VotoLatino Launches "Be Counted" Census Campaign

Every ten years, the U.S. Census is conducted from sea to shining sea (and beyond; sorry Hawaii). Its mission statement reads:

The Census Bureau serves as the leading source of quality data about the nation’s people and economy. We honor privacy, protect confidentiality, share our expertise globally, and conduct our work openly. We are guided on this mission by our strong and capable workforce, our readiness to innovate, and our abiding commitment to our customers.

The mission statement is less important than how the data is used. The counts determine congressional House seat apportionment and the way federal dollars are doled out in support of programs administered by local, state and tribal governments. Unfortunately, an ongoing problem is that minority communities are undercounted; therefore reinforcing disproportionate access to resources for services such as education, public health and other community infrastructure needs.

April 1st, 2010, Census Day, is approaching fast. That’s why groups like Voto Latino are ramping up efforts to explain the importance of participation among the Latino community. Here’s VL’s Executive Director, Maria Teresa, explaining the Be Counted. Represent. Campaign:

As part of the campaign, Voto Latino is offering a free 25-song download from Apple’s iTunes after Taking the Pledge to participate in the 2010 Census. The incentive is nice, but more importantly, the information they provide at the Be Counted website teaches us why it’s crucial to be represented in “perhaps the most important piece of civic action this year.”

I encourage you all to check it out, take the pledge, spread the word to your friends and familia about the importance of the Census, and the enjoy this great playlist:

Pitbull “Across the Waters”
Morrissey “When Last I Spoke to Carol (Toy Selectah mix)”
Aventura “Su Veneno”
Mos Def “No Hay Nada Mas”
Los Tigres del Norte “El Emigrante”
Jaguares “Visible”
Rodrigo y Gabriela “Hanuman”
Juan Luis Guerra “La Travesia”
Ozomatli “Believe”
Los Tucanes de Tijuana “Los Illegales”
Paulina Aguirre “Esperando Tu Voz”
Ruben Blades “Las Calles”
Kinto Sol “Voy a Sacudirme”
Os Mutantes “Querida, Querida”
Nortec Collective “Tengo La Voz”
Antibalas “Che Che Cole (Makossa Mix)”
Los Amigos Invisibles “Mentiras”
Ceú “Grains de Beaute”
Maleco Collective “Yo Soy La Voz”
Panda “Solo a Terceros”
Pacha Massive “If You Want It”
Brownout “Ayer y Hoy”
Hip Hop Hoodíos “Agua Pa’ La Gente”
Alvaro Torres “Te Sueno Grande”
Reyes del Bajo Mundo “Cuanto Cuesta”
Mishka “3rd Eye Vision”

Bloggers: here’s a resource page with links to Pledge widgets for your site.

¡Adelante!

[Crossposted at Booman Tribune]

 

Extreme Blog Makeover: VotoLatino Edition

Congratulations to Voto Latino! They launched the reinvented blog this week as well as a new url. Update your bookmarks – http://www.votolatino.org/blog

 

This Blog is D.C.-Bound!

Yes, I’m going to be one of those crazy people you see on teevee at the inauguration freezing my desert-rat tail off. We’re having low/mid-70 weather here and that will certainly not be the same environment I find when I step off the plane Friday night at National Airport.

Still, I. Can’t. Wait.

I passed up the opportunity to go to the convention in Denver last August and promised myself that if Obama won, I would definitely be present at the inauguration. I can’t even begin to tell you how relieved I am that it all shook out the way I hoped. It was bizarre to have the person I voted for actually win the presidency!

That being said, I’ve never considered President-Elect Obama a savior figure, as some on the right would characature. One of the biggest things that earned my respect during his campaign was his call to empowerment of the people. I honestly feel that the new activist base he’s tapped in to must hold him and all power brokers accountable to the ways the policies of the government affect us all in the streets. There has been such a disconnect, especially over the past eight’ish years, that unless that whole relationship is repaired and mutual respect given back to The People (La Raza Cosmica…ahem), the democratic system in the U.S. will be forever tainted.

I’m honored, and frankly borderline giddy, for this moment in history.

The day after the inauguration I will be joining other human rights activists in the nation’s capital for a show of solidarity.

A New Day for Immigration

We are living in a historic moment of change.

The election of Barack Obama has given the country renewed hope for just and humane immigration reform and worker justice.

On January 21st, we will celebrate a new America. We want to transform our society so that workers don’t have to fear raids, families stay together, and no one lives in the shadows. We want workers to have the freedom to organize and demand fundamental change. Everyone in this country must be entitled to dignity and due process. Our country must welcome the contributions and cultures of immigrants from all over the world, and celebrate the vitality they bring to our country.

In our new America, we work together to rebuild our economy based on solutions that put the needs of workers, tenants and homeowners at the center of policy making. We need to heal the wounds wrought by 8 years of punitive immigration policies, end the raids, unjust deportations, and neighborhood sweeps that have terrorized immigrant communities and separated our families.

Join us on the first day of the new administration to celebrate this historic moment, and to renew our commitment to realizing just and humane immigration reform.

full details at A New Day For Immigration

I’m also planning to party while I’m in D.C. (who wouldn’t?).

On Sunday I will be attending the 2009 Latino Inaugural Gala featuring a slew of amazing musical artists like War, Los Camperos de Nati Cano, Lila Downs, Alejandro Sanz, Marc Anthony and others. I bought a ticket last week and then learned today that I won a raffle through Voto Latino for a pair of tickets at their invitation, so I will be able to bring my friend that I’m staying with for the week. Very excited for it and very appreciative to the generosity and hard work of the good people at Voto Latino who continue their work to empower and engage voters to participate in the civic process.

I’m also planning on going to the Netroots Nation YES WE CAN Party on Monday night, rendevousing with several friends that I’ve met online and some in real life as an extension of my blogging. As you can see, it will be a busy week of networking, celebrating, marching and living!

Stay tuned…

 

Final Episode of ‘La Pasión’

Great work by Rosario Dawson and the rest of the celeb crew at Voto Latino for their final episode of La Pasión de la Decisión. This novela has had me howling in laughter each time a new portion was released.

I noticed it was mentioned today on CNN’s Headline News as an important GetOutTheVote effort for latin@s, felicidades on getting the word spread further as the campaign has moved forward.

You can view the other four episodes here.

 

Voter Registration Challenge

If you’re worried about polls showing the Presidential race tightening, work on registering people to vote and educating them on the issues. It’s the only way this country is going to get zapped out of its trance – one that I have been calling Nine Eleven Fever for the past seven years.

Arizonans have absolutely no excuses. If you’re eligible to vote, please please please click on this link to Service Arizona and you can be registered within five minutes. My goal is to get 20 people signed up to participate in this country’s civics between now and November 4th.

Groups like VotoLatino, Mi Familia Vota, and Chicanos por la Causa have mobilized throughout the state, so there is plenty of opportunities to get involved. If you’re sick of the lies, the smears, and the illusions of a dark reality that kept George Bush and his merry band of slaughterers in power in 2004; then join the movement to say ¡Ya Basta! – Enough Already! so John McCain is not allowed to continue the massacre of human lives and constitutional democracy in the U.S.

The thought of McCain and his warmongering advisors winning in November scares the shit out me. I have no reason to complain, though, if I don’t work to keep him away from the red button and the pen that will ultimately sign a military draft into existence.

 

Voto Latino iTunes Playlist Available

Powerhouses of the Latin music community have teamed together with our friends at VotoLatino to help them raise money in efforts to get more people engaged in the civics process. With a goal of targeting 7 million new voters for the 2008 Presidential Election, their campaign is about community empowerment rather than partisanship.

“Music is the soundtrack to my life. The Voto Latino compilation is the soundtrack of a movement,” says Voto Latino co-founder Rosario Dawson, who recently starred in a widely circulated telenovela parody PSA with Wilmer Valderrama. “It encapsulates everything about the Latino drive to the polls so blast it on your way to change.”

Adds Valderrama: “Music has proven to be an influential platform for our generation. This is the time to use it.”

“Voto Latino is thrilled about the generous contribution of iTunes Latino, Nacional Records and these participating artists,” said Maria Teresa Petersen, Executive Director. “Having such talented individuals working across professions and sharing their expertise, be it musicians or behind the scenes executives is a testament that the power to enfranchise our community comes from within it.”

If you have iTunes, click on this link to be transported directly to the download page. The 15-song compilation only costs $3.99 with proceeds going to VotoLatino.org

1. Notch – Aquí Me Quedo
2. PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED: Pitbull & Kurse – Across The Waters
3. Ozomatli – (Who Discovered) America?
4. Don Omar – Angelito
5. Los Amigos Invisibles – All Day Today
6. Salvador Santana Band – My One True Love
7. Ceu – Roda (Bombay Dub Orchestra’s Grateful Dub Mix)
8. Aterciopelados – Cancion Protesta
9. Aventura – Mi Corazoncito
10. Chingo Bling – They Can’t Deport Us All
11. Ceci Bastida – Empieza A Amanecer
12. David Garza – There Go The Weirdos
13. Volumen Cero – El Mar
14. B-Side Players – Nuestras Demandas
15. Hip Hop Hoodíos – Viva La Guantanamera

And on a semi-offtopic note…Ozomatli will be performing live on Dancing with the Stars tonight (April 15th). ¡Dios Mío!