Politics

What to know how we feel? Let Carlos Andrés Gómez speak. Gómez performed "Juan Valdez" at the 2010 Yale Peabody Museum Poetry Slam. What exactly does a Hispanic look like? This is Gómez performing the piece at the Nuyorican.

Yesterday, Laredo Mayor Raul Salinas went on record to publicly condemn the viral "Sara Hates Laredo" YouTube video rant.   The Mayor called the video "offensive" and "racist," and makes a great case to how the young women in the video criticized bilingual citizens who live in Laredo. He also said, "As long as I […]

Marcos Lupara has a point. Just listen. Too bad this is not getting out some more, so we are sharing it here. Listen. Just preaching, he did this bit on the fly, but that is not the point. He's right. "Marcos talks about how Latinos need to acknowledge the positive members of our communities instead […]

What is going in Michigan? Looks like Peter Hoekstra, Michigan Republican candidate for Senate, took a political gamble that capitalizes on old, tired racist stereotypes against Asians. We won't say much since basically even some key leaders and pundits in Hoekstra's own GOP party are saying his Super Bowl ad and his Debbie Spend It […]

You would think that after the Arizona Girls Racist Video went viral, some people might reconsider about posting their rants on the public Internet. Guess not. That original video has been taken down by YouTube, but here is another version of the same video: As the YouTube profile who posted the original video said: "I […]

Most of the online world has moved on after the Work It "Puerto Rican Drug Dealer" fiasco helped to cause the show's cancelation after only two episodes. Yet, the grassroots group Boricuas For a Positive Image continues to demonstrate every Thursday night in front of ABC's New York headquarters. It appears that even if BFPI […]

The current quartet of mainstream GOP presidential candidates are all against the current version of the DREAM Act, now that Ron Paul has spoken out the proposed bill, which is supported by 91% of US Latino voters, according to a recent poll conducted by the Pew Research Center. Paul's decision to not support the DREAM […]

Tony Diaz, the leader of the Librotraficantes group, made an appearance this week on Al Jazeera in an extended segment called "Losing the Latino Vote." The segment tried to answer following: With each passing US election the Hispanic vote becomes more crucial to clinching the presidency. But does the Republican party risk alienating that constituency with its […]

If you want to see a detailed account of the ethnic studies controversy in Tucson Unified School District, the award-winning documentary "Precious Knowledge" is a good place to start. Precious Knowledge illustrates what motivates Tucson High School students and teachers to form the front line of an epic civil rights battle. Precious Knowledge is a […]

Is it possible to just have Arizona secede from the Union? Or at least see some of their "leaders" can get the "hell out of the country," to paraphrase Congressman Allen West? This week, KPHO out of Phoenix ran a story about Arizona state representative (and Republican) Cecil Ash, who suggested in on the floor of […]

The East Haven racial profiling case, which has been overshadow by taco comments and a resignation by the town's Police Chief, continues to get more complex, as the following Democracy Now report reveals. The report states that members of the East Haven police were not only racial profiling Latinos, they were working with ICE to […]

It was this immigration and migrant worker meme that got the Latino Rebels Facebook page over 37,000 likes and more than 31,000 shares in just a few days. This same picture also was the inspiration of many blog posts, including a feature piece in the Huffington Post's Latino Voices. We have always wanted to know […]

In the growing world of Latino alternative media, our friends at Pocho.com knocked it out of the park last night when Editor-in-Chief (and an Original Rebelde) Lalo Alcaraz made an appearance on MSNBC's Rachel Maddow show. The subject? Self-deportation, which has become a favorite them of the Mitt Romney camp these days, and the REAL […]

For Immediate Release An Open Letter to East Haven, CT Mayor Joseph Maturo Dear Mayor Maturo, When we first heard of your “taco” comments, we were alarmed, then somewhat relieved that at least you apologized. However, since then you gave another media interview, and again you offended Latinos with your comments and demonstrated that you are tone […]

It appears that the Tucson Unified School District's decision to no longer teach Mexican American Studies and prohibit certain books from even being taught (essentially a book ban) continues to find resistance from the community. Two weeks ago, The News Taco reported a detailed piece about a student protest in TUSD against the decision to […]

Looks like East Haven Mayor Joseph Maturo, who became an Internet star last week for his "taco" comments in light of four police officers arrested for racial profiling by the FBI, is talking again. Now he is getting into discussions of ethnicity and culture. This video ran in the Connecticut press and Maturo is taking […]

Chilean MC Ana Tijoux has done it again. If you're looking for Spanish rap with a political conscience and a definite edge, Tijoux's "La Bala" is it. After getting rave reviews for her first album, "1977" and being nominated for a Grammy, the tri-lingual lyricist's new album has already built a buzz and is set […]

This is what Illinois Congressman Luis Gutierrez posted today on his Facebook page:   GOP's Military-Only Version of the DREAM Act: A Political Ploy The latest Republican immigration political ploy is to force young people who are long-term residents of the U.S. — many of whom have U.S. citizen brothers or sisters — to serve […]

Florida Republican Congressman David Rivera has introduced the Adjusted Residency for Military Service (ARMS) Act, which in essence is a military-only version of the DREAM Act.     Here is the FACT SHEET that Congressman Rivera has made public:   The Adjusted Residency for Military Service (ARMS) Act will provide the opportunity to adjust the […]

January 26, 2012 Dear Governor Romney: We are a group of Latino Republicans invested in the growth of the economy and the support of Hispanic communities. Some of us have supported Newt Gingrich from the beginning of his campaign, and others of us have supported you. Our purpose here is to advise you that those […]

Today, GOP presidential candidate Newt Gingrich said on Fox News that his 2007 comments about English being the language of "prosperity" never specifically called out Spanish as the "language of living in the ghetto," and that his opponent Mitt Romney has been manipulating this fact in ads being run in Florida. Before getting to Gingrich's […]