We Fight Low Information
On any given day, more than 30,000 immigrants are detained in the U.S. More than 300,000 men, women, and children are detained by U.S. immigration authorities each year. ICE reported that the average stay in detention was 37 days; however many immigrants and asylum seekers are detained much longer – months or even years – [...]
Who stopped the presses? Obviously, it is a question that many are asking these days. It is a bit sobering to witness the apparent demise of the newspaper industry. Not unlike dominoes, newspapers around the U.S. are toppling, closing their doors, filing for bankruptcy, or ceasing their print operations and only remaining online. As someone [...]
Is the military, with so many career paths open to graduating seniors, an option families really want their sons or daughters to grab on to? Families need to know the real story and not just what the all too friendly recruiters tell our kids. Military recruiters, like college recruiters, have access to students on the [...]
Among the many labor, community, and academic leaders backing the proposal are John Wilhelm, International President of the Hospitality Division of UNITE-HERE, Bishop Thomas J. Gumbleton, Archdiocese of Detroit, and the Reverend Alexia Salvatierra, Executive Director of Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice. That over 500 prominent activists and politicians from over 30 states [...]
While the U.S. superpower has meddled in many far-flung nations around the globe in the name of enhancing its security, as prior to 9/11, it has ignored a threat much closer to home. In recent years, the Bush administration blithely blamed Mexico for the flow of illegal drugs into the United States and virtually ignored [...]
Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano has ordered reviews of many operational aspects of the immigration and border security system and has even delayed a series of proposed immigration raids and other enforcement actions at U.S. workplaces. Yet while many of the Bush administration’s “attrition through enforcement” tactics are being re-evaluated and scaled-back, potential [...]
When Barack Obama adopted “Yes We Can” as his campaign theme, he harkened back to the “Si Se Puede” rallying cry popularized by Cesar Chavez and the United Farmworkers of America (UFW). As we celebrate Cesar Chavez Day, the President should consider a more lasting action to honor the UFW leader’s legacy: revising the 1935 [...]
In spite of the victory we had on November 4th, the fight for social and economic justice in the United States is far from over. Barack Obama has emphasized the need for all of us to pitch in and make this country better. His administration has opened the lines of communication to everyday Americans by [...]
Barack Obama is no exception. Although overshadowed and largely ignored by the mainstream media due to the ongoing global economic crisis, the Washington-based Inter-American Dialogue presented its recommendations for Obama at a press briefing on March 10, in a reported entitled, A Second Chance: US Policy in the Americas.
I watched all the Sunday stuff on the telly today. Who was that old guy on the show saying that we should not be spending money on American schools, American students in college, or on the rebuilding of the infrastructure of America? Why? Because, are you ready, he says it will not do any good [...]
Have you noticed how since the Big O got elected America has lightened up? I mean all of a sudden its OK to be American. We are starting to see that we can laugh at jokes about ourselves. I mean if the President can laugh it must be okay for all of us to do [...]
Yolie Flores Aguilar, Los Angeles School Board member and long-time children’s advocate, thinks that the city’s school system will implode if something dramatic isn’t done—and soon. The ouster of Superintendent David Brewer is a regrettable, but necessary part of that change, in her view. Last weekend, we reported Brewer’s views on his ouster and the [...]
Sixty years ago, in the wake of Nazi genocide and World War Two’s unspeakable atrocities, Eleanor Roosevelt crafted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. This historic document, adopted by the United Nations on December 10, 1948, declared that rights adhered to all persons, no matter their place of birth, race, gender, or religion.
by Sherwood Ross – If African-Americans are overrepresented in the armed forces it is likely because of the military’s practice of “strategically targeting low-income youth and students of color,” the ACLU has found. Result: While African-Americans make up only 16% of the same-age civilian population, in 2006 they represented about 22% of enlisted Army personnel.
When the Bush administration came up with a special classification, “enemy combatant,” and a special site—Guantánamo—to put prisoners beyond the purview of human and legal rights, I had a shock of recognition. The trial run had taken place right here in the US when we threw due process out the window for that other special [...]
Among the most overlooked stories this political season was the major impact of Latino voters in Barack Obama’s red state victories. While Latinos’ 67% support for Obama has gotten some attention, the media has largely overlooked the fact that Latino immigrants backed Obama by a 78% margin, and their support was critical in the Democrat’s [...]
Amazon.com Widgets Note: The title of this article, “Pit Bulls vs. Terriers” is a metaphor for the 2008 Vice Presidential race between Sarah Palin and Joe Biden. I watched the Republican pit bull be unleashed in the race and thought, “well here they go again”. As a half Irish Mexican, I get the fight between [...]
Let’s face it, anytime you get 2,000 gay men and lesbians together in one room it’s a political statement. And, Monday evening, August 25, in Disney Hall was no exception when the Gay Men’s Chorus of Los Angeles (GMCLA) celebrated its 30th Anniversary. It was an inspirational evening under the Artistic Direction of GMCLA’s Bruce [...]
“If I asked for a show of hands on impeachment, I know what I’d get,” Congressman Xavier Becerra told the jubilant crowd of 100 or more packed into the new local Democratic Party headquarters in Highland Park this past Wednesday night. “You’re a bunch of liberals—progressives. There would be 150 hands in the air saying, [...]
Finally, after eight years there is a budget and a plan for the Latino voter! It must really gall a bunch of folks within the Democratic National Committee (DNC) (who have bought off on the Dean theory of kumbaya and let us do a 50 state plan) to see that Obama gets it. You have [...]
For the last several months, I have received phone calls and a zillion emails about the Hillary issue. I supported the move to get the Democratic Party Florida delegation seated before any other Democratic National Committee (DNC) member outside of Florida signed on. I argued that the DNC Rules Committee did not have the authority [...]
The Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC) has released a massive survey today that shows just how important the internet has become to most Californians’ lives and has major implications as to how Californians are getting their information about their communities, news in general and political news, variable access to the internet by different demographic [...]
How can I vote for a candidate who doesn’t care about us? Race, sex, and age are always issues in every political campaign. In every political campaign, a successful candidate will confront racism, acknowledge economic inequality, and assure voters of all ages that their agendas will be addressed. For the last eight years I have [...]
Once again the Bush Administration and Congress are shilling for big business at the expense of labor. Labor much like capital is ruled by the law of supply and demand. According to the UFW website , last month more than 5,000 UFW supporters sent e-faxes to the Department of Labor (DOL) telling them instead of [...]
Violent May Day Immigration Rights Rally rganized as a peaceful May Day March and immigration rights rally, the events held at MacArthur Park last week turned violent when members of the Los Angeles Police stormed into the mostly peaceful crowd of workers, activists, media, and immigrants at the Los Angeles rally. Today’s technology facilitated the [...]
Fighting for Fair Wages While the subject of the vanishing middle class has gained traction in recent years, there is an equally unnerving phenomenon that is keeping step even though it doesn’t get quite the same level of attention. That’s the plight of the working poor. Until recently, the term “working poor” did not have [...]
Some African-Americans, many of which are longtime loyal Democrats, believe immigration is hurting US workers, focusing primarily on undocumented workers
Charles Hayes: What 42 makes crystal clear is how shallow and superficial the strain of contempt is that enables and sustains racism as prejudice is handed down from one generation to the next.
Walter Moss: What unites us, as it did the early Progressives, is resistance to–in John Muir’s memorable phrase–“trying to make everything dollarable.”
Gary Corseri: Jeffers gaze was not so much bitter as it was unflinching, steady, resolute and sui generis. “The cold passion for truth,” he wrote, “hunts in no pack.”
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