RaceWire

Does the American Dream Have an Expiration Date?

2009-11-21T12:26:15Z

When making the case for immigration's contribution to society, activists reflexively highlight the economic resilience of immigrant families, particularly their seemingly ceaseless drive to work their way up from poverty. While the tired "American Dream" mythology seems perilously naive these days, advocates nonetheless internalize the rhetoric of upward mobility when trying to deepen the immigration debate.

But many groups have enough history behind them to test that narrative of the upward-striving new American--and we can see failure alongside triumph. New York City's Puerto Rican community has gone through a tumultuous struggle for social and economic enfranchisement for decades. Now, researchers say that while every immigrant group has its peaks and valleys, Puerto Ricans have been sloping downward.

Data on Puerto Ricans from the Pew Hispanic Center shows commonality in the struggles that Puerto Ricans and other Latino groups face. But when you break it down, Puerto Rican New Yorkers have in some ways gotten stuck, economically speaking--even though they don't face the same citizenship and language barriers that other immigrant communities wrestle with.

Marianne McCune examined the ups and downs of the city's Puerto Rican community in a recent WNYC radio broadcast:

In New York City, 31.2 percent of Puerto Ricans live in poverty, compared with 27.8 percent of Latinos more broadly and 18.9 percent of the New York City population overall. Nationally, 22 percent of Puerto Ricans are in poverty, versus 19 percent of Latinos overall...

Of course, when you look closely at the numbers you can see that other Latino groups are struggling as well -- more Dominican and Mexican families in New York, for example, are living below the poverty line than Puerto Rican families.

But note that the margin of error for these stats from the 2005-2007 American Community Survey is big enough to put these groups basically on a par with each other. So what’s most surprising is that these groups are so close, given the supposed advantages Puerto Ricans have: They’re all citizens (because Puerto Rico is a Commonwealth of the United States), they’ve been in New York longer (most Dominicans and Mexicans immigrated to New York more recently), and a higher percentage speak English.

Another measure of upward mobility, education, suggests that Puerto Ricans do worse than Blacks, whites, and Latinos overall, and more troublingly, many Puerto Rican youth don't seem to be advancing past their parents' academic gains:

only 31% of Puerto Ricans have completed beyond a high school education as compared to 77% of Whites, 71% of Blacks (including African immigrants) and 42% of all Latinos.

Among Puerto Ricans between the ages of 24 and 32, only 16 percent have completed college, even though almost a quarter have at least one college-educated parent. And almost one in five Puerto Ricans that age with at least one college-educated parent dropped out of high school.

So if Puerto Ricans, many of them born in the U.S., are arguably less burdened by the government's dysfunctional immigration policies, what's holding them back?

The WNYC piece suggests that the long historical trajectory of the Puerto Rican community has left long scars, as generations have endured entrenched poverty, urban deindustrialization and social disinvestment.

Previous research we've covered here before suggests that Latino mobility in general goes through fits and starts. Second-generation Latino youth, according to the Urban Institute, did better than their immigrant parents, but the achievements seem to drop off when the third-generation comes of age.

Such findings raise intriguing questions about the promise of upward mobility. Does the rags-to-riches ethic have an expiration date? Does the third generation become cynical once they've seen that the dream still hasn't materialized? Is the economic lag due to a cultural vacuum, in which a native-born generation loses ties to an older immigrant culture but remains alienated from positive social supports and networks in America? Do struggling Puerto Rican families today share more common ground with struggling Black families (who, after all, bear the legacy of previous eras of massive forced immigration)?

It's easy to see where the data might be obscuring deeper divides. There story begs for more rigorous analysis of economic trends among the native-born versus foreign born within racial and ethnic groups. Parsing the data by race as well as by national and ethnic origin could also provide clues as to whether invidious forms of structural racism impose "softer" barriers to advancement. There may be other types of stratification on nationality or class lines within The city's burgeoning Latino population. The geographic concentration of poverty, as well as the degree of social cohesion within a community, may heavily influence how well a group fares--especially in a drastically segregated city like New York.

And as some of the WNYC interviewees pointed out, the data is an incomplete picture of continued migration: many affluent Puerto Ricans not captured in this data--the ones who've "made it"--might have gone the way of so many immigrant groups throughout history, moving out of the barrio to the burbs.

Still, the data could help social-change movements locate blindspots when dealing with communities that have been working, and waiting, for the promise to be fulfilled for one, two, or three generations. Historical memory stalks the shadows of the urban immigrant experience. While we hope that a sense of where we've come will push people to blaze new trails, maybe a constant sense of disappointment digs communities deeper into a cycle of self-defeatism.

(Image: Boss Tweed via flickr)

Bay Area Community Members to Hold Vigil for Gay Teens Murdered in Maryland and Puerto Rico

2009-11-21T01:21:01Z

From Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha

TIme: Sunday, November 22, 3:30pm
Vigil Location: Mac Arthur and Grand Ave. at Lake Merritt

Outraged at the murders of two gay teenagers last week, Bay Area queers and allies will gather at Lake Merritt this Sunday for a candlelight vigil and open mic to mourn and brainstorm ways to keep their community safer from violence.

Last Friday, 19-year-old Jorge Steven López-Mercado got into a car with Juan Martinez-Matos, 26, who later said he had been "searching for a prostitute." Martinez-Matos murdered, beheaded and dismembered López-Mercado after, he said, he discovered that López-Mercado was male and "wearing women’s clothing." Martinez-Matos then set fire to the young man’s remains and left them on the side of a road. Martinez -Matos is now in custody and has confessed to the murder. His bail is set at $4 million.

The same week, in Baltimore, Maryland, gay fifteen-year-old Jason Mattison, Jr., was raped and stabbed to death in his aunt’s home by an adult male, a family friend with whom, according to a Baltimore police spokesperson, Mattison allegedly had a “forced sexual relationship.”

Queer activists say they worry that López-Mercado's murderer will successfully invoke the defense of “gay or trans-panic” to justify the brutal killing. "The fact that Martinez -Matos is saying that López-Mercado was 'wearing women's clothing' indicates that he might try to say he was 'fooled' and therefore 'forced' to kill López-Mercado for his gender transgression," Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha, one of the organizers of the Oakland vigil said.

“This is completely inexcusable,” Liz Latty, another organizer of the rally this Sunday, said. “It’s blaming the victim. We unequivocally denounce the way that the lives of queer and transgendered people, sex workers, people of color, women and low-income people are devalued and seen as disposable.”

Referring to López-Mercado's murder, police investigator Ángel Rodríguez Colón told Univisión, “These types of people, when they enter this lifestyle and go out into the streets, know that this could happen.”

  “We are outraged at the murders of López-Mercado and Mattison,” Oakland vigil organizer Latty said. “We, queer and transgendered people in Oakland, are mourning these senseless deaths. Yet we are also a resilient community. We wish to stand in solidarity with those in Puerto Rico and Baltimore who are surviving despite this invisibility and injustice.”

  Bay Area organizers of the vigil have been in contact with friends of López-Mercado and are hoping to coordinate memorial events and future actions with the Puerto Rican and Baltimore queer communities.

First, Obama gets a Nobel Peace Prize... and now, a Black Belt in Tae Kwon Do

2009-11-20T23:39:35Z

On his visit to South Korea, President Lee Myung-bak awarded President Obama a black belt in tae kwon do.

What would Chuck Norris do?

PG&E Shuts Off Soaring Number of Poor's Electricity

2009-11-20T21:30:25Z

PG&E has been having a heyday shutting off the energy supply of 75 percent more low-income households since last year.

Ok, so maybe it's a judgment that they're enjoying it, but after hearing that 91,393 poor and low-income homes lost their energy supply because of PG&E, I will take my stabs where I can get them.

The deal is with a harder economy basic needs are hard to meet like gas and electricity because more people don't have jobs or are taking in relatives or close friends who maybe lost their home. Utility bills finally come at the end of the month and if you can't fork out the money to pay, PG&E sends you a 15-day notice, then a 48-hour notice. If you still can't pay, PG&E's new "SmartMeter" makes it easier to shut off your electricity using a wireless signal without sending an electrician to your home, which costs the company money.

Consumer advocates say that it is during this final step before shutting off power where customers can negotiate with the company about paying the bill. Considering that most of those 91,393 low-income households eventually paid their bills might lead an astute thinker to believe that the issue isn't irresponsible customers but the company.

The San Francisco Chronicle reports:

The Utility Reform Network (TURN), a consumer watchdog group, asked the utilities commission earlier this year to begin a formal process of looking for ways to cut the number of shut-offs. The commission had been scheduled to vote today on a motion to reject TURN's request, but the vote has now been delayed.

"These shut-off figures are really a reflection of the economy and how hard people are struggling," said Mark Toney, TURN's executive director. "This is the kind of evidence the (utilities commission) cannot turn a blind eye to."

With winter approaching and the economy showing no sign of improving, shutting off people's utilities will no doubt be harder to ignore.

Reddy Case: 10 Years On, Violence Against Women of Color Continues

2009-11-20T17:09:42Z

Violence against women of color is often reported out of context. The deeper social and economic injustices at work are overlooked.

Today, a coalition including (partial list) Narika, ASATA (Alliance of South Asians Taking Action), South Asian Sisters, Asian Women's Shelter, Bay Area Immigrant Rights Coalition, Maitri, and California Partnership to End Domestic Violence, will mark the 10th anniversary of the Lakireddy Bali Reddy sex and labor exploitation case with a vigil and press conference in Berkeley.

Lakireddy Bali Reddy is a wealthy South Asian businessman who owned more than fifty percent of the rental housing in Berkeley and the popular Pasand restaurant chain, second only to the University of California in Berkeley property holdings; he is still the largest owner of rental properties in Berkeley.

After one of the victims of his sex and labor exploitation activity turned up dead in late November 1999, his criminal endeavors were brought to light.

Today’s vigil will honor victim Seetha Vemireddy who was found dead of carbon monoxide poisoning on November 24, 1999. She was one of nine young women found to be victims of Reddy’s labor and sexual exploitation, in addition to dozens more workers who faced labor exploitation at Pasand restaurant and Reddy Realty.

From the beginning the Reddy case was told by the media in sordid detail. It was easy to tell a story of man bites dog: a wealthy and respected real estate mogul from the model minority South Asian community engages in sexual slavery.

In 2001, Reddy and five of his relatives pled guilty to various counts of conspiring to commit immigration fraud, transportation of minors for illegal sexual activity, and submitting a false tax return. Reddy paid $11 million in restitution to the victims and their families, with an additional undisclosed amount for a workers’ class action lawsuit. Upon serving just under seven years in prison, Reddy was released in April 2008.

The Reddy case exposes a deeper truth about globalization and migration. Human trafficking has resulted from the particular nexus of global capital flows and subsequent restrictive labor flows. In many instances, trafficking victims are simply workers looking for jobs in richer countries who are cheated by recruiting agents, in this case a wealthy landowner from the migrants’ village in India.

The larger immigration debate points to the flawed terms of the conversation. Economics is purposely ignored, with the Right keen to focus the public’s attention instead on racism and xenophobia. This played well in the Reddy case as the media and some advocates were happy to focus on the cultural underpinnings of Reddy’s criminal behavior.

This is why the work of South Asian domestic violence and progressive activist organizations in the Bay area is so important, to highlight the deeper trends of labor and sexual exploitation in the global economy.

Ten years later trafficking remains a reality. Groups at today’s press conference will highlight campaigns working to end trafficking and the economics motivating these criminal activities.

Policy solutions are difficult to find however, as the government response to trafficking is led by the Department of Homeland Security which at best complicates matters and at worst contributes to the ongoing problem. Given that victims of trafficking often owe their immigration status to their exploiters, speaking out to Homeland Security means risking detention or deportation.

We need to continue to uncover the root economic causes of migration and trafficking, find community- and government-based solutions, and create safer environments for women of color in the Bay area and beyond.

Additional Resources
Narika: http://www.narika.org
ASATA: http://www.asata.org
Asian Pacific Islander Legal Outreach: http://www.apilegaloutreach.org/
NAPAWF Anti-Trafficking Resources: http://napawf.org/resources/issue-briefs-factsheets/#Anti-Human%20Trafficking
Human Rights Center at Berkeley: http://hrc.berkeley.edu/completed_initiatives.html

There's an App For That: Crossing the Border

2009-11-20T16:51:40Z

Activist hacker and UC San Diego professor Ricardo Rodriguez has developed a new tool to help migrant workers safely cross over the border into the United States, the “Transborder Immigrant Tool.

Dominguez explains:

"We looked at the Motorola i455 cell phone, which is under $30, available even cheaper on eBay, and includes a free GPS applet. We were able to crack it and create a simple compasslike navigation system. We were also able to add other information, like where to find water left by the Border Angels, where to find Quaker help centers that will wrap your feet, how far you are from the highway—things to make the application really benefit individuals who are crossing the border."

The project is currently in the alpha stage or "sociological aspects" of the project and will be available to the public soon. Dominguez and his team will now go in to the testing stage with NGOs, churches and other groups that prepare immigrants before crossing.

Vice Magazine (yes, the 'Dos & Dont's' Vice Magazine) has a Q&A with Dominguez that includes more details.

Lastly, I'm including this picture along with Vice's caption because I think it's hilarious. The smirk on Dominguez's face in juxtaposition to the border agent's face is... worth a thousand words.

"Ricardo Dominguez is very happy that the Border Patrol considers him a nuisance."

Post-Racial Voting? Think Again.

2009-11-20T16:03:58Z

Written by Nina Jacinto, this post originally appeared on Wiretapmag.org

The NAACP Legal Defense Fund's (LDF) Political Participation Group, has released "'Post-Racial' America? Not Yet," a report that details why voting rights continue to be an important issue, despite having President Barack Obama in the White House.

The report does three things in particular. First, it questions the "post-racial" argument being made among groups that challenge the Voting Rights Act, particularly Section 5, which protects voters against voting discrimination. These groups are challenging Section 5 because apparently, now that we have a black president, racism for everyone in the United States has ended. I don't think most of us need to look far to see occurrences that question the sanity of those that claim they're residing in a post-racial world.

Second, the report shows the progress and continued limitations of race in politics since President Obama's election. It points out that white folks were the only group not to cast a majority of votes for Obama. This may not be particularly salient, but in the larger context of communities that continue to hold onto a foundation built into white supremacy, these are troubling results. In particularly racially polarized states, such as Alabama and Louisiana, the percentage of white voters who voted for Obama are very low -- under 15 percent. The report concludes what many of us already know -- that Obama's victory was a result of an increased number of voters of color and an increased number of white voters who voted in areas not covered by Section 5.

Overall, the report does something indirectly through its efforts: it reminds young people that we should all be wary of thinking that there is no work to be done in voting activism. Protection against voter discrimination remains fragile and is so frequently challenged. It's important for young people to be aware of the communities in which people of color are getting intimidated, personally and institutionally, from voting the way they want. There continues to be a huge racial gap in certain communities and for many of us living in liberal cities, we forget that. Young people of color shouldn't have to turn 18 only to find out their right to vote is being compromised.

It's Official: 32% Tuition Hike Approved by University of California Regents

2009-11-19T21:05:39Z

It's official, University of California regents approved a 32% tuition hike that will start next fall.

Despite protest by students from across the state of California, University of California Regents approved a tuition hike that will bring fees close to triple the UC cost a decade ago.

In more uplifting news, the Regents approved a partnership with L.A. County to reopen Martin Luther King, Jr. Hospital in South Los Angeles by 2013. Let's hope they keep the hospital affordable.

Check out Tram Nguyen's "Who Gets to Attend College" article on ColorLines.com for some insight on how this can affect communities of color.

The Cultural Impact of Eroding Wetlands

2009-11-19T20:07:57Z

In a ColorLines web exclusive, Kari Lydersen reports on how the Native American community in southern Louisiana struggles to keep the traditional way of life intact as oil and gas industries destroy their land.

Here is an excerpt:

For Laura Billiot, Brenda Dardar Robichaux and their peers among the Native American community in southern Louisiana, growing up meant shrimping, trapping and farming with family and friends. These long-standing traditions provided sustenance, camaraderie and a link with their past.

Before the May shrimping season, fishermen would line up their freshly painted boats to show off to the community. Robichaux, now principal chief of the Houma Nation based about 60 miles southwest of New Orleans, has fond childhood memories of helping her father, Whitney Dardar, on his shrimp boat, though as a teen she would often protest the hard work and long hours. Dardar, now 73, still shrimps, but he is driven by passion rather than profit, since profits are now scant thanks to environmental degradation and competition from shrimp farms and bulk imports. He knows his grandsons will not follow in his footsteps but instead will likely work in the same offshore oil fields that have helped destroy the traditional Houma way of life.

Read the rest of the story here.

Why Is There A War Criminal at My Database Conference?

2009-11-19T19:29:18Z

Being in charge of a great many things related to technology at the Applied Research Center, I wind up in some fairly geeky places… including, database conferences like Dreamforce 2009.

But one thing on the conference agenda caught my eye - a special appearance by retired General Colin Powell giving a talk on “Leadership in the New Era of Collaboration.” I know calling General Powell a war criminal is a little over the top, but I think of it like this: a few foxes come up to my farmhouse and say, “Hey, there’s a problem with your chickens. Let us take care of it, and you’ll have all the eggs you need.” Most people would stop to ask a few questions of the foxes. And so came George W. Bush and the other Iraqi war architects to General Powell.

General Powell’s 11th hour endorsement and defense of Barack Obama during last year’s election notwithstanding, what kind of “leadership in the new era of collaboration” was going to the United Nations with absolutely fabricated justifications for invading Iraq? This is just too easy.

Did General Powell show any kind of "collaboration" while helping to force the Iraqi occupation and “Coalition of the Willing” on to the United Nations and the rest of the world? Sure, I’m beating a dead horse here (to keep the farmhouse metaphors alive), but I think it's a point worth remembering: the same people who blazed a trail of destruction and suffering are now still sought after for their professional opinions on things like "leadership."

It appears as if old GOP figureheads really don’t fade away, they just go in to (de)motivational speaking.

The Weekly Diaspora: Fort Hood, Pundits and Immigration Reform

2009-11-19T18:35:46Z

By Nezua, Media Consortium Blogger

First it was immigrants from Mexico, now Muslims in the armed services. After the tragic shootings at Fort Hood, conservative pundits are verbally attacking Muslims and Arab-Americans, much like they have vilified the immigrant community. The complexities of Islamic faith are being glossed over and "Muslim Terrorist" is stamped upon any act of violence involving their community. As a result, nuanced voices are buried in favor of suspicion and violence.

Dr. Riad Z Abdelkarim loves and serves this country, but is lumped in with alleged and actual enemies of the state due to his faith. In an article for The Progressive, Abdelkarim writes about his sense of anger and betrayal over the Fort Hood massacre. He is angry that the perpetrator of such harm is an American and as a doctor. He feels betrayed because the killer practices Islam, which is a beautiful and inspiring faith to Dr. Abdelkarim. "The Fort Hood murders are a huge setback" to the progress that Arab-Americans and American Muslims have made to clear the "guilt by association" that has affected their communities since 9/11, writes Abdelkarim.

The Real News Network also thoughtfully examines the aftermath of Fort Hood. Host Riz Khan gives background on shooter Nidal Malik Hasan and explores the effects of the Fort Hood shooting. Kahn asks "If a Muslim commits a serious crime in America, is that crime seen as that much more deadly?"

The violent culture that many U.S. citizens attribute to Islam and Arab-Americans criminalizes everyday people. For example, a bit of Arabic script led to a frenzied media reaction when Texas border guards found "ski jacket with three unusual patches" in Hebbronville, Texas in 2005. The patches were irresponsibly described as "terrorist garb" by "right wing media," according to the Texas Observer. "One [patch] featured a lion’s head, a parachute and Arabic script, another an airplane flying toward a tower and the words 'Midnight Mission.' The third patch read 'Daiwa.'"

It all made for a "fine story," as Melissa Del Bosque writes. But the results were not so dramatic. "Daiwa" is an ad for a "popular fishing company," the Arabic is the symbol of a "defunct air brigade in Syria" that was in fact "anti-Islamist," and the jacket more than likely bought at one of the "pulgas" (flea markets) located closer to the border. It is fortunate that the voices trying to connect Al Qaeda and Mexicans were not successful.

In RaceWire, Debiyani Kar reports on the Obama administration's latest announcements that immigration reform would come in 2010. Kar cuts to the heart of the issue, reminding us that "it is time to pause and make the connection again between (im)migration and globalization." If our nation is truly interested in addressing the roots of the problem, rather than passing sweeping reform every decade, we have to address this issue. Meanwhile, Kar also reminds us that migrants "are not waiting for legal reforms to take control of their economic futures," and wield their own economic power.

A liberal activist who goes by the handle of "Robert Erickson" subverted an anti-immigration rally in St. Paul, Minnesota, as the Minnesota Independent reports. Erickson called for sealing up the borders and sending "these people back where they came from" while the crowd of 50-60 people cheered along. Then Erickson revealed that he was actually calling for the removal of European immigrants, who are "responsible for the most violent and heinous crimes in the history of the world!"

The fallout from Lou Dobbs' severance with CNN continues. Dobbs was an integral part of the CNN news team since 1980. Roberto Lovato, reporting for The Nation, called Dobb's abrupt departure the "fast and fiery demise of a media titan." Lovato discusses Dobbs' career arc and departure from CNN. He also underlines the scope of the immigrant movement and "the centrality of spirituality to social change."

These are reminders we need when engaging struggle! Spirituality, love and laughter keep us refreshed and strong for those times we must engage injustice or oppression. And we can't show a dinosaur like Dobbs the door without commentary from two of the most celebrated pundits on the circuit today, Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert. Both comedians' segments on Dobbs are featured at Talking Points Memo in an article by Ben Craw.

For some more humor, let's return to The Nation. Alana Levinson comments on Saturday Night Live's rendition of Lou Dobbs' last live speech, in which a parodied Dobbs said he wouldn't rest until all people have the opportunity to sell fruit on the roadside, "not just the Latinos." When compared to rants about disease and criminal Mexicans, comedic responses to Dobbs' departure are a positive contribution.

This post features links to the best independent, progressive reporting about immigration by members of The Media Consortium. It is free to reprint. Visit the Diaspora for a complete list of articles on immigration issues, or follow us on Twitter. And for the best progressive reporting on critical economy, environment, and health care issues, check out The Audit, The Mulch, The Pulse and The Diaspora. This is a project of The Media Consortium, a network of leading independent media outlets.

Greening L.A.

2009-11-19T18:01:37Z

Though President Obama hopes to create five million green jobs within a decade, women and people of color will be left out without active policies to ensure participation. Blacks and Latinos comprise less than 30 percent of those employed in green industries and occupations. Black women are employed in only 1.5 percent of jobs in the energy sector, with Latino and Asian women employed at 1.0 percent and 0.7 percent, respectively. White executives dominate the key sectors going green, construction and energy.

Applied Research Center or ARC, which publishes ColorLines, just released a case study profiling community organization Strategic Concepts in Organizing and Policy Education (SCOPE) which convened the local chapter of the Apollo Alliance in Los Angeles to win passage of a green retrofit ordinance for municipal buildings that will create high-quality jobs for women and communities of color struggling with the economic crisis.

“ARC’s first green Case Study reports on the work to revitalize Los Angeles, making it an innovator and hub for green industries and sustainable jobs,” says Yvonne Liu, ARC researcher and RaceWire blogger who authored “Greening Los Angeles.” “L.A. is positioned to be a leader in the region and nationally in the green economy, setting the standard for equity and green growth that are not mutually exclusive.”

The case study, “Greening Los Angeles,” is part of the Green Equity Toolkit, intended to help community organizations, public agencies and individuals maximize and share the benefits of green economy jobs.

Toolkit coauthors Yvonne Liu and Terry Keleher of the Applied Research Center joined Elsa Barboza of SCOPE yesterday for a webinar to discuss equal participation in the green economy. Read the Webinar proceedings here.

Read and download “Greening Los Angeles” and the Green Equity Toolkit at http://www.arc.org/greenjobs.

ARC has carried out comprehensive research to define good, green jobs and demonstrate how communities of color and women might experience shared benefits. “Greening Los Angeles” is the first in a six-part series. Additional Case Studies and a Model Policy Bank will be released in the months ahead.

Read Inter Press Service coverage of the Green Equity Toolkit. And listen to Yvonne Liu talk green on WBAI.

Immigration Reform 2010: Yellow Light for Migrants

2009-11-19T17:43:05Z

By Adebe D.A.

For over a decade, 287(g) programs have been put into place to deter “illegal” immigration in the US. This past weekend, DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano headed talks at the Center for American Progress about yet another overhaul of migration policy so that undocumented immigration ceases to be a problem once and for all.

Napolitano-style immigration reform, however, won’t resolve the continued breaking up of families, destruction of business, and terrorizing of migrant communities. Instead of being preoccupied with the supposed “problem” of immigration and fearful that lax policies will open the floodgates, we should be prepared to address the problem of racism created by the notion of illegality in this debate. Comprehensive immigration reform is just a fancy phrase for narrowing the definition, on a strictly racial basis, of who belongs here.

“We are both a nation of immigrants and a nation of laws,” Napolitano said, effectively separating immigrants from what is legal and just. “This is ingrained in our national character and it has helped make America the great nation that it is. But we must modernize our laws for the 21st century so that this vision can endure.”

Modernization for DHS will mean putting security - or human rights abuses, whichever you prefer - on fast-forward. Last week, the L.A. Times reported that ICE wrongfully detained two legal immigrant women who were permitted enter the US under the Violence Against Women Act (also known as VAWA). These must be two examples of DHS’ plans to replace “tough policies” (Napolitano’s words) with effective ones.

Under the new reform plan, which is scheduled to move through Congress in 2010, 12 million undocumented immigrants will be forced to come forward and register, pay a fine, pay taxes, submit to a criminal background check, and begin learning English. She also boasted of strengthening the E-Verify system - an internet tracking system that ensures the eligibility of new employees so that they don’t “turn illegal” later.

Situating immigrants as threats who should either come out with their hands up or go home is offensive, as criminal enforcement continues to be the way DHS attends to the “problem” of “illegal” immigration - but without the use of quotations.

Napolitano stated that Americans should be ready to expect another wave of undocumented immigration when the economy rebounds. In her mind, such immigration destroys economies, so more border patrol will mean greater economic prosperity. That’s a message most people want to hear. Too bad it isn’t true. Our economy has always depended upon international - and thus cross-border - economic activities, and immigrants are a primary source of our national wealth. The only “flood” factor we should fear, when it comes to migration, is that it might allow (gasp) for greater capital flow.

Instead of obsessing about the technicalities of tracking visas, immigration policy should defend human rights by outlawing the type of ideological discrimination inherent in assessing who is legal and who isn’t. Dehumanizing policies and terms such as “illegal” are what have truly overstayed their terms in this country.

photo credit: Center for American Progress

Adebe D.A. is a research intern with the Applied Research Center in New York City.

A Fresh Face at Greenpeace

2009-11-19T12:10:18Z

Greenpeace has earned a reputation as the quintessential radical environmental group, facing down oil tankers and crusading against nuclear plants. Today, the organization's new executive director, a veteran of racial justice struggles in Africa, is tipping the group's focus from whaling ships to the disenfranchised communities of the global south.

Kumi Naidoo, who began his activist career as a teenager in apartheid South Africa, doesn't mark a sea change in Greenpeace's agenda. But he does represent a subtle shift toward an environmental perspective that harmonizes ecosystems with social systems. Environmentalists have often painted themselves into a corner as insular and overwhelmingly white. Now, with the Copenhagen conference approaching--and leaders bristling at emissions regulations just as they've skirted financial reform and the global food crisis--Naidoo occupies a vital pivot point between two movements, seeking combat ecological and economic exploitation simultaneously.

Though it's unlikely that Copenhagen will yield radical policy changes from the United States and other major polluters, the conference is focusing grassroots groups on the plight of the world's poor as a component of global climate catastrophe.

Locating environmentalism at the heart of a broad-based vision of sustainability, Naidoo commented on the BBC:

At Copenhagen we have our best chance to avert the worst of the coming climate catastrophe. So far the talks have been strangled by short term expediency, election cycles and national parochialism. Those of us who have followed the world trade negotiations are familiar with this lack of ambition. But Copenhagen is not a trade negotiation. You can't win this while others lose. Either we all get it right together or we all sink. Nature does not negotiate.

He told the Associated Press last week, "If the whole planet is under threat ... what's the point of not addressing that and saying we'll do other development work?"

From a human rights approach, activists are pressing wealthy industrialized nations to invest their fair share in helping poorer nations deal with the floods, famine and other disasters driven by climate change. Naidoo argues:

While some may wonder what a poverty activist is doing moving to an environmental organisation, I do not view my role at Greenpeace as an abrupt detour.

I believe the struggles against poverty and climate change are inextricably linked, while the solutions are the same.

Let's be clear; time is running out to address the issue of climate change

More equality and the equitable sharing of the planet's finite resources are our only chance to save the planet for the future.

We in civil society have to believe there is a new pathway.

We have to have the confidence to tread this new path; indeed, to demand this new path.

We must take the leap of faith that says the strategies may need to be fluid, but the objectives are abundantly clear.

We need to organise ourselves and work together in new and more transparent ways. We have to break down the barriers that exist, and realise that our struggles and causes are not independent.

They are not about the people or the planet; they are in fact one single common cause--justice.

Will Nadoo's words resonate at Copenhagen in December? It's already echoing in some of the poorest corners of the world, where terms like "renewable fuel" and "carbon footprint" may be seldom heard, but everyone understands the meaning of equity. Real environmentalism is fundamentally radical: correcting the nature's imbalances, after all, requires a redistribution of the whole earth's wealth.

2012: A Race Odyssey

2009-11-18T20:39:36Z

** Spoiler Alert! In case you might actually watch this movie. **

Say what you want, but "2012" succeeded in at least one respect; it put forth strong characters of color in less than stereotypical roles. Though the movie is largely a predictable Hollywood blockbuster.

Danny Glover plays the U.S. president, who chooses to stay and await the end of the world with the masses. (I like the normalization of that role now, the Black president.)

The two scientists who discover the world is coming to an end are played by Chiwetel Ejiofor (who I loved in Dirty Pretty Things) and Jimi Mistry (great in East is East, which has a forthcoming sequel).

Ejiofor plays scientist Adrian Helmsley who eventually becomes romantically involved with the president’s daughter, Laura Wilson (played by Thandie Newton).

I enjoyed the vision created by their union; the first children conceived in the post-apocalyptic world will be Black children.

The movie dealt in a small way with class and global apartheid. When Indian scientist Dr. Satnam Tsurutani is left off the ship which will protect the remaining humans from final global catastrophe, Helmsley cries foul. As he does upon learning that the few hundred thousand people allowed to gain passage on these ships paid $1 billion euros each for their tickets.

The movie’s second primary focus is of course the fate of a white family from Los Angeles, and their harrowing journey to China to board the ships.

There is exploration of inter-racial marriage; Helmsley’s father encourages his life-long friend Tony Delgatto (played by George Segal) to re-connect with his son, to whom he stopped speaking because his son married a Japanese woman. Delgatto attempts to call his son while staring at a picture of his biracial granddaughter, but it’s too late; the world is already ending.

And how does the world end exactly? Well, there are only two antagonists in the movie, a white man and the sunspots that cause the apocalypse (or neutrinos, or something -- this is where the movie really lost me). I found it a bit too convenient to blame the apocalyptic catastrophe on the sun as opposed to human-caused global warming which requires climate justice.

The bad guy is White House Chief of Staff Carl Anheuser (played by Oliver Platt), who is solely focused on ensuring the American government survives the catastrophe, at all costs.

My favorite scene comes as the ships carrying the remainder of humanity are to depart into the rising oceans that encircle all that remains of land on Earth. Anheuser commands the captain to close the ship’s massive doors, but Helmsley and Wilson stop him to allow additional people trapped outside to enter. Among them are Chinese migrant workers who have labored to build the ships. They win the struggle, though not without creating an additional plot twist, to keep us on the edge of our seats for the movie’s final fifteen minutes.

“2012” ends with the continents having shifted such that Africa becomes the center of the Earth. This is the last frame of the film, with the remaining world’s population sailing towards the Continent. There’s some Hollywood justice in that.