May Day Rundown May 1, 2009
Posted by Adrien in news, the rundown.Tags: Arlen Specter, ASian Americans, Committee of 100, International Workers Day, Matthew Shephard Act, May Day, San Jose, swine flu, UC, University of California
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via Racewire
Happy May Day, a.k.a. International Workers Day!
May Day is a day of labor action in the U.S. and kos has a neat history of how the holiday came about today. Check out these perspectives on today’s rallies, immigration issues, and photos of happenings all across the country.
On a related note, unfortunately miseducated right-wing pundits are blaming the swine flu on immigrants, calling it the ‘Mexican Flu’.A deeper analysis that involves a look at reality suggests that we should call this infirmity the NAFTA Flu.
The Committee of 100 released a report titled Still the Other? The results of its surveys that showed that average Americans still think Asian Americans are not that American.
Oh and by the way, in case you have any doubts, recent changes in UC admissions policies would directly reduce the number of Asian Americans admitted to UCs. I guess that’s a Take that you smarty Asians from the unanimous vote by the UC Regents.
The House passed the Matthew Shephard Act, to include gender and sexuality under hate-crimes protection law, despite some ignorant statements by one legislator suggesting Matthew Shephard’s death was not a hate crime.
With this sudden rush of civil rights being granted to more people, and the switch of Senator Arlen Spector to the Democratic party, maybe the old anti-equality party is one step short of becoming fossil fuel.
In local news, my home town, San Jose just hit the million people mark! This just after I find out that San Jose has a more than two hundred year-old Chinatown, recently dug up from the ground. Unfortunately these two cool hits don’t knock down the sad news that my high school district has the second widest ethnicity-based achievement gap in the state.
The Rundown January 16, 2009
Posted by Adrien in news, the rundown.Tags: Clinton, economy, immigration, Mehserle, Oakland, Obama, Oscar Grant, Proposition 8, sex traficking
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Happy weekend everyone. Here’s the Rundown for this week:
- Ex-BART police officer Johannes Mehserle was charged with murder yesterday and plead not guilty to the killing of Oscar Grant.
- The strong argument against Proposition 8 going to court (via MoJo Blog): This makes sense. “The long arc of history bends towards progress,” a friend told me. The nexus I suppose is the patience we have to wait for history or to make it.
- And then today, the NAACP joins the round-up of civil rights organizations filing amicus curae briefs against Proposition 8. (via Racewire)
- A new kind of Madame Secretary: This week, Senator Hillary Clinton speaks on issues of slavery and human sex trafficking: “I want to pledge to you that as secretary of state I view these issues as central to our foreign policy, not as adjunct or auxiliary or in any way lesser than all of the other issues that we have to confront.”
- Immigration Reform Debate Must Regain a Moral Compass (via Racewire): The last time the U.S. underwent comprehensive immigration reform was 1965. We are currently operating under a more than forty-year old system. Professor Victoria Robinson told my Ethnic Studies class a year ago that the next U.S. President will most surely enact comprehensive immigration reform. The issue may have faded in the last few months in the wake of elections, but it is a deep thunder pulsing in the veins of American life that will not be ignored. Here Roberto Lovato writes for New American Media on the paradigm shift needed for comprehensive immigration reform to reflect American realities.
- Silver Lining of the Economic Downturn: Courtney on Femenisting offers gratitudes for the blessings-in-disguise this tight-pocket economy grants us. I personally offer a thank you to the downturn for sharpening my resourcefulness and offering me the opportunity to practice creative consumption.
- Finally, check out the New York Times Magazine special photo-feature on Obama’s People. Get to know the new cabinet a little. I want this fierce woman’s job:
Desiree Rogers, White House Social Secretary
