Racism and Immigration Reform: erasing Fears and Stereotypes by Remembering Our True History

Most of people that I know and who work with advocacy groups for an immigration reform in the U.S., are mostly convinced that racism plays a big role among U.S. citizens who oppose such legislation. I agree.

The fact that today most undocumented immigrants are of Indigenous and African heritage -and not of European origin- makes a lot of American people uneasy about having more brown skinned citizens. There are myths and stereotypes behind those fears.

Here are two videos I made with two DC college students regarding these issues. In the first video a student talks about the true history of this country and this continent, and how race and identity are very important issues when it comes to immigration reform:

In the second video another student talks about how borders, nationalities and race keep people divided, how human rights are violated by current immigration legislation, the way how immigrants are portrayed by U.S. media and the importance of acceptance of people's diversity to see others as equals:

I still have some questions. Why is that we Native people are called Hispanics and Latinos? Why are some white people so afraid of non white people? How important is for U.S. citizens to learn about our true history and other people’s cultures to understand the urgency of immigration reform?

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Illegal [Undocumented] Immigrants Will NOT Get Health Insurance Under Obama Health Care Reform

Government can tax and print money, which will eliminate private healthcare and impose socialized medicine.

You will wait months and years for treatment. Many people will not get treated at all.

You will pay for free healthcare for over 20 million illegal aliens

Animation by Aumnibus

The ridiculous statemens you just read are part of a TV ad paid by the group "U.S. Citizens Association"- which forced a non profit in DC to send a letter to MSNBC requesting them to stop airing the ad. In a press release Citizens for Responsability and Ethics says:

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) sent a letter to MSNBC President Phil Griffin asking that MSNBC stop airing an ad sponsored by the U.S. Citizens Association. The ad, which ran at least once on August 27, 2009, during Morning Joe, violates Federal Communications Commission (FCC) regulations and NBC’s advertising policy.

According to its website, the U.S. Citizens Association is a non-profit organization dedicated to, among other things, informing “the public on the fallacies of the information being spread by the liberal socialist organizations and the facts on capitalism versus socialism.” [...]

In its letter, CREW noted that some of the ad’s claims are ludicrous, for example, the U.S. has been taxing citizens and printing money for over 200 years, without any obvious impact on private healthcare. Other claims, such as that health care will be rationed and 20 million [undocumented workers] will receive free health care, have been debunked.

After watching the ad any person with a decent brain and enough sense would be able to tell it's a scam. You can watch the full ad here: it’s the one at the bottom labeled Socialized Medicine. But just to make sure... after all we have the right to doubt, right? The question is:

Is it true that undocumented immigrants will be covered with health insurance under the Obama administration health care reform?

Last July 21, Katie Couric asked this to president Obama, this is his response via Current:

Asked by CBS News' Katie Couric in an exclusive interview whether illegal immigrants should be covered under a new health care plan, President Obama responded simply, "no." But he said there may need to be an exception to that policy for children.

"First of all, I'd like to create a situation where we're dealing with illegal immigration, so that we don't have illegal immigrants," he said. "And we've got legal residents or citizens who are eligible for the plan. And I want a comprehensive immigration plan that creates a pathway to achieve that."

"The one exception that I think has to be discussed is how are we treating children," he continued. "Partly because if you've got children who may be here illegally but are still in playgrounds or at schools, and potentially are passing on illnesses and communicable diseases, that aren't getting vaccinated, that I think is a situation where you may have to make an exception."

Basically, Obama said that in order to protect "legal" children, we have to cover the "illegal" ones too. Sounds messed up but it's real.

Still not too sure? Watch this video posted by the White House video posted last August 22, 2009 as part of Obama's weekly address - via The Uptake:

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The transcript of this video was posted later as an article by Real Clear Politics

Debunking Phony Health Care Claims
By President Barack Obama

Each and every day in this country, Americans are grappling with health care premiums that are growing three times the rate of wages and insurance company policies that limit coverage and raise out-of-pocket costs. Thousands are losing their insurance coverage each day.

Without real reform, the burdens on America's families and businesses will continue to multiply. We've had a vigorous debate about health insurance reform, and rightly so. This is an issue of vital concern to every American, and I'm glad that so many are engaged.

But it also should be an honest debate, not one dominated by willful misrepresentations and outright distortions, spread by the very folks who would benefit the most by keeping things exactly as they are.

So today, I want to spend a few minutes debunking some of the more outrageous myths circulating on the internet, on cable TV, and repeated at some town halls across this country.

Let's start with the false claim that illegal immigrants will get health insurance under reform. That's not true. Illegal immigrants would not be covered. That idea has never even been on the table. Some are also saying that coverage for abortions would be mandated under reform. Also false. When it comes to the current ban on using tax dollars for abortions, nothing will change under reform. And as every credible person who has looked into it has said, there are no so-called "death panels" - an offensive notion to me and to the American people. These are phony claims meant to divide us.

And we've all heard the charge that reform will somehow bring about a government takeover of health care. I know that sounds scary to many folks. It sounds scary to me, too. But here's the thing: it's not true. I no sooner want government to get between you and your doctor than I want insurance companies to make arbitrary decisions about what medical care is best for you, as they do today. As I've said from the beginning, under the reform we seek, if you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor. If you like your private health insurance plan, you can keep your plan. Period.

Now, the source of a lot of these fears about government-run health care is confusion over what's called the public option. This is one idea among many to provide more competition and choice, especially in the many places around the country where just one insurer thoroughly dominates the marketplace. This alternative would have to operate as any other insurer, on the basis of the premiums it collects. And let me repeat - it would be just an option; those who prefer their private insurer would be under no obligation to shift to a public plan.

The insurance companies and their allies don't like this idea, or any that would promote greater competition. I get that. And I expect there will be a lot of discussion about it when Congress returns.

But this one aspect of the health care debate shouldn't overshadow the other important steps we can and must take to reduce the increasing burdens families and businesses face.

So let me stress them again: If you don't have insurance, you will finally have access to quality coverage you can afford. If you do have coverage, you will benefit from more security and more stability when it comes to your insurance. If you move, lose your job, or change jobs, you will not have to worry about losing health coverage. And we will set up tough consumer protections that will hold insurance companies accountable and stop them from exploiting you with unfair practices.

We'll prohibit insurance companies from denying coverage because of a person's medical history. They will not be able to drop your coverage if you get sick. They will not be able to water down your coverage when you need it most. They will no longer be able to place some arbitrary cap on the amount of coverage you can receive in a given year or a lifetime. We'll place a limit on how much you can be charged for out-of-pocket expenses, because no one in America should go broke because they get sick.

And we will require insurance companies to cover routine checkups and preventive care, like mammograms and colonoscopies. There's no reason we shouldn't be catching diseases like breast cancer and colon cancer on the front end. That makes sense, it saves lives, and it will also save money over the long-run. Taken together, the reforms we're seeking will help bring down skyrocketing costs, which will mean real savings for families, businesses, and government.

We know what a failure to act would bring: More of the same. More of the same exploding costs. More of the same diminished coverage. If we fail to act, the crisis will grow. More families will go without coverage. More businesses will be forced to drop or water down their plans.

So we can push off the day of reckoning and fail to deal with the flaws in the system, just as Washington has done, year after year, decade after decade. Or we can take steps that will provide every American family and business a measure of security and stability they lack today.

It has never been easy, moving this nation forward. There are always those who oppose it, and those who use fear to block change. But what has always distinguished America is that when all the arguments have been heard, and all the concerns have been voiced, and the time comes to do what must be done, we rise above our differences, grasp each others' hands, and march forward as one nation and one people, some of us Democrats, some of us Republicans, all of us Americans.

This is our chance to march forward. I cannot promise you that the reforms we seek will be perfect or make a difference overnight. But I can promise you this: if we pass health insurance reform, we will look back many years from now and say, this was the moment we summoned what's best in each of us to make life better for all of us. This was the moment when we built a health care system worthy of the nation and the people we love. This was the moment we earned our place alongside the greatest generations. And that is what our generation of Americans is called to do right now.

There we have it. Even though president Obama hasn't delivered all his promises as some of us would like to, but in this case he is being very clear about the health care issue. Remember that it's a crime for a U.S. president to lie to the government and to the American people.

oh the illegal aliens... no one cares about their health...

It is sad that people without documents won't be covered by this plan, but if that's what will take for selfish individuals to support this reform, then be it. Now can you please repeat after me: "No undocumented immigrants will be covered by health insurance under the health care reform." Go and tell your friends.


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Four years after Katrina: a conversation with James Perry candidate for Mayor of New Orleans in 2010

August 29, 2005: Category 5 hurricane Katrina hits the Gulf of Mexico coast and destroys most cities on its path, being New Orleans the biggest one: its population will suffer the consequences for years to come, even today.

James Perry is an attorney and a fair housing advocate who is running as a candidate for Mayor of New Orleans, with the Democratic Party. I met Mr. Perry at the Netroots Nation 2009 conference and I had a brief conversation about his ideas to rebuild New Orleans, the city where he grew up and where he lives now even after his home was destroyed by hurricane Katrina.

Photos and video Carlos A. Quiroz

Four years after Katrina, most of New Orleans is still destroyed. The city shows what James Perry calls “an unsuccessfully recovery” and there is an urgent need to restore public safety, increase accessible housing, and to rebuild many neighborhoods that haven’t recovered at all. In his website Perry states:

According to recent surveys, more than 76,000 of our properties are vacant and/or blighted. That translates to approximately 35% of the total unique addresses sitting vacant today. This by far is the highest per capita of any city in the nation. With the city at only 75% of our pre-Katrina population…

In this video James Perry also mentions that New Orleans needs a reform of its criminal justice system –this actually is a national urgency- and better access for working class people to decent housing, as finally a plan for economic development.

In a note apart, James Perry mentioned also the importance of internet in politics as “extremely important” as he uses it in his current job dealing with public housing, and in his campaign. “The beauty of it is that unlike radio and TV it creates an interactive communication,” he added.

Visit James Perry's website and his Twitter.

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The first time I met Senator Ted Kennedy

The first time I met Senator Ted Kennedy was during one of the first rallies that started that historical immigration reform campaign that spread around all the United States in 2006. Edward Kennedy spoke at the National Mall in Washington, DC, on April 10, that year, in front of a few hundreds of people who came out from the shadows defeating fear and were tired of abuses.

I was there shocked standing in front of the Capitol building, thinking about how much our communities were changing and how important it was to see one of the most influential U.S. politicians of our times, standing in front of us giving us his enormous support.

When I first arrived to this country, most of my relatives would beg me not to be vocal if I ever saw any kind of abuses -they knew I was very outspoken- or if I ever run into a situation with the police or immigration agents. Although I was lucky to come to this country with documents, but in my relatives' minds it was better to stay silent if I witnessed abuses against those without papers. For years I followed their advice, until I saw friends being arrested and deported for being brown skinned.

The 2006 immigration reform movenent was truly a grass roots initiative that inspired all Americans in some way, and one of the first Congressmembers and politicians to step up and support it was Ted Kennedy. I heard him, I heart him.

The night when Senator Kennedy passed away I planned on writing this, but I preferred not to. I didn't want to present myself as opportunistic like mainstream media are: praising the man when he is already gone to another life.

But today I wanted to say thank you to senator Kennedy for one special reason: you inspired me when you extended your hand to greet me in 2006, you inspired me when you was one of the first leaders to support Barack Obama in 2008. Your words in the DC rally made me want to fight for justice in this country, your support meant that yes, there are good white American politicians out there and some are actually honest and well intentioned.

Today I praise the man who truly caused an impact on many Americans, born in this country or not, we feel we are part of this nation out of admiration and pride of having leaders like you, Senator Ted Kennedy. Thank you.


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La Familia [DC Boys] playing Afro Dominican music in the streets of Washington DC - Video

Photos and video by Carlos A. Quiroz

Last Monday I was walking by the new Civic Plaza in Columbia Heights, taking photos for the previous post, and then I run into a friend who introduced me to these guys: a group of young musicians of Afro Dominican heritage, who are members of a local Pentecostal church who had decided to seat down and play some music live in the new plaza.

Rapidly, I took my video camera and made this video, with their permission of course. This amateur group is called La Familia, but one of the members told me they are thinking about starting a new group called DC Boys. If you want to contact them, let me know:

My only thought: I am really happy to see young men in DC doing arts in the streets, instead of you know what: crime and all that crap. When these guys were playing, some younger kids -mostly African Americans- stopped by and watched from a distance in disbelief.


The diversity of Washington, DC, you've got to love it.


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Photos of new Columbia Heights plaza: ongoing construction at 14th Street and Park Road NW

Those of us who live in the Columbia Heights neighborhood of Washington, DC -and surrounding areas- have witnessed the impressive changes this neighborhood is seeing in the last couple of years: new condo buildings, renovated houses, new supermarkets and businesses opening, a new population moving in.

All of this has also meant for the cost of living to keep rising, which has forced working class residents to move to cheaper areas in the city's poorest suburbs. It’s called gentrification, which for some can be a good solution for the city, and for others it’s unfair and wrong.

One of these improvements is what the DC government's Department of Transportation (DDOT) calls the “Columbia Heights Public Realm”:

The Columbia Heights Public Realm project is the culmination of years of planning by the District Department of Transportation in partnership with Columbia Heights residents and ANCs. This ambitious project, which launches in September of 2008, represents an ambitious effort to implement consistent, practical, and esthetically pleasing urban landscape elements in what can best be described as the heart of the city, Columbia Heights.

The project will be rolled out in two phases. Phase 1 will focus on the area surrounding the intersection of 14th Street and Park Road, NW. The centerpiece of Phase 1 will be completion of a public park featuring a unique fountain/public gathering venue. The plan also calls for reconstruction and paving of roads and sidewalks, and the installation of new lighting and street furniture. Phase 2 of the project will focus on infrastructure and streetscape improvements on 14th Street, NW between Columbia Road and Newton Street, NW.

The “public park featuring a unique fountain/public gathering venue” is described as the Columbia Heights Civic Plaza in this report (PDF file) and when finished, it will definitely look good. Check these photos of what it looks like now, and some images of the final project:

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Photos by Carlos A. Quiroz and DDOT

Located at the corner of 14th Street and Park Road, NW, this space used to an empty lot which I think belonged to Metro and was used by homeless people and it looked terrible. By the time the new condo buildings were built around 2006 (?), it became a public space with a simple design consisting of nice skinny young trees and gravel stones:

Photos by Google Maps

Finally the new plaza new design construction started in September 2008. When will it be ready? I don’t know but will try to find out, but I would say this can be ready in few weeks.


It's true that gentrification has affected the lives of many poor people, but everyone should agree that the living conditions of the Columbia Heights neighborhood are improving. It's clear that these renovations are occurring because there are richer neighbors coming to the area. I only can say that I am glad to see the city investing in public spaces because at the end of the day, we all can use them and honestly I can’t wait to see the ending results with families and children running around. It should be nice.

Now, if the DDOT could only do this kind of urban remodelations in the "other" parts of the DC. That should be nice too.

Update: I feel bad. As I was writing about this project a crime occurred in that site this afternoon: a man was shot and he is hospitalized right now. I guess the streets looking good is not going to stop violence.

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Hip Hop icon Paradise Gray on violence in Black and Brown communities and role of Internet activism: "Put your feet on ground and show them love"

Paradise Gray is one of the first DJs in the history of the Hip Hop movement, and he is a true legend for urban culture in NYC. He grew up in South Bronx –where Justice Sonia Sotomayor is from, he says it proudly- and today he is a community activist based in Pittsburgh with 1Hood.org

In this video that we recorded at the Netroots Nation 2009 conference, Paradise Gray talks about today’s Hip Hop and how was in its origins and what is happening today with the mainstream record companies influence. Also he talks about the culture of violence that is invading our Black and Brown communities and he says we are facing a true war, by killing our youth for drugs and money.

Paradise Gray say to end violence in our hoods, people need to know who we are and then we will be able to love ourselves, love humanity and our neighbors. He mentions the role of men in the community and how we can help our youth to change them, bring them back into society, show them love and that someone cares about them, that they can have a decent life.

Paradise said that anyone can help our own communities and promote change in our neighbors by reaching out one person at a time.

Finally, and most importantly Paradise talks about the internet activism, which he says we need to keep doing by informing online of what really is happening around us, but is also necessary to work directly with people “put your feed on the ground, get off your ass and show some love.”

More info on Paradise Gray:
MySpace.com/ParadiseGray
1Hood.org

Thank you Paradise Gray! for taking the time to talk to me, and for your honest and powerful message. I also believe we all can help our communities and we can do wonderful things by just acting in our direct environment. We don't need to be waiting for the governments to solve everything. It's a matter of loving life and humanity as you said well.

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Afro Colombian Mural in DC to be inaugurated on September 12 with free community event

My friends Yensi and Marino informed me that artist muralist Joel Bergner is finishing a mural dedicated to the Afro Colombian community in Washington, DC, honoring their struggle for justice and their unique cultural heritage and contributions to this city.

This beautiful mural -see Marino's photos included here- is dedicated to the Afro descendants displaced by Colombia's internal violence in recent years and who have settled in the District and the the VA, MD suburbs.


The mural is located in the alley at the 1300 block of U Street NW (next to Polly's Cafe) almost at the corner with 14th Street NW. According to Joel Bergner, it will be inaugurated in two weeks if everything works out with needed city's permits.

I spoke to Joel Bergner yesterday because I wanted to write about his work in my blog. Joe says he is planning on inaugurating the mural by Saturday September 12, 2009 around 5:00 PM with a free community event with the participation of the local Afro Colombian community. Currently Bergner is looking for a city permit to hold such ceremony.

I know the DC government is working already to allow the use of the necessary space for that ceremony so that expenses can be reduced for the artist, and also so that neighborhood residents can participate.

Bergner has also painted the murals at the Latin American Youth Center and several others located around DC, which have been praised by residents and local media. Visit his website for more info. Also check out what Prince of Petworth has wrote about him.

By the way, perhaps you had seeing last year the Obama car around the DC streets: Joel Bergner painted it. I took these photos of the colorful car on January 1 as I was walking by Mount Pleasant Street NW. Nice.

Something to think about: Afro Colombians represent almost one third of the total population of Colombia, a country that is facing a civil war for the last 60 years, with an increasing violence in the last years due to the presence of Colombian military, paramilitary and guerrilla groups.

This violence have forced Afro descendants and Indigenous peoples to leave their lands, especially in the last years. There are about 4 million displaced people in Colombia, and this is the worst humanitarian crisis in the planet after Sudan and Congo.

Why haven't you heard much about this in the news? That's another topic worth a post in this blog. As a matter of fact, if you come to this event, you will hear what is like growing up in Colombia, if you happen to be black.

Update - Joel Bergner has confirmed:

You are invited to

The Afro-Colombian Mural
Inauguration Event!

Saturday, September 12, 2009
from 5:00 to 7:00pm

Location: The alley next to 1344 U Street NW (at 14th St.)
One block from the U St. Metro Station

Come celebrate the creation of this important new mural by DC artist Joel Bergner, with the input and inspiration of 7 members of DC’s Afro-Colombian community.

This is a 100% FREE public event featuring:

• Live Afro-Colombian music.
• Afro-Colombian dance presentation by DC’s own Tangaré group.
• Traditional food.
• Speeches about Human Rights in Colombia by Afro-Colombian activist Marino Córdoba and others.

Information:
(415) 845- 2699
joeljoel88@yahoo.com

Sponsored by:
DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities

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Secretary Janet Napolitano on immigration: her record shows trend of useless and racist policies

Homeland Security secretary Janet Napolitano presents herself as a law enforcer and a practical bureaucrat who thinks that current immigration legislation is wrong but is there to be respected, without much questioning.

Napolitano's record -as a former U.S. attorney, Arizona governor and now as the DHS secretary- shows that when it comes to immigration she bases her decisions in an obsolete legislation and radical views, rather than caring about human rights and the safety of vulnerable individuals, including women and children.

When president Barack Obama appointed Janet Napolitano, I knew that an immigration legislation reform –an electoral promise made by Obama as a candidate- wasn’t going to be accomplished very easily. Napolitano hasn’t showed commitment to take on that important step, and she represents the continuation of the failed Bush policies only now presented in a different way, as she said to the LA Times recently:

Some of this is not Bush policy. It's the law. The underlying complaint is that we are simply enforcing the law. Because people are unhappy with the underlying law doesn't mean that we are not going to enforce it… What we are doing is smart and I think very effective enforcement.

Meet the DHS Secretary

Never married and with not family or children of her own, Janet Ann Napolitano is rumored to be a lesbian -nothing to criticize about-and she shares a militarized and paranoid vision on what the U.S. government should do in order to protect its borders, and mostly when it comes to undocumented immigration. Her obsession with securing borders got into ridiculous levels when she recently said that the September 11 attackers entered the U.S. from Canada.

Photo by L.A. Times

What secretary Napolitano doesn’t want to admit publicly is that the same anti-immigrant policies she defends and enforces faithfully, are part of the problem she pretends to solve. To understand the current DHS secretary is important to know about her life, her career in politics coming from the U.S. federal Judiciary system, her work in Arizona and her background as an attorney:

Napolitano was born in New York of parents of Italian heritage; but raised in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and Albuquerque, New Mexico. She is a registered Democrat politician and a two-term governor of Arizona, from 2002 to 2008.

In 1993, Napolitano was appointed by president Bill Clinton as the U.S. General Attorney for the District of Arizona, one year before NAFTA was signed -the free traded deal that increased 10 times undocumented immigration from Mexico to the U.S- and in 1998 she ran as Arizona Attorney General, an office she held until 2002 when she was elected as the Arizona governor –with the support of racist sheriff Joe Arpaio. She was reelected in 2006 by a huge margin after she proved her supports for a tougher immigration enforcement, including building the infamous Border Wall.

Janet Napolitano was appointed as the Secretary of Homeland Security by president Barack Obama, assuming office on January 21, 2009. This action was a bid disappointment for many advocated of a comprehensive immigration reform because Napolitano is seeing as a tough enforcer not a humanist reformer.

Arizona: God enriches?

Arizona is said to be the fastest growing state in the U.S. and is also one of the youngest. A land of Indigenous peoples invaded first by the Hispanics in the XVI century, it became part of Mexico in 1821 dividing the Tohono O’odham indigenous people land between two countries. In 1848 the U.S. invaded the region and took it over, but Arizona became an official state in 1912, only 97 years ago.

With a population of 58.4% whites in 2008 -according to the U.S. Census- but with an increasing brown community who are Indigenous peoples both American and Mexicans (wrongly called Hispanics), Arizona is now a true laboratory state for militarized anti-immigration U.S. policies, and a point where drugs, guns and human trafficking occur every day.

The main concern of anti immigrant racist groups in Arizona might be a result of their location, right next to Mexico. They might not want that state to become like California, where white people are now a minority. But it’s already late because over half of Arizona’s children are non-white.

Racist people in Arizona –and their allies- have forgotten that white people are descendants of European immigrants, many of whom came to this country undocumented. This is perhaps the case of Janet Napolitano herself as she descends from Italian immigrants who faced the same racism her policies are promoting today, in the days when Arizona was created.

Last but not least, Arizona is used as an important base for mafias involved in illegal trafficking of people, guns and drugs. This increasing business is destroying the Mexican state and killing thousands of Mexican citizens:

As the number 1 user of illegal drugs in the world and the largest provider of illegal weapons to Mexican Drug Cartels, the U.S. has culpability in these Drug Wars. Law-enforcement officials say gun dealers in Arizona and other southern border states provide three-quarters (MSNBC reports 95%) of the black-market firearms to Mexico, a nation that strictly controls gun ownership. Phoenix is considered a hub for illegal exportation of AK-47s, SKS rifles, .50-caliber rifles and other weapons favored by narcotics gangsters.

Manufacturers of armaments are behind all international wars, conflicts and the illegal use of arms. They are precisely those are who support strongly the Republic party and conservative Democrats like Napolitano.


Napolitano’s record: expensive and racist anti-immigrant policies

Janet Napolitano might be hiding something behind her apparent devotion to the law. Her actions show a racist pattern causing innocent non-white people to suffer the consequences of the DHS inhuman policies, every day.

Most of the people who are incarcerated, tortured, deported by the U.S. government are both Indigenous and Afro descendant peoples –some of them even are U.S. citizens- and they have to endure inhumane conditions in detention centers, including children. It’s the right thing to do because that is the law, Napolitano thinks so.

Border Wall

As the Arizona governor, Janet Napolitano has supported –by actions more than words- the ridiculously expensive and useless Border Wall, a 700 miles security complex of fences, cameras, and virtual technology that would cost over $49 billion dollars to build and maintain over a 25-year life cycle. This wall initiative was included in the Secure Fence Act passed by George W. Bush in October 2006, with strong support from Congress.

This wall has proven to reduce undocumented immigration, but it has failed to stop it. Initially, Janet Napolitano showed concern about the wall but her actions showed differently. Her record on immigration as a governor of Arizona is praised by the conservative UVA School of Law:

More than 2,400 National Guard troops now man the shared border with Mexico, the frontlines of the war on illegal immigration. While Arizona Republican Party members accuse their governor of being soft on immigration, Napolitano has entered into aggressive law enforcement agreements with the governor of Sonora, Mexico, the state that borders Arizona. She has declared a state of emergency in certain Arizona counties so that troops could man the border. She has worked with President Bush and Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff on the Secure Border Initiative, the nation’s comprehensive multi-year plan to secure America’s borders and reduce illegal migration. Preferring substance over symbol, she says of the proposed 700-mile U.S-Mexico border fence approved by Congress, “You show me a 50-foot wall, and I’ll show you a 51-foot ladder.”

Napolitano went on to promptly enforce the Secure Border Initiative, not only as governor but today as the head of DHS. The blog No Border Wall reports this month:

So far, Congress has given the Department of Homeland Security $3.1 billion. […] As of July 17, DHS claims to have completed 331 miles of “pedestrian fencing” and 302 miles of vehicle barriers.

Of course most of this funding will go to private contractors –Republican allied get into the picture again- and instead of stopping undocumented immigrants, it will kill civilians.


287g Program and Joe Arpaio

Janet Napolitano has openly supported sheriff Joe Arpaio, who abuses of mostly-Native immigrants in a daily basis, by incarcerating them under abusive conditions in Arizona's Maricopa county. Arpaio has been sued over racial profiling of Indigenous people called Latinos, reported the ACLU.

Sheriff Arpaio is acting under the legal frame of the racist 287g Program -a legislation passed by the Clinton administration- which directs federal funds to local police in order to enforce immigration law, while racially targeting immigrants mostly Native peoples. Please read more of the horrendous stories behind racist Arpaio abuses and ask yourself why is the Obama administration allows this to happen.

Meanwhile, the Arpaio model is being copied in other cities across the U.S. Only after protests from civil rights groups, the U.S. Congress held a hearing last April on police abuses enforcing immigration laws and the sheriff Arpaio case, but nothing was done to change such legislation.

The abuses of the 287g Program are summarized by a report of late blogger and political columnist Tim A. Chavez –rest in peace- when a mother and her newborn child were separated and hurt by 287g in Nashville, Tennessee. Even though reports of abuses of this kind are dennounced all over the country, neither secretary Napolitano nor president Obama have stopped this program, but they are actually expanding it:

Napolitano revised the rules of the 287(g) program, a federal program that authorizes local, state and county police forces to do certain immigration enforcement actions in coordination with ICE, the federal government’s immigration enforcement agency. The revision was intended to deal with widespread complaints about the program encouraging police to harass and racially profile Latino people, with the well known situation of Sheriff Joe Arpaio of Maricopa County, Arizona, being the tip of the iceberg. Napolitano also announced that the program will be expanded to include more police departments. But it is difficult enough under the best of circumstances to prevent police from engaging in racial profiling and racially or ethnically based harassment, as we were reminded by the Henry Louis Gates incident.

More empty promises

Last week, Napolitano met with 130 immigration reform advocates and employers from big corporations at the White House. The meeting included White House officials and DHS staff members. Not specific results came out of the event, only promises heard before. The National Immigration Forum reports with a hopeful and politically correct tone:

President Obama and Secretary Napolitano remain committed to comprehensive immigration reform, know that enforcement of our out-dated laws alone is no solution, and understood when we told them that pro-reform constituencies are growing impatient. They both know that reforming the immigration system is the best way to achieve control over immigration, establish legality, and enhance security.

We were there to tell Secretary Napolitano that she needs to take a leadership role in building support for comprehensive immigration reform on Capitol Hill and with the American public. She told us she understands she has to do a better job communicating and a more consistent job of leading, but we need to see action to be sure she really got the message.

The President is clear that he wants immigration reform to move forward this year so that we can pass a bill early next year. To do that, we need to see more motion from Congress and more push from Secretary Napolitano. We hope to see detailed congressional proposals shortly after recess.

By the way, racist anti-immigrant group Heritage Foundation was not invited to the meeting. They didn't miss out much: this can be just another trick to calm down the pro-immigrant movement, which is growing nationwide as most American citizens now support it.

Blogger activist Kyle De Beausset, who is an immigrant and son of U.S. citizens wrote this recently:

Specifically, Secretary Napolitano should be asked why DHS has not severed its contract with Arpaio (Napolitano’s hometown sheriff), and why DHS opted last week to expand a failed experimental Bush immigration enforcement policy that has demonstrably resulted in mass racial profiling. [...]

I recognize that the Obama administration has a lot on its plate with health care reform, climate change, education, and many other issues I'm anxiously awaiting action on. That, however, does not give the Obama administration the excuse to continue to allow the DHS to terrorize migrants with the remains Bush-era migrant enforcement apparatus. The people voted for change on U.S. migration policy and Obama has only given us much of the same.

Every time Janet Napolitano is asked about an immigration reform, she only talks about one side of the story: law enforcement, but she hardly ever takes responsibility for the tragedies with people dying every day:

The American people have to have confidence that whatever is done will be carried out, that we won't adopt a bill and then not enforce it over the next 20 years. But as we build that confidence, and we will, part of what we are doing is saying that we need to have smart enforcement of our laws. [...]

Immigration reform is not simple, but it can be accomplished, and Napolitano believes it can be done on a bipartisan basis. It is going to require an end to the rhetoric, a stop to the politics.

Napolitano is not to be trusted. Her public record speak of a very disturbing racist insensitive pattern, which should be stopped by president Obama immediately. The president of the U.S. has the executive power to stop incarcerations and deportations of undocumented workers, today and at this very moment.

Napolitano doesn't want to admitt that laws are not perpetual and they are meant to be changed with time, as societies evolute as well. For instance, Native Americans weren't allowed citizenship until 1924, and if Janet Napolitano were born by the time Arizona was anexed to the United States, she would not have the right to vote.

A reform of the current immigration legislation will require a difficult fight against hateful racist groups, and those who are misinformed about the benefits of legalizing 12 million workers and their families. In this regard, secretary Janet Napolitano is doing a terrible job by focusing on attacking civilians who are struggling to improve their lives, instead of promoting a healthy debate by educating the public.

With an immigration reform, the Obama administration has the opportunity of changing this country's history. Napolitano herself needs to be reminded of the past and the awful consequences that racist U.S. government policies has caused on humanity before. Especially on the oppressed Indigenous peoples of this continent, which is the same people she is prosecuting today.



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Latino caucus at Netroots Nation 2009 ended with uncalled personal attacks: watch video and my version of what really happened

Update: let me clarify that I wrote this post and published this video in order to end a controversy that I really wish it never happened. I hope this will end this situation, for the best of every blogger involved.

Christopher Beam seemed like a nice and cool guy in person when I met him at Netroots Nation 2009. @JCBeam wrote this paragraph for the Slate magazine, as part of his article titled "OverKos. I attended every event at Netroots Nation 2009. Here's what I found."

Less practical but more social were the meet-ups—events where bloggers and activists could meet the like-minded (or -dressed or -skinned or -aged). Some of these, like the Latino Caucus, descended into recriminations over an esoteric blog spat.

Beam is not too far from reality, but not quite close neither. Firstly, my blog Carlos in DC is not esoteric [=)] at least not intentionally. Secondly, the Latino Caucus was not a like-minded, -dressed, -skinned, or -aged meet up. It was actually a reflection of what happens when you force people into a fake identity: that was a group of individuals trying to impose their own agenda. It turned out to be the only stressful event I attended at NN09.

When I walked in the room 310, the meeting was almost ending but I felt a negative energy in the place -just being esoteric here. I heard arguments and pointless discussions among folks. At the end, I raised my hand to remind the attendees of the need for us to increasing awareness of our Indigenous and African roots in the so called Hispanic community. Some agreed.

Then, Maegan Ortiz aka Mamita Mala and Nazua aka The Unapologetic Mexican, started a circus around me. This developed into false accusations and created a sad scene that kept many talking about afterward. Megan accused me of things I didn't do, plain simple and Nazua intervened to do the same, or at least he tried.

How dare you criticize me!

Everything started almost a year ago when I criticized Vivir Latino blog's content and its design, back in August 25, 2008. This is what I wrote at the "Latino blogs at the Democratic Party Convention in Denver" post:

But as a good party pooper I am -ask my friends- here are some observations I have on each blog:

• VivirLatino written by Maegan Ortiz and Estevan Montemayor from NYC and California, this blog is fully written in English, sometimes Spanglish. This is mostly a blog that has comments about mainstream news. It can be fun to read, but almost nothing of its content is actually created by its authors. Mostly copy and paste of what you can find on most gossipy media.

I don't like: its content reinforces stereotypes about "latinos" as if we were one homogeneous ethnic and cultural group, but Megan puts a lot of effort on letting everyone know she is Puertorican. I have a feeling that its authors are very conservative when it comes to Latin American politics. They add this "ghettoish" way to write Spanglish, intended to make you laugh, I think. They focus too much on mainstream "latino" media, and little on community, real life news. The blog design is a bit boring.

What I like: They keep their blog updated about current issues in a daily basis, and yes always have something interesting that catches my attention.

As you can see, I didn't criticize Maegan as an individual but she took personal offense... and kept it for so long. Fast forward to August 14, 2009: I'm at Netroots Nation and I hear someone speaking in Spanish while at the Pittsburgh convention center's steamy elevator:

- Me: Hi, are you a blogger? Very few Spanish speaking fellows here at Netroots.
- Megan: Yes I am, I write Vivir Latino [Here I thought: oh this should be interesting...]
- Me: Oh I read your blog, I'm Carlos in DC...
- Megan: OMG you are the one who attacked me!

Megan and Nazua started saying things about me. Next thing, the elevator doors opened and I asked Maegan: can I interview you in a video? and she said yes. This is what happened then: Maegan accused of things that really I just couldn't believe. Please pay attention to weird-acting Nazua and how he promotes negativity, just the same way he was hijacking the discussion at the Latino Caucus:

Mamita Mala = little bad mama
Mamita Buena = little good mama

Reactions

Megan wrote a whole piece about me in Vivir Latino and she posted it right before the Latino caucus on Saturday August 15 at 8:40am. The post again accuses me of things that I never did, and it portrays me as a really bad person, all of which attracted the attention of her readers. Maegan uses her persona to antagonize me as a monster: she is a woman then I'm chauvinist; she is Puerto Rican then I hate Boriquas; she speaks Spanglish then I hate it. All non sense. She went too far by accusing me of making her feel unsafe:

This experience set a tone for me that has left me feeling unsafe. I can remember when the encounter went down people were around watching pero were people doing anything other than observing? The next day, the blogger in question stood in front of me offering me chips at a movie screening. I and one other person told him to just stay out of my face.

Maegan, dear I was trying to be polite at the film screening and when you and Nazua passed by me early on while screaming "Caaarlooos..." in a tone that -if I were as paranoid- anyone would think of it as homophobic, I didn't take offense.

Nazua also has mentioned me as "People who have stood out in the short time so far are... and some cat named Carlos—tho the last not for such positive reasons. " and in another post he talks about some "elevator assaults".

Enough

This whole thing to me is a useless conflict created by two people who don't like me for some reason, and which has been bad for me: it was my first time meeting other bloggers at the Latino caucus -talk about first impressions- and this saddens and upsets me.

As bloggers we tend to criticize others for different reasons -that's a big part of blogging anyways- so we must be ready and willing to take on criticism too, whatever the intentions we might have. I find it very unhealthy that someone can shout false accusations so easily in a level that really is concerning.

For my blog post, I already apologized to Megan even though I don't think I gave her reasons to feel offended, not intentionally. By the way, here is what I really think about Puerto Ricans in NYC and discrimination.

To Nazua, I regret meeting you in this way because I used to think of you as a cool blogger when I read your blog, but this is not MTV. I will leave this debate at this post, but feel free to contact me if you have any questions.

To both of you: I wish you the best and keep blogging as your sites are important and needed. Hopefully we will meet again soon and this time I hope it will be in a different fashion. This drama has caused me already enough stress and three hours of work, perhaps we all can learn from this and grow up a bit. Adios.



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African American and Mexican racial division in California: radio host Davey D explains why Black and Brown peoples are getting divided

For centuries Afro descendants and Native peoples have coexisted in this continent, but today racial hatred between Black and Mexican populations seem to be increasing in California and other states in the U.S.

What is making African Americans and Latinos get divided? Meanwhile both communities seem to be hurt by racist policies in the U.S. I spoke with Davey D, a radio show host from Oakland, CA, about this concerning problem and what we all can do to solve it.

Racial division is promoted by media:
So called Latino media separated from African American media

Davey D participated at Netroot Nations 2009 conference as a panelist on "Mixtapes to Myspace: How Hip Hop Builds Movements" along with Rev. Lennox Yearwood, Jr., Paradise Gray, Kimberly "Dr. Goddess" Ellis and Jasiri X.

Photo by me

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The secrets of blogging: I interviewed Markos Moulitsas from DailyKos at Netroots Nation 2009

Markos Moulitsas Zúñiga is the founder of DailyKos, the most popular and most influential progressive blog in the United States. Also he is one of the organizers of Netroots Nation 2009, which is the biggest Internet activism and blogging conference in the U.S. and perhaps in the world.

Photo by me via Double Spirited

In this video, Markos Moulitsas talks about his background, his secret for success by creating DailyKos, the future of blogs and other Internet activism tools.

Also Moulitsas talks about the Obama administration -he being a registered Democrat blogger- and finally about the "Latino" vote with immigration reform as one of the current issues in American politics.

Markos Moulitsas seemed to be a very cool and modest person -unlike some other bloggers I met at NN09- and I appreciate that he stopped and talk to me, even when he was rushing on his way to hear former president Bill Clinton, during the first night of Netroots Nation 2009. Thanks Markos.

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After Netroots Nation 2009: photos of Day 1 at the NN09 Conference in Pittsburgh: Bill Clinton welcome keynote

Ok. I am not being quiet, but I am just working on videos, information and comments I have about the Netroots Nation 2009 [Twitter #NN09] conference this past week in Pittsburgh.

The event: great, well organized, racially segregated sometimes, very “progressive” but not so inclusive, I was there in a scholarship –thank you- and I learned a whole lot about social media, internet activism and ways the Democratic party is supporting bloggers and activists to change politics in the U.S. from their computers. From today, I will post photos, videos, comments.

Day 1

Thursday August 13

Here is the first bunch of pictures I took the first day of NN09. I will be right back with comments.

All photos are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 3.0 License United States License. Please attribute legal copies of this work to Carlos A. Quiroz.

Day 1 Bill Clinton in the house

These are images of the long, interesting, repeatitive and egocentric speech that former president Bill Clinton gave at NN09. The highlight would when gay activist Lane Hudson interrrupted Clinton on LGBT rights. Read here what Hudson wrote about it.





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Anderson Cooper makes fun of Native elder Joe Medicine Crow awarded by president Obama today

Anderson Cooper thinks is funny to disrespect a 95 years old wise Indigenous man by posting his photo and allowing racist, offensive comments. Today, Joe Medicine Crow -an elder, historian, author and a leader of the Crow nation in Montana- was presented with the Presidential Medal of Freedom by president Barack Obama and Cooper decided that his readers should get a laugh out it.


In his CNN blog Anderson Cooper 360 and his Facebook, Cooper has posted this photo of the moment when president Obama was placing the award on Joe Medicine Crow.

The facial expression of Obama is very disrespectful but what really disgustes me is the way Cooper uses it, promoting and allowing others to post racist and offensives jokes.

Cooper’s readers call Joe Medicine Crow assume he is smelling bad, they made fun of him being a medicine man and of his regalia, and they present him as some primitive figure, no one shows respect for the great leader he is. They just keep laughing at the photo and celebrate the offense with “awesome, nice, funny” adjetives.

STAFF WINNER:
Eli Lazar: Hey Medicine Man, have a cure for this Health Care heartache I am going thru?

VIEWER WINNER:
Roberta Jean, Long Island: The President soon realized that hiding the teleprompter in the headdress wasn’t fooling anyone.

In Facebook, Kc Wolter “there should have been a joke about a bad smell. thats what the picture is clearly communicating”.

In CNN, Isabel from Brazil wrote “Scientists get Wind of a flatulence-free bean.", Jon Niantic CT “President Obama introduces the tribal medicine part of his health plan!” and Joanne Osinkowski from Ontario, Canada “Skunk odor best way to clear out the SINUSES..:)”. That's not it, Victor from El Paso TX stated “Guess these Indians still don’t believe in bathing.” Michael Boland adds “Under the new Healthcare Reform Bill; Mandatory bathing will be added with a Home Healthcare nurse on duty daily.”

I wrote in Anderson Cooper FB:

Yeah make fun of our Native peoples, how cute, oh nooo thats not racist, thats f#@#d up! STOP DISRESPECTING A WISE INDIGENOUS MAN! Racism against the original peoples of this country is disgusting, you killed our ancestors, you slaved them and now you make fun of our elders. CUT IT OFF ANDERSON COOPER!

Keely Atf replied:

I am utterly disgusted and disappointed by the decision to have this photo as Anderson Cooper's photo caption contest. I am a fan of AC, but have reconsidered given this cheap attempt at humour which comes at the expense of what should have been a time for Indigenous people in America to be proud and to celebrate as one of our own is recognized ... Read Morewith such a high honour from President Obama. Once again, we are reduced to relics of the past, and our culture mocked. I agree with Carlos...."that's f#@#d up"!

Who would think is funny to offend and disrespect a Native leader who was awarded by the president? Just because he is wearing a non western regalia, for some racist people is enough to create this trashy media in order to laugh at our elders. I have report it the photo in Facebook, but it's still there.

Watch this video when Obama as Senator and candidate met with Joe Medicine Crow in August, 2008:

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Blogging from Pittsburgh: my first impressions about the Netroots Nation 2009 conference

I have invited to the Netroots Nation 2009 Conference, the biggest meeting for bloggers, social media and independent journalists, organizers, community strategists and internet activists. Hundreds of different programs are being scheduled in the four days of the event, president Bill Clinton will speak tonight.


The city of Pittsburgh is surrounded by green hills and its architecture is reminiscence of a rich old past, perhaps the signs of mining and manufacture factories before free trade. I arrived last night, most people here treat me with disdain and it takes a bit long for me to get acknowledged by the taxi driver or the hotel concierge. I am staying in downtown, close to the convention center where the conference started today.

All photos by me

When I walked in NN09 early today, the registration staff were practically just waking up, and I had to insist several times before I got my badge. My first panel has been “The Myth of Post Racial America” with Annabel Park (Liberty 9500), Rinku Sen and Rich Benjamin. The panel was interesting but they repeated the same concepts we who live in the U.S. and face racism in a daily basis, know very well.

However I had to speak out about the fact that most Americans –even those who fight against racism- still refuse to acknowledge the Native heritage of the Latin American immigrants, and keep calling us Hispanics or Latinos. I think my intervention was well taken as some people applauded me. Bottom line, I expressed that we are Indigenous peoples of this land, and that we must respect our history. Finally I stated that we all are racist at some point, and to demand the end of racism we must start with ourselves.

Most people I see today are in their 30's, mostly white people, they talk fast and everyone is on the run. I will post more info and photos later. Right now I am at the panel ”Politics, the Internet, and the Future of Public Life”, with political strategist, and someone from Facebook.


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President Obama new promise for an immigration reform can help reaching or crashing the dreams of millions

During the last presidential campaign I attended a voter registration rally organized by the Obama campaign at a middle school in northern Virginia. The event was held in order to increase the number of “Latino” voters in that state. I was there to meet George Lopez, the Mexican American comedian who was scheduled to speak among local politicians.

The rally was brief and hardly two hundred people showed up, not many actually registered to vote, for what I saw. Most of the people attending were teenagers excited about meeting Lopez, one of the few Brown artists in the U.S. mainstream media. Interesting enough, Lopez calls himself a Latino but he and most of the audience standing in front of him were Native peoples and Afro descendants from the U.S., Mexico, Central and South America.

Lopez delivered the usual jokes he is known for, including some that sounded racist and sexists; words like “ese negro” –that Black man- were used to describe Barack Obama. After his not so funny jokes ended, Lopez oriented his rehearsed speech towards one issue only: immigration reform. He said that Obama the candidate had told him that such reform would be a priority for his administration. In those days Obama had repeatedly promised that he would pass a comprehensive immigration reform in the first year of his term, if elected.

Since he arrived to the White House, president Obama has met occasionally with immigration reform advocates, after postponing those meetings several times. Yesterday and while in Mexico, president Obama promised again that an immigration legislation reform will be introduced to Congress this year, and some results might come by next year. Months ago, the same promises created hope and confidence, but this time Obama sounded apologetic and forced to speak by “the audacity” of the question given by a well articulated journalist.

We must remember that the unfortunate Bush years meant for undocumented immigrants more deportations, abuses, police brutality, empty promises and unrealistic solutions one after another. Hateful campaigns were launched by people who hide their racist and xenophobes ideas under a fake patriotism and concern about national security. Instead of helping to solve this problem by recognizing the contributions of undocumented workers, anti immigrant groups helped to increase this humanitarian crisis.

Homeland Security Department has become part of the problem too; under the rule of Janet Napolitano it has continued enforcing the current obsolete legislation by criminalizing, repressing and detaining workers and their families. These actions have destroyed families while promoting crime, inequality, human trafficking and racial divide. At the end, all the promises for an immigration reform have represented a true mockery of the tragedies that millions of people face daily, suffering of discrimination, labor abuse and even racist violence that have ended up in the killings of several immigrants.

waiting for true justice
Photo by Carlos A. Quiroz

When George Lopez finished his speech –more stereotypes and disrespecting references towards woman and children- some kids surrounded him to get his autograph. I was saddened to see that these children see such a mediocre comedian as a role model. At this point I tried to approach Lopez to record a video interview, but a couple of U.S. Secret Service agents –both of them white- stopped me from even getting close.

The show was over so the smiles became straight faces and suddenly I was held back, pushed and warned not to move forward. Here I was trying to support an event – I even made calls to local radio stations in Spanish to announce it- because I believed in the candidate Obama, but finally I treated as a criminal. What I felt at that moment perhaps is a bit similar to the feelings of millions of American citizens who see their relatives and friends being treated with cruelty, by a nation that claims to be the world’s leader of freedom and democracy.

Today, president Obama appeared on TV next to the new Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor who gave a dramatic but predictable speech about the opportunities she received from this country. A very nice show. Being the daughter of Puerto Rican nationals, Justice Sotomayor never faced the cruelty and violence that many Native immigrant families are facing today, because Puerto Ricans are U.S. citizens already.

With Sotomayor becoming the first ‘Nuyorican’ in the Supreme Court, some people have fallen to believe that such circus of cute speeches will bring real change to this country. In reality, justice in America seems to have a relative value depending on the race, class, origin and power of the individuals. Every minute, an undocumented worker gets abused, exploited, detained, incarcerated. Every single day American children witness as their parents are handcuffed and taken to prison. At this very moment some people are dying in the Mexico-U.S. border, and every day more undocumented immigrants cross over, searching for survival.

Meanwhile, there are some people who benefit from such injustice, both in the U.S. and in the countries where those immigrants come from, especially Mexico. This injustice is promoted by the obsolete American immigration legislation, but also by the economic policies dictated from Washington, DC. The rich elites of the Americas capture with their businesses the huge amounts of remittances sent by the hard working immigrants, but they also profit from the detention and deportation business.

President Obama spoke yesterday in Guadalajara standing next to president Felipe Calderon of Mexico –who got into power after corrupted elections- and free trade enthusiast Canada’s Prime Minister Stephen Harper. Obama appeared confident in his words but he remained silent about two important issues that must be included in any realistic immigration reform in this nation.

Firstly, there must be accountability from the U.S. government, as its economic and politic policies –especially free trade- have destroyed the livelihoods of millions of families living south of the border in the Americas. Secondly, it is necessary to acknowledge that this immigration crisis is a process that is part of human history: the peoples of the Americas, especially the Indigenous who have lived in this land before the U.S. was even created, are moving to other lands seeking for better opportunities to survive, the same way as our ancestors have done it since millennia.

That migrants must respect the national laws and borders, we agree, but when this country lures poor workers under a system that makes it impossible for them to migrate legally, then those policies are not the solution but the cause of the problem. This is a country created by undocumented immigrants, and it is absolutely outrageous to see the U.S. blinding itself in front of a shared responsibility. The original peoples of this continent are now treated as the foreigners in their land.

Meanwhile the U.S. Department of Homeland Security has become a heartless sheriff and punisher in a conflict that this country has partly created and promoted, in the first place. All of this happens with the complicity of the elites controlling countries like in Latin America where the governments keep expelling their poor, so they can come to the U.S. and work as servants and money senders.

As long as undocumented workers keep helping the world’s economy with their underpaid effort and cheap labor, their human rights will mean nothing to those who benefit from this unfair system. But if the United States wants to build a fair society where everyone can truly be seeing equal in front of the law, then a reform of the system is needed.

More promises were given yesterday by president Obama, but very few will believe them any longer. Sometimes this is how we learn to see the true face of people and in this case, of a whole nation. If president Obama really intends to make history and promote real change in this country, this is his best chance: to reform the immigration legislation by allowing honest and hard working people to become citizens of this country -while strengthen the borders at the same time- is a true revolution of consciousness and urgent humanitarian realism.


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