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Google’s .SOY Domain Campaign Panders to Online Latin@s
So a story by EFE is telling the world that Google “has launched a new Web domain -.SOY- that is intended for members of the Hispanic community, touting it as the ‘place for Latinos online.’” We thought this was an Onion piece, but it is real. Google even has actual people signing up for the […]
‘Whose University? Our University:’ A Report on Racist Hate Crimes at UMass Amherst
UPDATE, October 20, 2014: An individual has been arraigned for a connection to both these incidents. You walk home from the library late night thinking about the paper you have to submit by midnight. You walk back from the gym pumped up because basketball season is starting soon. You walk back from the cafeteria missing […]
New York Daily News Changes Mariachi Cartoon, But Doesn’t Apologize
In case you missed this one, last weekend Mekahlo Medina, President of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists (NAHJ), wrote a post demanding an apology from The New York Daily News for the following editorial cartoon, which had caught the attention of NY1’s Roberto Lacayo: In that post, Medina wrote the following: When I first […]
The Power of Hip Hop and the Changing of the Guard in #FergusonOctober
Last weekend, thousands of people from all over the country came together in the St. Louis/Ferguson area to participate in a weekend of resistance that organizers called #FergusonOctober. For those that have been living under a rock for the last couple of months, the small town of Ferguson, Missouri, exploded in resistance after the cold-blooded […]
Working Families Say No More Drug War
This week, nearly 3.5 million working families took a stand against the devastating effects marijuana prohibition has had on the residents of Washington, D.C. SEIU, the nation’s largest private sector labor union, the UFCW and D.C. Working Families came out in support of D.C’s marijuana legalization initiative (Initiative 71) and took a stand against the discriminatory enforcement practices that target […]
Youth Take Soccer Field Fight to San Francisco City Hall… and Win
Last week, a tense video went viral, showing older dudes in Dropbox shirts telling younger kids in San Francisco’s Mission neighborhood to get off a soccer field because the older dudes had a permit. Today in City Hall, those kids and their supporters held a “Playground Is Not For Sale” rally that drew about 150 […]
Time to #RespectTheÑ Again: English-Language Media Can’t Handle Ñ in Peña’s Death
A few months ago, we reminded the Internet (specifically English-language media outlets) to #RespectTheÑ. The point is simple: a letter that might look weird to non-Spanish speakers, is actually pretty common to those who know Spanish. Yet, when you get the AP to tweet out the following, it leads to confusion and just plain editorial […]
There Is Now a ‘Whiteness Project’ and It’s Not a Joke
For a second, we really thought that the Whiteness Project was just an extension of the SNL skit about white people that got attention last week, but after doing a little more digging, the project is actually serious. According to the site, the Whiteness Project “is a multiplatform investigation into how Americans who identify as […]
The Bochinche on Cristela and Jane the Virgin
We are a mess over here. Crying. Laughing…too loud for our neighbors probably pero, bueno. When you live in the throes of the entertainment industry it’s hard to be hopeful about the future of television. And let me tell you, we radiate “hope.” We are hoping day and night, we hope in the morning, for […]
Not Again, Not in Bolivia
Mikhail Bakunin is believed to have said, “If you took the most ardent revolutionary, vested him in absolute power, within a year he would be worse than the Tsar himself.” The influential anarchist thinker was merely articulating a distinction between his anti-statist brand of libertarian socialism and the “dictatorship of the proletariat” prescription by Karl […]
A Spouse’s Plea for Her Soon to Be Deported Husband
Buffalo Field Office Director Michael T. Phillips has just denied a request for prosecutorial discretion which if granted, would have allowed Ben Sangari, a citizen of the United Kingdom, to apply for a green card pursuant to his marriage to his United States citizen spouse Arlita McNamee Sangari. Mr. Sangari entered the U.S. on May 30, […]
And in Louisiana, Democrat Mary Landrieu Gets All Neo-Nativist, Too
Who said that all Democrats are all in with Latino voters? Last night, we shared the reprehensible immigration ad by Democratic candidate for Senate Alison Lundergan Grimes that is being played in Kentucky. Today we share this ad by another Democrat: Louisiana Senator Mary Landrieu, who ran this ad a few weeks ago: This Democrat […]
Alison Lundergan Grimes: The Democrats’ Newest Immigration Neo-Nativist
The following official ad from the campaign of Democratic candidate for the Senate Alison Lundergan Grimes is quite simply as neo-nativist as the they come. When it comes to immigration, Grimes is running to the right of (wait for it) her Republican opponent, Mitch McConnell. Watch (h/t Buzzfeed). “I approve this message because I’ve never […]
Immigrant Man Threatened by Arizona Officer in Viral Video Meets with Police Chief
UPDATE, October 14, 2014: Diana Durán has uploaded the entire 12-minute video to YouTube. She also said via telephone today that her husband is now having problems at work because initial media report incorrectly stated that her husband was undocumented. She insists that he is not and that he has legal status in this country. […]
What Was Los Angeles County Supervisor Gloria Molina Thinking?
When Gloria Molina asked me and several other community representatives into a meeting two weeks ago, I was both nervous and hopeful. We had quickly mobilized for the supervisors’ meeting after learning that Los Angeles County was preparing to renew its 287(g) deportation agreement, a contract with immigration authorities to train Los Angeles law enforcement […]
Why I Don’t Celebrate Columbus Day
Today the city of Minneapolis will celebrate its first-ever Indigenous People’s Day, the same day that an observation of Christopher Columbus and the “discovery of the new world” is federally imposed. The initiative to rename the date is a clear attempt to recognize indigenous people as true natives of this land that, as a matter […]
UPDATE: Disturbing Video of Arizona Police Officer Threatening to Kill Immigrant
UPDATE: The full 12-minute video has been uploaded to YouTube, but then it was taken down. UPDATE: Our publisher reported that Sánchez and his family met with Buckeye’s Police Chief on the afternoon of October 13. UPDATE: The Buckeye Police Department released the following statement on its Facebook page this afternoon, Monday October 13, 2014: […]
The Tense Video Showing Older Guys Booting Younger Kids Off a San Francisco Soccer Field
UPDATE, October 13, 2014: Some apologies were made. It was still awkward. By now, you may or may not have seen the following viral video from San Francisco’s Mission neighborhood showing a confrontation between a bunch of younger (and mostly brown) soccer players being told by a bunch of older guys (and mostly white) soccer […]
Tejano Boots Are Marching… y estas botas votan
Politico recently ran a piece called “Hispanics Won’t Turn Texas Blue.” File it under the category of essays I call “Too Little, Too Soon.” These types of essays have three goals: Convince Latinos that their vote does not matter. Convince Republicans that they are doing better then miserable with Latinos. Dissuade Democrats from doing more to […]
Online Petition Calls for Removal of Knott’s Scary Farm ‘Day of the Dead Scare Zone’
An Change.org petition by Armando Cruz Velasco of Hesperia, California, is calling to get rid of a “Fiesta de los muertos” Scare Zone at Knott’s Scary Farm (part of the famous Knott’s Berry Farm theme park). Cruz Velasco’s petition says: For the last few years, Knott’s Scary Farm has had a Day of the Dead […]