Well, got the email a few minutes ago that this blog won’t be among those credentialed for the Democratic National Convention in Denver. I’m a bit disappointed but hopefully I’ll hear from some colleagues among the Latino Netroots that they were selected and will be present to provide a needed perspective on the comings-and-goings of the gathering.
That’s all I have to say, for now.
I swear that I wrote about this at the time, because it was so outrageous, but maybe it was like one of the million blog posts I concoct in the grey zone prior to passing out each night – only a few of them ever get published. Oh well, here it is:
SPRINGFIELD | The wife of a founder of the Ozarks Minutemen has pleaded guilty to lying about being raped and shot by three Hispanic men.
Angela D. Wilburn, 44, appeared in Greene County Associate Circuit Court on Tuesday and pleaded guilty to making a false report, a class B misdemeanor. Wilburn is scheduled to be sentenced Nov. 3. She could face up to six months in prison and a $500 fine.
Wilburn is the wife of Brian Wilburn, who helped form the Ozarks Minutemen. She was charged with the crime in December, after calling 911 reporting someone had shot her.
Here’s hoping that the law enforcement agencies that were forced to investigate and untangle her race-based lies charge her for all of the resources they wasted. In addition to that, let the mocking begin for this part of the fairy tale:
Meanwhile, Wilburn’s husband, whose organization presents itself as a first line of defense against “criminal alien invaders,” told the Springfield News-Leader that his wife’s bogus report of being terrorized, sexually assaulted and shot by Mexican home invaders “had nothing to do with the Minutemen. It was just a bad decision on her part.”
Does anyone really believe that?
British Columbia issued a formal apology for human rights abuses they inflicted upon hundreds of migrant workers in 1914.
VICTORIA – As a boy growing up in India, Surinder Sharma soaked up the stories of his great-uncle’s adventures aboard the Komagata Maru.
“At the time, it didn’t look cruel to us,” Sharma said. “It looked like some heroic act. Because we were just little kids, it was like bedtime stories.”
Only later did Sharma come to understand the racism his great-uncle, Ferozepur Munshi – along with 375 other passengers – endured upon their arrival in British Columbia in 1914.
Denied entry and forced to remain aboard the steam liner in Vancouver’s harbour for two months, they were eventually sent back to India, where 20 were shot by police in a riot, and others were imprisoned.
Will the U.S. do something similar someday for the blind eye turned towards the thousands of dead bodies in the desert or the countless families that are imprisoned in concentration camps?
As of December 2007, the total US Armed Forces members that are not citizens include: Army, 17,234; Navy 14,653; Marine Corps 6,537; Air Force 1,580; and National Guard 4,251. Beginning this Memorial Day all current and future immigrant servicemen and women will be able to navigate the application process for citizenship, free of charge, through The Charles Harvey, Jr. Foundation website. This free service is a small token of appreciation for those who serve and protect us.
They have some kookie guy and other latino/latina bloggers offering up prognostications on the U.S. Presidential election.
University of Arizona Prof Julio Cammarota’s research on Latino youth in the United States has made its way to book form.
Cammarota, who teaches at the UA’s Bureau of Applied Research in Anthropology and the Mexican American Studies and Research Center, wrote the book based on his observations and extensive interviews of youth living in “El Pueblo,” which is the name he gives to the barrio area along the California coast where he conducted his research.
The book, titled “Sueños Americanos, Barrio Youth Negotiating Social and Cultural Identities,” is published by The University of Arizona Press.
“In my research I found that education is a primary route to rewarding employment and economic security,” Cammarota said. “And that education is particularly significant for the future prospects of children who are ethnic minorities, were born into disadvantaged economic circumstances, or are dealing with language barriers.”
I’ll be ordering my copy after the next pay day and will share my thoughts. Looking forward to it, as it discusses the way assimilation has affected the culture and ability for latinos and latinas to navigate their way through the current system.
sombrero tip to Tomás at Hispanic Tips
The dust is starting to grow eyeballs at “Senator” McCain’s desk on Capitol Hill. He couldn’t be bothered to vote today for veterans’ benefits. He has a habit of skipping votes that are inconvenient and may actually shed light on his neocon credentials. It gives him a Maverick Bad Hair Day when that happens, and we can’t have that!
The flip side to this is that his “Not Voting” is better than the one cast by Arizona’s other Senator.
For the record, this is what the two esteemed [cough] Senators from Arizona chose not to support:
At issue is an expansion of the GI bill that would guarantee full college scholarships for those who serve in the military for three years. The Democratic-led Senate passed the measure, sponsored by Sen. Jim Webb, D-Va., and supported by Obama, on Thursday by a 75-22 vote as 25 Republican abandoned President Bush, who opposed the provision.
Obama and his rival Hillary Rodham Clinton returned to Washington for the vote. McCain skipped the vote to campaign and raise money in California.
McCain opposes the measure, as does the Pentagon, out of concern that providing such a benefit after only three years of service would encourage people to leave the military after completing only one enlistment even as the U.S. fights two wars and is trying to increase the size of the Army and Marine Corps.
Miami Herald (emphasis mine)
…which makes sense for McCain, because he needs all the warm bodies he can get to continue his and George Bush’s preemptive war of choice that was based on cooked information. The patriotism is astounding!
Once again, the United States is choosing to escalate the militarization of the U.S./Mexico border region instead of working on the economic imbalances that fuel the migration of people looking for a way to provide sustenance for their families.
SAN DIEGO — — The U.S. Border Patrol is installing razor-sharp concertina wire atop border fencing between San Diego and Tijuana, marking a major shift in approach along a frequently violent stretch of the frontier.
The triple-strand wire, meant to keep smugglers from attacking agents, will stretch five miles when completed this summer — the longest expanse of this type of wire ever used on the Southwest border.
Federal authorities in the past have avoided using fortifications with such negative symbolism. Hundreds of miles of barriers going up in other areas have had to meet “aesthetically pleasing” federal design standards.
Critics say the new approach is inhumane and could leave illegal immigrants bloodied.
Border officials in San Diego say it was necessary and already is proving effective.
Yes, very effective indeed:
As you know, if you’ve been reading this site for the past few years, the graph comes from a 2007 policy brief and study (.pdf warning), authored by Raquel Rubio-Goldsmith, M. Melissa McCormick, Daniel Martinez & Inez Magdalena Duarte, through the University of Arizona’s Binational Migration Institute. We know that the numbers of border deaths in the Tucson sector rose to even higher levels following the release of this landmark document – a 29% increase in 2006.
From the Tucson Citizen, September 2007:
While arrests of illegal immigrants have fallen, the number of people dying in the desert and along its roads is rising dramatically.The official toll will be tallied next week for the federal fiscal year that ends Sunday.Unofficially, county medical examiners put the count through Aug. 31 at 216, a 29 percent increase over the same period a year before. That may be because manpower on the border increased and more skeletal remains were found that were missed in previous years.Even Border Patrol numbers, usually lower than the number of deaths counted by medical examiners, show that from Oct. 1, 2006, to Aug. 31 there were 14.2 percent more illegal immigrant deaths in the Tucson sector than in the entire previous fiscal year.
So yes, the concertina wire usually found atop prison walls is going to be very effective when one chooses to forget that it will increase the “funnel effect” as outlined by the UA’s study. San Diego may see a decrease in attempted crossings, but that just means more treacherous and dangerous paths through the Sonoran desert will be used.
The temperatures are already rising in Baja Arizona, triple digits over the past few days, and with it over the coming months we will learn of the hundreds of bodies and skeletal remains that will be found.
Effective? Sure – if you forget that these are human beings who have the audacity to look for work out of the utter depths of desperation. The U.S. would rather tell them to drop dead, though.
Literally.
Crossposted from The Sanctuary
Starting on Monday, May 26th, human rights activists will gather for the 5th Annual Migrant Trail under the banner “We Walk for Life”. Starting in Sasabe, Sonora, Mexico, participants will travel 75 miles through the desert to Tucson, Arizona, USA, to raise awareness of the unconscionable numbers of deaths of border crossers that seems to rise each year.
Registration can be done via the Coalición de Derechos Humanos website at www.derechoshumanosaz.net.
Here is the vision, as outlined by organizers of this powerful event:
The precarious reality of our borderlands calls us to walk. We walk together on a journey of peace to remember people, friends and family who have died, others who have crossed, and people who continue to come. We walk to bear witness to the tragedy of death and of the inhumanity in our midst. Lastly, we walk as a community, in defiance of the borders that attempt to divide us, committed to working together for the human dignity of all peoples.
Information such as Participant Agreements, Liability forms, Medical Information forms, and other related topics can be found at this link.
LatinoPolítico.com 