Help fight the attacks on Sotomayor

A message from Presente Action...

When it comes to Judge Sonia Sotomayor, some Republican leaders have been talking out of both sides of their mouth: playing nice in public while privately encouraging racist attacks from the likes of Rush Limbaugh.

ActBlue: Rush Limbaugh Doesn't Like This Ad -- Help Keep It On The Air!

That's why Presente Action is running radio ads calling out those members of Congress who refuse to condemn Rush's rhetoric.

Joe Arpaio & Nazi friendship exposed!

Racists Use Flu to Foment Anti-Latino Hate

Latino Bashing, What would you do?

If you're like most people, ABC's John Quiñones learned, you'll do nothing.

Yep, Nada! Zippo!

Our reasons for inaction are, of course, pathetic. For example, one man's excuse was that the victim wasn't bleeding enough. Really! Another--a Latino--feared that the gang would target him. But even a group of young men chose to do shuffle away -- shoulders slumped in apparent shame.

Redeeming humanity were a few valiant individuals. Some called 911 as they watched from a distance. But a few took direct action. One was a solidly built African American man took immediate action to stop the violence by taking on the thugs. He told Quiñones he simply couldn't let happen to others what had once happened to him.
Another hero was a Latina who jumped out of her SUV, putting her small frame between the thugs and victim. A third was again a woman who sought to comfort the victim with a hug and a prayer.

Watching the bravery and compassion of the heroes was very touching -- they are very special people. But knowing most would do nothing to stop a racist gang attack on a Latino immigrant is very disturbing.

I.C.E. Took My Father

The Carreño family, from San Francisco's Mission District, was torn apart when the patriarch Refugio was deported and his wife Lupe was put under surveillance -- the incident activated their chronically ill, 15 year old daughter, Lupe.



More

Photo: Lupe Carreño

Pat Buchanan Spews Anti-Latino Bigotry: 'Hispanics America's Biggest Threat

No joke!

'Hispanics' says racist baiter extraordinaire Patrick Buchanan are the biggest threat to the survival of the United States of America. We're a bigger threat, he warns, than even those dastardly Muslims in the Iraq and Kabul.

Question: We know why FOX keeps a stable of racists pontificators, but what's MSNBC's deal? Why possible good does it do MSNBC and its parent company GE to provide this very sick and harmful man on pay and airtime?

I will say though that at least Buchanan is an 'honest' racist. Unlike his brothers-in-hate, Lou Dobbs, Bill O'Reilly, Sean Hannity and Rushbo, Buchanan doesn't pretend that his deep anti-Latino animus is really just concern about "illegal" immigration.

But again, doesn't MSNBC have professional journalistic standards regarding who they put on the air? If not, I hear that David Dukes would love a slot.

Sidebar: Buchanan was a pr flack for disgraced President 'Tricky' Dick Nixon--a documented racist as well--who's administration is credited with originating the label Hispanic.
As Bill Santiago says about Hispanic, "It has that word 'panic in it". He adds, "It's more of a warning label than an ethnic category. It sounds too much like Titanic, Satanic, Mechanic!"

Estadounidenses of Latin American heritage, how about a more authentic descriptor? I prefer Latino -- although Americano is intriguing. No? ;)

Nezua & Weekly Immigration Wire: A Cry for Change from Coast to Coast

Nezua (The Unapologetic Mexican) introduces his latest project, The Media Consortium's Weekly Immigration Wire, an aggregation of the week's best news stories in progressive new media.

What's refreshing about the venture is that Nezua is authentic and believable -- and immigration--or the movement of people--one of the 21st Century's foremost challenges.

Brockton Racist on Killing Spree

Prosecutors allege that Keith Luke, 22, hatched his plan of racial vengeance months ago with the goal of slaughtering as many “Jews, blacks and Hispanics” as he could.

Cops piece together chilling details of tragedy (Jessica Fargen, Boston Herald)

• Luke knocks on the door at 103 Clinton St. at 12:20 p.m., armed with a 9 mm gun and a backpack containing a hammer, two pairs of handcuffs, a mouth gag and blindfold. He is allegedly intent on killing 20-year-old Selma Goncalves, his former neighbor.


• Selma’s older sister answers the door. Luke allegedly pulls the 9 mm from his sweatshirt pocket and forces his way inside. He handcuffs the woman and allegedly rapes her for 20 to 25 minutes.


• Selma returns home and bangs on the door.


• Luke gets dressed, grabs his gun and answers the door. He tries to pull Selma inside, but she resists and runs away.


• He allegedly shoots her several times in the back as she flees.


• Selma’s sister is kneeling on the floor, holding a large, stuffed white teddy bear. Luke allegedly fires several times and bullets rip through the teddy bear and into the woman’s chest.


• Selma runs outside and collapses.


• Luke retreats to his black van, parked outside, and reloads.


• He leans out the window and allegedly fires three to four shots at a “non-white” man who is tending to Selma before he speeds off.


• Luke sees a 72-year-old homeless man pushing a carriage on Clinton Street and pulls over. He walks up to the man and allegedly shoots him point-blank in the face as the man holds up his hand to protect himself. He allegedly shoots the man again in the back as he flees.


• Luke continues to drive down the street, allegedly looking for other non-whites to kill as a police chase ensues. He allegedly shoots at two police officers before crashing into several cars. He flees on foot.


• He tries to cock the gun as he runs before lying down on East Ashland Street and surrendering.

Links:
Photo series - BostonHerald

Video: Murder Scene 1 - 1/23/09

Video: Capture Scene - 1/23/09

Video of DA Timonthy Cruz' press conference 1/23/09

Video: Arraignment - 1/24/09

Brockton woman killed by gunman remembered for warmth, sense of humor

Cape Verdean mother of shooting victim to attend funeral

Slain man, 72, 'never bothered a soul'

Cops piece together chilling details of tragedy

‘I can still see her dancing’ says friend of Brockton victim

Suspect in Brockton slayings intent on carnage, police say

Prosecutor: Brockton suspect planned ‘mass murder’

Keith Luke Tried to Save the White Race

Accused Gunman Targeted 'Non-Whites,' Jews In Spree

Accused killer's father threatens cops, committed for treatment

City leaders decry hate crime at Brockton peace rally

Video: Brockton's Rabbi Joshua Cohen Speaks Out Against Hate

Robb Pearson: Confessions of a Former Anti-Latino Immigrant Activist

After a well-publicized change of heart, Robb Pearson, former anti-Latino immigration activist and blogger, is working to promote compassion and common humanity as a framework for the immigration issue and other issues.

Recently, Pearson sat down with 9500Liberty to discuss his conversion. Here' the interview in two parts:

Part 1: The seduction of intolerance - "We don't like "illegal" immigrants. Most "illegals" are Hispanic. Therefore, we don't like Hispanics."


Part 2: "Racism is an issue with the anti-immigrant lobby...I finally got to see the human face of the issue I had been against...I came to the realization that this isn't about politics. This isn't even about immigration. It's about our common humanity."


Links:
Robb Pearson's Opening Speech
Hate Society Claims Morristown

The Social Contract Press Loves Bigotry

At a recent press conference the Social Contract Press received a cake and balloons congratulating them on their new report which blames immigrants for infrastructure problems in the United States. The Social Contract Press is listed as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center and has strong ties to racist white nationalist organizations.

Related: Social Contract Press Lies to Voters

SHOCK JOCKS -- HATE RADIO!!!:

The Burial of Martyred Immigrant Marcelo Lucero

Video-Journalist Ana P. Gutierrez captures the Lucero and Gualaceo's deep sorrow of the retrieval and funeral of the martyred Marcelo.

The arrival of the body of Marcelo Lucero in Ecuador.


Marcelo's funeral in his hometown of Gualaceo.

Aljazeera's Report on the Marcello Lucero Murder

Rosario Lucero Grieves for her son Marcelo

Speaking from her home in Gualaceo, Ecuador, Rosario Lucero -- the grieving mother of the Long Island hate murder victim Marcelo Lucero -- spoke to video-journalist Ana P. Gutierrez.
Ms. Gutierrez captures the dignity, faith and sorrow of the people of Gualaceo in mourning.

Vigil for Marcello Lucero - Latino Immigrant Awakening?

I joined 1,000 or so of mourners at last night's outdoor vigil for Marcello Lucero in Patchogue, Long Island.

It was a diverse crowd, young and old, Latino and nonLatino. They came from the Latino precincts of the Patchogue area, as well as from communities across the length of Long Island, including Astoria, Jackson Heights, Sunset Park, Corona, Elmont, Hempstead, Long Beach, Glen Cove, Freeport, Amityville, Huntington, Brentwood, Central Islip, Southampton, Montauk. Some travelled from New 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 experience 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

75 Bits of Toxic Hate from Conservative Talk Radio

Last week, MediaMatters for America released a roundup of smears conservative radio hosts used to foment hate and distrust among their listeners for President-elect Obama. As a follow up, they put together a collection of items illustrating that these hosts did not save their ire for Obama. Immigrants, female politicians (and women in general,) the LGBT community, the poor and homeless, minorities, progressives, unions, college students, and even autistic children were targets for these radio personalities.

Do you know what's on your radio? Here's an example:

1) G. Gordon Liddy smeared undocumented Mexican immigrants, claiming they "want to reconquer America, they say"
2) Jim Quinn, Lee Rodgers: Conservative radio hosts claimed HUD said 5 million illegal immigrants were given subprime mortgages, despite HUD's reported denials
3) Savage: "Illegal aliens" have "raped and disheveled" the Statue of Liberty
4) Savage: "We're getting refugees now who have never used a telephone, a toothbrush, or toilet paper. ... [T]hey never assimilate. And then their children become gang-bangers"
5) Savage: "Bring in 10 million more from Africa. ... They can't reason, but bring them in with a machete in their head"
6) Savage on Muslim immigrants: 15th-century "throwbacks, some of whom are no doubt terrorists, and some of whom are gonna produce children who will become terrorists"
7) Chris Baker called Obama a "little bitch" who "won't even stand up to" "smoking-hot" Palin
8) Baker on Palin's appearance at VP debate: "Shoulda had a little cleavage going ... I noticed a panty line on her"
9) Baker: "I don't think homeless people should vote"; "I'm not that excited about women voting"
10) Minneapolis radio host said Code Pink protesters "ought to have all their tubes tied"
11) Mark Belling: "When you think of Hillary Clinton," the word "bitches" comes to mind
12) Belling called Gloria Steinem a "grizzled old bag," "old witch"
13) On Jon Caldara's KOA show, Coulter claimed women's suffrage "explains the destruction of America"
14) Jon Caldara asked Coulter if Clinton was "bitch-slapped" in debate
15) Bill Cunningham on Democratic women: "[A] lot of women who are single are vulnerable; they need like a daddy government to keep an eye on them"
16) Mark Levin on his "National Organization of Ugly Women" remark: "[F]or now on, it's the National Organization of Really Ugly Women"
17) Jim Quinn called NOW the "National Organization for Whores," said columnist Fatimah Ali should "get an American name"
18) Jim Quinn: "[T]he goal of the public school system -- the feminists in the public school system -- is to make male behavior illegal"
19) Jim Quinn: Steinem opposes Palin because Palin "declined to slaughter her own unborn child, Trig, to the goddess of feminism"
20) Quinn: To feminists, even "a childless feminist who looks like a Bulgarian weightlifter in drag" can be a "real woman"
21) Quinn introduced segment about Hillary Clinton by playing Elton John's "The Bitch Is Back"
22) KSFO's Lee Rodgers said many "professed leaders of the feminist movement" are "hags" who "couldn't get laid in a men's prison"
23) KSFO's Rodgers: "[P]uckered-butt Democrat women hate Sarah Palin ... because her idea of choice was choosing not to have an abortion"
24) KSFO's Rodgers: "[F]emale leadership of the Democratic Party" consists of "ugly skanks" who "hate" that "Sarah Palin's good-looking"
25) KSFO's Rodgers: "With that screechy, fingernails-on-the-blackboard voice of hers, it is impossible for Hillary Clinton to deliver a great speech"
26) KSFO's Rodgers on voting gender gap: For "a lot of women in this country who get knocked up ... the government becomes Daddy in terms of paying the bills"
27) On Jon Caldara program, Coulter called John Edwards "the very definition of faggy"
28) KHOW's Dan Caplis again asserted that gay "conduct is not natural" and is "immoral"
29) KOA's "Gunny" Bob Newman repeated concern that "crushing tyranny of the left" could "lead to legal human-animal marriage"
30) Michael Savage: "If you're insane, hate the family ... hate your mother and father, hate the Bible, hate the church, and hate the synagogue," you oppose CA gay marriage ban
31) After railing against gay marriage, Savage said "the spiritual side of the downturn on Wall Street was directly related to the moral downturn"
32) Savage linked San Francisco event to the "artistes" and "leather fetishists" of Weimar-era Germany, whom he blamed for Hitler's rise
33) Savage: "The children's minds are being raped by the homosexual mafia"
34) KSFO's Brian Sussman invited guest to talk about his claim that "gay and lesbian radicals actively recruit through our schools and the media"
35) Jim Quinn: "Gay sex produces AIDS"; "They should charge homosexuals more for their ... health insurance"
36) Neil Boortz: "Muslims, making tortillas? ... [W]ith all of the illegal Mexicans in this country, we can't find some Mexicans to make those tortillas?"
37) Boortz's commentary on his inability to use a floor buffer: "I would make a lousy Mexican"
38) Bill Cunningham on Obama Sr.: "That's what black fathers do. They simply leave"
39) Bill Cnningham guest Rev. Jesse Lee Peterson: "[M]ost black people today are racist"
40) Cunningham: "I think there will be 100 cities burning if Barack loses. Yeah, that's what the black intelligentsia says"
41) In sketch on Corsi's detention in Kenya, Liddy played audio of "jungle telegraph drums"
42) Quinn and Tennent: Powell endorsed Obama because "he's tired of being called an Oreo," "an Uncle Tom"
43) Lee Rodgers suggested that just as the O.J. Simpson verdict "was a racial vote," African-Americans support Obama because of "racial brotherhood"
44) Michael Savage on Obama: "America's first affirmative action candidate about to become president"
45) Savage: "Kenya is going to move to America if Barack Hussein Obama wins"
46) Baker: "I don't think homeless people should vote"; "I'm not that excited about women voting"
47) Boortz: "Single mothers receiving public assistance" are "welfare broodmares"
48) Boortz again referred to victims of Hurricane Katrina as "parasite[s]"
49) Boortz: "[P]rimary blame" for Katrina goes to "worthless parasites who lived in New Orleans"
50) Cunningham: "[P]eople are poor in America ... because they lack values, morals, and ethics"
51) Cunningham: America's "so-called noble poor" don't use birth control so that "the mom can get more checks in the mail from the government"
52) Liddy: Obama is relying, in part, on "the welfare class" to win Pennsylvania
53) Quinn stated that unlike welfare recipients, slaves "had to work" for food, housing
54) Responding to Media Matters item, Quinn defended comparison of welfare recipients to slaves
55) Rose Tennent on Obama ad: "[D]on't put that jive out there in front of me, devil, and tell me that these people are hurting when they are not hurting"
56) Quinn: "Originally, if you didn't have land, you didn't vote, and there was a good reason for it"
57) Savage: "Why should a welfare recipient have the right to vote? They're only gonna vote themselves a raise"
58) Savage's answer to homelessness: "Why not put them in work camps?"
59) Minneapolis radio hosts Chris Baker and Perry are "convinced" that Magic Johnson "faked AIDS"
60) Baker: Media Matters "can kiss my supple buttocks"
61) Belling smeared "greedy, overpaid unionized schoolteacher[s]" who talk about global warming
62) Boortz: Teachers unions "do more damage to this country than all the drug pushers together"
63) Boortz again referred to victims of Hurricane Katrina as "parasite[s]"
64) Levin attacks "Jon Leibowitz, a.k.a Jon Stewart": "I'm really tired of these phony intellectuals ... arrogantly looking down their sizable noses at our armed forces"
65) "Gunny" Bob Newman's suggestions for replacing Air America's Rhodes included Obama, Stalin, bin Laden, Charles Manson
66) KSFO's "gentleman" Lee Rodgers lashes out at Media Matters
67) Discussing economic crisis and bailout plan, Michael Savage said Rep. Frank "should be in the gallows for this"
68) Savage: Democratic Party's "membership is made up largely of minority blocs ... that are all against the white person"
69) Savage reportedly likened Media Matters to HIV
70) Savage on Media Matters: "They have no place in America"
71) Savage on autism: "A fraud, a racket. ...In 99 percent of the cases, it's a brat who hasn't been told to cut the act out"
72) Savage referred to Pelosi as "Nancy Mussolini"
73) Savage plays Dead Kennedys song again after asserting he "is now being persecuted for refusing to take the party line" on Sen. Kennedy's illness
74) Savage: "I would round up every member of the ACLU and of the National Lawyers Guild and I'd put them in a prison in Guantánamo and I'd throw the key away"
75) Savage claimed Lantos used the Holocaust as "a weapon the rest of his life"

2nd Shenandoah Latino Beaten; Authorities Again Claim No Bias; LULAC, MALDEF Demand DOJ Investigation

Javier Alcala Jr., 21, of Shenandoah, PA, was assaulted September 12, 2008. He was jumped by three men, who hit him on the head, bound him with duct tape on his legs and arms, blindfolded him with duct tape and beaten to the point of unconsciousness.

It's the second beating of a Latino migrant in recent months. On July 12th, Luis Eduardo Ramirez Zavala, 25, a Mexican immigrant, was murdered by four Shenandoah racist thugs.

The League of United Latin American Citizens and the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund have called for the U.S. Department of Justice to conduct a civil rights investigation.

Of course, the hapless Shenandoah police doesn't believe that this latest crime was racially motivated. But then again, they didn't believe that the murder of Luis Ramirez was due to his race.

Two questions:

1) How likely is it to get the Bush DOJ to act quickly and responsibly in this matter? I suspect that Shenandoah Latinos may have to wait until an Obama presidency in order to get the DOJ to act.

2) Could this type of assault be used as a political tactic to galvanize the White working class vote? Anti-immigrant Lou Barletta is running for Congress on the GOP line in a district that is heavily White working class and Democratic. Additionally, John McCain needs to carry NE Pennsylvania in order to neutralize Barack Obama's overwhelming support in the Philly area.

Link

Behind The Veil: America’s Anti-Immigration Network

"What if all the leading anti-immigration groups were founded by the same man, funded by the same organization, and [had] ties to White supremacy?"

So begins Heidi Beirich's narrative in "Behind the Veil"-a new video that details the common origins of many of the country's leading anti-immigration groups and their ties to White supremacists.

In the video, Beirich of the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC)-- the nation's premier monitor of hate groups -- discusses SPLC's research on organizations such as the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS), NumbersUSA, and the Social Contract Press.



Source: NCLR's 'WE CAN STOP THE HATE' Campaign

A Georgia Latina Recounts Trauma of ICE Home Invasion

Speaking in her native Georgia accent, Justeen Mancha, an American Latina recounts the trauma of having her home invaded by armed ICE blackboots.

"I carry that fear with me everyday, wondering when they'll come back. Just because I have brown hair and brown eyes, they think that I'm illegal, but I'm not."

Without a warrant, ICE broke into the young woman's Stillmore home in search of nonexistent "aliens". Finding none--and without apology, the stormtroopers moved on to terrorize dozens of other "Latino" families in the community.

"In the civil rights movement, we had to stand up against legalized injustice and racial discrimination. They are afraid that federal agents might storm their jobs, round them up, require them to prove their citizenship, and hold them in bondage without a warrant for their arrest or guarantee of a trial. This is not right. It is not fair. It is not just." U.S. Rep. John Lewis

The video is a clip of the young woman's testimony to the National Commission on ICE Misconduct and Violations (Thursday, May 29, 2008).



Related: Panel hears about alleged misconduct in ICE raids

Fear and Loathing in Prime Time: Immigration Myths and Cable News

Fear and Loathing in Prime Time: Immigration Myths and Cable News: A Media Matters Action Network Report - May 21, 2008 (En Español)

There are many problems facing the United States today -- a faltering economy, a health-care crisis, and the continuing war in Iraq, to name a few. But viewers of some of the most prominent cable news programs are presented a different reality in which one issue stands above all others: illegal immigration.

While hosts on other cable programs regularly discuss illegal immigration, Lou Dobbs, Bill O'Reilly, and Glenn Beck serve up a steady diet of fear, anger, and resentment on the topic of illegal immigration.

Media Matters Action Network