“It’s time for a nap, what’s the holdup?”Monthly Archives: November 2007
Ozomatli Returns to Arizona
Los Angeles-based latin/funk gurus, Ozomatli, are returning to the Grand Canyon State in December for two shows that are not to be missed. They’ll be in Tucson at the Rialto on Monday, Dec 10th, and Flagstaff on Tuesday, Dec 11th at the Orpheum Theatre for the Ozo on Ice Tour
I’ve seen them perform at both venues and they rock out, as they always do, in live shows that are high energy fiestas of música con ritmo sabroso bearing messages of peace and solidarity. If you’ve never been to an Ozomatli concert, this is your chance to find out why there are countless “Ozoheads” across the world that follow these guys loyally.
Their latest album released earlier in the year, Don’t Mess With The Dragon, takes on topics such as the Iraq War (en español), the immigration marches of 2006 and Hurricane Katrina. In true Ozo-fashion, the disc is a mezcla of funk, rock, latin, and Old School beats. Their CDs are nonstop parties, but are only a taste of what you’ll get at one of their live shows. I’ll be at the Rialto on the 10th.
Mas información
- Official Ozomatli Website
- Ozo on MySpace
- Ozomatli Promotes Music, Diversity as U.S. Cultural Ambassadors
- The World Meets Ozomatli
- Public Radio International’s The World: Ozomatli
Extreme Blog Makeover – ePluribus Media Edition
Congratulations to mis amigos over at ePluribus Media for the relaunch of their newly designed hub on the web. You can now find their online gateway at www.epluribusmedia.net.
Remembering the Sand Creek Massacre
One hundred, forty-three years ago:
At dawn of November 29, 1864, a force of some 700 soldiers, the majority 100 day volunteers who had been chided in Denver as the “Bloodless Third” Regiment, attacked a village of Cheyenne and Arapaho Indians.
[snip]
Throughout the day, soldiers, many in small unorganized groups, continued to hunt and pursue Indians up Sand Creek and across the adjacent plains. By evening, about 160 Cheyenne and Arapaho lay dead – many of the victims women, children, and elderly.
More available via winter rabbit’s post at Native American Netroots
Nursing Mother Released From Jail
Good news – and a follow up from yesterday’s post regarding Danielle Ferreira, who was refused the ability to nurse her two month old son while detained. She was released from the North Carolina jail after officials removed their heads from their asses consulted the rules they’re supposed to follow.
Spokeswoman Julia Rush said jail officials did not know about the new federal guidelines for nursing women until late Monday night.
“Had we known, she would have been released on Friday,” Rush said.
h/t to commenter Skye at the Women of Color Blog
Rainforests In Crisis Blog
How can I pass up an opportunity to post about a tapir?
NORTHEAST VALLEY [Phoenix area, for the non-natives] – Blogging this week from a Central American rainforest, a Northeast Valley television crew, says photographing jaguars in the wild is “amazing.”
In Belize, the bloggers describe that country’s national mammal, the tapir: “A cross between a cow, an anteater, and a pig, the tapir was most interested in eating the video camera. :),” they say, at http://www.paradiseearthonline.com.
The mission of Paradise Earth:
Each week, over one million acres of the earth’s rainforests are destroyed. The mission of Paradise Earth is both Conservation and Education. We will achieve this by creating a Rainforest Habitat that functions as a genetic pool of plants, birds, and wildlife to both preserve the species and repopulate them outside of captivity. The habitat will also be an educational center, focused on sharing a variety of ways that humans can live in a more environmentally-friendly manner.
Check out their blog here, where there are a few posts showing their encounters in Belize.
Detained Mother Unable to Breastfeed
This is outrageous, but also known as par for the course.
A Brazilian woman, held in the Mecklenburg County jail since Friday on an immigration violation, is not being allowed to provide breast milk for her son, who is less than 2 months old.
Ezequiel Oliveira, who is helping care for the woman’s two children, said he spent hours at the jail Monday trying to get a breast pump to 29-year-old Danielle Ferreira. He said Ferreira’s baby, Samuel, is crying incessantly and keeps spitting up baby formula.
[snip]
Oliveira, who is Ferreira’s pastor and also from Brazil, said he saw her Sunday and she complained of a fever and soreness in her breasts because she hasn’t been allowed to express milk. He said Samuel doesn’t seem to feel well, has a rash and spits up every time he drinks formula.
Jan Ellen Brown, a Charlotte lactation consultant, said it’s not good for a mother or baby when nursing stops abruptly. She said breast milk is best for infants and an infant who has been nursing for two months could have a reaction to formula or trouble drinking from a bottle. Mothers who stop nursing without weaning are in a lot of pain and are susceptible to breast infection.
Makes the vision statement for Mecklenburg’s Sheriff seem pretty ironic, eh?
Our vision is to be recognized by the people we serve as a professional organization dedicated to customer service and committed to improving the quality of life in our community. Together, my staff and I work to make this vision a reality.
I hope you will take time to explore our website and see how we serve you, our most important customer.
I’m going to put a phone call in to their press office to see what their justification is for detaining this woman for an “immigration hold” when she can already verify that she’s signed a statement of intent to return to Brazil and already purchased plane tickets. This child – this U.S. citizen – could die due to the actions of officials at that prison.
Violence Against Latinos Rises
The Southern Poverty Law Center’s HATEWATCH has compiled a horrific listing of hate crimes that have been launched against Latinos over the past couple of years that can be directly traced to the increased nativist rhetoric of the immigration debate.
The FBI released its latest national hate crime statistics last week, and while these numbers are shaky they do indicate hate crimes directed at undocumented immigrants — and Latinos in general — are up 35% over the last four years.
Stuff like this happens when charges of traitor-ism are commonplace and a collective blind eye is turned to the human rights violations that are occurring everyday under the current system.
Am I A Traitor or Illegal?
Let’s ponder the mindset of random commenter #6 at my YouTube post on Pat Buchanan’s recent call for Operation Wetback to be reconstituted. Here are a couple of gems:
Thanks for the video. Buchanan is a great patriot.
Which of course people like you (whether a traitor or straight illegal) find offensive. Thanks for the video.
And this:
To the idiot that created this video, you talk about communities “terrorized” but what about the communities that came before, populated by American citizens, that were first terrorized and driven out of the town, city, state by illegal aliens that created these new enclaves? Why no sympathy for them?
There are more, but you get the picture.
How does one rationalize with someone that equates the ethnic change of neighborhoods and cities with ICE agents that wield guns and bust down doors in the dead of night? I’m thinking that you can’t, but there’s a lot of this type of mindset thriving across America™ and clearly can’t be ignored.
Had to laugh, though, it’s been a couple of months since I’ve been called a traitor.
LatinoPolítico.com 