Links:Phoenix television clip with de la Rocha interview
Arpaio Blog
Links:
w Jersey and points further west. The bulk of those assembled though were Latino immigrants -- most Ecuadorianos.
The vigil was held at the very site of Marcello's murder, on a street along side the Patchogue commuter rail station. It's the back and poorly lit side of the rail station, so one can easily see why the thugs would chose to do their evil work there.
Under a steady drizzle one mourner called 'tears from heaven', the vigil included
prayers, chants, speeches and songs offered in Spanish, English and sometimes in both. Many in the audience held flickering candles. Many held home-made signs protesting Marcello's murder or demanding an end to hate. A lit shrine with a large photo of Marcello, religious artifacts, messages and flowers drew a wall of bereaved a hundred deep.
Especially touching was that a two other vigils were held simultaneously last night: One in Marcello's hometown in Ecuador and another in Nanuet, New York. The proceedings in Patchogue were heard by Marcello's mother via cellphone. 
People speaking from the podium included a number of politicians:
- State Senator (and Majority Leader to be) Malcolm Smith of Queens who promised to use the full weight of the state to protect New York's immigrant communities.
- Patchogue Mayor Paul Pontieri who spoke about his family's own immigrant origins in a small town in Italy and how the death of Marcello has wounded the community he loves and has lived in all of his life.
- Assemblyman Phil Ramos condemned the murder of Marcello and the pattern of anti-Latino immigrant violence that has been a shameful part of Suffolk life. He spoke about his expe
rience as a former Suffolk police officer in which he responded to several horrific acts of racist violence against Latino Immigrants.
There were labor leaders who rallied the crowd with chants of 'Justicia', 'Yes, We Can!' and 'Un Pueblo Unido No Puede Ser Vencido!'.
A number of Latin American nations sent their representatives, including Ecuador's Ambassador to the United Nations, embassy officials from Venezuela, El Salvador and others.
There were religious leaders including the Imam of Long Island's Muslim community who offered prayers and solidarity.
Marcello's younger brother spoke again about the need to stop the violence against immigrants who he described as good people, hardworking people.
Latino and immigrant leaders addressed the mourners, including Dr. Luis Valenzuela who called for Suffolk County politicians to stop bashing immigrants. Another noted that Lucero means 'bright star' in Spanish and that Marcello was shining a light towards a better place from his perch in heaven.
Finally, one very animated speaker--whose name and role I didn't get--opened his comments with 'good morning' even though it was night. It wasn't a mistake. His point was that Long Island's Latino community has been asleep for too long, reluctant to stand up for itself. But that last night's large turn out was a sign to him that the community has awakened.
Video: Newsday
Photos: Gerry Vazquez
Illinois immigrant advocates call on ICE to stop the expanding raids and deportations that are separating hard-working families and terrorizing whole communities.How we might help in the upcoming primaries in Iowa and New Hampshire speaking out against the Republican anti-immigrant disinformation and mainstreaming extremist, racist rhetoric.All Republican candidates are running a sleazy one issue wedge campaign to scapegoat immigrants as the blame for conditions they in fact engendered by their own disastrous policies, resulting in decline of wages and deterioration of working conditions for a now angry middle class in economic distress or insecurity, just one paycheck away from sinking debt or one serious medical diagnosis away from economic calamity or one mortgage payment away from homelessness. As we hear from these nativist extremists, immigrants are the blame for the rising taxes, with the burden of their anchor babies filling our schools, welfare offices and hospitals and their parents, congenital "illegals," causing neighborhood deterioration and falling real estate values, filling our courthouses and prisons.
Stoking the Immigration Fire - (one man's `anti-immigration'
efforts in New Hampshire)
"Only 5% of the New Hampshire population is foreign-born, but even here, illegal immigration is among the most volatile issues in the presidential primary campaign. Dennis Williams is one reason why.
Mr. Williams, a retired computer project manager, says he has faxed his senators, representative and the presidential candidates 217 times in the past 20 months about his opposition to illegal immigration. He has made dozens of phone calls to Washington. He emails immigration news to a circle of 100 friends
The nation's struggle over immigration may seem distant in states like Iowa, hundreds of miles from any border, but the debate is part of daily life here, more than ever now as residents prepare to pick a president. Nearly all of more than two dozen people interviewed here last week said they considered immigration policy at or near the top of their lists of concerns as they look to the presidential next month.
And yet, nearly everyone interviewed said that none of the political candidates had arrived at a position on immigration that fully satisfied them. In real life, they said, the issues surrounding immigration, both legal and illegal, were far more complicated than bumper sticker slogans or jabs on a debate stage or even the carefully picked language of campaign policy papers.
The subject went largely unaddressed in Wednesday's Republican debate in Des Moines after the moderator discouraged discussion of immigration, suggesting that Iowans already were familiar with the candidates' positions."
In IOWA:
Iowa Immigration Rights Network
ssanchez@afsc.org
Nueva Esperanza Siouxland UMC
www.iaumc.org/sc/HispMin/HISPMIN.html
Gilberto González
ggonzalez@enlacesamerica.org
JoAnn Mackey
joannm@latinoheritagefestival.org
latino-conference@uiowa.edu
Vicki Pratt, PSD Social Justice Program Coordinator
vlpratt@aol.com
Nancy Hernandez deRiehl
chihuahuota@hotmail.com
info@friendsoftheimmigrant.org
iowa@richardsonforpresident.com
Rich Pleva
rich@ucciaconf.org
Ron Eslinger
ron@ucciaconf.org
Tony Stoik
tony@ucciaconf.org
Julia Rendon
Julia@ucciaconf.org
Names of Democratic Committeepeople, opponents of Republican immigrant bashing
Dave Neas
429 S. Temple St
Osceola, IA 50213
641-342-2059
chair@idp5.org
Rick Mullin
3715 Cheyenne Blvd.
Sioux City, IA 51104
H: 712-277-1376
vicenorth@idp5.org
Les Lewis
2884 Hwy 30
Denison, IA 51442
H: pm 712-263-4037
vicecentral@idp5.org
Ann Stough
306 E Main St
Panora, IA 50216
641-755-3378
secretary@idp5.org
Ron Feilmeyer
305 E 21st St
Atlantic, IA 50022
H: 712-243-1137; Wk: 712-243-1663
treasurer@idp5.org
Josh Robinson
112 W. 5th St, #109
Storm Lake, IA 50588
712-732-0971
ruraloutreach@idp5.org
head of the IA Dem Media Alert
Erin Seidler
eseidler@iowademocrats.org
Iowa State University Dems
Sarah Sunderman
sarahsun@iastate.edu
Prof. Jose Amaya
jamaya@iastate.edu
Prof. Hector Avalos
havalos@iastate.edu
University of Iowa Dems
Nakhasi Atul
atul-nakhasi@uiowa.edu
John Mulrooney
john-mulrooney@uiowa.edu
University of Northern Iowa
vaughn.shannon@uni.edu
Southwest Iowa Latino Resource Center
info@swilrc.org
If you prefer to send directly to local Iowa media, click here for a list.
In New Hampshire:
latinosunidosnh@yahoo.com
hyoungdems@gmail.com
Judy Elliot
nhcosh@totalnetnh.net
Keith Kuenning
keithkuenning@msn.com
Maggie Forgarty
mfogarty@afsc.org
Arnie Alpert
aalpert@afsc.org
Emina Zlotrg
ezlotrg@afsc.org
Julia Ramsey
jramsey@nhdp.org
Tess George
tess@uuactionnetworknh.org
NH Immigrant Rights Network
wtinker@metrocast.net
info@democracyfornewhampshire.com
jeanie@nhhealthequity.org
County Dem Committeepeople:
Belknap: Lynn Chong
chonglyn@metrocast.net
Carroll: Mike Cauble
MCa4941@aol.com
Cheshire: Dan Eaton
eatonsstore@juno.com
Coos: Paul Robitaille
paulr@ncia.net
Grafton: John Chamberlin
thechamberlins@verizon.net
Hillsborough: Chris Pappas
pappas@post.harvard.edu
Merrimack: Rob Werner
rwerner@totalnetnh.net
Rockingham: Lenore Patton
gandlpatton@comcast.net
Strafford: Joan Ashwell
jfashwell@comcast.net
Sullivan: John Cloutier
jocloutier@adelphia.net
University of Southern New Hampshire
Jolan C. Rivera
jolancrivera@yahoo.com
David Dologite
dologite@earthlink.net
Yoel Camayd-Freixas
y.camayd-freixas@snhu.edu
Evelyn Friedman
efriedman@nuestracdc.org
Nelly Lejter
n.lejter@snhu.edu
Al Selinka
azelinka@rbf.com
Cynthia Hernandez Kolski
CYNTHIA@COMMUNICATIONEDUCATION.COM
William Huang
bill.huang@lacdc.org
Juan Gonzalez
gonzalez@allstonbrightoncdc.org
Matt Leighninger
mattleighninger@earthlink.net
William Maddocks
w.maddocks@snhu.edu
Armand Magnelli
magnelli@sprynet.com
Patricia Maher
pat@haymarket.org
Nancy Anne McArdle
nancymcardle@comcast.net
Randal Pinkett
rpinkett@bctpartners.com
Reemberto Rodriguez
reemberto@comcast.com
Tia Juana Malone
tmalone@developmentleadership.net
Karen Murrell
kmurrell@comcast.net
Jeffrey Nugent
jgfn@aol.com
Al Zelinka
azelinka@rbf.com
Adjibodou, Expedit Michel - e.adjibodou@snhu.edu
Aricanli, Tosun - t.aricanli@snhu.edu
Barongereje, William - w.barongereje@snhu.edu
Brace, Susan - s.brace@snhu.edu
Camayd-Freixas, Yoel - y.camayd-freixas@snhu.edu
Chalu, Henry - h.chalu@snhu.edu
Clamp, Christina - c.clamp@snhu.edu
Furany, Kadry - kadry.furany@snhu.edu
Gonzalez, Juan - j.gonzalez1@snhu.edu
Hack, Nadine - n.hack@snhu.edu
Harper, Malcolm - m.harper@snhu.edu
Hotchkiss, Charles - c.hotchkiss@snhu.edu
Hutchins, Shannon - shannon.hutchins@snhu.edu
Jackson, Deborah - deborah.jackson1@snhu.edu
Jacobs, Eric - e.jacobs@snhu.edu
Kaiza-Boshe, Theonestina - t.kaiza-boshe@snhu.edu
Kayandabila, Yamugu - y.kayandabila@snhu.edu
Kazungu, Khatibu - k.kazungu@snhu.edu
Kisoza, Lwekaza - l.kisoza@snhu.edu
Lejter, Nelly - n.lejter@snhu.edu
Lett, Woullard - w.lett@snhu.edu
Maddocks, William - w.maddocks@snhu.edu
Maher, Patricia - p.maher@snhu.edu
Malone, H. - h.malone@snhu.edu
Manyanda, Julius - j.manyanda@snhu.edu
Marealle, Maria - m.marealle@snhu.edu
Masasi, Rukia Saleh - r.masasi@snhu.edu
Mburu, Chris - c.mburu@snhu.edu
Milton, August - a.milton@snhu.edu
Mutasa, Felician - f.mutasa@snhu.edu
Ngaruko, Deus - d.ngaruko@snhu.edu
Ngatuni, Proches - .ngatuni@snhu.edu
O'Reilly, Martin - m.oreilly@snhu.edu
Onyango, Monica - m.onyango@snhu.edu
Palakurthi, Puneetha - p.palakurthi@snhu.edu
Paris, Paula - p.paris@snhu.edu
Reese, T David - t.reese@snhu.edu
Richmond, Anne Elizabeth - a.richmond@snhu.edu
Rielly, Catherine - c.rielly@snhu.edu
Rivera, Jolan - j.rivera@snhu.edu
Seib, Rebecca - rebecca.seib@snhu.edu
Shulman, Steven - s.shulman@snhu.edu
Shungu, Hamidu - h.shungu@snhu.edu
Sinda, Sinda - s.sinda@snhu.edu
Swack, Michael - m.swack@snhu.edu
Walcott, Derrick - derrick.walcott@snhu.edu
Werema, Samwel - s.werema@snhu.edu
Wilkinson, Alan - a.wilkinson@snhu.edu
Wilson, Kimberley - k.wilson@snhu.edu
Click here for a list of New Hampshire media.
License to Minutemen: The GOP In the Driver's Seat
In the noisome living room of the nativist hard right, for the GOP Militant today, there is only a cesspool darkness of the future of our nation. A darkness threatening to overtake the U.S. by a demographic ascendancy and territorial conquest; this darkness has replaced that traditional vanquished enemy, godless communism, by a far more subversive danger spreading over America's interior, throughout its breath and width. There is no longer any lip service to "Morning in America" given the future framed by a permanent Midnight in America where darkness descends upon our culture as a dark people of color rise to become the democratic majority.
The GOP is now mainstreaming extremists into the body politic of the U.S. to drown out the fearful, the timid, the intimidated with the effluence of their wedge politics. With our country in the middle of a catastrophic military and diplomatic defeat of unforeseeable consequence; with the drums of war again reverberating through our land, in a seeming effort to plunge the world deeper in the mire of blood as a Hail Mary desperation pass to pull victory out of defeat. The economic prospect of the middle class looks even grimmer as a war with Iran will cost a staggering amount.
It has not been so difficult for the GOP to maneuver extremists into channeling anger into blaming terrorists—the swarthy invaders. If it was simple enough to convince the majority that Iraq was responsible for 9/11, there should not be any obstacle to faulting illegal immigrants for all our economic and social problems. There is little doubt the GOP now see very well how they can muster and use angry racist mobs to further enflame a citizenry, as we saw today in Albany, primed to blame and scapegoat the "illegal immigrant," the brown invader, for outsourcing jobs, falling wages, record foreclosures, rising homelessness, unaffordable health care and a bleaker future, with no retirement, working till you are dropped in a hospital to expire...
The GOP at every level of government, national, state and regional, has been flushed into this seemingly fixed midnight of darkness where shades of reality are masked by their blinding affiliation with white supremacist, anti-immigrant, neo-con hard right organizations. Fueled by enormous wealth coming out of the Bush Administration protection racket for the likes of Ari Fleischer, Richard Mellon Scaife, the Coors family's tax-free billions, the Eric Prince (head of Blackwater, the mercenary group that has put in a bid to patrol the Mexican border) extended family, Cheney, Rove, Limbaugh, Coulter, Roger Ailes, and all their other glum warriors who repeat clichés to each other that privilege must be controlled, just as the cream rises to the top. Just as they, themselves are rewarded, praise the Lord.
They astutely see the threat to Christian white Western Civilization by the non-white hordes from the south, the invaders who corrupt even our language, refusing to speak English, which the right claims with a straight face unites us as a people, as if they so highly value unity with those outside their own identity. This is the trajectory mapped by Samuel Huntington, who understood that the Roman Catholic Latino is culturally incapable of understanding the true nature of democracy, because their tradition of being ruled by an all powerful caudillo, an elite, a hierarchy of papists. This anti-Catholicism has been a significant, popular belief in the U.S. since colonial times when U.S. was surrounded by Catholic enemies, their economic rivals to the North and the South, with their French and Spanish rulers.
Today in the rotunda of the State Legislature in Albany, bands of Minimen, American Border Patrol, their gun-obsessed buddies, pious acolytes of Lou Dobbs, Tancredo & his grotesque clone Tedisco, bonded in the happy glue of despising Latino illegals, screamed in a tantrum of mob fury for the head of Spitzer, for the passage of a meaningless gesture that will reinforce their certainty they are riding the powerful steed of the headless horseman, to wreak terror in the hearts of legislators who ignore their Halloween cartoon of what our democracy means and what it looks like when we ship them back to Africa, Haiti, Mexico...
Yes, I know there are also Dems, like Levy, and there are a few progressive Republicans, like Chafee, Bloomberg, but they are anomalous, the exception. The grand ole party of Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt, LaGuardia, Lindsay, Rockefeller, even Reagan, and Bush pere have been widened to include and welcome those in the resurfacings of this amalgam of anti-government and violent squads of posses militati, NRA John Birchers, Christian Identity, states' militias, neo-Nazi minutemen rallying around the red, white & blue of anti-immigrant patriotism. While they open wide their tent to this flotsam of lunatics, they demand we close entry to hard working immigrants. The lunatic fringe appears to be in the driver's seat, on their way to becoming the mainstream of Republicanism.
Don't be demoralized by their appearance of power that seems to leave so many Dems cowering, as in our Suffolk County legislature. Remember that the Know Nothing Party was the largest 3rd party in the history of American politics, holding a majority in several state legislatures, including Mass. & Penn. and a powerful force in others, with several senators elected to Congress and dozens in the House of Representatives. Yet, they were completely defeated in just 10 years by a nation undergoing unprecedented economic boom, finding pursuit of business, innovation and wealth to be more rewarding.
This nativism flares up periodically throughout our history in times of national stress; but has always been finally defeated by progressive forces building coalition, usually with a resulting expansion of a more inclusive definition of our democracy.
If nativists appear to be in the Republican driver's seat, you can be certain that with the putting of our shoulders to the wheel, the coming together as we speak, of progressive forces building a grassroots coalition, we will win out. We have history as our peloton* at our backs and the future in our reach. These minimen losers of GOP reaction are running on fumes. They are in the driver's seat for but a very short trip.
Michael O'Neill
Peloton is a fancy word, but useful. The peloton travels as an integrated unit, like geese flying in formation of a V, each rider making slight adjustments in response to the riders around them (particularly the one in front of each). When developed, riders at the front are exposed to higher loads, and will tend to slip off the front in order to rejoin the pack further back where there will be less aerodynamic resistance, thus able to conserve energy as they move, in turn up to the front. In some cases, with sufficient room to maneuver, this will develop into a fluid situation where the center of the peloton appears to be pushing through its own leading edge, exactly like the UFW tactic of the boycott..
Jena, a small town in Central Louisiana, exploded onto the headlines as the latest example of an undiminished American racism.Ya braak duh law, ya doo duh tyme, rot? Dat ders 'Merica!Seems that the Jena racists and their co-conspirators don't take kindly to people calling them on their backwards ways.
Atlanta Latino, Posted on New America Media:Sep 25, 2007ATLANTA – The Hispanic Evangelical Church of Georgia, with the support of the National Latino Coalition of Christian Ministers, announced this week that they are filing a lawsuit against the state of Georgia for “treating their faithful without dignity,” according to Atlanta Latino newspaper.
Dr. Luis Valenzuela, leading immigrant advocate and executive director of the Long Island Immigrant Alliance, spoke recently at a Babylon Green Party Forum on Immigration. He gave a seminar on the local and national battle for immigrant justice.
Finally, Latinos are beginning to stand up to the bully racists and fighting back.
In the year 2097, 50% of the entire United States population will be Hispanic...5% will be white...''The ruling was a well-earned embarrassment for Mayor Louis J. Barletta and his proclaimed goal of making Hazleton ''one of the toughest places in the United States” for migrants. In doing so, Judge Munley laid down basic truths.
The browning of America is inevitable. No one can stop it.
First, immigration is a federal responsibility. State and local governments have no right to usurp or upend a vast, ''carefully drawn federal statutory scheme” that governs who enters the country and the conditions under which immigrants stay, study, work and naturalize. Congress may be botching the job, but has not delegated it.Herein lies the crux of the problem, racism was the major contributing factor that killed immigration reform
An Hispanic friend, Sen. Barack Obama said the recent Senate immigration debate ''was both ugly and racist in a way we haven't see since the struggle for civil rights.''Every brown face in America is suspect
Even Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina in the well of the U.S. Senate said, ''There’s no shortage of plain old racism in this issue.''
If you think conservative Republican talk radio, cable television and other Americans focus only on migrants, you must be living in a cave for every brown face in America is suspect.Citizenship
Hispanics cast 5.6 million votes in the 2006 midterms elections which represented only 13 percent of the total Hispanic population compared to the 27 percent of all blacks who cast votes and 39 percent of all whites who voted — a disappointing turnout attributed to a population too young to vote or ineligible because of citizenship status.The only consolation
Working on getting out the vote will help but this is not enough. We need to go on the offense. We need to launch a local campaign to identify, name and shame those who systematically bash Hispanics. Then we need to launch a nationwide campaign.
The only consolation is a population projection from the Unites States Census Bureau: In the year 2097, 50% of the entire United States population will be Hispanic, 30% will be black, 13% will be Asian, 5% will be white, and 2% will be ''other.'' The browning of America is inevitable. No one can stop it.
MIAMI -- The Senate's failure to pass immigration reform sent Latinos the message: fend for yourselves, said Janet Murguía, head of National Council of La Raza, at its recent 2007 conference in Miami. A vocal minority of shock jock radio hosts fueled a mob that overcame Congress, Murguía said.