Take Action: National Geographic Show Fosters Hatred and Violence Towards Immigrants
Formerly neutral world news organization National Geographic, with corporate cosponsor CSX, launched a new cable television show entitled “Border Wars”, detailing daily border agent battles with drug smugglers, human traffickers, and undocumented immigrants.
The promotions for this new show, as well as the show itself, have managed to recklessly imply that the U.S. and Mexico are at war, that the U.S.-Mexico border is a terrorism hot spot, that undocumented immigrants are the terrorists attempting to infiltrate this country, and that U.S. border agents are our soldiers ensuring national security and justice.
These implications are false and dangerous.
What “Border Wars” will not show you are fleeing immigrants being shot, immigrant children being separated from their families, and immigrants being forced to return to lives that include poverty, violence, and despair. That is the reality of the U.S.- Mexico border.
The astounding insensitivity of “Border Wars” is compounded by the show’s website which allows browsers to simulate being a border agent “on the line”, promoting violence toward immigrants and vigilante justice.
This show fosters prejudice, hatred, and violence toward all immigrants, regardless of legal status, that lead to hate crimes like the deaths of Luis Ramirez in Pennsylvania and Raul and Brisenia Flores in Arizona. “Border Wars” should not be allowed to influence its 2.9 million viewers in this manner.
If you would like to contact National Geographic about “Border Wars” to express your disappointment and outrage, you may do so here:
http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/channel/contact
Or post on the show forum.
LDF: ‘King’s Legacy Serve as a Call to Arms on Crisis in Haiti’
Got this today from the NAACP Legal Defense Fund:
Today provides a moment for reflection on the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. – born 81 years ago on this day. It is also a moment of intense anguish for the survivors and those continuing to suffer in the wake of the tragic earthquake in Haiti.
Throughout his life, Dr. King was committed to achieving equality, addressing discrimination and resolving poverty. These were goals that he set out to achieve both domestically and abroad. In a December 11, 1964 Nobel Lecture speech, Dr. King observed that:
Ultimately a great nation is a compassionate nation; no individual or nation can be great if it does not have a concern for the least of these. In the final analysis, the rich must not ignore the poor, because both rich and poor are tied together in a single garment of destiny-for life is interrelated and all men are interdependent. The agony of the poor diminishes the rich, and the salvation of the poor enlarges the rich.
Given the searing experience of Hurricane Katrina, it’s hauntingly disturbing to now witness the intensifying humanitarian crisis unfolding in Haiti. We have a responsibility and a duty to do all that we can to alleviate the suffering unfolding in this weak and vulnerable nation. Before the earthquake, Haiti remained one of the least-developed countries in the Americas with a literacy rate of just 53 percent and nearly 80 percent of the population living in poverty. These numbers are likely to worsen given the total collapse of the country’s infrastructure, including schools, hospitals and government buildings. A long road of rebuilding and recovery lies ahead.
The speed with which we mobilized an aid package to help bailout corporations in the midst of our national economic crisis should shape and inform the relief we now provide to Haiti. Our neighbors in Haiti, just 600 miles from the shore of southern Florida desperately need immediate relief and meaningful intervention. Our own recent experience from Hurricane Katrina should serve as a call to arms and propel us to deploy every resource necessary to bring immediate relief and aid to those suffering in Haiti. Dr. King would have certainly compelled as much.
For more information on how you can provide assistance: The Center for International Disaster Information (CIDI) has links to various lists of organizations that are responding to the earthquake or Global Giving has specific disaster-recovery projects listed that can be supported.
EJS Screens Stirring Films on Incarceration and Family Detention
On Wednesday, October 14, more than 100 EJS members and friends from around the Bay Area joined us at the Sundance Kabuki Theater for the screening of two films about contemporary criminal justice issues. The screenings were spearheaded by EJS staffers Sara Jackson and Miguel Gavaldón.
The Trust (http://www.trustcommunity.org), currently in post-production, takes a personal look at incarceration and re-entry through the eyes of men struggling for transformation within the corrections system. The Least of These (http://theleastofthese-film.com) addresses the issue of family detention, looking in particular at the Don T. Hutto Residential Center and legal and community efforts to soften its harsh treatment of children and families.
After the screening, the films’ producers and some of the individuals profiled in the films participated in a question and answer session with an engaged and moved audience.
On first impression, it might seem that these two films take on important but unrelated issues.
The Trust is predominantly about the impacts of the prison-industrial complex in urban, African American communities – including the challenges of mass incarceration combined with limited opportunities for rehabilitation or re-entry.
The Least of These is about immigrant families (Middle Eastern, Latino and others) forced to flee atrocities in their home countries only to arrive in the United States and face long-term detention in for-profit, prison-like facilities because they have no access to asylum without being detained.
So what’s the connection? Well the crowd at the Kabuki-including students, activists, organizers and lawyers-was a perceptive one and it saw a clear connection between the two pieces: we live in a nation that systematically locks people up, and in large part failing to craft solutions consistent with the human and civil rights principles the United States purportedly stands for. Whether we call it incarceration, immigrant detention, enemy combatant detention, or internment, the United States always seems to be putting people away. And the people being put away always seem to be predominately people of color and the working poor.
The good news is that people are noticing, people are talking about it and people are working collectively to address this phenomenon. The film screening and subsequent discussion is a key example of this process. It was inspiring to see such a diverse crowd realize the big picture together even though different individuals are working on different angles and aspects of the issues. People left the event with a refreshed commitment to their own work as well as a new motivation to reach out and connect with others to bring a different, richer perspective to that work.
Thanks again to the co-sponsors, filmmakers, panel participants, and audience for making the event a definite success.
- Mairead Donahey
Session on ‘Myth of Post-Racial America’ at Netroots Nation in Pittsburgh, Aug. 13-16
The Equal Justice Society is proud to support Netroots Nation, the country’s top convention for progressive online activists. The fourth annual gathering of the Netroots (formerly known as the YearlyKos Convention) will be held August 13–16 at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center in Pittsburgh, Pa.
EJS is coordinating a session on “The Myth of Post-Racial America” on Thursday, August 13, from 9 a.m. to 10:15 a.m. Panelists include Rinku Sen, President and Executive Director of the Applied Research Center (ARC); Rich Benjamin, Senior Fellow at DEMOS; Annabel Park, director/producer of the upcoming documentary film “9500 Liberty” and moderated by Keith Kamisugi, EJS Director of Communications. Save the session date and info on Facebook.
Netroots Nation 2009 will include panels led by national and international experts; a progressive film screening series; practical training sessions and workshops; and the most concentrated gathering of progressive bloggers to date.
Past gatherings have included a Presidential Leadership Forum that drew seven Democratic candidates, a surprise visit from Al Gore; an interactive Ask the Speaker session with Nancy Pelosi; and hundreds of panels, roundtables, training sessions, workshops and keynotes.
Contact Keith Kamisugi (kkamisugi@equaljusticesociety.org) for more information on this session or the conference.
Scholarships Available for Bloggers Covering Immigration Issues
As progressives across the country begin strategizing and organizing around comprehensive immigration reform, there’s no better place to connect than this summer’s Netroots Nation convention. With nearly 100 training sessions and panels to choose from, it’s vital that those who write about immigration are well-represented in Pittsburgh.
Do you know someone working at the intersection of new media and immigration, who blogs on the issue, and who needs some help getting to Netroots Nation? If so, tell them to apply for a scholarship!
This year, America’s Voice, an organization committed to supporting a vibrant and independent pro-migrant blogosphere, will send eight immigration bloggers to Pittsburgh to attend the convention. The scholarship includes registration, a travel stipend and shared hotel accommodations.
The America’s Voice and Netroots Nation scholarship selection committee will rely on several unique factors to select contest winners. Above all, we are interested in hearing your personal story and your personal connection to the issue, what drives your work, and why you would like to attend Netroots Nation.
It’s also important that we select people who are not only passionate about blogging and/or online activism, but who bring a unique and underrepresented perspective to the Netroots Nation convention.
The answers that you submit in your application are private, but if selected as a winner, we may ask to publish some of your answers on our website.
Apply now to be a America’s Voice/Netroots Nation 2009 Scholar.
Since time is short and we want to let winners make their travel arrangements, all applications are due by Monday, July 20. Selections will be posted online by August 1, but winners will be contacted via email as soon as they are selected.
National “Family Unity” Immigration Event in San Jose
On April 18, San Jose’s faith-based communities join a national effort—spanning 20 major U.S. cities—to document the harm caused to citizens across our nation in the absence of comprehensive immigration reform. This will be the first event of the tour to highlight voices of the Asian Pacific Islander community, and other diasporic communities.
“These testimonials will be critical as President Obama builds his case for comprehensive immigration reform in May, which happens to be Asian Pacific American Heritage Month,” said Rep. Michael Honda (CA-15), chair of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus (CAPAC). “At a national level, the voices of the Asian Pacific Islander communities are often left out of the immigration debate. I am looking forward to amplifying these voices on Saturday.”
As part of an unprecedented nationwide outreach tour, Rep. Honda will be joined by Rep. Luis V. Gutierrez (IL-04), chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC) Immigration Task Force and California’s religious community to spearhead the “Family Unity” outreach event in San Jose.
Keith Olbermann: ‘Immigration Detention Centers as Bad as Gitmo’
MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann calls immigration detention centers “Gitmo Jr.-gate”, and that’s right on point. Olbermann’s comments during his “Still Bushed!” segment was prompted by a report just released by Amnesty International, “Jailed without Justice.” (Thanks to ImmigrationImpact.com for the post on this.)
Please read this, or at least glance through. You will find stories such as
- a U.S. legal resident from Albania being detained for four years;
- a young Honduran man committing suicide in detention as a result of not being provided mental health services;
- ICE agents stopping a father walking his 8-year old daughter to school, then asking the child to translate their questions regarding immigration status, resulting in the father’s detention;
- a Chinese woman fleeing political persecution being detained while the family scrambled to raise the $50,000 bond needlessly placed;
- the 16-month detention of a 63-year old Vietnamese woman who had been a political prisoner in Vietnam;
- a Sri Lankan civil war refugee detained for 4 ½ years in spite of already having been granted asylum in the U.S.;
- a Mexican woman delivering her baby while shackled to a hospital bed and not allowed contact with her husband.
The report does not advocate a platform for immigration reform, but simply asserts that our institutions ought to follow international standards of human rights and U.S. standards of due process.
This report offers specific legal and policy recommendations with regard to immigrant detention, including effective alternatives to detention.
We applaud Amnesty International and Keith Olbermann for bringing what is truly a national disgrace to light., but simply asserts that our institutions ought to follow international standards of human rights and U.S. standards of due process. This report offers specific legal and policy recommendations with regard to immigrant detention, including effective alternatives to detention. We applaud Amnesty International and Keith Olbermann for bringing what is truly a national disgrace to light.
– Miguel Gavaldon, Director of Development, EJS
Attorneys Needed to Help Respond to Immigration Raids
Consistent with our Grand Alliance work, Equal Justice Society has partnered with the San Francisco Immigrant Legal & Education Network (SFILEN). In the course of this collaboration, the need for more Rapid Response attorneys has arisen.
Two attorneys, Francisco Ugarte, staff attorney at SFILEN, and Sin Yen Ling, staff attorney at the Asian Law Caucus, form part of the San Francisco Rapid Response Network. They have offered to train interested attorneys to become part of the Network and help with providing initial representation and consultation to raid detainees in the event of an ICE Raid.
San Francisco’s Rapid Response Network responds to immigration raids where three or more people are detained at the same time. Once there has been a raid, detainees can be moved to another jurisdiction which cuts off communication with loved ones and undermines the ability for advocates to assist detainees.
