tagged w/ People of Color
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The Rev. Thomas Long doesn't have neighbors on Montrose Avenue anymore. Everyone is gone. Widespread chemical contamination from a Monsanto plant was discovered in West Anniston, in Alabama's Appalachian foothills, back in the 1990s. Behind Long’s home a church was fenced off, and men in "moon suits" cleaned the site for weeks. Nearby, boarded windows and sunken porches hang from abandoned shotgun houses. A red "nuisance" sign peeks above the un-mowed lawn of one empty house. But Long stayed; he had lived in the same house for all but one of his 64 years. Now he is stuck. Stuck on a street with no neighbors. Stuck with a property he's convinced is unclean. Stuck with an extraordinary load of chemicals in his body. And stuck with diabetes. As a cleanup of West Anniston stretches into its eighth year, new research has linked PCBs exposure to a high rate of diabetes in this community of about 4,000 people, nearly all African American and half living in poverty. Even today, people there are among the most highly contaminated in the world. "Monsanto walked away not doing their job. They left a community still sick, still dying and very dissatisfied," Long said. Part 6 of Pollution, Poverty, People of Color
More at the linkThe Rev. Thomas Long doesn't have neighbors on Montrose Avenue anymore. Everyone... more
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The United States Supreme Court is hearing arguments in Arizona v. United States, the Obama administration's challenge to Arizona's anti-immigration law, SB1070. What they won't be hearing is what and who has fueled this discriminatory legislation.
The Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) is one of the most dangerous groups in the country.
Along with like groups in the John Tanton network FAIR has written and pushed laws like SB1070.
Will justice triumph over racial profiling and discrimination fueled by supremacist and nativist fringe groups? We need to stand together in this most pressing time.
Take a stand against FAIR! Sign the pledge and show that we will not tolerate justice being trampled by racism! http://mycuentame.org/justiceoverracismThe United States Supreme Court is hearing arguments in Arizona v. United States, the... more
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He was smooth. He was stylish. For a number of young, white Americans unfamiliar with African-American culture and music, Don Cornelius punched our tickets to a whole new way of thinking about entertainment and about people who didn’t look like us.
He died Wednesday, Feb. 1, apparently by his own hand, at the age of 75.
http://deepbrainmedia.com/2012/02/01/don-cornelius-creator-of-soul-train-took-his-own-life/He was smooth. He was stylish. For a number of young, white Americans unfamiliar with... more
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From http://ridavio.com/
The 2010 Census is hugely important to ensure resource allocation and representation to underserved African-American communities. These communities have historically been undercounted.
A tremendous effort is being made for the 2010 census by New York City, Borough, and State governments and the U.S. Census to make sure everyone is counted. You and your organization can participate to make this happen. Be sure to complete your census form when you receive it – and mail it back!
This teaser is excerpted from an hour-long program that will air on Manhattan Neighborhood Network. The NAACP and similar organizations will be participating in the effort to contact Hard to Count individuals and increase the Mail Back Response Rate for the 2010 census.From http://ridavio.com/
The 2010 Census is hugely important to ensure resource... more
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In a growing trend this year, police and ICE officials are stepping up their raids of immigrant communities and emplyers, leading to what many are worried is a larger trend of anti-immigrant police actions.
From the Alternet article:
"Immigration agents entered a private home in San Francisco on Sept. 11, 2008, arresting six undocumented immigrants in what residents see as the most recent evidence that this is no longer a "sanctuary city."
"They say this is a sanctuary city, but they're throwing us away like garbage," says Freddie Herrera, 21, who was in the middle of dinner with his family when he heard the doorbell ring.
"Sanctuary doesn't affect ICE's efforts to enforce immigration law," explains Lori Haley, a spokesperson for Immigration and Customs Enforcement. "ICE officers are sworn to enforce federal law."
But Jamal Dajani, chairman of the city's Immigrant Rights Commission, disagrees. He calls the arrests last Thursday "a total violation of the sanctuary ordinance. This is exactly why the sanctuary ordinance was created," he says."
Read the rest in the link.In a growing trend this year, police and ICE officials are stepping up their raids of... more
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While I have seen a number of articles looking at how the financial crisis is hurting people on Wall Street, I've seen little to no analysis of how this is impacting other groups, so I think this article is especially important!
From the article:
"While Wall Street reels from the chaos created by this latest economic crisis, little has been said in the main stream media about its effect on communities of color. Few people of color are worried about their stock portfolios, but most should be worried about the nation’s spreading economic woes. Conservatives promised that the prosperity of the rich would trickle down and benefit everyone, but the economic record of the last twenty tells a very different story.
The nation’s poverty rate in 2007 was 12.5%—that’s 37 million people and its gotten worse in 2008. The rate for Black America is 24.5% and for Latinos it is 21.5%. Some regions of the country that are overwhelmingly black and brown, like Detroit and El Paso, have been particularly hard hit with poverty rates of 32% and 27% respectively. While there was some economic progress in communities of color during the ’90s, most of those gains were lost when the economy began to falter in the beginning of Bush’s second term. At the same time the top 1% of America substantially increased its share of both wealth and income, while the bottom three quarters either treaded water or has once again begun to sink."
Read rest of article at link.While I have seen a number of articles looking at how the financial crisis is hurting... more
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The health care crisis and the AIDS crisis are disproportionately affecting women of color.The health care crisis and the AIDS crisis are disproportionately affecting women of... more
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