By Carol Glatz
Catholic News Service
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- People should not look upon immigrants as problems, but as fellow brothers and sisters who can be valuable contributors to society, Pope Benedict XVI said.
The migration of peoples represents a chance "to highlight the unity of the human family and the value of welcoming, hospitality and love for one's neighbor," he said Nov. 9.
Read more
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Thursday, October 22, 2009
Halloween vs Respect to Human Dignity
Thank everyone for honoring "The Day of the Dead/Dia De Los Muertos", events, as the voices of our past that are always present and bringing the richness of our lives, our ancestors, raizes, cultural organizations, costumbres, and making our tomorrows full with their memories and accomplishments bringer joy and laughter in remembrance and convivio sagrado danzando con los espiritus de nuestra familia grande.
On 10/21/09, Carlos Munoz, Jr. <cmjr@berkeley.edu> wrote:
Illegal Alien Costume a Teaching, not a Laughing Matter by Amalia Pallares / October 21st, 2009
I have found the silver lining in a very dark cloud. The illegal alien costume sold online by Target and Walgreens has, in its profound despicability, provided me with an opportunity to teach my children about the value of truth and human dignity.
Halloween is my favorite holiday. My kids and I get to pretend that we are somebody else, wear a crazy costume, shock and surprise people for one day and then safely return to the comfort of our homes, our lives and our personal identities. What I will tell my children that we don't get to do is mock the experiences of millions of members of our communities by perpetuating the lies and stereotypes as reflected in the illegal alien costume. While some have observed that the extraterrestrial mask dehumanizes undocumented immigrants, perhaps even more dehumanizing is the creation of a generic costume that suggests that all undocumented immigrants are not only criminals but that they are all the same, indistinguishable. The "funny" part is the combination of an obviously fake green card that cannot disguise the alien status, which is evident in the mask, get it? The "alien" is simultaneously trying to slip one by but not smart enough to outwit the state, and is therefore imprisoned. End of story.
Absent from this generic orange pantsuit story are the complicated personal, social and political experiences of real human beings facing difficult circumstances with extraordinary courage. Absent are the specific experiences of the Guatemalan workers of a kosher meat plant who were arrested in a raid in Postville, Iowa in 2007 and unjustly charged with identity theft, despite the fact that most did not even know what a social security card was. Absent is the story of Flor Crisóstomo, a factory worker turned activist who was arrested in a raid in Chicago in 2006 and sought sanctuary in a Methodist church in 2008, which she just left his week - at risk of deportation - to continue a new phase in the struggle for the rights of all undocumented immigrants. Absent is Rigo Padilla, a model student and community member who came to the U.S. as a young boy, committed the youthful indiscretion of drinking a few beers at a party and then upon driving a few blocks back to his house, was stopped by police, and is now facing deportation to a country that he barely remembers. Also absent from this story is a state that has been far from benevolent or neutral, importing labor from south of the border while failing to find a just way in which to regularize and legalize this flow; attempting to criminalize undocumented immigrants when they have only committed a civil violation; empowering local police to act as immigration officers, leading to the deportation of thousands of people who are racially profiled, stopped for minor infractions and then deported; and placing detained immigrants with common criminals in privatized prisons, where they often face harsh conditions and egregious human rights violations. The truth is that I know too many faces, too many names, too many stories of detention, deportation, family separation and pain to "get" the generic illegal alien joke. Perhaps you know some too. It is time to teach our children that there is nothing laughable about the uncertain fate of 12 million people and their families in a context of increasingly restrictive immigration policy, egregious human rights violations, massive fear, annual family separation and financial devastation of hundreds of thousands who are not wearing a mask, but are in fact exposed and vulnerable every day of their lives, cannot escape their circumstances, and cannot rely on the comfort provided by slipping out of a costume. This year just before Halloween, I will do something different. I will take my boys to the national Mexican Museum here in Chicago to visit the altars created to commemorate the Day of the Dead, a Mexican tradition designed to remember a person who is no longer with us, allowing us to reflect on the inevitability of death while contemplating the precious value of life. There, we will remember not only the dead in our families, but the 104 immigrants who have died in detention, the thousands of people who have died trying to cross the border, and the two young immigrant men who were beaten to death for being immigrants, Luis Ramirez of Pennsylvania, and Marcelo Lucero of New Jersey.
I will tell my sons that these people were human, not alien, that their lives were as valuable as any others and that their tragic deaths should never be forgotten, not even on trick-or -treat day. I want them to learn that there are some things that we just don't laugh about.Amalia Pallares is Associate Professor of Political Science & Latin American and Latino Studies at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Read other articles by Amalia.--
Dr. Carlos Muñoz, Jr.
Professor Emeritus
Department of Ethnic Studies
510-642-9134
http://ethnicstudies.berkeley.edu/faculty/munoz/
"Life is struggle and struggle is life,
but be mindful that Victory is in the Struggle"
- Carlos Muñoz, Jr.
On 10/21/09, Carlos Munoz, Jr. <cmjr@berkeley.edu> wrote:
Illegal Alien Costume a Teaching, not a Laughing Matter by Amalia Pallares / October 21st, 2009
I have found the silver lining in a very dark cloud. The illegal alien costume sold online by Target and Walgreens has, in its profound despicability, provided me with an opportunity to teach my children about the value of truth and human dignity.
Halloween is my favorite holiday. My kids and I get to pretend that we are somebody else, wear a crazy costume, shock and surprise people for one day and then safely return to the comfort of our homes, our lives and our personal identities. What I will tell my children that we don't get to do is mock the experiences of millions of members of our communities by perpetuating the lies and stereotypes as reflected in the illegal alien costume. While some have observed that the extraterrestrial mask dehumanizes undocumented immigrants, perhaps even more dehumanizing is the creation of a generic costume that suggests that all undocumented immigrants are not only criminals but that they are all the same, indistinguishable. The "funny" part is the combination of an obviously fake green card that cannot disguise the alien status, which is evident in the mask, get it? The "alien" is simultaneously trying to slip one by but not smart enough to outwit the state, and is therefore imprisoned. End of story.
Absent from this generic orange pantsuit story are the complicated personal, social and political experiences of real human beings facing difficult circumstances with extraordinary courage. Absent are the specific experiences of the Guatemalan workers of a kosher meat plant who were arrested in a raid in Postville, Iowa in 2007 and unjustly charged with identity theft, despite the fact that most did not even know what a social security card was. Absent is the story of Flor Crisóstomo, a factory worker turned activist who was arrested in a raid in Chicago in 2006 and sought sanctuary in a Methodist church in 2008, which she just left his week - at risk of deportation - to continue a new phase in the struggle for the rights of all undocumented immigrants. Absent is Rigo Padilla, a model student and community member who came to the U.S. as a young boy, committed the youthful indiscretion of drinking a few beers at a party and then upon driving a few blocks back to his house, was stopped by police, and is now facing deportation to a country that he barely remembers. Also absent from this story is a state that has been far from benevolent or neutral, importing labor from south of the border while failing to find a just way in which to regularize and legalize this flow; attempting to criminalize undocumented immigrants when they have only committed a civil violation; empowering local police to act as immigration officers, leading to the deportation of thousands of people who are racially profiled, stopped for minor infractions and then deported; and placing detained immigrants with common criminals in privatized prisons, where they often face harsh conditions and egregious human rights violations. The truth is that I know too many faces, too many names, too many stories of detention, deportation, family separation and pain to "get" the generic illegal alien joke. Perhaps you know some too. It is time to teach our children that there is nothing laughable about the uncertain fate of 12 million people and their families in a context of increasingly restrictive immigration policy, egregious human rights violations, massive fear, annual family separation and financial devastation of hundreds of thousands who are not wearing a mask, but are in fact exposed and vulnerable every day of their lives, cannot escape their circumstances, and cannot rely on the comfort provided by slipping out of a costume. This year just before Halloween, I will do something different. I will take my boys to the national Mexican Museum here in Chicago to visit the altars created to commemorate the Day of the Dead, a Mexican tradition designed to remember a person who is no longer with us, allowing us to reflect on the inevitability of death while contemplating the precious value of life. There, we will remember not only the dead in our families, but the 104 immigrants who have died in detention, the thousands of people who have died trying to cross the border, and the two young immigrant men who were beaten to death for being immigrants, Luis Ramirez of Pennsylvania, and Marcelo Lucero of New Jersey.
I will tell my sons that these people were human, not alien, that their lives were as valuable as any others and that their tragic deaths should never be forgotten, not even on trick-or -treat day. I want them to learn that there are some things that we just don't laugh about.Amalia Pallares is Associate Professor of Political Science & Latin American and Latino Studies at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Read other articles by Amalia.--
Dr. Carlos Muñoz, Jr.
Professor Emeritus
Department of Ethnic Studies
510-642-9134
http://ethnicstudies.berkeley.edu/faculty/munoz/
"Life is struggle and struggle is life,
but be mindful that Victory is in the Struggle"
- Carlos Muñoz, Jr.
Friday, October 2, 2009
BORDER WALL AN EXPENSIVE FAILURE
http://blogs.reuters.com/global/2009/10/02/borderwallcosts/
A costly U.S.-Mexico border wall, in both dollars and deaths
By Robin Emmott
Securing the United States's border from illegal immigrants, terrorists and weapons of mass destruction "continues to be a major challenge," says the United States Government Accountability Office in a new report. It is also proving to be expensive in both lives and money. In dollar terms, the outlay is substantial. Every time someone breaks a hole in the U.S.-Mexico border wall, it costs about $1,300 to repair. The estimated cost of maintaining the 661-mile (1,058 km) double-layered fence along part of its 2,000-mile (3,000 km) border with Mexico over the next 20 years is $6.5 billion, the GAO report says. That is on top of the $3.7 billion allocated to the Department of Homeland Security's Secure Border Initiative since 2005 to build a system of fencing, lighting, sensors, cameras and radars to keep out job-hungry immigrants, terrorists and smugglers.
While border agents say the wall is a tool that helps them protect the United States, the GAO report found that U.S. Customs and Border Protection cannot accurately determine the fence's impact on improving border security, suggesting the money might not be well spent."What a waste in resources and creativity ," said Jorge Mario Cabrera Valladares of the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles (CHIRLA). "Our tax dollars are being wasted on an ineffective, old strategy instead of urgently working on serious, long term, workable immigration reform," he said.Since the attacks on New York and Washington of Sept. 11, 2001, political pressure for tighter border controls has grown sharply and supporters of the border wall argue it is effective in keeping unwanted foreigners out. But some border experts say the wall does not stop those trying to get into the United States and only makes it more dangerous, greatly raising the fees charged by people smugglers who charge up to $2 billion every year in Arizona alone. Some 5,600 people have died trying to cross into the United States since the U.S. government under President Bill Clinton dramatically increased border security in 1994 with Operation Gatekeeper and the first stretch of fence between San Diego and Tijuana. That is according to a study by the American Civil Liberties Union of San Diego and Imperial Counties and Mexico's National Commission on Human Rights (CNDH), based on Mexico's foreign ministry and media reports, who say the death of migrants is an international humanitarian crisis. Before the stepped-up enforcement operations, experts say most deaths were due to traffic accidents as migrants dashed across freeways in border areas.
Today, most die from hypothermia in the desert or by drowning in the Rio Grande and irrigation canals.The U.S. Border Patrol's body count for border crossers this year points to the continued dangers. While the U.S. recession has caused a sharp drop in arrests on the borderline, Customs and Border Protection has reported 416 deaths so far in 2009. That compares with 390 last year and 398 in 2007.
President Obama has committed to a comprehensive immigration reform,
including a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants, but the issue has little lawmaker support as Americans lose jobs in the recession.
(Additional reporting by Tim Gaynor)
A costly U.S.-Mexico border wall, in both dollars and deaths
By Robin Emmott
Securing the United States's border from illegal immigrants, terrorists and weapons of mass destruction "continues to be a major challenge," says the United States Government Accountability Office in a new report. It is also proving to be expensive in both lives and money. In dollar terms, the outlay is substantial. Every time someone breaks a hole in the U.S.-Mexico border wall, it costs about $1,300 to repair. The estimated cost of maintaining the 661-mile (1,058 km) double-layered fence along part of its 2,000-mile (3,000 km) border with Mexico over the next 20 years is $6.5 billion, the GAO report says. That is on top of the $3.7 billion allocated to the Department of Homeland Security's Secure Border Initiative since 2005 to build a system of fencing, lighting, sensors, cameras and radars to keep out job-hungry immigrants, terrorists and smugglers.
While border agents say the wall is a tool that helps them protect the United States, the GAO report found that U.S. Customs and Border Protection cannot accurately determine the fence's impact on improving border security, suggesting the money might not be well spent."What a waste in resources and creativity ," said Jorge Mario Cabrera Valladares of the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles (CHIRLA). "Our tax dollars are being wasted on an ineffective, old strategy instead of urgently working on serious, long term, workable immigration reform," he said.Since the attacks on New York and Washington of Sept. 11, 2001, political pressure for tighter border controls has grown sharply and supporters of the border wall argue it is effective in keeping unwanted foreigners out. But some border experts say the wall does not stop those trying to get into the United States and only makes it more dangerous, greatly raising the fees charged by people smugglers who charge up to $2 billion every year in Arizona alone. Some 5,600 people have died trying to cross into the United States since the U.S. government under President Bill Clinton dramatically increased border security in 1994 with Operation Gatekeeper and the first stretch of fence between San Diego and Tijuana. That is according to a study by the American Civil Liberties Union of San Diego and Imperial Counties and Mexico's National Commission on Human Rights (CNDH), based on Mexico's foreign ministry and media reports, who say the death of migrants is an international humanitarian crisis. Before the stepped-up enforcement operations, experts say most deaths were due to traffic accidents as migrants dashed across freeways in border areas.
Today, most die from hypothermia in the desert or by drowning in the Rio Grande and irrigation canals.The U.S. Border Patrol's body count for border crossers this year points to the continued dangers. While the U.S. recession has caused a sharp drop in arrests on the borderline, Customs and Border Protection has reported 416 deaths so far in 2009. That compares with 390 last year and 398 in 2007.
President Obama has committed to a comprehensive immigration reform,
including a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants, but the issue has little lawmaker support as Americans lose jobs in the recession.
(Additional reporting by Tim Gaynor)
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
BORDER GATEKEEPER A FAILURE
U.S.-Mexico Border Crossing Deaths Are A Humanitarian Crisis,
According To Report From The ACLU And CNDH
Death Rate Climbs Despite Economic Decline And Drop In Migration And Apprehensions
SAN DIEGO, Calif. - September 30 - U.S., Mexican and international officials must recognize the deaths of migrants occurring during unauthorized crossings of the U.S.-Mexican border as an international humanitarian crisis and respond with reforms that make human life a priority, according to a new report released today by the American Civil Liberties Union of San Diego and Imperial Counties and Mexico's National Commission on Human Rights (CNDH). The report, Humanitarian Crisis: Migrant Deaths at the U.S.-Mexico Border, finds that border deaths have increased despite fewer unauthorized crossings due to the economic downturn. The release of the report marks the 15th anniversary of the border enforcement policy Operation Gatekeeper that concentrated border agents and added walls and fencing along populated areas, intentionally forcing migrants to hostile environments and natural barriers that increase the incidence of injury and death."The current policies in place on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border have created a humanitarian crisis that has led to the deaths of more than 5,000 people," said Kevin Keenan, Executive Director of the ACLU of San Diego and Imperial Counties. "Because of deadly practices and policies like Operation Gatekeeper, the death toll continues to rise unabated despite the decrease in unauthorized crossings due to economic factors." The report analyzes deadly border enforcement policies and practices and their impact on individuals, families and communities and offers concrete recommendations to significantly decrease and possibly end the humanitarian crisis at the border. Some of the report's major findings include:
Border deaths have increased despite the economic downturn, fewer migrant crossers and a steady drop in apprehensions.
In the last 15 years, the deaths occurring during unauthorized border crossings have been a predictable and inhumane outcome of border-security policies like Operation Gatekeeper.
Migrants' risk of death during unauthorized crossings has increased in spite of government programs that attempt to reduce the harmful effects of border enforcement policies and strategies.
The ongoing deaths of migrants have exposed government incompliance with international law obligations in the treatment of the dead and their families.
Since Operation Gatekeeper went into effect in 1994, an estimated 5,600 migrants have died while attempting unauthorized border crossings. In response to government failures to prevent migrant deaths, many organizations have set up water stations, desert medical camps, humanitarian-aid patrols and other rescue and recovery operations in an attempt to save lives along the U.S.-Mexican border area. As the report details, these activities have been increasingly met with government opposition and punishment."By any measure, Operation Gatekeeper is a failure. It didn't reduce unauthorized border crossings, the economy did. It has, however, cost thousands of people their lives," said Andrea Guerrero, Field and Policy Director of the ACLU of San Diego and Imperial Counties. "Instead of policies that foster fatalities, we need sensible, humane immigration and border policies that prioritize human life over death." The report recommends actions that the U.S. and Mexican governments should take to protect and advance the human right to life of migrants, including:
Recognize border crossing deaths as an international humanitarian crisis.
Adopt sensible, humane immigration and border policies.
Shift more U.S. Border Patrol resources to search and rescue.
Support nongovernmental humanitarian efforts at the border.
Direct government agencies to allow humanitarian organizations to do their work to save lives and recover remains.
Establish a binational, one-stop resource for rescue and recovery calls and convene all data collecting agencies to develop a uniform system.
Invite international involvement.
Javier Garcia, whose testimony about his brother who died while crossing the border is featured in the report, said, "I hope that my brother's case is taken as an example of what should not happen, that things change." The report can be found online at: www.aclu.org/immigrants/gen/41186pub20091001.htmlMore information about the ACLU of San Diego and Imperial Counties can be found at: www.aclusandiego.org/More information about the ACLU's work on immigrants' rights can be found at: www.aclu.org/immigrants/index.html
###
The ACLU conserves America's original civic values working in courts, legislatures and communities to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to every person in the United States by the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.
According To Report From The ACLU And CNDH
Death Rate Climbs Despite Economic Decline And Drop In Migration And Apprehensions
SAN DIEGO, Calif. - September 30 - U.S., Mexican and international officials must recognize the deaths of migrants occurring during unauthorized crossings of the U.S.-Mexican border as an international humanitarian crisis and respond with reforms that make human life a priority, according to a new report released today by the American Civil Liberties Union of San Diego and Imperial Counties and Mexico's National Commission on Human Rights (CNDH). The report, Humanitarian Crisis: Migrant Deaths at the U.S.-Mexico Border, finds that border deaths have increased despite fewer unauthorized crossings due to the economic downturn. The release of the report marks the 15th anniversary of the border enforcement policy Operation Gatekeeper that concentrated border agents and added walls and fencing along populated areas, intentionally forcing migrants to hostile environments and natural barriers that increase the incidence of injury and death."The current policies in place on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border have created a humanitarian crisis that has led to the deaths of more than 5,000 people," said Kevin Keenan, Executive Director of the ACLU of San Diego and Imperial Counties. "Because of deadly practices and policies like Operation Gatekeeper, the death toll continues to rise unabated despite the decrease in unauthorized crossings due to economic factors." The report analyzes deadly border enforcement policies and practices and their impact on individuals, families and communities and offers concrete recommendations to significantly decrease and possibly end the humanitarian crisis at the border. Some of the report's major findings include:
Border deaths have increased despite the economic downturn, fewer migrant crossers and a steady drop in apprehensions.
In the last 15 years, the deaths occurring during unauthorized border crossings have been a predictable and inhumane outcome of border-security policies like Operation Gatekeeper.
Migrants' risk of death during unauthorized crossings has increased in spite of government programs that attempt to reduce the harmful effects of border enforcement policies and strategies.
The ongoing deaths of migrants have exposed government incompliance with international law obligations in the treatment of the dead and their families.
Since Operation Gatekeeper went into effect in 1994, an estimated 5,600 migrants have died while attempting unauthorized border crossings. In response to government failures to prevent migrant deaths, many organizations have set up water stations, desert medical camps, humanitarian-aid patrols and other rescue and recovery operations in an attempt to save lives along the U.S.-Mexican border area. As the report details, these activities have been increasingly met with government opposition and punishment."By any measure, Operation Gatekeeper is a failure. It didn't reduce unauthorized border crossings, the economy did. It has, however, cost thousands of people their lives," said Andrea Guerrero, Field and Policy Director of the ACLU of San Diego and Imperial Counties. "Instead of policies that foster fatalities, we need sensible, humane immigration and border policies that prioritize human life over death." The report recommends actions that the U.S. and Mexican governments should take to protect and advance the human right to life of migrants, including:
Recognize border crossing deaths as an international humanitarian crisis.
Adopt sensible, humane immigration and border policies.
Shift more U.S. Border Patrol resources to search and rescue.
Support nongovernmental humanitarian efforts at the border.
Direct government agencies to allow humanitarian organizations to do their work to save lives and recover remains.
Establish a binational, one-stop resource for rescue and recovery calls and convene all data collecting agencies to develop a uniform system.
Invite international involvement.
Javier Garcia, whose testimony about his brother who died while crossing the border is featured in the report, said, "I hope that my brother's case is taken as an example of what should not happen, that things change." The report can be found online at: www.aclu.org/immigrants/gen/41186pub20091001.htmlMore information about the ACLU of San Diego and Imperial Counties can be found at: www.aclusandiego.org/More information about the ACLU's work on immigrants' rights can be found at: www.aclu.org/immigrants/index.html
###
The ACLU conserves America's original civic values working in courts, legislatures and communities to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to every person in the United States by the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.
Justice for Indigenous is Justice for All.
--- On Wed, 9/30/09, ghwelker3@comcast.net wrote:
From: ghwelker3@comcast.netSubject: [Indigenous Peoples Literature] American Indian Movement at UN: The Right to Speak / Redskins is our 'N' wordTo: Date: Wednesday, September 30, 2009, 1:55 PM
American Indian Movement at UN: The Right to Speak
http://bsnorrell. blogspot. com/2009/ 09/american- indian-movement- at-un-right- to.html
PRESS RELEASE AMERICAN INDIAN MOVEMENT GRAND GOVERNING
COUNCIL September 24,2009 The Right to Speak .
In President Obama's speech to the United Nations on September 23, 2009, he spoke of a new direction. Two years ago, four solitary nations voted against the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People, they were Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and the United States of America. The Australian government has since reversed its vote and now support the international human rights standard toward Indigenous people. The American Indian Movement asks the question of the Obama Administration: Will his administration recognize and support the international standard approved by the vast majority of the worlds nations? The United Nations 64th year brings world leaders together to our sacred homeland to discuss the effects of the worlds problems to humankind. The American Indian Movement respects the right of all world leaders to speak. We support the right of Moammar Al Gathafi, leader of Libya. We respect the right of Evo Moralas, President of Bolivia. We respect the right of Hugo Chavez, President of Venezuela. We respect the right of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, President of Iran. We respect the right to speak at the United Nations of all the world leaders visiting our homeland.We often talk in terms of the first world, or the west; or the second world, the east; or the third world, or the non-aligned nations. Another important dimension to this concept is the fourth world of natural and Indigenous people. Peoples whose populations oftentimes go beyond geo-political boundaries. While these struggles have been going on for hundreds of years, the international community has, for the most part, ignored this reality.One of the greatest crimes against humanity occurred right here in the United States of America. Support for the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People is a start to right this great wrong.
Clyde Bellecourt, co-founder American Indian Movement
612.251.5836
Bill Means, International Indian Treaty Council
612.386.4030
Chief Terrance Nelson, Vice Chairman American Indian Movement
204.782.4827
From: ghwelker3@comcast.net
American Indian Movement at UN: The Right to Speak
http://bsnorrell. blogspot. com/2009/ 09/american- indian-movement- at-un-right- to.html
PRESS RELEASE AMERICAN INDIAN MOVEMENT GRAND GOVERNING
COUNCIL September 24,2009 The Right to Speak .
In President Obama's speech to the United Nations on September 23, 2009, he spoke of a new direction. Two years ago, four solitary nations voted against the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People, they were Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and the United States of America. The Australian government has since reversed its vote and now support the international human rights standard toward Indigenous people. The American Indian Movement asks the question of the Obama Administration: Will his administration recognize and support the international standard approved by the vast majority of the worlds nations? The United Nations 64th year brings world leaders together to our sacred homeland to discuss the effects of the worlds problems to humankind. The American Indian Movement respects the right of all world leaders to speak. We support the right of Moammar Al Gathafi, leader of Libya. We respect the right of Evo Moralas, President of Bolivia. We respect the right of Hugo Chavez, President of Venezuela. We respect the right of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, President of Iran. We respect the right to speak at the United Nations of all the world leaders visiting our homeland.We often talk in terms of the first world, or the west; or the second world, the east; or the third world, or the non-aligned nations. Another important dimension to this concept is the fourth world of natural and Indigenous people. Peoples whose populations oftentimes go beyond geo-political boundaries. While these struggles have been going on for hundreds of years, the international community has, for the most part, ignored this reality.One of the greatest crimes against humanity occurred right here in the United States of America. Support for the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People is a start to right this great wrong.
Clyde Bellecourt, co-founder American Indian Movement
612.251.5836
Bill Means, International Indian Treaty Council
612.386.4030
Chief Terrance Nelson, Vice Chairman American Indian Movement
204.782.4827
Monday, September 21, 2009
Causes of Immigration hit the USA.
http://www.truthout.org/091609A?n
A factory like a city by David Bacon. Open the link above.
This news of what is happening in Freemont CA is only one of many throughout the USA and the world. It is saddening when you put a human face to our economic crisis, our own and that of others just like us: father, mother, son/daughter, friend, neighbor, relative, co -worker. I thank David Bacon for sharing this piece of news with us.
Reflection by Alejandro Siller-Gonzalez.
While reading the news in the link above, about how many workers will lose their jobs in one factory and how this will affect the lives of the larger community, I was reminded on how much Charity in Truth we need in our world today, and of how much do we have neglected the responsibility for own lives and that of others in solidarity to attain the common good.
In addition to that news, the recent encyclical letter from Pope Benedict the XVI " Charity in Truth" and its content inspired me to share some personal reflections that I hope will help others to change their lives to Charity in Truth. This encyclical letter addresses the source and foundation of our existence and the way for life filled with Joy, Love and Hope.
This news and similar ones that come up in the media everyday make me aware of how much we as society have allowed ourselves to separate from each other and have placed ourselves as aliens to each other. It seems to me that we now believe that our dreams and vision for a better life is not interwoven with the dreams and vision of others, that we are alone each to itself. We continue to listen to the enchanting "songs of the mermaids" leading us to believe we can attain anything if we work hard enough and if we beat, or take away I should say, the opportunity from another for my own individual benefit. We are even led to believe we are heroes and true pursuers of the American Dream if we act upon such egotistic attitudes and behaviors. We are lured into measuring our success by counting all the money, power and material things we accumulate as well as hedonistic pleasure and unlimited conveniences we can and have enjoyed.
And when we loose all those "things" and privileges we go back to listen to the "song of the mermaids" leading us to believe that after the crisis we experience today will go away and that things will be back to the old status. That is not the TRUTH but that is where we are placing all our hopes and joys of life. That expectation divides us as a society and makes us see everybody with suspicion.
Work is a human and constitutional right of all persons in this country. Work is the God given right to contribute with talent to society and the right to provide in return for yourself and family. The right to work is an individual and communal responsibility.
Who is really controlling and holding that right to work? The worker is not, then who?
The government is responsible for ensuring that all residents in the country have access to a job that provides a sustainable income for workers and their families. Corporations small and big have the responsiblitiy to shareholders and to workers. The first to receive a return on investment and the latter to recieve dignifiying jobs.
It seems to me that government has placed our right for jobs in the hands of corporate management and of shareholders who have yet to show how to create jobs that are sustainable for all workers. The worker is a human being that has daily needs to meet in order to live, but we seem to have placed those lives at a market value, as dispensable objects of production. We as members of society are all victims of this economic system we have created that places the person as an object at the same level of value and sometimes even less than capital and material resources. We all suffer from this system at one time or another, except that the workers are more vulnerable and feel it through the lack of essential living needs and the wealthier or in power seldom become aware of how the system is treathening and breaking their own lives.
I think that society needs to take back the responsibility and control of the right to work and all together ensure that the right to work may be sustainable and dignifying for all. Free market as well as capitalism may be good as long as we do not place those systems in the center of our lives but only as perfectible systems which are means for us to organize as society for the common good.
Yes we Can Unite in responsibility for the common good of each and everyone in society and pledge our lives to Charity in Truth.
Read the Encyclical Letter from Pope Benedict XVI, it made sense to me.
Alejandro Siller-Gonzalez
A factory like a city by David Bacon. Open the link above.
This news of what is happening in Freemont CA is only one of many throughout the USA and the world. It is saddening when you put a human face to our economic crisis, our own and that of others just like us: father, mother, son/daughter, friend, neighbor, relative, co -worker. I thank David Bacon for sharing this piece of news with us.
Reflection by Alejandro Siller-Gonzalez.
While reading the news in the link above, about how many workers will lose their jobs in one factory and how this will affect the lives of the larger community, I was reminded on how much Charity in Truth we need in our world today, and of how much do we have neglected the responsibility for own lives and that of others in solidarity to attain the common good.
In addition to that news, the recent encyclical letter from Pope Benedict the XVI " Charity in Truth" and its content inspired me to share some personal reflections that I hope will help others to change their lives to Charity in Truth. This encyclical letter addresses the source and foundation of our existence and the way for life filled with Joy, Love and Hope.
This news and similar ones that come up in the media everyday make me aware of how much we as society have allowed ourselves to separate from each other and have placed ourselves as aliens to each other. It seems to me that we now believe that our dreams and vision for a better life is not interwoven with the dreams and vision of others, that we are alone each to itself. We continue to listen to the enchanting "songs of the mermaids" leading us to believe we can attain anything if we work hard enough and if we beat, or take away I should say, the opportunity from another for my own individual benefit. We are even led to believe we are heroes and true pursuers of the American Dream if we act upon such egotistic attitudes and behaviors. We are lured into measuring our success by counting all the money, power and material things we accumulate as well as hedonistic pleasure and unlimited conveniences we can and have enjoyed.
And when we loose all those "things" and privileges we go back to listen to the "song of the mermaids" leading us to believe that after the crisis we experience today will go away and that things will be back to the old status. That is not the TRUTH but that is where we are placing all our hopes and joys of life. That expectation divides us as a society and makes us see everybody with suspicion.
Work is a human and constitutional right of all persons in this country. Work is the God given right to contribute with talent to society and the right to provide in return for yourself and family. The right to work is an individual and communal responsibility.
Who is really controlling and holding that right to work? The worker is not, then who?
The government is responsible for ensuring that all residents in the country have access to a job that provides a sustainable income for workers and their families. Corporations small and big have the responsiblitiy to shareholders and to workers. The first to receive a return on investment and the latter to recieve dignifiying jobs.
It seems to me that government has placed our right for jobs in the hands of corporate management and of shareholders who have yet to show how to create jobs that are sustainable for all workers. The worker is a human being that has daily needs to meet in order to live, but we seem to have placed those lives at a market value, as dispensable objects of production. We as members of society are all victims of this economic system we have created that places the person as an object at the same level of value and sometimes even less than capital and material resources. We all suffer from this system at one time or another, except that the workers are more vulnerable and feel it through the lack of essential living needs and the wealthier or in power seldom become aware of how the system is treathening and breaking their own lives.
I think that society needs to take back the responsibility and control of the right to work and all together ensure that the right to work may be sustainable and dignifying for all. Free market as well as capitalism may be good as long as we do not place those systems in the center of our lives but only as perfectible systems which are means for us to organize as society for the common good.
Yes we Can Unite in responsibility for the common good of each and everyone in society and pledge our lives to Charity in Truth.
Read the Encyclical Letter from Pope Benedict XVI, it made sense to me.
Alejandro Siller-Gonzalez
Thursday, September 17, 2009
ONE MILLION PRAYERS FOR PEACE.
http://live.faithstreams.com/site/prayer_pledges/register
PAX CHRISTI initiative.
September 21 International Day of Peace. Sign up for one minute of prayer that day.
Let us become One Million United in Peace through prayer.
Visit the link to register.
PAX CHRISTI initiative.
September 21 International Day of Peace. Sign up for one minute of prayer that day.
Let us become One Million United in Peace through prayer.
Visit the link to register.
Friday, September 11, 2009
Immigrants are Refugees of Economic Violence
A women textil worker making jeans in Aguascalientes Mexico earns $600.00 pesos ($44. 00 US dollars, that is $6.29 per day) per week, with two daughters to feed. She is forced to ocasional prostitition to make basic ends meet to raise her children, and in additon maybe migrate to the USA.
This is one case of many. This is one too many human beings forced to leave their countries as victims of a global economic system.
Women and children are the most negatively affected by a mostly male made economic system that evidently does not benefit the common good for all, at least not most women and children in the world.
This news is so unfortunate and it is a consecuence of a globalized unaccountable and unethical international corporate human market management. Workers are forced to accept unsustainable wages and undignifying jobs because the person is a disposable object of exploitation.
It is not until we hear the stories of oppressed fellow brothers and sisters like this woman, that we have the opportunity to feel compassion and to ask ourselves why is it that this is happening? and then do something about it, even if it is just to let others become informed about what "real" people are having to live through and then perhaps understand how many immigrants are literally Refugees fleeing from Economic Violence.
May God help us change our Hearts and guide our steps towards global solidarity.
For the benefit of those world citizens that know another language such as Spanish, I provide the link for the source of this news in Mexico.
Este enlace le ha sido enviado desde http://www.jornada.unam.mx/ultimas. Ha recibido este correo porque alguien ha leído una página en La Jornada y pensó podría interesarle. Ha sido enviado por asiller@maccsa.org con el siguiente comentario: "" Recurren trabajadoras de Aguascalientes a prostitución ocasional por crisis: ONG El nuevo fenómeno es poco perceptible porque "lo hacemos con compañeros de trabajo o nos contactamos con hombres a través de ellos". http://www.jornada.unam.mx/ultimas/2009/09/11/recurren-trabajadoras-de-aguascalientes-a-la-prostitucion-ocasional-ong
--
La Jornada
This is one case of many. This is one too many human beings forced to leave their countries as victims of a global economic system.
Women and children are the most negatively affected by a mostly male made economic system that evidently does not benefit the common good for all, at least not most women and children in the world.
This news is so unfortunate and it is a consecuence of a globalized unaccountable and unethical international corporate human market management. Workers are forced to accept unsustainable wages and undignifying jobs because the person is a disposable object of exploitation.
It is not until we hear the stories of oppressed fellow brothers and sisters like this woman, that we have the opportunity to feel compassion and to ask ourselves why is it that this is happening? and then do something about it, even if it is just to let others become informed about what "real" people are having to live through and then perhaps understand how many immigrants are literally Refugees fleeing from Economic Violence.
May God help us change our Hearts and guide our steps towards global solidarity.
For the benefit of those world citizens that know another language such as Spanish, I provide the link for the source of this news in Mexico.
Este enlace le ha sido enviado desde http://www.jornada.unam.mx/ultimas. Ha recibido este correo porque alguien ha leído una página en La Jornada y pensó podría interesarle. Ha sido enviado por asiller@maccsa.org con el siguiente comentario: "" Recurren trabajadoras de Aguascalientes a prostitución ocasional por crisis: ONG El nuevo fenómeno es poco perceptible porque "lo hacemos con compañeros de trabajo o nos contactamos con hombres a través de ellos". http://www.jornada.unam.mx/ultimas/2009/09/11/recurren-trabajadoras-de-aguascalientes-a-la-prostitucion-ocasional-ong
--
La Jornada
English: Teach VS Demand
IDEOS: Teaching English vs. Demanding English
http://fairimmigration.wordpress.com/2009/09/10/videos-teaching-english-vs-demanding-english/
via Standing FIRM by rachelfirm on 9/10/09
Here is the third video in the four-part installment from Will Coley and the Asian Pacific American Legal Center. Titled, “Why I Volunteer to teach English”, the clip shows people who give their time to help others gain the power of language.
Juxtaposing this, I’m posting a video from a Town Hall in Norwalk, CT. Bishop Emilio Alvarez approaches the microphone to ask a question of Representative Jim Himes (CT- 04). Rep. Himes was born in Peru and is fluent in Spanish. Alvarez respectfully asks if he can pose his question in Spanish – cue the boos and hissing from the crowd that seems so terrified to even hear one word of the Spanish language uttered from Alvarez’s mouth.
It makes me wonder, how many of these people in Norwalk, CT have ever sat down with somebody working to learn the English language? They can scream all day long that Alvarez should “learn English” (which he speaks, by the way), but the fear motivating their actions is obvious. I would venture to say none of them has ever been in a situation where they have had to converse in their non-native language in front of hundreds of people. Or that none of them has ever taken the time out to help others learn the English that they so angrily demand to hear.
Thank God for people like the volunteers in the first video, they help me sleep at night knowing that there are so many out there willing to live in ignorance.
http://fairimmigration.wordpress.com/2009/09/10/videos-teaching-english-vs-demanding-english/
via Standing FIRM by rachelfirm on 9/10/09
Here is the third video in the four-part installment from Will Coley and the Asian Pacific American Legal Center. Titled, “Why I Volunteer to teach English”, the clip shows people who give their time to help others gain the power of language.
Juxtaposing this, I’m posting a video from a Town Hall in Norwalk, CT. Bishop Emilio Alvarez approaches the microphone to ask a question of Representative Jim Himes (CT- 04). Rep. Himes was born in Peru and is fluent in Spanish. Alvarez respectfully asks if he can pose his question in Spanish – cue the boos and hissing from the crowd that seems so terrified to even hear one word of the Spanish language uttered from Alvarez’s mouth.
It makes me wonder, how many of these people in Norwalk, CT have ever sat down with somebody working to learn the English language? They can scream all day long that Alvarez should “learn English” (which he speaks, by the way), but the fear motivating their actions is obvious. I would venture to say none of them has ever been in a situation where they have had to converse in their non-native language in front of hundreds of people. Or that none of them has ever taken the time out to help others learn the English that they so angrily demand to hear.
Thank God for people like the volunteers in the first video, they help me sleep at night knowing that there are so many out there willing to live in ignorance.
Thursday, September 10, 2009
WHO'S LYING?
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-tobar7-2009sep07,0,503680,full.column
E-mails on illegal immigration are eye-opening. A deeper look at the facts
contained in chain letters reveals hyperbole, exaggerations and
misstatements by opponents.
Hector Tobar September 7, 2009 The e-mail that popped into my inbox started with an insult and included an attachment full of "facts."Aftercalling me a "crybaby" for writing a sympathetic story about Mexican immigrants, the sender insisted I read a series of statistics on the effects of illegal immigration on Los Angeles and California. Hospitals, law enforcement and other public services, he said, are being overwhelmed. At first, because of the sender's tone, I ignored the attachment. Then it arrived again, this time forwarded by a friendly reader. He didn't believe the e-mail, he said, but wanted me to know that three friends had sent it to him. And 10 of its facts were said to have originated in this newspaper. I started reading the chain letter, which carried the title "Just One State." It asked me to forward its message to at least two other people. "If this doesn't open your eyes," it declared, "nothing will."I'm all in favor of having my eyes opened -- and then making sure my eyes don't deceive me. So I took the 10 "stats" and focused a little light on them. I waded deep into The Times' archive with the help of our librarian Scott Wilson, and made a few phone calls too. What did I find? Astew made up for the most part of meaty exaggerations and spicy conjecture, mixed in with some giblets of truth. Two of the "stats" are the musings of a conservative op-ed writer. Another takes its information from a government "report" that is, in fact, a work of fiction. The last two items on the list are the most accurate-- but they reveal more about the prejudices and fears of the people passing the list along than they do about the supposed effect of"illegals."Here they are, from 1 to 10: 1. "40% ofall workers in L.A. County are working for cash and not paying taxes. .. . This is because they are predominantly illegal immigrants working without a green card."The source of this information seems to be a 2005 study by the Economic Roundtable on the informal economy in Los Angeles County. Its findings were reported in The Times and other papers. But the chain-mail's author more than doubled the figures in that study, which estimated that 15% ofthe county workforce was outside the regulated economy in 2004. Illegal immigrants getting paid in cash, it said, probably made up about 9% of the workforce. A later Economic Roundtable report, by the way, credited immigrants with keeping the local economy from shrinking in the 1990s. 2. "95% of warrants for murder in Los Angeles are for illegal aliens . . . "We traced this "fact" to a 2004 op-ed in The Times by Heather Mac Donald of the conservative Manhattan Institute for Policy Research. Mac Donaldsaid "officers" told her about the warrants. She conceded that therewere no such data in official reports but suggested the LAPD "topbrass" was hiding the truth. I called the LAPD's press office,which contacted the department's Fugitive Warrant Section. Officers confirmed that the statistics in item No. 2 and No. 3, which follows,don't exist. 3. "75% of people on the most wanted list in Los Angeles are illegal aliens."We traced this figure to something circulating on the Internet under the name "the 2006 (First Quarter) INS/FBI Statistical Report on Undocumented Immigrants." The "report" contains similar figures for Phoenix, Albuquerque and other cities. But it isn't an actual government document. The INS ceased to exist in 2003, after theDepartment of Homeland Security was created. There's something really disturbing about a work of fakery meant to tarnish an entire class of people. You wonder what kind of person would pen such a thing. 4."Over 2/3 of all births in Los Angeles County are to illegal alien Mexicans on Medi-Cal, whose births were paid for by taxpayers."Once again the "statistic" more than doubles the actual figures. According to a 2006 story in The Times, there were 41,240 Medi-Cal births to"undocumented women" in the county in 2004. They accounted for 27% of all births. 5. "Nearly 35% of all inmates in California detention centers are Mexican nationals here illegally."This time the author more than triples the actual figure. Authorities project some 19,000 of the 172,000 inmates in the California prison system in the 2009-10 fiscal year will be illegal immigrants. That'sequivalent to 11%. A study published last year by the nonpartisan Public Policy Institute of California actually found thatU.S.-born men in California are 10 times more likely to be incarcerated than foreign-born men. You can take that statistic with as many grains of salt as you wish. 6. Over 300,000 illegal aliens in Los Angeles County are living in garages.This information apparently comes from a 1987 article in which The Times visited a sampling of properties across the county and looked for unauthorized garage conversions. The story concluded that 200,000people lived in such dwellings. The story made no effort, however, to determine immigration status. I'd like to point out that just living in an "illegal garage" doesn't make you "an illegal." Youmight just be a starving artist, or a guy who recently lost his job. 7. "The FBI reports half of all gang members in Los Angeles are most likely illegal aliens from south of the border."This is another "fact" spun from the 2004 op-ed by Heather Mac Donald, whose article refers to a single Los Angeles gang and the conjecture of an unnamed federal prosecutor. 8. "Nearly 60% of all occupants of HUD properties are illegal."Annie Kim, a spokeswoman for the Housing Authority of the city of Los Angeles, called this statement "an urban legend."The source of the information may be an Associated Press report from earlier this year. It quoted a government study that found that 0.4% of residents of federally funded public housing are "ineligible noncitizens." Half of those, or about 0.2% of the total, are illegal immigrants. 9. 21 radio stations in L. A. are Spanish speaking. 10. In L. A. County 5.1 million people speak English, 3.9 million speak Spanish.These facts are close to the actual numbers, though the language figures are deceptive. An annual census survey asks people if they "speak a language other than English at home." According to the most recent report, 3.7 million county residents speak Spanish. But more than half of those Spanish speakers answered that they also speak English "very well." Only one in 10 Spanish speakers said they don't speak any English at all. Obviously,the ability to speak a language other than English, or the desire to listen to Spanish music, doesn't make you an illegal immigrant or a threat to U.S. democracy. It's a slur against Los Angeles, really, to find these items on a list of "problems" caused by illegal immigration. The authors of the chain e-mail and the phony government report fear what Los Angeles has become -- a multilingual, multiethnic citywith multicultural tastes. They search for information to persuade others to be afraid, but the actual numbers don't quite add up to the big monster they think is out there. So they make the numbers bigger. Or they just make them up. And they spread them arounduntil all that fear and anger turns into a big hate.That's what I saw when I let that e-mail open my eyes.hector.tobar@latimes.com>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Comment: I myself do not like to throw the 'r' word around, 'racist' ~ buttit seems to me that a lot of anti-immigrant feelings and thoughts revolve around racism against Mexican immigrants in general. This strikes me as odd when you consider that in scientific terms there are no separate races of people among humans, but rather humans themselves constitute one single race, one species of life and there are no distinct races of people. The concept of race is a social construction. What is viewed as racism is often a matter of culturalism, that is, many people are opposed to a group of people based upon cultural characteristics. It should not be surprising that the so-called 'racist' does not even understand the origins of his or her own racism. A lot of anit-immigrant feelings are disguised as being detrimental to our receiving social services and other benefits of good government, but the true basis is a prejudice culturalism against Mexicans who do not appear to be red-white-blue blooded AmeriKans! Nevertheless, Chicanos relate to Mexicans and Mexican cultural in general. Many White Amerikans love Mexican food but do not feel the same way towards Mexicans themselves. Strange sick country we live in!-- Dorinda MorenoElders of 4 Colors 4 DirectionsHitec Aztec Collaborations/FM Global We Are the Ones We Have Been Waiting For!<fuerzamundial@gmail.net>
E-mails on illegal immigration are eye-opening. A deeper look at the facts
contained in chain letters reveals hyperbole, exaggerations and
misstatements by opponents.
Hector Tobar September 7, 2009 The e-mail that popped into my inbox started with an insult and included an attachment full of "facts."Aftercalling me a "crybaby" for writing a sympathetic story about Mexican immigrants, the sender insisted I read a series of statistics on the effects of illegal immigration on Los Angeles and California. Hospitals, law enforcement and other public services, he said, are being overwhelmed. At first, because of the sender's tone, I ignored the attachment. Then it arrived again, this time forwarded by a friendly reader. He didn't believe the e-mail, he said, but wanted me to know that three friends had sent it to him. And 10 of its facts were said to have originated in this newspaper. I started reading the chain letter, which carried the title "Just One State." It asked me to forward its message to at least two other people. "If this doesn't open your eyes," it declared, "nothing will."I'm all in favor of having my eyes opened -- and then making sure my eyes don't deceive me. So I took the 10 "stats" and focused a little light on them. I waded deep into The Times' archive with the help of our librarian Scott Wilson, and made a few phone calls too. What did I find? Astew made up for the most part of meaty exaggerations and spicy conjecture, mixed in with some giblets of truth. Two of the "stats" are the musings of a conservative op-ed writer. Another takes its information from a government "report" that is, in fact, a work of fiction. The last two items on the list are the most accurate-- but they reveal more about the prejudices and fears of the people passing the list along than they do about the supposed effect of"illegals."Here they are, from 1 to 10: 1. "40% ofall workers in L.A. County are working for cash and not paying taxes. .. . This is because they are predominantly illegal immigrants working without a green card."The source of this information seems to be a 2005 study by the Economic Roundtable on the informal economy in Los Angeles County. Its findings were reported in The Times and other papers. But the chain-mail's author more than doubled the figures in that study, which estimated that 15% ofthe county workforce was outside the regulated economy in 2004. Illegal immigrants getting paid in cash, it said, probably made up about 9% of the workforce. A later Economic Roundtable report, by the way, credited immigrants with keeping the local economy from shrinking in the 1990s. 2. "95% of warrants for murder in Los Angeles are for illegal aliens . . . "We traced this "fact" to a 2004 op-ed in The Times by Heather Mac Donald of the conservative Manhattan Institute for Policy Research. Mac Donaldsaid "officers" told her about the warrants. She conceded that therewere no such data in official reports but suggested the LAPD "topbrass" was hiding the truth. I called the LAPD's press office,which contacted the department's Fugitive Warrant Section. Officers confirmed that the statistics in item No. 2 and No. 3, which follows,don't exist. 3. "75% of people on the most wanted list in Los Angeles are illegal aliens."We traced this figure to something circulating on the Internet under the name "the 2006 (First Quarter) INS/FBI Statistical Report on Undocumented Immigrants." The "report" contains similar figures for Phoenix, Albuquerque and other cities. But it isn't an actual government document. The INS ceased to exist in 2003, after theDepartment of Homeland Security was created. There's something really disturbing about a work of fakery meant to tarnish an entire class of people. You wonder what kind of person would pen such a thing. 4."Over 2/3 of all births in Los Angeles County are to illegal alien Mexicans on Medi-Cal, whose births were paid for by taxpayers."Once again the "statistic" more than doubles the actual figures. According to a 2006 story in The Times, there were 41,240 Medi-Cal births to"undocumented women" in the county in 2004. They accounted for 27% of all births. 5. "Nearly 35% of all inmates in California detention centers are Mexican nationals here illegally."This time the author more than triples the actual figure. Authorities project some 19,000 of the 172,000 inmates in the California prison system in the 2009-10 fiscal year will be illegal immigrants. That'sequivalent to 11%. A study published last year by the nonpartisan Public Policy Institute of California actually found thatU.S.-born men in California are 10 times more likely to be incarcerated than foreign-born men. You can take that statistic with as many grains of salt as you wish. 6. Over 300,000 illegal aliens in Los Angeles County are living in garages.This information apparently comes from a 1987 article in which The Times visited a sampling of properties across the county and looked for unauthorized garage conversions. The story concluded that 200,000people lived in such dwellings. The story made no effort, however, to determine immigration status. I'd like to point out that just living in an "illegal garage" doesn't make you "an illegal." Youmight just be a starving artist, or a guy who recently lost his job. 7. "The FBI reports half of all gang members in Los Angeles are most likely illegal aliens from south of the border."This is another "fact" spun from the 2004 op-ed by Heather Mac Donald, whose article refers to a single Los Angeles gang and the conjecture of an unnamed federal prosecutor. 8. "Nearly 60% of all occupants of HUD properties are illegal."Annie Kim, a spokeswoman for the Housing Authority of the city of Los Angeles, called this statement "an urban legend."The source of the information may be an Associated Press report from earlier this year. It quoted a government study that found that 0.4% of residents of federally funded public housing are "ineligible noncitizens." Half of those, or about 0.2% of the total, are illegal immigrants. 9. 21 radio stations in L. A. are Spanish speaking. 10. In L. A. County 5.1 million people speak English, 3.9 million speak Spanish.These facts are close to the actual numbers, though the language figures are deceptive. An annual census survey asks people if they "speak a language other than English at home." According to the most recent report, 3.7 million county residents speak Spanish. But more than half of those Spanish speakers answered that they also speak English "very well." Only one in 10 Spanish speakers said they don't speak any English at all. Obviously,the ability to speak a language other than English, or the desire to listen to Spanish music, doesn't make you an illegal immigrant or a threat to U.S. democracy. It's a slur against Los Angeles, really, to find these items on a list of "problems" caused by illegal immigration. The authors of the chain e-mail and the phony government report fear what Los Angeles has become -- a multilingual, multiethnic citywith multicultural tastes. They search for information to persuade others to be afraid, but the actual numbers don't quite add up to the big monster they think is out there. So they make the numbers bigger. Or they just make them up. And they spread them arounduntil all that fear and anger turns into a big hate.That's what I saw when I let that e-mail open my eyes.hector.tobar@latimes.com>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Comment: I myself do not like to throw the 'r' word around, 'racist' ~ buttit seems to me that a lot of anti-immigrant feelings and thoughts revolve around racism against Mexican immigrants in general. This strikes me as odd when you consider that in scientific terms there are no separate races of people among humans, but rather humans themselves constitute one single race, one species of life and there are no distinct races of people. The concept of race is a social construction. What is viewed as racism is often a matter of culturalism, that is, many people are opposed to a group of people based upon cultural characteristics. It should not be surprising that the so-called 'racist' does not even understand the origins of his or her own racism. A lot of anit-immigrant feelings are disguised as being detrimental to our receiving social services and other benefits of good government, but the true basis is a prejudice culturalism against Mexicans who do not appear to be red-white-blue blooded AmeriKans! Nevertheless, Chicanos relate to Mexicans and Mexican cultural in general. Many White Amerikans love Mexican food but do not feel the same way towards Mexicans themselves. Strange sick country we live in!-- Dorinda MorenoElders of 4 Colors 4 DirectionsHitec Aztec Collaborations/FM Global We Are the Ones We Have Been Waiting For!<fuerzamundial@gmail.net>
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