Click here to view the embedded video.

Jack and Jill Politics has the scoop about the video and the reason Jasiri X wrote this rap song. Her blog post is a must read. I totally agree on Cheryl Contee view regarding society’s double standard on communities of color. In fact, the same question can also be asked “What If The Tea Party Was Brown?”

When the United States of North America annexed a third of Mexico’s territory following the Mexican War, nearly 77,000 Mexicans became U.S. citizens. For generations, these citizens were to be plagued by a prejudicial attitude which would result in overt acts of discrimination and segregation which in turn brought about the curtailment of many of their civil rights, privileges, and opportunities. The sign, “No Mexicans Allowed” was found everywhere.

In Texas, prejudicial attitude and discrimination acts had reached such extreme proportions that Mexican Americans started organizations as defensive measures against such anti-American practices. Outstanding among these were three organizations: The Order of the Sons of America with councils in Sommerset, Pearsall, Corpus Christi, and San Antonio; The Knights of America in San Antonio; and The League of Latin American Citizens with councils in Harlingen, Brownsville, Laredo, Penitas, La Grulla, McAllen, and Gulf.

There were serious doubts as to merger because of personal reasons and ill feelings that existed between the leaders of The League of Latin American Citizens and the President General of The Order of the Sons of America from San Antonio. With this in mind, The Order of the Sons of America and The Knights of America made an agreement to unite themselves even if The League of Latin American Citizens did not. For a year, Council #4 of The Order of the Sons of America and The Knights of America waited for the proposed merger. In the meantime, Alonso S. Perales was in constant contact with Ben Garza to bring about the merger. The fact that the long awaited unification convention was never called by the President General of The Order of the Sons of America resulted in the withdrawal of Council #4 from The Order of the Sons of America at a meeting held February 7, 1929. Also, at this meeting in which Alonso S. Perales was present, it was voted to have a uniting convention on February 17, 1929, at the Obreros Hall, on the corner of Lipan and Carrizo streets in Corpus Christi.

LULAC is not only the oldest, but their rich history of activism in advancing the economic condition, educational attainment, political influence, health and civil rights, but also makes them the most successful Latino civil rights organization in the country.

LULAC’s name and its membership policy deliberately emphasized the importance of citizenship – only American citizens could be full members of LULAC. The founders of LULAC believed this gave the group added leverage in seeking to reform American society to accept Mexican-Americans as full and equal citizens. Furthermore, it also put forward a particular identity for the new organization, one its leaders hoped that would change common assumptions about Mexican-Americans in American society at large.

Legacy
The philosophy and tactics LULAC in its first decade believed in a practice of negotiation with local leaders to bring change. If negotiation failed, they encouraged communities to pressure, investigated and documented charges brought by parents, brought evidence to the attention of higher authorities, and publicized the differences between facilities for Mexicans and those for Whites.

LULAC has played a role in the formation of several important related organizations. They created La Liga Pro-Defensa Escolar (the School Improvement League) in San Antonio, and formed a veterans’ committee to address the rights of G.I.’s before LULAC member Hector P. García organized the American G.I. Forum. LULAC members established Little School of the 400, the model for the federal educational program Head Start.

Ironically, LULAC’s early view of oppression parallels with conservative’s reason for dismantling affirmative action. LULAC believed Mexican Americans were not victims of oppression but by a lack of initiative to take advantage of the opportunities they had and to make themselves into citizens that the rest of society would have to respect. In all, LULAC equated Americanism with middle-class success and believed that true leadership could emanate only from the middle class – speak English, dress well, encourage education, and be polite in race relations.

Post-WWII: Change in Vision
LULAC’s vision for Mexican-Americans was forced to change during the postwar years. Renewed immigration from Mexico changed the socio-cultural context and turned America’s attention to the Southwest and immigration issues.

One of the most misunderstood and oversimplified views was LULAC’s position on immigration. It is true groups like LULAC opposed immigration, more specifically temporary workers to America. Their argument arose out of concern they would force Mexican-Americans to find work elsewhere while temporary workers would be used as a captive labor force to lower wages; employers rarely treated Braceros according to the protections included in their contracts. LULAC leaders had the foresight to see the dangers of importing labors.

Before the passage of the Emergency Quota Act of 1921 was passed, the Committee on Immigration and Naturalization held a hearing, Temporary Admission of Illiterate Mexican Laborers, to address the labor shortage in the beat-sugar industry. The farmers argued importing Mexican laborers would be the best solution to address the labor shortage because they were considered disposable labor. Speaking in their behalf, TX Rep. John Garner explained the farmers would be able to save three times the amount of work a “negro and white man would do” because Mexican laborers are considered “peon labor,” people “who knows nothing about the question of money other than to get enough to live on.”

In 1942, facing labor shortages caused by World War II, the United States initiated a series of agreements with Mexico to recruit Mexican men to work on U.S. farms and railroads. These agreements became known as the bracero program. LULAC leaders felt the discrimination towards the foreign workers would threaten their desire for an educated Mexican-American population because the presence of cheap foreign labor would force Mexican-American families to move in search of work. In a letter to President Truman written by LULAC national president Raul Cortez, Gus C. Garcia, and George I. Sanchez expressed that thousands of resident families would be consigned “to live in slums, in extreme ill-health, in ignorance, and in a squalor that is spiritual as well as physical … . What does this promise to the coming generations, to the citizens of tomorrow, to the assimilation of a rapidly increasing number of “Mexicans,’ to the Four Freedoms, to the American Way?”

Once Bracero Program was established, it brought brought millions of temporary, contract laborers to the United States from 1942 until its termination in 1964. The use of Mexican immigrants as cheap manual labor on the great Southwestern farms is not a recent occurrence. It is a thoroughly entrenched system, a systematic exploitation of an underprivileged class of humanity as cheap labor. Crossing the border was a major hurdle in the journey north. Braceros were often subjected to humiliating exams and bureaucratic procedures. If they did not pass the medical exams, they were sent back to Mexico. Those who did make it across, found out their bracero contracts did not always deliver on their promises.

Poor housing conditions, disputes over pay, discrimination, inadequate health care, and a lack of worker representation were some of the braceros’ common grievances. There living condition usually consisted of a shacks or they were sometimes housed in converted barns and makeshift tents with limited water, heat, and sanitary facilities. They were often transported in unsafe and poorly operated vehicles. Although the work was grueling and housing substandard, many braceros endured these conditions, hoping to make more money than they would at home. Health and social services are non-existent. The diseases bred by such conditions are spread by rapid migration. As a result the braceros suffer a disease-death rate much higher than that of the native populations.

Click here to view the embedded video.

They realized that continued immigration would make complete assimilation. The increase in immigration forced LULAC to rethink their view and the approach the as a policy problem. The late 1940s through the 1950s LULAC had reach new heights with their activism. LULAC councils were established throughout the Southwest, and no other group could match LULAC in size of membership or influence.

Same Phenomenon, Different Era
Today, once again, we are confronted by a rising tide of anti-migrant sentiment. The arguments are the same, the view in the USis that “illegal immigrants” are violating of US immigration law; therefore Congress seeks to address this problem through anti-crime legislation. While the view in Mexico is that Mexican migrants are filling jobs Americans don’t want. What is intriguing, the need for temporary labor can be found over several decades in congressional testimony yet the solution has always been the same.

Latinos are now the largest minority in the US, but Latino community is no longer homogenous as in the past. It is now made up from many different countries with very different cultural backgrounds. However, like previous generations of immigrants and minority groups, anti-immigrant views have not changed. Once again, the Latino community will to look to LULAC and the National Council of La Raza to be their voice. Hopefully, they will not ignore the lessons of the past and not prove George Santayana, the Spanish-American poet and philosopher, correct; those of who do not know our history, are condemned to repeat it.

These leaders chose an historic time to make their concerns public, on the eve of Martin Luther King Jr. Day. “It is shameful that these appalling actions by Sheriff Arpaio have gone unchecked for so long,” said Center for New Community Chair, Rev. Kazi Joshua. “The number of Black leaders who spoke out in today’s newspaper should send a clear message to the Department of Justice that this is an urgent civil rights crisis that requires immediate action.”

The advertisement details the most alarming actions taken by Sheriff Joe Arpaio and the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office, including:

• The humiliation of over 200 individuals chained in shackles and marched through the streets of Phoenix, and their segregation based on national origin;
• Use of Sheriff’s Office resources to harass public officials, civic organizations, newspapers, and community leaders publicly opposed to Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s negligent actions;
• Profiling of individuals based on their ethnicity and language;
• Irresponsible remarks and actions that denigrate his office, including stating on national television that “it’s an honor” to be compared with the Ku Klux Klan, and public photographs with a self-identified neo-Nazi.

In addition to detailing the actions of Sheriff Arpaio, the advertisement stated, “As Black and African American leaders we call on Attorney General of the United States Eric H. Holder and the Department of Justice to prove once and for all that this is not Arpaio’s America.”

“We are deeply troubled about the growing level of racism and racial division seen in Maricopa County,” stated James E. Johnson, Jr., a former county commissioner from Eagle County, Colorado and current Center for New Community organizer, “and the unwillingness of national political leaders to step forward to condemn activities that dehumanize people within the community.”

For more information on this article continue reading at Imagine 2050

Recently, Rep. Luis Gutierrez introduced in Congress, Comprehensive Immigration Reform for America’s Security and Prosperity (CIR ASAP) Act of 2009, to renew the debate on comprehensive immigration reform. For many immigration advocate groups, the bill is seen as the first step toward fixing the broken immigration system. Nevertheless, many political observers are anticipating getting this bill passed will be an uphill battle.

Gutiérrez’s CIR ASAP bill would include border enforcement provisions, visa reforms that promote family unity, the strengthening of employer sanctions, and a path to permanent residence for undocumented immigrants, who eventually could achieve citizenship if they proved evidence that they have been working, pay a $500 fine, learn English and have no criminal record.

One of the provision that is included in the CIR ASAP is the DREAM Act component, which would provide for the legalization of undocumented youth who have graduated from high school in the US and are pursuing higher education. This provision would successfully integrate the growing number of immigrant students in US schools by removing the barriers that hinder thousands of young students who have grown up in this country from going to college.

According to the College Board, it is estimated that about 65,000 undocumented students graduate from US high schools each year. Although they can legally attend most colleges, they are not eligible for most forms of financial aid and many do not qualify for in-state tuition at public colleges and universities. Even if an undocumented immigrant student applies to a college, in many states, they are forced to pay out-of-state tuition fees, which can be more than three times the in-state tuition rate.

To help alleviate this problem, in 2001, Texas became the first state in the country to enact legislation to allow undocumented students to qualify for in-state rates, provided, they meet certain criteria. Since then, more than a dozen states have acted: ten allowing residency and several denying it.

As if the hardships undocumented immigrants encounter is not enough, a Texas anti-immigration organization is determined to add insult to injury by making it impossible to attend college. The Immigration Reform Coalition of Texas (IRCOT) has filed a lawsuit challenging Texas’ state law that allows undocumented students to pay in-state rates, according to the Houston Chronicle.

In the lawsuit, the plaintiffs allege that at least 8,000 illegal immigrants attend Texas colleges and universities at discounted tuition rates for in-state residents or receive some form of state financial aid, saying the statute violates federal law. The lawsuit also requests an injunction barring illegal immigrants from receiving the in-state break on tuition or state-funded financial aid.

“We don’t think that taxpayers should break federal law in order to subsidize people who are in the United States illegally,” [David A. Rogers, a lawyer for the Immigration Reform Coalition of Texas], said.

While people may disagree on the issues for immigration reform, it is difficult to understand IRCOT’s harsh take on the state’s statue concerning undocumented college students, which they have characterized as a violation of federal law. Nothing could be further from the truth.

The fact of the matter is that in-state residency is entirely a state-determined benefit or status. To date, federal law grants states the right to pass their own legislation regarding in-state residency for undocumented students, according to Michael A. Olivas, a law professor at the University of Houston and director of the Institute of Higher Education Law & Governance. This was also confirmed by the Department of Homeland Security in a letter to the North Carolina Attorney’s General office, stating that federal law does not prohibit the admission of undocumented students to universities and college.

In the midst of these state-by-state policy debates, students can all too easily dissolve into statistics and their experiences into testimony. It becomes easy to overlook the consequences, both on an individual level and even an institutional one.

The sad truth, these state laws are also limited in scope. They are unable to provide any means for changing one’s immigration status. As a result, once they have finished their college education, they are unable to contribute to our economy to the full extent of their abilities, leaving them in employment limbo.

The ghosts of our legacy of racial inequality continue to haunt us. Incidents of racial violence; the racial inequities in the nation’s criminal justice system; the racial disparities present in health care delivery and access; the acrimonious debates over immigration policy; the hate crimes perpetrated against those from another country; and now with this latest move by the Immigration Reform Coalition of Texas provide ample evidence that dehumanizing immigrants has become too commonplace in our society.

Cartman is clearly disturbed and bemoans how there are too many “Mexicans” and other minority groups at “his” water park. In South Park fashion, Cartman breaks out into a song, “Not My Water Park.”

In the latest incident of violent rhetoric against the President, an anonymous user of Facebook who launched an online poll on Saturday asking “Should Obama be killed?,” with the choices of yes, no, maybe, and “If he cuts my health care.” More frighteningly, the poll drew attracted more than 700 respondents.

According to Facebook spokesman Barry Schnitt, the poll was created over the weekend using a third-party application that lets users conduct their own survey and they shut it down once they found out about it. What is truly disturbing, the poll was up for three days before it was yanked down. Giving Facebook the benefit of the doubt that they acted quickly did shut it down once they knew about, that would mean nobody had the audacity to notify Facebook.

Fortunately, GottaLaff from The Political Carnival noticed the poll and alerted the Secret Service immediately and provided them with a screen cap of the poll.

This is not the first time Facebook has made the news for being a forum used for all kinds of hate speech. People used this popular social networking site to post anti-Muslim and anti-immigration rhetoric to college students posting pictures from racist theme parties.

The press continues to look past the obvious and blaming healthcare controversy for the current backlash. For example, The Christian Science Monitor headline is ‘Kill Obama’ Facebook poll: latest sign of healthcare anger?;

Racism is not dead. The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) Intelligence Report recently reported that the level of hate is rising. With the rise of hate, America is reverting back where blatant racism is becoming the norm.

As long as the right wing pundit dominate the airwaves with their fear mongering and lies, WE are in danger. The President is in danger.

Is there anyone out there interested in peace and unity anymore?

Three things immediately shock the conscious soul upon learning about the murder of Luis Ramirez. The simple manner in which he died is the first of those.

Ramirez, a father of three, was beaten to death in the streets of Pennsylvania by as many as seven young men who were at the end of a night of drinking. The motive? Judging by the slurs heaped upon him along with the many blows to his body: apparently nothing more than being out at night while Mexican. The teens who ganged up on Ramirez came upon him walking with a young woman, reportedly his girlfriend’s sister. Obviously bringing threat, they asked him what he was doing out at that time of day. Then they set upon him. In the end it was a final hard kick to the skull which left the 25-year-old father convulsing on the concrete with fatal brain damage.

The police arrived shortly after the attack but rather than jump into hot pursuit of the white criminals, they chose instead to search Latino eyewitnesses for weapons, claiming that following the guilty parties simply wasn’t their “priority.” Ramirez’s attackers weren’t arrested for another two weeks, even though eyewitnesses at the scene knew who they were without a doubt.

The second stomach-churner is the jury’s decision to exonerate Ramirez’s killers from the charges of third-degree murder, aggravated assault, reckless endangerment, and ethnic intimidation, leaving to stand only the reduced charge of simple assault. This, despite the testimony of Eileen Burke, a retired police officer at the scene. Burke testified that at the end, the murderers yelled to Ramirez’ girlfriend “You effin bitch, tell your effin Mexican friends get the eff out of Shenandoah or you’re gonna be laying effin next to him.” This, despite two of the accused men themselves admitting to yelling “go home you Mexican [expletive]” at the scene of the crime.

Yet somehow, in the face of these facts, the all-white jury ruled there was no evidence of “ethnic intimidation.” According to a CNN report, town residents were quick to explain and downplay the actions of this violent group of “star students and football players” as “just an alcohol-fueled confrontation among kids.” They furthered their argument by reciting “a litany of attacks allegedly perpetrated by Latinos against Anglos.” Perhaps they could have saved time and breath by saying The spics had it coming.

The third, overarching, shocking reality thrown into sharp relief by the murder of Luis Ramirez is how easily an environment of violently xenophobic rhetoric and targeted hate has normalized a modern-day lynching to the point that it is absorbed and diluted with barely a blip into the everyday news cycle and into public consciousness. How effortlessly a subhuman category of being is constructed and subsequently reviled. How a verdict has been passed on just how to deal with this synthesized Creature, and how effective that virulent messaging has been evidenced in a death like this one and in a pattern that plays out in various towns, cities, and states across the country. Seemingly unconnected cells of hatred hammer the dominant culture’s sentence down upon a targeted group, and the system nods and winks when all is done.

~ ~ ~

The process of defining a subhuman class and institutionalizing discrimination and violence against that group is not new. How quickly and conveniently some of us allow our collective memory to cover its own tracks. Parasite, diseased, leeching, dangerous, over-breeding, vermin. These terms and this imagery have been deployed for ages, on various groups of people, on various pieces of land, in the service of various endeavors; and always to bring about the same ends. To demonize and dehumanize a group of people so that other people come to understand that the social compact with the demonized group is broken; that discrimination and violence against the dehumanized class now carries no moral consequence. That is the meaning of this latest ruling by an all-white jury in Shenandoah, Pennsylvania. Racial murder of a Mexican carries the same consequence as walking up to a white person and punching them in the belly: simple assault.

The notion of a categorically subhuman class of persons who exists below the rules and obligations the rest of humanity warrants is as simple as it is ugly. Ugly like the prison at Guantánamo, where unfortunate bodies from the Middle East are deprived of anything resembling the law, ideals, or morality most Americans feel they deserve by mere existence. Ugly like Abu Ghraib. Ugly like the prisons in Baghdad and Bagram, where atrocities appear to be the norm. Even as our government promised that it was “fighting Them There” in order to prevent “Them” from coming “Here”, an ideology of dehumanizing terror was propagating and swelling in our own ranks and within our own borders; an ideology which devalues “Hajis” in the same way that it foists hatred upon Mexicans and all others who sound or appear somehow Latin American.

The murder of Luis Ramirez-like the murders of Marcelo Lucero and Wilter Sanchez and Jose Sucuhañay-are but logical steps in the process of defining a subhuman class of ALIEN and inciting anti-Latino violence, which will continue unless marked changes are made in our society. Changes in the immigration dialogue. Changes in the way pundits frame and discuss the issue. Perhaps even more importantly, changes to the fashion in which both Republicans and Democrats pitch and move legislation. The entire “Enforcement Agenda” that directly links immigration status (and thus all Latinos) to criminality, discussed coolly by seemingly rational voices on both Right and Left, is but the socially and politically acceptable umbrella which shields crimes like the murder of Luis Ramirez. The ubiquitous message resonating from coast to coast of this continent, across which peoples of Latin American descent have been migrating back and forth for thousands of years, is that we are in the crosshairs. And that we deserve to be in those hair-trigger sights.

~ ~ ~

Though it is necessary and a good thing, it is not enough to pass H.S. 1913, the current Hate Crimes bill that has cleared the Senate and is now headed for the House. Nor is it adequate to simply pass the D.R.E.A.M Act (though, again necessary, so please sign), and/or to legalize the immigrants who are working and raising families in the US, and be done with it. These things must be done, and soon. But we must not rest there.

First, we must demand a satisfactory accounting find its way to this unresolved injustice. (Please sign the petition to add your voice.) Next, we must be honest about what has happened here in our nation; about how this gathering animosity has manifested in various ways to result in a targeting of one class of people; about how segments of our current culture and business world stand to profit from maintaining the status quo, despite the harm. We must think of how we can personally lend a hand in changing this in our own communities and social circles. Finally, we must change on a much larger scale, very particular and practical elements of this manifestation.

Continuing to reinforce and advocate for the image of a permanent criminal and essentially subhuman class of people by maintaining Immigrations Customs and Enforcement (ICE) in its current form; the raids that rake psychological gashes into entire communities, the booming detention center industry, stopgap measures like 287g, virulently anti-Spanish language and anti-Mexican rhetoric blasted out over acceptable media outlets, as well as continuing to build up a heavily militarized border-this can end in nothing but more violence against and deaths of Latinos/as in the US, and on a growing scale.

There are those who turn away from trying to alter the course of something seemingly so large, or who simply grow more cynical and bitter with each new injustice. They would have you believe the US will never learn, that this government and this culture are incapable of remembering or acting on the very important lessons from which we bear national scars already; lessons that would prevent us from repeating yet another harm against yet another group of people of color; but in new ways and in a new year.

The Sanctuary Editors reject such a view in favor of self-empowered, self-organized social change. We know it will not be easy to turn this tide. But we must. Such a change is incumbent upon all of us and we will all pay a price if we do not succeed, with both a further lose of life, and our own humanity. We must pass humane legislation, and demand that true justice play out in our courts. We must insure that civil rights be protected. We must loudly expose and forcefully challenge any pundits or politicians who are constructing a subhuman class with their words and actions, and as bloggers and activists who fight for human rights, we must hold our fellow activists equally accountable to take a strong stand on the right side of the bright line drawn by this tragedy. Luis Ramirez will never come back to his family. Let us ensure that his life was not lost in vain.

Content is republished in full from The Sanctuary.

There is always a touch of irony when a citizen of the United States complains about immigration. But now. As a Latino and a person of color, we no longer have to worry about those little things like, “driving while brown.” However, since the argument used against the undocumented by the nativists (Pat Buchanans, Lou Dobbs, et al) is that this is a Nation of Laws, well, two can play this game, bitches! Lets go through their arguments. According to nativists:

“Illegals” do not want to assimilate:
Old Illegals
In Pat Buchanan’s book, State of Emergency: The Third World Invasion and Conquest of America, he wrote that “millions of Mexicans are determined to retain their language and loyalty to Mexico. They prefer to remain outsiders.” [Buchanan, p. 28, 2006]

New Illegals
Partin’ like there’s no tomorrow -
Chicago-based Northern Trust Corp – received $1.6 billion from the government’s Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) hosted lavish parties at a Southern California golf tournament it sponsored.

American International Group (AIG) – after receiving it’s first bailout, $85 billion loan, corporate executives, and representatives of various AIG subsidiaries, were partying in style at the posh St. Regis Monarch Beach Resort. You would think they saw the error of their ways, you know, assimilate. Nope. despite all the up-roar and receiving an additional $40 billion in bailout money, they couldn’t resist. AIG executives threw another party, but this time in a luxury resort outside of Phenoix Arizona.

Wells Fargo – after receiving $25 billion in TARP Funds, corporate exec wanted to use those funds to throw a party to recognize the top performing mortgage representatives at their an annual recognition event at the Wynn Las Vegas Resort. Once the new media and the us commoners spoke out against these “out of touch,” (code for assimilate) fat cat CEOs, they canceled that event, but that didn’t stop the 40-person team meeting that was held at the Mandalay Bay Hotel in Las Vegas.

The Big Three automakers – before begging Congress for $25 billion and already aware of the uproar AIG had caused, flying commercial was just not their style. They decided to fly to the nation’s capital in private luxurious jets to make their case to Washington.

Bank of America – with $45 billion in TARP funds already received, Ken Lewis, CEO, defended his use of private jets when he when went to go see New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo. He asserted, “I don’t talk about how we get around. I travel in the most efficient way for shareholders.” I guess that includes the $127,643 he used in personal trips too.

Citigroup Inc – – Vikram Pandit, CEO, plans to spend about $10 million from the $45 billion of TARP funds to build new offices that would include a sub-zero fridge for him and his lieutenants.

Immigrants do not pay taxes
Old Illegals
Americans believe that undocumented immigrants are exploiting the United States’ economy. There is a widespread belief that “illegals” do not pay taxes. Such workers and their employers avoided paying between $242 million and $449 million a year in income and payroll taxes for Social Security, Medicare and unemployment insurance.

New Illegals
The same thing could be said about the New Illegals, 13 companies receiving billions of dollars in bailout money owe a total of more than $220 million in unpaid federal taxes. It said one recipient of bailout money had almost $113 million in unpaid federal income taxes from 2005 and 2006. A second recipient owed almost $102 million dating to before 2004. Another was behind $1.1 million in federal income taxes and $223,000 in federal employment taxes.

Neil Barofsky, special inspector general for TARP, told a Congressional hearing that if an executive signed a contract knowing that information about unpaid taxes was false, “that would potentially be a crime.”

Immigrants steal jobs away from Americans
Old Illegals
We’ve always heard people scream about how immigrants “steal jobs from real citizens.” Nativist organizations like Center for Immigration Studies (CIS), claiming that immigrants take jobs away from native-born Americans. Recently, the blog Room for Debate, the blog for the New York Times, had a group of experts weigh in on the recession and competition for lower-wage jobs between native-born workers and immigrants, both legal and illegal. CIS once again said they were. It has gotten so bad, even Canadians are being blamed.

New Illegals
As unemployment continues to rise throughout the US, the reasons we are told for the high unemployment rate range from a “soft economy” to a lack of consumer demand. However, little attention is devoted to the impact of multinational corporations on the work force within the nation. A huge factor that is shrinking the American workforce is that the white collar criminals are stealing people’s livelihood by outsourcing to their jobs to foreign shores. Corporate America has and continues to turn its back on the American worker. According to the president of GM Brazil-Mercosur, Jaime Ardila, part of the funding from the bailout package GM received will be used for the Brazilian plant.

“It wouldn’t be logical to withdraw the investment from where we’re growing, and our goal is to protect investments in emerging markets,” he said in a statement published by the business daily Gazeta Mercantil.

Those jobs Americans didn’t want to do before this economic crisis, well, in order to survive, many professionals are sucking up their pride and are now competing with the undocumented.

It’s not just corporations, its also the people from Wall Street that are ruining companies and bringing about countless of jobs losses, while lining their pockets with billions of dollars through market manipulation.

Soon after taking Jim Cramer to task, a few days later, Jon Stewart exposed the dangers of short-selling, the practice of betting on a share-price decline, which brings in huge profits for certain hedge funds. “Daily Show” correspondent Samantha Bee gets money manager Andrew Horowitz to admit that short-selling can ruin a company, therefore, laying off it’s employees. The sad truth is, it is all legal because as Samantha Bee puts it, “Just because you robbed the grave doesn’t mean you killed the guy.”

We are in this mess due to calculated schemes by sinister and greedy minds that conspire to exploit naïve entities to quench their thirst of money and power. For every exploited family there are these conspirators profiting and solidifying their grip on a disparity that benefits them at the cost of others.

Stanford Law School reported that a total of 210 federal securities class actions were filed in 2008, a 19 percent increase over the 176 such class actions in 2007, and a 9 percent increase over the average of 192 such class actions between 1997 and 2007.

Pinnacle Development Partners and its principals indicted for a $69 million ponzi scheme that defrauded over 2,000 investors in 33 states.

Parish Economics – Albert Eugene Parish Jr., a former economics professor at Charleston Southern University, and his investment advisory company, Parish Economics LLC, indicted for defrauding hundreds of investors of $50 million. The SEC complaint alleges that as many as 300 companies and individuals had invested with Parish. One of his clients included his former employer.

Bruce C. Kramer – charged for a $40 million ponzi scheme to “feed a lavish lifestyle that included a Maserati sports car and extravagant parties.”

Bernard Madoff – who may face 150 years for running a $65 billion fraud that fleeced thousands of investors, including Palm Beach retirees, trustees of Yeshiva University and Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel, who lost his savings and his foundation’s assets.

Now that white-collar crime is running rampant and white collar criminals are the new illegals, white folks might start worrying about being accused of “driving while white,” if so, The Daily Show’s Larry Wilmore offers some advice on what to do.

CensureLeo.com urges Texans to contact their State Representative, House Speaker Joe Straus, and House GOP Caucus Chair Larry Taylor, urging them to support a resolution of censure condemning Berman’s actions.

On Thursday, February 18, 2009, following a panel discussion sponsored by Texas Employers for Immigration Reform, Rep. Berman was engaged in a heated verbal conflict with Harry Joe, an immigration lawyer from Dallas of Chinese American descent.

The story made headlines across Texas after the Dallas Morning News first broke the story and was later picked up by the Associated Press, which reported the incident on newspaper websites across the nation.

Berman was invited to participate in a panel discussion to speak about HB254 – a bill, he authored requiring undocumented immigrants to relocate to “sanctuary cities.” After the session, he was approached by Mr. Joe to discuss the purpose of this xenophobic bill. The discussion soon turned angry.

Following their exchange, Berman told Harry Joe to “go home” (as in “back to China”) and “kiss my ass.” Mr. Joe issued an apology for his part in the incident; to date Rep. Berman has remained silent and issued no apology.

“Representative Berman’s conduct was inappropriate. We expect more from our elected officials, and his peers in the Texas House should do the right thing and pass a resolution of censure condemning his conduct,” said Vince Leibowitz, publisher of Capitol Annex and a netroots activist who helped create the website.

A list of Texas blogs that have joined the movement to censure Rep. Berman is included.

Blogs Sponsoring CensureLeo.com:
Bay Area Houston – Houston
BlueDaze - Wise County
Brains & Eggs – Houston
Capitol Annex – Mineola
Dos Centavos – Houston/Kingwood
An Examination of Free Will – Austin
Doing My Part For The Left – Austin
Job’s Anger – Amarillo
Marc’s Miscellany – Fort Worth
McBlogger – Austin
Musings – Sugar Land
North Texas Liberal – Denton
Texas Kaos – Austin
Texas Liberal – Houston
Whos Playin – Lewisville
¡Para Justica y Libertad! – Houston

Not only is Obama’s inaugural day deep with symbolism, but a passing of the torch, among one generation who fought for the rights of others to another who are benefiting from those rights. In 1963, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. spoke about a dream of equality in a speech in Washington, D.C. and 46 years later in the same city, we are witnessing a dream become reality. Martin Luther King must be happy. However, we must also not automatically presume the election of President Obama means we have magically entered a “post-racial” society; not when there is evidence of the ongoing forms of institutional racism.

Today’s inauguration lays the foundation and the groundwork to continue Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’s unfinished work. It has also created a sincere and genuine atmosphere of change, not because Obama is president, but the HOPE that he inspires.

Today, history is made, a new chapter in our history is about to begin. We cannot go back to business as usual.

Text of President Barack Obama’s inaugural address