Shooting immigrants in the back is ok in TX
Written by Rich Vázquez
Joe Horn called 911because burglars were breaking in to a neighbors home in Pasadena, TX. He was warned 14 times not to go outside for his own safety, to which he responded once with "You want to bet. I'm going to kill them." Later, just before he goes outside, he says, "Heat the shotgun click, here I go." He then goes outside and shoots the burglars in the back.The grand jury decided not to indict him on any charges. Hear the 911 call:
Yoani Sanchez - Generation Y
Yoani Sanchez has recently won the Ortega y Gasset award for online journalism for her blog Generacion Y. She was also listed by Time magazine as one of the top 100 most influential people. I've added a section about Yoani Sanchez to collect resources about her and the blog. She has been praised for finding ways to be critical of society around her without offending the government.
Letter from Barack Obama to Puerto Rico
Written by Barack Obama
Barack Obama wrote a letter to the people of Puerto Rico to express his views on Puerto Rican status, citizenship, jobs, health and their place in America.
AZ attempts to ban ethnic groups and studies
Written by Rich Vázquez
The United Farmworkers sent out a call about a local issue in Arizona. Arizona has a long history of refusing to acknowledge civil rights and civil rights progress. For instance, Senator McCain voted against various forms of holidays acknowledging Martin Luther King's Holiday over the course of 11 years.
Cinco de Mayo
Written by Richard L Vázquez
Cinco de Mayo may be the most well known celebration by Latinos in the United States. It is, however, one of the most misunderstood celebrations. Is it Mexican Independence Day? Why does it seem to be celebrated by Latinos in the United States more than Mexico? Is it appropriate to celebrate a Mexican holiday in the United States? Is it a holiday just for Mexican Americans or for all Latinos in the United States?
And why is this holiday important for all Americans?
Septiembres/Septembers
Written by Rich Vázquez
I attended the opening night festivities of Cine Las Americas film festival. Septiembres was the opening film and while it promised to be a documentary about a music contest in prison, it turned out to be a lot more. Most of the audience appeared to expect something more like American Idol with a lot more ins and outs of the competition. The film itself is sandwiched between two Septembers, the time of year the competition takes place.
Carles Bosch, the director, said the film actually started like an American Idol favor for the participating inmates - taking the prison competition and making it look as big as possible for the participants to be able to send their families a DVD. After that, though, the film was born and grew into an intimate portrayal of various kinds of confined love within the co-ed prison and outside the walls. The only kind of love missing was the brutal expectations Americans of come to expect from prison life.
Dolores Huerta (1930 - present)
Dolores C. Huerta is the co-founder and Secretary-Treasurer of the United Farm Workers of America, AFL-CIO ("UFW"). The mother of 11 children, 14 grandchildren and four great-grandchildren, Dolores has played a major roll in the American civil rights movement.
Dolores Huerta was born on April 10, 1930 in a mining town in northern New Mexico, where her father, Juan Fernandez, was a miner, field worker, union activist and State Assemblyman. Her parents divorced when she was three years old. Her mother, Alicia Chavez, raised Dolores, along with her two brothers, and two sisters, in the central San Joaquin Valley farm worker community of Stockton, California. Her mother was a businesswoman who owned a restaurant and a 70-room hotel, which often put up farm worker families for free.
Absolut Ad causes anger over actual Mexican History
Written by Rich Vázquez
Absolut Vodka carried an ad inside of Mexico showing Texas and much of the Southwest US as part of Mexico. More than 100 Organizations have decided to boycott Absolut because of this. It's an attack on sovereignty, and attempt to conquer the United States, etc. Problem is, it was an actual map from history. Thousands of people in the United States are frothing at the mouth over someone displaying actual and factual history. In the meantime, we continue to fly Confederate flags (the flag of the only nation to cause the US to divide and lose states for a meaningful amount of time) and other colonial era celebrations, gifts and decorations.
Somehow xenophobic groups have managed to say that when a non-Mexican company displays actual Mexican history inside the borders of Mexico - it is an attack on the United States. Some articles on the subject have even blithely referred to the "Mexican idea of reconquista" - but pay attention folks, you'll see anti-immigrant and anti-Hispanic groups and individuals use the phrase reconquista a whole lot more than the fringe minority of Hispanics who do.
Absolut has apologized to the US right wing for displaying actual Mexican history inside Mexico's border.
Oh the sovereignty...
Cesar Chavez, a Chronology
Written by UFW
"One of the heroic figures of our time." -- Robert F. Kennedy1927, March 31--Cesario Estrada Chavez is born on the small farm near Yuma, Ariz. that his grandfather homesteaded in the 1880s.
1937--After Cesar's father, Librado, is forced from his farm, the Chavez family becomes migrant workers in California.
1942--Cesar quits school after the eighth grade and works in the fields full time to help support his family.
1944--He joins the U.S. Navy during World War II and serves in the western Pacific. Just before shipping out to the Pacific, Cesar is arrested in a segregated Delano, Calif. movie theater for sitting in the "whites only"
section.
1948--Cesar marries Helen Fabela. They eventually have eight children.
Late 1940s--He begins studying the social teachings of the Catholic Church.
1952--Community organizer Fred Ross discovers the young farm worker laboring in apricot orchards outside San Jose, Calif., and recruits him into the Community Service Organization (CSO).
Cesar Estrada Chavez (1927 - 1993)
The Story of Cesar Chavez
THE BEGINNING
The story of Cesar Estrada Chavez begins near Yuma, Arizona. Cesar was born on March 31, 1927. He was named after his grandfather, Cesario. Regrettably, the story of Cesar Estrada Chavez also ends near Yuma, Arizona. He passed away on April 23, 1993, in San Luis, a small village near Yuma, Arizona.
Citizen Media in Latin America
Written by Rich Vázquez
Many sites have cropped up in Latin America allowing citizens to submit news stories and videos. MediaShift, a blog by PBS, details this phenomenon and points out some of the top sites. I attended the Texas Community Media Summit this weekend. While citizen media was discussed, it was general community media that was present. Public Television, Free and subscribed locally owned newspapers and a few blogs. During a discussion of advocacy journalism and whether we should advocate or tell neutral facts, many pointed out that large corporate media giants have had advocacy for quite some time, and the representation of those we advocate for has been slanted for years, if not centuries.
Georgia Teen tells of Immigration Raid
Written by SPLCenter.org
"I started to hear the words, 'Police! Illegals!'" she said. "It seems as if those words still ring in my head today giving me that fear of them busting into my home. I walked around the corner from the hallway and saw a tall man reach toward his gun and look straight at me."
She was caught in the middle of a botched immigration raid in southeast Georgia. Federal agents barged into homes without showing warrants and targeted U.S. citizens of Mexican descent, like Mancha, solely because of their skin color.
Full Story at Southern Poverty Law Center
Black and Latino Workshops at the Social Forum
Written by Rich Vázquez
Over 10,000 attended the first Social Forum for the whole United States. I recorded, with a plain digital recorder, two workshops on Black and Latino relationships and alliance building.Latinos Incógnitos
Written by Richard L Vázquez
This is a list of stars that aren't grouped as Latinos in the general media because of their appearance, speech, name, or mixed heritage. Since Latinos have varying degrees of European, Asian, African, and Indigenous heritage, many of us don't fit the archetype of outward appearance that people expect. If you know of any Latinos Incógnitos, send me an e-mail and I'll add them to the list.Bernardo de Gálvez (1746-1786)
Written by Rich Vázquez
Bernardo de Gálvez was born in Macharaviaya, among the mountains of Málaga, Spain on July 23, 1746. His birth date is celebrated as Gálvez Day in a few cities across the United States and has been recognized as a day of commemoration by individuals and state congresses. His significant contributions to the independence of the United States from Britain has been recognized by various groups and regions, but is still left out of most textbooks.
Like many in his distinguished family, he chose a military career. By the age of 16, he was serving as a lieutenant in a war with Portugal, which led to his promotion to captain. In 1769, he was selected for service in New Spain. There he led attacks against the Apache, who were crippling the new Spanish economy in that part of the Americas. In the next few years, he was wounded several times but also found honor and recognition in his service. One of the early crossings of the Pecos River was called Paso de Gálvez in honor of his campaigns on behalf of Spain.
