During the Hispanic Male Summit, the panel was asked by an ESL teacher asked what could these young Latinos do so they too could reap the benefits of going to college. I told them point blank, you make them scared of you. You let them know we are here and we are not going anywhere. I also reminded our newly elected Sheirff who voted him into office to make him the first Hispanic elected sheriff in Harris County. Most importantly, I reminded them of 2006.

On May 1st, it time we take to the streets and demand an end to immigration policies that marginalize and dehumanize millions of our people. It is important that we make this march historic and important, and that we will not stop. We have yet to speak with a unified political voice that forces our government to do right by all of us. But we can starting today, with your help.

As inaugural member, I like to introduce you to a new and exciting organization, Presente.org. There goal is to create a broad-based online community of Latinos and our allies strong enough to make the United States honor its promises and protect our people. To plan to kick off the on May 1st, and they don’t play to stop there – this organization is in it for the long haul by tackling the issues that most affect our communities, such as education and health care.

Our power is in our voices and our numbers. It starts by affirming a simple pledge: to stand up and speak out for the interests of Latino communities. Please join us, and just as important, invite your friends and family to do the same: Presente.org

President Obama has pledged to push for immigration reform, and other politicians are also with us. For the first time in a generation, we have a real chance to drastically change our country’s immigration policy, impacting the lives of millions of friends, family members, and coworkers. But we can’t rely on politicians to pass real and just reforms. There are strong forces who stand against us, and they’ve made it clear that they will do everything in their to fight true reform.

Real change will only happen if everyday people speak with a strong, unified voice. It is time we start looking behind the FACADE that passes for news. We must open our eyes to the truth to the ills of this nativist movement – the hatred, the racism, and the ignorance BEHIND this pretty facade.

If you hate…oppression…shackles…chains…exploitation – then I ask you to join us!

If you hate…injustice…inequality…segregation…isolationism – join us!

Presente.org seeks to make possible by using the Internet and national media to hold our leaders accountable, making our political presence accurately reflect our importance to this country. It is time to stand up and be counted, and show the world how large our movement really is!

The past two years, I live blogged the May Day events that occurred throughout the US. If there is a reason many feel May Day is an immigrant event, it probably had to do with the events that occurred on those days. In 2006, it was the year of Great American Boycott of 2006, known in Spanish as El Gran Paro Americano. It was estimated over a million people participated in the demonstrations. But lets not forget the what occurred last year.

Fearing that the same thing would occur, the police state decided to be prepared the corporate media played down the events that occurred throughout the US. But who can forget the tragic events that occurred in Los Angeles’ MacArthur Park?

This year, the news media has basically declared May Day over because the turnout for the May Day marches will be much smaller to their liking to report it. Maybe if they were actually reporting about America’s ugly underbelly that is deep-seated with undertones of class and ethnic conflict instead of covering the typical latest celebrity scandal, they would realize that the organizers of the May Day protests have stepped up their efforts.

In San Francisco, an antiwar march by the Bay Area International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) plan to shut down all 29 ports on the U.S. West Coast in protest against the war and occupation in Iraq and Afghanistan. They will also take up demands for immigrant rights. Supporters of the ILWU should meet in San Francisco at Mason and Beach (in Fishersmans’ Wharf) at 10:30 am on May Day. A community group has called a noon rally, and immigrant rights activists are building for a 2 p.m. rally at Dolores Park and a march to City Hall under the theme, “Workers United Without Borders,” and calling for amnesty for undocumented workers. For more details click here

In Southern California activists are also mobilizing. In San Diego, an immigrant rights march starting at City College will call for legalization for all, an end to raids and deportations, and the right to migrate for future immigrants.

Up the coast in Seattle, immigrant rights groups will also join an ILWU march in the morning before going to an immigrant rights’ march in the afternoon.

In the Midwest, the Voces de la Frontera and Immigrant Workers Union are organizing marches in support of immigrants’ rights in Milwaukee and Madison. (h/t xoff at Uppity Wisconsin) Milwaukee marchers will assemble at 10:30am, corner of 5th St. & Washington, march to Veterans Park (north of Art Museum). In Madison, the rally will begin at 11:30am. They will march from Brittingham Park to Dane County Building. For more details click here

In Texas, several activist and community groups are organizing for a protest in Austin, Houston, San Antonio and the Rio Grande Valley.

In Boston, immigrant and labor rights advocates will hold their at the Boston Common Bandstand, starting at 4 pm. At 5:30 pm the rally participants will march to Copley Square to demonstrate their protest at the government policies against undocumented migrant workers, demanding an end to the raids and deportations and full legalization for all migrant workers and their families.

In Rochester, NY, the Rochester Alliance for Immigrants Rights will be holding their rally at 6pm at the Manhattan Square Park.

In Chicago, a broad array of organizations, including the March 10 Coalition for immigrant rights, the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights and a wide range of community and religious organizations will kickoff at 10am at Union Park and begin their march to Downtown at noon. They hold their protest rally in Federal Plaza where Mayor Daley will give the first speech.

This year I will be doing something new. I just signed up at CoverItLive which allows me to provide information in real time, instead of constantly updating this post. CoverItLive allows me to interact with you, the readers. Comments will appear instantly instead of waiting for me to approve your message if you happen to be a first time commenter. I know that I will miss something so I hope you will be part of this little experment let us know what is happening in your area.

“I’m not going to defend the indefensible,” Bratton told journalists during a meeting at a television studio in Hollywood.

“Things were done that shouldn’t have been done.”

Chief Bratton told reporters that those members will not be “returning to the Metropolitan Division, as a result of [their] findings.” Bratton eventually admitted that there were numerous departmental procedures failures as the horrific event was playing out during a peaceful and lawful rally. Bratton also told reporters that 600 police officers, including 100 from the Metro Division, fired more than 240 rubber bullets and beat dozens of people with their batons, without making an arrest.

It is not surprising to see how television has dramatically changed American society. It used to be that not everybody could afford a television, but now it is not that hard to find a house a where there is a TV in every room. Since it first became available in the late 1940s, the TV has become a common household item and the source for up to the minute news. With Americans watching so much television on a weekly basis, it was easy for the mass media to conjure up an enemy that is designed to sway public opinion. It was all fun and games until they too were part of the receiving end of the rubber bullets being shot by LAPD. It is interesting to watch the media trying to distance themselves from the “demonstrators,” by carefully making sure they are identified separately when they describe who were harmed in the incident – “demonstrators and members of the news media” or “protesters and reporters.” What makes it interesting; they were the same people who were reporting that this years protest was a bust because the turnout for the May Day march was much smaller to their liking. Maybe if they were actually reporting about America’s ugly underbelly that is deep-seated with undertones of class and ethnic conflict instead of covering the typical latest celebrity scandal, they would have known why the numbers were small.

Just as Nezua questioned the silence from the mainstream blogs about the lack of reporting on the demonstrations, we too should questions the intent of the mainstream media.

If “members of the [tag]news media[/tag]” were not harmed, would there be this silence when riot police marched in lines and fired from rifles into crowds that had even mothers and children in strollers in it? Would “members of the news media” follow the issue with the same amount of fire as they are doing day after day? Or would they have reported it one because it makes a good human issue story and go one to the next feel good celebrity story of the day?

Given the history of the police department’s racism, especially after witnessing the nationally broadcasted videotape of LAPD officers brutally beating Rodney King, it is not surprising to see this action again. Let us be clear, this is not the first time LAPD have come out using this type of force against immigrant rights demonstrators. Last year, LAPD were also in full riot gear instigating a wave of unprovoked violence on a progressive pro-immigration crowd.

After nearly two hours of peaceful protest, dozens of LAPD police in full riot gear instigated a wave of unprovoked violence on the progressive crowd. They pushed protestors, struck them with batons and wrestled several people to the ground while beating them brutally. Several ANSWER activists were brutalized and one was arrested because his friend was attempting to take photographs of riot police slamming a bystander against the back of a truck and hitting him with a baton. Top police brass later tried to justify their violence by saying protestors provoked the beatings by “crossing police lines” – an outright lie.

A Spanish-language media reporter from KPFK radio was shoved to the pavement, smacked hard and arrested for attempting to document the repression. The cops were attacking so wildly that even an elderly woman getting of a Metro bus was clubbed for being too close to the protest.

People from the surrounding neighborhood stopped and shouted at the police to stop their rampage against the protest.

The only difference between last year and this year, the mainstream media were not at the receiving end of the police’s brutality.

This morning, Police Chief [tag]William Bratton[/tag] in a press conference stated that he disapproved of the conduct of some of his officers and he vowed there would be a thorough probe into the use of excessive force. Mayor [tag]Antonio Villaraigosa[/tag] who is in El Salvador, has asked the the Police Commission, the civilian panel overseeing the Los Angeles Police Department, to assess the use of force by officers clad in riot gear, and the Radio and Television News Association called “for an immediate and complete investigation of the violent treatment of journalists at the conclusion of Tuesday’s [tag]immigration march[/tag].

“There is evidence that officers knocked reporters to the ground, used batons on photographers and damaged cameras, possibly motivated by anger over journalists photographing efforts by officers to control the movements of marchers,” an RTNA statement said.

Brad Friedman of Brad Blog, noted that the media once again are contradicting each other on this horrific event. According to Friedman, the UPI reported that the “Los Angeles police fired rubber bullets to disperse the crowd.”

A day of peaceful immigration rallies in major U.S. cities Tuesday was marred when Los Angeles police fired rubber bullets to disperse the crowd.

Witnesses said police wearing riot gear and wielding batons gave no warning before firing at rally participants gathered at MacArthur Park, CNN reported. Police said a protester knocked down a motorcycle officer, the news channel said.

There were no reports of serious injuries and no arrests were made.

However, LA Times has a different take on the event, which contradicts what was reported UPI:

Several people, including 15 police officers, were hurt. About 10 people were taken by ambulance to hospitals for treatment, said d’Lisa Davies, a spokeswoman for the Los Angeles city Fire Department.
…
Late Tuesday, a staff member from [tag]Telemundo[/tag]’s newsroom confirmed that one reporter and three camera operators from the Spanish-language TV station had been injured and had been taken to a hospital by police.

Another TV station, Fox 11, showed video on its 10 p.m. newscast of a station camerawoman apparently being struck by a baton-wielding police officer in riot gear.

Here are three videos of the nightmare that the peaceful marchers had to endure on May 1 at MacArthur Park at the hand of the brutal LA police force (h/t to The Notorious VC at Chicano Forums, there are more videos there). This is not different from callus shooting of Ramiro Gamez Acosta, by the border by the Border Patrol.

Warning; Viewer Discretion Advised. Graphic images may be disturbing to some viewers.
Telemundo TV Crew caught in MacArthur Park clash

Footage from a local Fox TV Crew

The longer version of Fox’s raw footage of the event

Will post more if I happen to find new information.

This type of nativism has slowly infected the US like a cancer. It has pitted Americans against one another. And why not, this is not new, this type of baiting has worked in the past, and therefore, is being used again.

America has a long history when it comes to mass deportation. In fact, American capitalism has used Mexican workers as a reserve army of labor since the conquest of the Southwest.

History has shown the Mexican labor pool is heavily utilized during times of economic boom and repatriation during economic downturns. To American capitalist the border does not exist when it comes to exploitation.

Latinos are not the only group. Yet, this nation continues its tradition to bury almost four centuries worth of historical truths. History continues to point out this country is full of contradictions that resonate in America – the tension between freedom and authority, between public purpose and private initiative. It also has shown there has always been hostility felt towards African Americans, Latinos, and practically all Asians – which included South Asia from Arabia to Indochina, including India, Burma, Siam, the Malay states, the East Indian islands, Asiatic Russia, the Polynesian islands, and parts of Arabia and Afghanistan. And until this day, we all have been persecuted by American nativist.

Make no mistake; the present anti-immigration group will proceed in their race-baiting tactics to divide the country. They will criminalize the undocumented by calling them illegal; they dehumanize them by calling them aliens. They play on the fears of white narcissistic Americans. Their violent diatribes fed off their greed, by providing an illusion that the “WE” have our hand in their pockets and stealing the food from their child’s mouth. Their racist and fascist attacks against the “Mexicans” demonstrate their bloodthirsty capitalist essence. They don’t care about the millions of impoverished masses while they can meet the bottom line, the big house, the latest gadget, the big car – all to keep up with the American “Jones.”

The problem is that society has no moral dimension. If a deer shit in the forest, no one looks at the pile of droppings and thinks bad deer. However if you come across a pile of beer bottles in the forest, you think asshole. Our leaders already know NAFTA and neo-liberalism ideology do not work which is playing a role in fueling the mass exodus to the United States and yet keep on pushing it, in fact, Congress approved CAFTA. That makes every supporter, and our leaders, morally and politically culpable, as if we had passed a Constitutional Amendment allowing segregation based on race to exist. We have yet to learn how to live within our means because we are deeply devoted to the idea that we should do what we want to do. We have abandoned a sense of common purpose for a sense of hyperindividualism, which is caused and reinforced by two social evils in our country – capitalism and imperialism.

Could it possibly be that THEY can’t stand to see those who THEY strongly think THEY have “conquered” make a life for OURSELVES? Do THEY really expect US to be at THEIR beck and call? To cut THEIR grass, mop THEIR floors, cook THEIR tacos, take care of THEIR children, and just say “Si, senor” every time? Why do THEY get paranoid when THEY hear Spanish? Are THEY afraid that the “conquered” are plotting against their oppressors? Could it be in their delusional thinking, if they forced US to stop speaking Spanish, THEY will be able to hear exactly what the details of OUR revolutionary plans?

May Day is our day to celebrate our history, our struggle and our power. WE will reject our colonizer; their day has come when it is the colonized who is speaking up. The Movement is too strong and now gringo nativist will stop at nothing to cause a DIVIDE between the African Americans, Latinos, Asian Americans, and Native Americans. Who are they trying to fool? They have, seem to have forgotten their past crimes against humanity – slavery, whippings, lynching, black-white water fountains, burning crosses and so on. They will try to poison the mind of the few to make this us vs them – native vs foreign.

Follow me, as I shine the light in our time of darkness. I am neither pontificator nor a soothsayer; I am just a person who is willing to bring a little fire in this cold world of ours. I understand the pain of not knowing what tomorrow will bring. I have seen behind the FACADE, the pretty flowers, the manicured lawns, and the massive wealth. My eyes are opened to the truth to the ills of this country – the corruption, the hatred, the violence, the racism, the ignorance, and the greed BEHIND this pretty facade. I am on to THEIR trick on how I should be GRATEFUL to live here, or how GOOD I should feel about licking the masters’ boots as the chalice of independence is being held before me, while at the same time it was just out of reach. I have seen THEM roll up into neighborhoods with their tricked-up Hummers forcing “Our” people to fight in THEIR murderous wars of exploitation and profit; killing people they don’t even know just to steal THEIR land and their resources!

I refuse to give in to the propaganda and I will raise my fist and stand up for my roots con MUCHO CORAZON.

On May Day, this Nation will once again witness the unstopable movement, no matter how much they will try to strike fear to the voiceless. Like last year, I will live blog through out the day on the events that took place on May 1, 2007. It is time we say:

No to anti-immigrant legislation, and the criminalization of the immigrant communities.

No to militarization of the border.

No to the immigrant detention and deportation.

No to the guest worker program.

No to employer sanction and “no match” letters.

The choice is YOURS on May 1 – Wear White T-Shirt and support the cause.

The choice is YOURS on May 1 – to take a stand on unfair attacks by gringo nativists – blinded by their ignorance, hate, bigotry and racism.

The choice is YOURS on May 1- to send a message to every jackbooted neo-nazi nativists – WE ARE STRONG … UNITED … ORGANIZED!

Nosotros vamos a permannecer Unidos Contra el Racismo y la Injusticia Siempre!

Locations of May 1st Immigration Rallies can be found at Migra Matters.