I sort of wonder how dangerous they can get while still not even really understanding what is bothering their own cramped up mind.

I am also impressed by FOX TV. (I just…can’t call it “News” anymore, won’t.) Because let’s be clear: they are fomenting violence. I can’t and won’t make it any simpler or more complex than that. The owners and stockholders of FOX Television are pouring millions and millions of dollars into a mechanism that may as well be a giant finger on a tripwire.

I am personally…amazed that 1) they would dare do this. 2) I would live to see a major television station do this and get away with it. It’s all so blunt. The rich (white) people bugling out to the poor (white) people to come to arms to save their elite empire. 3) I guess I never imagined if that type of class/race war scenario did play out so blatantly that those poor would respond to the call.

Interesting times, indeed.

[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

The dialogue on immigration has, historically, been contentious and cyclical. There are times when hysteria peaks, and rational thought struggles to enter the national dialogue. There are also moments of truth. This week, independent media debunked many myths about the undocumented and made the case for the positive impact of immigrants in the US, including the positive effect of legalizing the undocumented on the economy and how citizens are holding elected representatives accountable for votes against pro-immigrant measures.

Wendy Norris, writing for the Colorado Independent, held the New York Times to task for using questionable sources in an article about President Obama’s push for immigration reform. Norris exposes the background of quoted anti-immigration groups like NumbersUSA, CIS, and FAIR, who have ties to white supremacy groups and eugenics promoters and calls the New York Times out for quoting organizations “repeatedly discredited as hate groups.” When hate groups are quoted as legitimate sources, society suffers from the misrepresentation.

Also in New America Media, Jacqueline Esposito and Jumana Musa explore the kinds of “enforcement” that groups like NumbersUSA and FAIR claim is the most important part of Immigration Reform. Esposito and Musa cite the case of Guido Newbrough, a detainee who made multiple requests for medical attention; there was a treatable bacterial infection in his heart. Newbrough was locked in an isolation cell and died of the ailment.

“As the country moves forward on comprehensive immigration reform,” they write, “We must uphold American values by ensuring that all people, no matter where they come from, are afforded fundamental rights, including the right to a fair day in court before being deprived of liberty and the right to be free from inhumane conditions of confinement. As a nation, we cannot stand for anything less.”

The San Francisco Democratic County Central Committee (DCCC) would no doubt agree with that sentiment, as Beatriz Herrera reports for Wiretap. Apparently, the DCCC voted 20-1 against San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom to preserve Sanctuary ordinances for juvenile offenders. These ordinances ensure that offenders have a chance to prove their innocence instead of facing immediate deportation.

During the 2008 election season, voices calling for reason in the immigration debate were often drowned out by the near-hysteria that certain elements of the Right called forth. Another encouraging sign that we are, perhaps, at a new juncture: Today, even democratic state senators are being held accountable. Colorado Sen. Morgan Carroll (D-Aurora) was recently forced to defend her vote against SB 170, the tuition bill was one that would provide in-state tuition equity for undocumented Colorado high school graduates, on the air.

According to the Colorado Independent, Sen. Morgan appeared on progressive talk radio host Mario Solis-Marich’s show on April 10—after “a week of being beat up in the press and on the blogs” for her opposition to the bill.

In Public News Service, Doug Ramsey has news about a report which focuses on the benefits of legalizing currently undocumented workers. Compiled by the nonpartisan Immigration Policy Center, the report breaks down how legalizing the undocumented community would increase the amount of income that the immigrant community brings into the economy. Rather than immigrants costing us, “legalization would boost tax collections at all levels of government by $66 billion over the next few years.”

Public News Service also explores the economic benefits to bringing the underground economy above ground. According to David Kallick, an economist with the Fiscal Institute, billions of dollars are simply “lining the pockets of employers who hire folks in the underground economy and avoid contributing to payroll and other taxes.”

And OneWorld US reports that Hispanic rights advocates are eager to hear the president’s plan for immigration reform and note that very reform is key to economic recovery. Janet Murguía, President and CEO of the largest national Hispanic civil rights and advocacy organization in the US notes that “the path to a strong economic recovery includes strategies that lift wages, increase revenue, and create a level playing field—and immigration is a crucial element of that equation.”

Even the American Prospect‘s Ezra Klein is writing about immigration in a more proactive light. Just last week, Klein wrote Why Immigration Reform Won’t Happen. He is now making The Political Case for Immigration Reform.

So maybe we’re figuring it out as we go. The costs of letting parts of our country fail and fall away are more than economic, they are moral and profound. We have time to act, but opposition voices are gathering in number. There are many anti-immigrant myths, and many oppose a truly progressive stance on immigration. But we have the will for the struggle and the payoff will come not only in a healthier economy, but in a sounder national soul.

Are you ready? Let’s go.

———————————————————

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