This morning, the Williamson County, Texas commissioners had an important decision to make — either renew the lease with Corrections Corporation of America (CCA), the ones who run the T. Don Hutto Residential facility where nonMexican, undocumented immigrant families are being held while they await resolution of their noncriminal cases — or not renew.



T. Don Hutto Residential facility in Taylor, TX

The commissioners decided to renew.

I guess it's a no-brainer since the county receives $1 per occupant detained in the facility. When the facility is full, that means the county would receive $15,360/month.

According to an Immigration and Customs Enfocement (ICE) spokeswoman, the exact number of immigrants held at the facility can't be disclosed because of "security reasons" and the immigrants own "safety."

Don't quite understand the logic of that statement but then a good many people didn't understand the logic of both ICE and the CCA neglecting the education of the children being held at the facility either.

In fact, there's a good many of us, who still don't understand the logic of the continual imprisonment of children for any length of time in the name of national security.

According to our friend Jay Johnson, who has kept the pressure and the media focused on this sad ordeal, the only good thing that resulted from today's commissioner's meeting was that the County commissioners are now requiring the CCA and ICE to follow state educational guidelines and provide the children with 7 hours of instruction.

Since this story first broke back in late November, the children's instruction period has increased from 1 hour to 4 hours, and now with today's ruling will be 7 hours.


(Source: Discovery School)

Two administrative officials from the Taylor school district were invited to tour the classes at the facility three weeks ago and came away impressed.

Taylor school district officials said Tuesday that they have no role in the education of children at the center. However, David Krueger, assistant superintendent of operations, said he and Taylor Superintendent Bruce Scott were invited to tour classes there about three weeks ago.

"It looked to me like they were doing a good job with the kids there," Krueger said. "They all had workbooks and appeared to be very engaged with the teachers in doing their assignments."

Krueger said he observed least 100 children.

"Not only did they seem busy and seemed to have all the materials they needed, we also saw what looked to me like a state-of-the-art science lab," he said.

"I was impressed," he added.

Considering that the CCA only recently increased instruction from 1 to 4 hours, and that 1 hour was devoted only to English instruction, it just shows how quickly detention/government officials can move when they have to — when in a month's time frame they could set up a state-of-the-art science lab, get workbooks and set up school.

Not to mention, there's something to be said for the act of speaking out for those who can't for themselves.

Of course, the next step on everyone's minds is to convince ICE, Homeland Security and the White House that it is not in the best interest for one of the Superpowers of the world to be imprisoning children along with their parents for any length of time - especially when the charges are noncriminal to begin with.

Yet, the next step must go much farther than this.

So that such a situation is not repeated in the history of this country or allowed to continue to exist, there should be a law on the books that expressly prohibits this type of detention of children longer than 3 days.

To quell all the bad press they've been receiving over the T. Don Hutto facility, ICE announced they were going to conduct a media tour.

As of yet, no final date for the tour has been announced, nor any additional news.

We can only hope ICE keeps their word, otherwise it will be hard to believe that ICE is safeguarding the best interests of any of their detainees, especially the most innocent.

Monday nights are addictive for those of us who have gotten hooked on the NBC series Heroes.

The idea that ordinary-looking people can have these incredible qualities makes it all the more believable that a "Superman" could actually be walking among us.

But sometimes, we get so caught up in the glamour of these supernatural Superheroes that we totally bypass seeing the everyday heroes we pass on the street.

Well, thanks to Mexican-born photographer, Dulce Pinzon, we have an easier time recognizing those kinds of heroes among us.


Dulce Pinzon

Dulce created an interesting prize-winning photo exhibit she calls "The Real Story of the Superheroes."

The SuperHeroes in Dulce's exhibit are Mexican immigrants who live and work in New York City.

Now because of the nature of some recent Latina Lista comments, it's not hard to predict that some will jump to the conclusion that these immigrants must be illegal - they're not identified one way or another.

Those who will insist that they are undocumented will claim that people who break the law can't be heroes.

Well, the following is from a highly respected Dallas immigration lawyer named David Swaim who talks about how most undocumented immigrants are not really criminals:

Illegal entry into the US is a violation of a civil statute and is not a crime. In fact the US Supreme Court has ruled in a number
of cases dating back to the 1800s that deportation cases are not criminal proceedings because entering without inspection is not a crime (it is however a crime to reenter the US illegally after being deported).

Speeding in your car is a crime; walking across the border without inspection is not.
Interestingly, you have greater protection from the government if you exceed the speed limit than if you illegally enter the country. All of the protections of the US Constitution are available to speeders whereas very few are available to someone placed in deportation proceedings.

In those proceedings, people are routinely denied basic rights such as freedom from illegal arrest and detention, and access to bond proceedings. It would actually be a great benefit to "illegal aliens" if entry without inspection were made a crime. It also would be very bad public policy.

Onto the exhibit:

An introduction to the exhibit by Dulce states:

The Mexican immigrant worker in New York is a perfect example of the hero who has gone unnoticed. It is common for a Mexican worker in New York to work extraordinary hours in extreme conditions for very low wages which are saved at great cost and sacrifice and sent to families and communities in Mexico who rely on them to survive.

The Mexican economy has quietly become dependent on the money sent from workers in the US. Conversely, the US economy has quietly become dependent on the labor of Mexican immigrants. Along with the depth of their sacrifice, it is the quietness of this dependence which makes Mexican immigrant workers a subject of interest.

The principal objective of this series is to pay homage to these brave and determined men and women that somehow manage, without the help of any supernatural power, to withstand extreme conditions of labor in order to help their families and communities survive and prosper.

Under each of the 20 images, Dulce provides their name, job, their hometown in Mexico and how much money they send back home.

Oh yeah, and they're dressed in true Superheroe fashions

Like Aquaman:

Juventino Rosas
from the State of México
works cleaning fish in New York
sends home $400 per week

or

Catwoman

Minerva Valencia
from Puebla
works as a babysitter in New York
sends home $400 per week

La verdad (The truth) is that we see these Superheroes every day and we take them for granted, never giving a second thought to the labor they provide, the lower pay they may get or the longer hours they may endure than the rest of us.

Maybe if they dressed like Superheroes, we would notice more.

A new study released by Vanderbilt University's law and economics professor, Dr. Joni Hersch, just verifies what so many of us in the so-called "minority" communities have known all along - the color of a person's skin affects their earning power.


Dr. Hersch

Dr. Hersch specifically focused on legal immigrants. She studied data from 2,084 men and women who participated in the 2003 New Immigrant Survey. An interviewer reported the person’s skin color using an 11-point scale where 0 represented the absence of color and 10 represented the darkest possible skin color.


skincolor scale used by Dr. Hersch and her researchers

Even when taking into consideration characteristics that might affect wages, such as English language proficiency, work experience and education, Hersch found immigrants with the lightest skin color earned, on average, 8 percent to 15 percent more than immigrants with the darkest skin tone.

Hersch said the effect of skin color even persisted among workers with the same ethnicity, race and country of origin. Hersch’s research also found height played a part in salary. Taller immigrants earned more, with every inch adding an additional 1 percent to wages.

Unfortunately, a study like this is old news for some of us and should prove as a wake-up call, if they care, for those who think they're colorblind but the data reveals otherwise.

Yet, what is even more troubling than confirming this "elephant-in-the-room" practice is what Dr. Hersch further found:

Although many cultures show a bias toward lighter skin, Dr. Hersch said her analysis shows that the skin-color advantage was not due to preferential treatment for light-skinned people in their country of origin. The bias, she said, occurs in the U.S.

Another university professor, Dr. Sheldon White-Means of the University of Tennessee at Memphis said that Hersch's study just adds to the growing body of evidence that there is a "preference for whiteness" in this country that goes beyond race.

Would this help explain the retaliatory attitude of towns across the country who are implementing measures targeting undocumented immigrants?

It's no secret that the smaller towns and suburbs who historically enjoyed all-white populations, with just a smattering of minorities, are reacting badly to the growing dark-skinned, Spanish-speaking populations in their communites.

Measures like declaring English as the official language or not renting to undocumented immigrants, who are dark-skinned, Spanish-dominant, would seem an unconscious, or maybe not, reaction to preserve life as it has always been.

Yet, as forward-thinking as we like to think we are, the United States is far behind the rest of the world when it comes to exposure to other cultures.

Because of our size, it's not unusual for some in our country to live their entire lives without meeting someone from another country or hear a native speaker of a language other than English converse in public.

This is a bad thing.

As much talk as there is these days about borders, the fact is that the borders one day will only be useful when drawing geographical maps.

The internet, wireless applications and cellular telephones are helping to erase borders between countries. It is fueling an economic system that is becoming increasingly globally interdependent crisscrossing oceans, time zones and yes, borders.

As is happening now, outsourcing in far away countries answering the service calls of another country further erodes the reverence for borders.

The world is moving in a direction where, to paraphrase Dr. King, people should be evaluated for the content of their character and not the color of their skin.

That is an ideal that is inevitable, but obviously still has a long road to travel - at least in this country.

It wasn't enough that Republicans had to parade around the country last summer and hold bogus "field hearings" on what the public thought about illegal immigration and undocumented immigrants.

For anyone who attended those sessions, it was obvious that the so-called witnesses were stacked in favor of the Republican position.

It was a waste of taxpayer money that didn't resolve anything.

But wasting money seems to be a trait by some Republicans - or at the very least witholding money until they get their way.

News reports flooded the wires this morning about the new minimum wage bill the Democratic Congress wants to pass.

The Senate's version of the bill was altered by some Republican senators. It seems they're not too happy about the bill to begin with and so what better way to either kill it or get their way on immigration reform measures than to include a provision that has no business in a bill trying to raise the minimum wage for the poorest workers of this country.

Republican Senator Jeff Sessions from Alabama tacked on an amendment to the minimum wage bill that would impose a contract ban on those federal contractors who hire undocumented immigrants. The companies would be banned from government work for up to 10 years, even if they inadvertently hired undocumented immigrants.


Republican Sen. Jeff Sessions


The worse part is that the businesses would not be allowed to appeal the ban in court, though the federal government could waive it for national security reasons.

It's clear that the Senate, by their showing of unanimously approving the ban be inserted in the bill 94-0, either want to instill the fear of God in these businesses or they want to show the rest of the country that their party isn't giving up the fight.

Either of which is fine but in the process what Republicans fail to see is that what they are doing is not just making a hardship for undocumented immigrants, but all Latinos, and low-wage workers.

If the immigration amendment isn't approved in the bill, the whole bill dies. According to a Time magazine article:

To become law, the Senate immigration provisions would have to be approved by House and Senate negotiators if and when they meet to reconcile differences between the House and Senate versions of minimum wage legislation.

Because of the severity of the penalties, these business employers will be leery of hiring any Latino to work for them, even if they screened all hires. They would always second-guess the system, because the slightest flaw would cost them thousands of dollars.

So, these businesses, to play it safe, would probably rather not hire any Latino for fear they were being misled or lied to when it came to that person's citizenship status.

In turn, those Latinos are deprived of the opportunity for equal employment. Not to mention, a well paying job.

So in the end, what recourse do potential Latino workers have? Sue the business? Sue the government?

With measures like these, it's hard to believe that the Republican party has the best interests of everyone at heart - especially when they go out of their way to create the worst hardship for those who can least afford it.

An interesting survey would be to see if Hispanic viewership of Dallas Cowboys' games increased this season after Tony Romo came on the field?


Tony Romo
(Source: scripps.com)

As soon as everyone heard that Romo's Hispanic grandparents, Ramiro and Felicita Romo, lived in Crockett, Texas, brown pride in the Cowboy quarterback exploded.

Yet, not enough for Latinos to be considered true NFL fans it seems.

In a new study by Experian Simmons as part of their Spring 2006 National Consumer Study, people were surveyed as to who would more likely be a NFL fan. Going on the record with:

...Using statistically project-able samples, Simmons measures over 30,000 American consumers each year. Simmons' samples include the largest representation of white, Hispanic, African American, Asian and other consumers and are used by over 500 clients worldwide to provide the most complete picture available on America's consumers.


I find it interesting that in this particular study when broken down by ethnicity only 6% surveyed were Hispanics versus 83% whites and 9.5% of African Americans.

Which leads me to the conclusion that if there aren't more Latinos who are NFL fans, and my gut instinct tells me there are, then the NFL is really missing out on a viable audience.

Yet, if I'm right and there are more of us who like to watch football, this study, and others like it, do a disservice to all Latinos, and mainstream society, by misrepresenting the reality of who really are today's Latinos.

What the study did find were several interesting nuggets. A few are:

Americans who earn between $75,000-$99,999 in annual household income are 17% more likely to call themselves an NFL fan compared to the average American.

Americans who earn between $100,000-$149,999 in annual household income are 24% more likely to call themselves an NFL fan compared to the average American.

Americans who earn less than $25,000 in annual household income are 44% less likely to call themselves an NFL fan compared to the average American.


NFL fans are 27% more likely than the average American to have written or read a blog in the last 30 days.

NFL fans are 37% more likely than the average American to have played online gambling in the last 30 days.

NFL fans were 59% more likely than the average American to have played Golf in the last year.

Alcoholic Beverages*

Drink light beer 37%

Drink regular beer 34%

Drink imported beer 32%

Drink Vodka 29%

Drink Rum 24%

Next vehicle purchase, new or used?

New 50%

Used 42%

No response 8%

(The following is an edited version of a longer op-ed written for Hispanic Link News Service)



A documented characteristic of Hispanic voters is that no one political party can really claim us as all their own. For Latinos, it’s never totally been about the elephant or the donkey, as it has been about the man.




Now, it is also about the mujer (woman).

With Hillary Rodham Clinton joining the ranks of presidential wannabes, the race didn’t just get interesting for Democratic voters — it got hard for Latina Democratic voters.

For the first time in our history of electing a President, the possibility exists for either a woman to be the 44th President of the United States, or a Latino — New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson.

If ever there was a time when Latinos could seriously be considered the swing vote, it will be in an election that pits gender against ethnic pride.

Especially since Latinas comprise the biggest majority of Hispanic voters.

According to a 2004 HispanTelligence (R) research report on the Hispanic electorate, women between the ages of 25 to 44-years-old comprise the largest group of Hispanic voters at 23.21 percent.

Which makes for an interesting scenario: With qualifications roughly being equal, do Latinas support someone who shares in the experiences of childbirth, balancing career and family and enduring patronizing discrimination or do Latinas support someone who shares in the experiences of living a bicultural life, having a common ancestry and on the receiving end of ethnic jokes?

Either choice would prove historic, and the potential impact Latinas have in who faces off against the Republican contender is sobering.

After all, George Bush’s own win in the 2004 election is attributed to his increase among both females and Hispanic voters.

If the election was held today, polls tell us that Hillary would win the Democratic nomination. In fact, anecdotal accounts from across the country and throughout the blogosphere are showing that Hillary’s participation is exciting women of all ages and from all walks of life.

Lisa Stone, a founder of the women’s blog network BlogHer, noticed among her roster of women bloggers that the discussion of Hillary running for President has extended beyond the usual field of political bloggers.

Mommybloggers, who last week were debating how long to put their children in time-out, are this week in animated discussions about what having a woman in the Oval Office could mean.

In fact, the idea of Hillary running for the presidency is almost eclipsing her stand on the issues, or at the least, allowing her, in the minds of some, to start with a fresh slate.

Talk doesn’t dwell on whether or not she voted for the war in Iraq. Instead, people are talking about her electability as a candidate.

There is no doubt Latinas, and most women, will have to struggle over deciding if the country is ready for a female president.

Yet, if we’re lucky, maybe the decision that will have to be made in the 2008 presidential election won’t be just about if the country is ready for a woman commander-in-chief, but if the country is ready for a woman/Hispanic ticket.

Extending hope and opportunity in our country requires an immigration system worthy of America — with laws that are fair and borders that are secure. When laws and borders are routinely violated, this harms the interests of our country. To secure our border, we are doubling the size of the Border Patrol — and funding new infrastructure and technology.

Yet even with all these steps, we cannot fully secure the border unless we take pressure
off the border — and that requires a temporary worker program. We should establish a legal and orderly path for foreign workers to enter our country to work on a temporary basis. As a result, they won’t have to try to sneak in — and that will leave border agents free to chase
down drug smugglers, and criminals, and terrorists. We will enforce our immigration laws at the worksite , and give employers the tools to verify the legal status of their workers — so there is no excuse left for violating the law. We need to uphold the great tradition of the
melting pot that welcomes and assimilates new arrivals. And we need to resolve the status of the illegal immigrants who are already in our country — without animosity and without amnesty.

Convictions run deep in this Capitol when it comes to immigration. Let us have a serious, civil, and conclusive debate — so that you can pass, and I can sign, comprehensive immigration reform into law.

Exerpt from State of the Union Address 2007


Pres. Bush hands a copy of his speech to Madame Speaker
of the House Nancy Pelosi
(Source: abcnews.com)

I often think that when after everything is said and done - town ordinances passed outlawing renting apartments to undocumented immigrants, random immigration raids at job sites, picking up and detaining non-Mexican, undocumented immigrant families at "family
detention" facilities, and authorizing local law enforcement to "root and determine" who was undocumented and hold them for Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers - if those fighting on behalf of the undocumented for humane treatment and government recognition would be satisfied with anything less than amnesty.

Not so much for the migrants who arrived last week, last month or even 3 years ago, but for
those who arrived right after the last amnesty was granted in 1986.

Those people have at least 20 years here in this country. Plenty of time to establish deep community roots, raised families and see themselves as American citizens than someone just arriving looking for work.

In his State of the Union address tonight, President Bush declared no amnesty.

Though amnesty is a bad word to the GOP and others furious over the state of illegal immigration in this country, there's not yet been created a substitute for a word that would recognize over 10 million people and let them stay on this side of the border while working out their citizenship applications.

Rumors circulating the last year or two that undocumented immigrants who wanted to become citizens would have to travel back to their native country and fill out the necessary paperwork are pretty much met with a "yeah, right."

It's because of the glacial process back in their home countries and this country's own low quotas for visas that make desperate people skip that portion of the process in the first place.

Which means, whichever way it's looked at, there will be a huge number of people who are not going to move a foot to travel back to a country that they couldn't trust to take care of them in the first place.

So like it or not, people are going to use the word amnesty when this group starts the process of applying for citizenship.

Yet, amnesty implies that the rights and privileges of citizenship have not been worked for or are necessarily deserved.

That just doesn't reflect the reality of the majority of today's undocumented immigrants, especially those who have lived 15-20 years here.

So, maybe it's time for a new word to enter our lexicon.

A word that describes a person seeking citizenship today must take into account that that person is hardworking, courageous, proud of country and heritage, innovative, risk-taker, active community/church participant, breaks the rules but doesn't hurt anyone in the process, is willing to comply with what is asked of him/her and just wants the freedom to decide for themselves where and how they live.

A person awarded citizenship under these conditions isn't being granted amnesty — they're being inducted into citizenship.

Because they very much know what an honor it is for them to be citizens.

As we all know by now, the Democratic list of nominees for President just got longer. Now, New Mexico's Governor Bill Richardson has announced the formation of his Presidential Campaign Exploratory Committee.


Gov. Bill Richardson

Between his announcement and that of Sen. Hillary Clinton, Latina Democrats are already discussing if this next election will be won because of gender or ethnicity.

In a conference call today, Gov. Richardson shared the following with Latina Lista:

There are two reasons why I am getting into the presidential race:

1. To bring people together.
2. To get the country out of Iraq in this calendar year and regain international standing and moral authority.

When Latina Lista asked him about conditions along the U.S./Mexico border, Gov. Richardson said there must begin a real dialogue with Mexico. Extraditing a few drug lords is not enough.

Gov. Richardson said he would like to see Mexico take more responsibility for creating programs that keep their citizens home.

Gov. Richardson did leave open the door for sitting down and talking with Mexican President Calderon to try and find solutions that would not only help people on both sides of the border but keep them safe in the process.

During this time when Latino immigrants, and some Latino citizens, are continuously being told that they are not needed or wanted in this county, it's nice to finally see some documentation that Latinos are not only wanted but are needed - badly.

It seems there is a severe nationwide shortage of blood, especially Type O.


National shortage of Type O blood.
(Source: donatebloodnow.org)

With all the winter storms and high demand for blood over the last month, hospitals around the country are finding themselves dangerously low on supplies.

The href="http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/story?section=health&id=4942740">Red
Cross and other organizations who conduct blood drives want to get the word out to everyone but especially Latinos that they need a lot of people to roll up their sleeves.

According to blood specialists, Latinos are the best source for Type O blood. Whereas 45% of members of other ethnic groups have this type blood, seventy percent (70%)
of Latinos have Type O.

What makes Type O so valuable is that Type O negative, a type especially in demand, is compatible with all blood types.

The href="http://www.redcross.org/services/biomed/0,1082,0_320_,00.html">American
Red Cross reports that every 2 seconds someone in the United States needs blood.

The Mayo Clinic and the America's Blood Centers reveal that:



Only 5 percent of eligible donors across the nation donate blood, but
the number of transfusions nationwide increases by 9 percent every year.

Blood donors can donate as frequently as every 56 days. A benefit from
donating this often is that you receive a mini-physical once every two
months.

Each whole blood donation can help as many as three
people. One unit is divided into three parts: red blood cells,
platelets, and plasma.

Whole blood donation only takes approximately 45 to 60 minutes.

On average, a hip replacement typically uses one unit of blood, a
cardiac bypass 2 units, a heart transplant 2 units, and a liver
transplant 10 units!

Blood cannot be manufactured. It can only come as a gift from people.

Every day in our country, approximately 39,000 units of blood are
required in hospitals and emergency treatment facilities for patients
with cancer and other diseases, for organ transplant recipients, and to
help save the lives of accident victims.


January is National Blood Donor Month

It's a little ironic, or rather alot ironic, that with such a widespread shortage, blood centers would refuse to let undocumented immigrants give blood.

I guess one argument would be that given the countries they come from,
they would be ineligible, but that would just be for one year.

Or another argument could be that since they're not supposed to be treated at hospitals, they shouldn't be asked to donate. But everyone knows that when there is a life-threatening emergency, more times than not, no one asks if they're legal, and they end up getting the hospital treatment they should.

By not allowing undocumented immigrants from giving blood is yet another example of how shortsighted and close-minded the government is — especially when 60% of people nationwide are eligible to give blood and only 5% actually do.

If people are healthy, willing to donate and have the blood that is in short supply, why shouldn't they be allowed to give back to this country and donate?

As Winston Churchill once said:

“I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat.”

Today, Tyrone Williams was sentenced to life in prison for being the Grim Reaper to 19 undocumented immigrants who suffocated in the back of his 18-wheeler one hot, sweltering day while passing through Texas on the eve of summer in 2003.


Tyrone Williams led away from Houston courthouse to begin serving life sentence.
(Source: Houston Chronicle)

It's reported that Williams was so frightened when he finally did stop and open the back of his truck and discovered the dead bodies that he did the most humanitarian act a man can do — he unhitched the trailer and left it there by the roadside as he tried to put as much distance
between himself and his victims.

His youngest victim was only 5 years old.

Unfortunately, this isn't the last report we've had of undocumented immigrants dying
because their smugglers disregarded conditions and put their lives in danger on purpose.

Just this past week in Oklahoma in the early morning hours before dawn when most of the state was sleeping out another round of a fierce ice storm that had left the state a solid
skating rink, a minivan packed with undocumented immigrants was traveling from Arizona to North Carolina.

Not wanting to stop to wait out the storm, the driver made a bad decision and opted to risk
the lives of his passengers and himself and drive through the ice-hammered state.

It was the last bad decision he made. Most probably hitting what is called "black ice" on the highway, the minivan slid across the lanes and right into the front of, what else, a tractor-trailer.

The youngest victim yet known of the seven who were killed was 17 years old.


What's left of a minivan smuggling undocumented immigrants across icy Oklahoma
(Source: newsok.com)

These two instances, and the hundreds of others that receive little attention or are never heard about, are reason enough for the government to enact a program that allows people to fill jobs that certain industries in our country need filled and want filled by immigrant labor.

I would like to think that we've learned a lot in how to implement a fair and reasonable worker program, since the last time such a program, like the braceros program, was implemented.

At the very least, we've learned how to be better watchdogs and hold companies and
business accountable for their actions and practices.

There will never be a perfect program, but any program that keeps people hungry for work from agreeing to be stuffed in the back of an 18-wheeler or riding in the dark on an icy highway, is one step closer to providing the kind of solution that —

Everyone can live with.

In a previous posting, I spoke about the sad situation in a Los Angeles-area community where Latino on black crime and intimidation was so rampant that a 14-year-old black girl was gunned down by two Latino gang members simply because of the color of her skin.

Now comes word that a truce has been brokered with this gang and they're willing to live in peace if — they get a rec center!

Of course, that's not all but it strikes me as pretty sad, and testament to the fact, that those areas of the city that are considered primarily low-income and minority populated, are the ones that are routinely neglected by city officials.

Gang members of the 204th Street gang in Harbor Gateway sat down with the director of Project Islamic Hope, Najee Ali, and agreed to stop tormenting the black residents of the area if their demands were met.


Project Islamic Hope Director, Najee Ali, stirs a crowd to action.
(Source: blackbusinesslist.com)

For these young Latinos, whom everyone perceives as committing totally selfish actions, their demands are surprising:

The truce, negotiated Monday night between gang members and Project Islamic Hope director Najee Ali, calls for politicians and community members to focus on creating jobs, developing a youth mentoring program, building a recreation center and steering working families rather than more unemployed people to subsidized low-income housing.

The truce will be signed tomorrow in front of a market in the community that blacks had been afraid to shop at because of Latino gang members. After the signing, the gang members and members of the neighborhood black community plan to walk through the streets of the area together in a symbolic gesture of unity.

“The most important thing was they indicated that they would definitely call for an end to the racial violence and they want the community to know they are sincere and their message is directed at the city officials who they feel are trying to scapegoat them for a gang problem that they didn’t create,” Ali said.

Though it's a little hard to believe that the gang members thought up all these demands by themselves, it's not hard to believe that they would want to have these opportunities made available to them and their families.

It's not unusual, in fact, it's more of the norm, for low-income, minority dominant sections of cities to be the lowest priority when it comes to city maintenance, new school facilities, economic development and community programs.

It's always been accepted that the better parts of towns get these very things without trying too hard because the residents of those areas are somehow seen to be paying more to deserve such services.

Whether it's because they pay higher taxes or because of their higher income levels, people who are considered to have money live in areas where there are paved roads, polite policemen and quick city responses to everything from filling large street potholes to picking up stray dogs.

Yet, the areas of town that need the infusion of jobs, community programs and the city's attention are the ones routinely lowest on the totem pole of city priorities, and the highest in crime.

It doesn't take much to connect the dots here.

It just takes determination to set change in motion.

Here's hoping 204th Street gang lives up to their potential.

In yesterday's posting, I mentioned how it seemed odd that while the number of white people arrested for crimes was higher than either blacks or Hispanics, their actual numbers behind bars were far less than what the data tells us it should be — if the cases were carried out to their logical conclusions.

It's already been reported that in a report released by the justice department on Nov. 30 (2006), 1 in every 32 American adults -- or a record 7 million people -- were incarcerated, on probation or on parole at the end of 2005, with 2.2 million of them in prison or jail.

The International Center for Prison Studies at King's College, London reported that this number was the highest of any country, with China ranking second with 1.5 million prisoners, and Russia sitting in third with 870,000.

U.S. has dubious global distinction of highest prison population.
(source: politainment.com)

Now, a new report sheds light that this highincarcerationn rate that affects a disproportionate number of people of color begins not with the adults, but the children.

Thanks to a Latina Lista reader who directed this study to my attention, a new report released yesterday titled Justice for Some by the National Council on Crime and Delinquency documents such facts as:

- African-American youths are 4.5 times more likely, and Latinos 2.3 times more likely, than white youths to be detained for identical offenses.

- Latino youth are confined 112 days more than white youth, and African American youth are confined on average for 61 days more than white youth.

- About half of white teenagers arrested on a drug charge go home without being formally charged and drawn into the system. Only a quarter of black teens arrested on drug charges catch a similar break.

- When charges are filed, white youths are more likely to be placed on probation while black youth are more likely to get locked up.

None of these revelations are new or surprising.

But what is disheartening is that this discrimination against black and Latino youths has become so ingrained in our judicial system that it is now institutionalized.

For whatever reason, there is a perception that young men of color (because they are the predominant ones behind bars) are more vicious, hardened, and deserving to be in jail than white youth.

What's sad is because of this institutional discrimination, young people of color started believing the hype about themselves.

To the point now where they are caught in a vicious cycle that leaves them traumatized and affected by this experience.

Breaking down this kind of racism calls for extraordinary measures:

First, there has to be a system-wide acceptance of the fact that kids of color are not born bad.

Secondly, there must be a review of how cases are tried when it is regarding the same offenses among differentethnicitiess.

Thirdly, because youth of color, especially African Americans, comprise 58% of the youth who are admitted to state adult prisons, there must be enacted a bill that prohibits people younger than 21 from serving in an adult prison.

Fourth, there must be funding for a psychological study of our court system that sees justice colored either brown or black, and uncover the reasons why youth of color receive different and harsher treatment for equal offenses.

And fifth, a nationwide campaign created, along the lines of "Just Say No to Drugs" or "Buckle Up" to convince youth of color that their lives are of value and that crime is not their destiny — but the wrong choice.

Today, Dr. Martin Luther King Junior would have been 78 years old.

Had he lived, what would he have thought about what's going on today?



Though he would have been somewhat pleased about the strides people of color have made within mainstream society, he most probably would have been disgusted that instead of blacks and Latinos uniting with one another to further advance educational, employment and political opportunities, access to fair loans for housing and business start-ups, and breaking through the glass ceilings at Fortune 500 companies, young blacks and Latinos are killing and beating each other with greater regularity and hate.

The latest senseless and brutal attack took place before Christmas in the Harbor Gateway community of Los Angeles where a 14-year-old black girl named Cheryl Green was gunned down, for no reason other than the color of her skin, by two Latino gang members.


Mourners remember Cheryl Green
(Source: LA Times)

Since Cheryl's death, the neighborhood has rallied for an end to the violence and children who attend 186th Street Elementary School in Harbor Gateway remembered Cheryl during their second annual Peace March last Friday — a march where they're supposed to remember to tolerate one another and play nicely with each other.

Yet something happens to both young Latinos and blacks that triggers a "line in the sand" mentality and makes them see one another less as comrades with the same struggles and more like sworn enemies.

Does it happen in grade school? Middle school? High school? On the streets? Or just among the few locked up in juvi or jail who bring their grudges out with them when they're released and spread their grudges of hate like a virus among their respective homeboys?

The death of Cheryl Green was certainly a hate crime. Yet, the most updated Hate Crime statistics (2005) from the FBI show that it is still whites who commit the most hate crimes.

But, upon closer examination of the data, we can see there's not a breakout for Hispanic/Latino in any of the data tables which leads to the conclusion that Hispanics are categorized as being "white."

If that is the case, then there is no real statistical foundation to draw from, aside from anecdotal observances, that there is an increase in Latino on black crime.

To get a really true picture of just how bad the relationship between Latinos and blacks has evolved, the FBI needs to break out these racial categories to feature Hispanics as a stand-alone entity.

Otherwise, unless it can be statistically seen that something ominous is brewing, none of us will ever know exactly how deep is the Latino on black and black on Latino crimes. Without that data, it will be that much harder to find the solutions that are so desperately needed.

In the meantime, we have to make due with the following FBI info:

An analysis of available race data for the 6,804 known hate crime offenders revealed that:

* 60.5 percent were white.
* 19.9 percent were black.
* 12.3 percent were unknown.
* 5.2 percent were groups made up of individuals of various races (multiple races, group).
* 1.1 percent of known offenders were American Indian/Alaskan Native.
* 0.9 percent were Asian/Pacific Islander.

Since many crimes involving Latinos and blacks are not categorized as hate crimes, in my opinion, it helps to look at "Persons Arrested" provided by the same FBI statistics.

The FBI 2005 statistics for persons arrested include the following:

# In 2005, 76.2 percent of all persons arrested were male, 82.1 percent of persons arrested for violent crime were male, and 68.0 percent of persons arrested for property crime were male.
# Among the four categories of race reflected in UCR arrest data, 69.8 percent of all persons arrested were white, 59.0 percent of persons arrested for violent crime were white, and 68.8 percent of persons arrested for property crime were white.

Curiously, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics Prison and Jail Inmates at Midyear 2005 report, though "white" persons have the highest arrest rates, they don't hold that distinction behind bars:

# An estimated 12% of black males, 3.7% of Hispanic males, and 1.7% of white males in their late twenties were in prison or jail.

The disparity in those numbers don't fully explain the growing senseless violence between young blacks and young Latinos, or why Cheryl Green was murdered.

However, one thing is clear, too many young people of color are being dehumanized and feel dehumanized, and dehumanizing one another as a result.

It may be 2007, but I have a feeling Dr. Martin Luther King Junior would feel like it's 1960 all over again.

If you're a regular reader of Latina Lista, then you remember when we first reported last month about the T. Don Hutto Residential facility in Taylor, Texas.


T. Don Hutto Residential facility

According to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Fact Sheet:

The facility provides an effective and humane alternative to maintain the unity of alien families as they await the outcome of their immigration hearings or the return to their home countries.

There is a bigger verdad (truth) in this whole immigration debate and the proof is in the pizza.



By now, we've all heard of the special promotion that a Dallas, Texas-based pizza chain called Pizza Patron, was doing.

For a limited time, they are allowing their customers, who are primarily Latinos, to pay for their pizza orders with pesos.

The rationale behind the promotion is that many of the pizza chain's customers have returned from spending the Christmas holidays visiting relatives in Mexico. And therefore, most probably have leftover pesos from their trips.

Why not use them for payment?

Well the owner of the pizza chain, Antonio Swad, who is not even Latino, didn't know what he was getting himself into.

It seemed his promotion stirred the hornet's nest of anti-illegal immigration supporters.

Basing his decision purely from a business standpoint and not giving any thought to politics, Swad was shocked to receive thousands of emails condemning his idea as basically un-American.

He was particularly troubled by the 1-2% of emails that were extremely hateful about the whole thing.

In fact, he was so disturbed by the irrational hate expressed by these people that he has beefed up security at the chain's restaurants.

Five years ago, if a peso promotion had been announced no one would have given it a second thought. After all, with a customer base that routinely travels back and forth between Mexico (and nobody said these customers were illegal) and the United States, it just makes great marketing sense to accept a currency that most of the customers have in their possession, whether they went to visit family or are returning from a Club Med Mexican vacation.

But now, because of the pervasive rhetoric that has created a panic mentality that makes people think this country is under siege from undocumented Latinos, these paranoid people see a threat everywhere - to the point where they are this country's own worst enemies.

We can't help but think had the promotion involved Canadian bills would there have been such a disturbing backlash?

Probably not.

The sad truth is that the immigration debate has reached a point of no return.

To hope that any kind of reason can be reached with people who can only follow the lead of those politicians and cable talk show hosts who prefer to stir up votes and ratings by publicly persecuting a group, of whom the vast majority are defenseless (because they have no legal recourse to protect themselves), means that there is no reasoning with these people.

If ever there was a time when this debate rests solely in the hands of Congress, it is now.

We can only hope that Congressional leaders send out for a lot of pizza in the coming weeks as they work to come up with a fair and realistic solution to this situation.

I know of one pizza chain who probably wouldn't mind making late-night deliveries to the Capitol.

Maribel Santiago and Alma Rivera got "into it" after school on Monday of this past week at Woonsocket Middle School in Woonsocket, Rhode Island.

Punches were thrown and Maribel ended up punching the school's vice-principal in the face. By the time it was all over, Maribel and Alma had some explaining to do.

Not so much because they were fighting but because of who they are — they're the moms.

The story goes that Alma drove her daughter, who was suspended from Woonsocket Middle School, for the express purpose of confronting Maribel's daughter over something the girls were fighting about.

Maribel drove to the school to pick her daughter up because some of the kids had told her that Alma's daughter was going to attack her daughter when she got out of school.

Well, we know what happened next.


Girls fighting it out.
(Source: localghost.org)

As a result of the fight, both mothers were arrested for simple assault and the two daughters plus two other girls who joined in are suspended from school for at least 10 days, with the possibility of expulsion.

Because of the fight, the school superintendent is calling for enacting an anti-violence program with the help of the local police department and community groups.

In a public meeting last night where she stood before the School Committee, Maribel repeatedly apologized for her actions and asked for leniency for her daughter, but said she felt it wouldn't have happened had school administrators listened to her pleas in the first place.

According to Maribel, she told another vice principal about the threats but it seems the administrators didn't take the threats seriously.

With over 1600 students, Woonsocket Middle School is the largest middle school in New England. News reports confirm that the school has had more than its fair share of bad publicity due to school violence in the past.

National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) data from 2003-2004 show that the school is majority white with Hispanics making up the largest minority.

A quick review of parent comments on Great Schools web site show that administrators have a history of not meeting the needs of their students.

One parent wrote:

"I think the WMS is a very unsafe school for the students and teachers. The children are running the school. The parents of the children are also to blame. I am a mother of a student there, a very unhappy mother. The school policy should probably need to be revised, especially when you are being punished for self defense... The teachers are also to blame when they are aware of the problems and they take no action. The WMS needs discipline and a lot of work. The germs are starting to spread and everyone is getting affected..."

And a reader responded to a newspaper article about the incident:

Asking for help and it going unanswered is a Woonsocket Educational practice. I graduated in 2004 and in my senior year of High School I was witness to 4 of these such "THUG", events. Being late for school I witnessed one of my fellow classmates in the main office asking to be kept away from another student because he wanted no problems with the student and was done with his jokes and rough play. As soon as he left the Principals office he was attacked in the lobby of the front office in front of the secretaries, 2 Vice Principals and 10 or so students. It took about 2 minutes before any of the staff responded to what was going on and in that time I attempted to break up the fight. My classmate was suspended, the attacker was suspended, and justice was served I suppose you could say because I was suspended for trying to separate the 2. I was suspended because the staffing refused to do what they are there for.

And as for the "thugs" crap, we're not in South Central L.A. People see violence everywhere, you'll never escape it. So everyone is a product of a violent environment. But I know one thing for sure, if my child were to come home bruised and battered because they didn't want to be considered a "thug" so they let another student pound them into the dirt, I would not only punish my child, I'd file charges against the school. So my tax dollars pay for my child to get beat up, what an American Dream. Next time a person uses the word "thug", I suggest you look at the circumstances and figure out exactly what the student/person is going through before you judge them.

I'm not promoting anything that happened, however, if the students and Parents were heard rather than judged, the school system would be a much better place.
Tired Of People Who Are Perfect, Woonsocket RI

The last statement by this reader resonates with anyone who has kept tabs on how Latinas do in school.

Parents want their concerns, and their children's concerns, to be taken seriously by school administrators.

And when the school fails to offer the kind of intervention that parents expect of them to keep their children safe, then families step in to take up the slack.

Cindy Ness, Director of Programs at the Center on Terrorism and a practicing psychotherapist in New York City has researched urban and political violence committed by females, and the structure of violence in inner-city communities.

Ness conducted a 2003 ethnographic study of girls in inner-city Philadelphia. The majority of her subjects were African American with a few Latinas. She said that it is not that these mothers like Maribel and Ana promote fighting to their daughters but they do have a hand in it. The difference is they don't want their daughters fighting but they do want them able to protect themselves from greater danger.

In a telephone interview with Latina Lista, Ness said,

"Police report that when girls go at it, it's much harder to diffuse the situation. Also when girls fight, it's the only time when there is a double-generational dynamic that comes into play."

In other words, it's not just mothers who have the back of their daughters but other female family members as well.

There is no excuse for Maribel and Ana fighting or encouraging their daughters to settle their score with their fists. Yet, the story of this fight at Woonsocket Middle School, between these two Latinas, is more common at schools across the country with sizeable Latino populations than anyone would like to admit.

Ness said that the only way to change this type of behavior, in both mothers and daughters, is for there to be real institutional change.

It's great that the Woonsocket Middle School Superintendent wants to implement an anti-violence program, but the question begs to be asked, given the history of the school, why this wasn't implemented before.

It would have been simple enough - just as simple as listening to both the parents and the students and appreciating the fact that everyone deserves the courtesy of being listened to and heard.

As President Bush delivers his speech telling the nation that it's going to take over 20,000 more U.S. troops to bring stability to Iraq, I am rereading the sad statistics about the homeless in this country.


(Source: whdh.com)


It may or may not surprise anyone to know that a good portion of today's homeless are veterans.

So as we send even more troops into war, we as a nation must not only worry about the danger our troops are facing in Iraq but the psychological trauma that has proven in the past to be just as debilitating as getting shot or losing a limb, and figures in the prospects of veterans who are homeless.


The National Alliance to End Homelessness released a study today called Homelessness Counts.



Among their sad findings were:

- 56 percent of homeless people counted were living in shelters and transitional housing and, shockingly, 44 percent were unsheltered.
- 59 percent of homeless people counted were single adults and 41 percent were persons living in families.
- In total, 98,452 homeless families were counted.

Yet, when the Alliance focused on examing the plight of veterans, the research speaks for itself:

Convergent sources estimate that between 23 and 40 percent of homeless adults are veterans. The U.S. Department of Veterans estimates that as many as 200,000 homeless people are veterans, and that over the course of the year, as many as 500,000 veterans experience homelessness. They are veterans of different wars, including World War II, Korean War, Cold War, Vietnam War, Grenada, Panama, Lebanon; research indicates that those serving in late Vietnam and post-Vietnam era are at greatest risk of homelessness. Recent media accounts highlight a small but growing trend of veterans from Iraq and Afganistan showing up in shelters.

This is a tale of two babies. Each was the first baby born in 2007 in their new hometowns, and of course profiled in their local newspapers.

One was born in the county of Dallas, Texas. His name is Gerardo.


Gerardo Vasquez Jr
(Source: The Dallas Morning News)

The other was born in Woodstock, Illinois. Her name is Maria Crystal.

Where each bundle of joy should have enjoyed their entrance into the world with wishes from readers for a great future, each has already received their first experience with what can only be termed as hate mail.

From Dallas to Woodstock, readers reacted with everything from assuming each child was born of illegal immigrants (Gerardo's parents are naturalized citizens); to being disgusted that neither of the mothers spoke English to claims that because of her parentage Maria was not an "American" baby.

All of these readers who reacted with such racist assumptions obviously believe all the erroneous rhetoric being spread by people who are afraid of what these two small bundles represent: the face of America is changing and we can either embrace that change or hold it at arms length and fool ourselves into thinking if we assassinate its character enough, it will quietly go away.

That won't happen.

Yet, what is equally disturbing to me as a Latina and a mother is that because of my last name or the way my children look, people who don't know better, would assume I am an undocumented Hispanic.

If I chose to speak Spanish to my children and family members, which is my right as a citizen of the United States, again the assumption would be made that I am undocumented.

Because I am Hispanic, that some who do not know better, would openly suggest that I would not/could not pay my hospital bill is indicative of how far down into the public psyche has seeped the type of talk that can only be termed "trash talk."

Gerardo and Maria Crystal do represent a new America.

It's time for the country to examine if it's really illegal immigration that is feared or the new cara (face) of the country.

Brains over brawn.

High-tech versus service.

Skilled versus unskilled.

A new Duke University engineering study titled "America's New Immigrant Entrepreneurs," released today illustrates the extreme spectrum of immigrants who come to the United States to live and work.

On the one hand, we have immigrants like those from India who the study uncovered rank as the biggest group when it comes to starting tech companies. According to the report, of the 7,300 tech startups founded by immigrants - 26 percent were founded by Indians.

Indian immigrants founded more tech startups from 1995 to 2005 than people from the four next biggest sources - United Kingdom, China, Taiwan and Japan - combined.


Vivek Wadhwa

The study's research team was lead by Vivek Wadhwa, not only a local North Carolina entrepreneur and founder of two tech startups, as well as, an executive-in-residence at the Pratt School of Engineering's Master of Engineering Management Program, but himself an Indian immigrant.

The school issued a statement that they were releasing this study now to "bring new context to the nation's immigration debate."

They wanted to show Americans that there are other immigrants from non-Spanish speaking countries who also contribute immensely to the economic well-being and global competitiveness of the United States.

And they deserve to be recognized.

As Latina Lista has argued in the past, there are certain automatic assumptions made when the term "immigrant" is used - one of them being that the term refers to an undocumented Spanish-speaking person.

But only if Mr. Wadhwa had stopped there. He went on to say:

"It's one thing if your gardener gets deported, but if these entrepreneurs leave, we're really denting our intellectual property creation.

Even if he is talking about unskilled Hispanic immigrants, he obviously doesn't know that they are as entrepreneurial as he and those that start high-tech companies.

Otherwise, he may have been aware of a report released by the US Census in March 2006 titled Survey of Business Owners: Hispanic-Owned Firms: 2002.

The report outlined how the number of Hispanic-owned businesses grew 31 percent between 1997 and 2002 — "three times the national average of ALL businesses."

Among those businesses, 1,510 were Hispanic-owned firms with 100 employees or more, generating more than $42 billion in gross receipts.

Where Indians, Chinese, Japanese, Taiwanese and British may have their forte in starting technology companies, Hispanics' expertise lay in starting those companies that provide a service as well.




Yet, the bottom line is that the labor of every immigrant is of value to this country.


AnnaLee Saxenian, now dean of the School of Information at UC-Berkeley, and also co-author of the Duke study, said the research debunks the notion that immigrants who come to the United States take jobs from Americans.

"The advantage of entrepreneurs is that they're generally creating new opportunities and new wealth that didn't even exist before them," Saxenian said. "Just by leaving your home country, you're taking a risk, and that means you're willing to take risks in business. You put them in an environment that supports entrepreneurship, and this is the logical outcome."

Whether they're a gardener or not.

There have been many "predictions" as to how the White House is going to get along with the new leaders in Congress but, unfortunately, it doesn't take a psychic to know that the honeymoon will be over before it starts.

Which got me to thinking about what the psychics are saying about politics and life in general.



One psychic name Barbara Garcia had several interesting predictions. Among them were:


- The political charges of the year will be somewhat polarized within their own parties. However, there will be few challenges for the Democratic schedule for 2007 from the Republicans. Gossip and rumors will clearly separate those who currently rule within the parties.

- Healthcare will be a major topic throughout the year. George Bush will be strongly advised not to veto anything on the records of healthcare.

- The perseverance of those humble servants of light in all walks of life reaps an abundant and prosperous year. For a great number of you, it is a year of action, a year bearing the fruits of labor with opportunities in your line of expertise. For others, you will experience a series of events that will launch you to your rightful destiny path of prosperity.


El Brujo Mayor, aka Alberto Vazquez, peers into the future with tarot cards.
(Source: Univision)

Another psychic who calls himself the "Grand Warlock" or in Spanish El Brujo Mayor shared his own predictions regarding 2007:

- 2007 "has a very special characteristic" and "the year is 100 percent feminine.

- the border wall to keep out undocumented immigrants will not be built.

- Women will be at the forefront of politics worldwide.

- Castro will die before May.

And one last psychic, otherwise known as "The Psychic Detective," Jeffry Palmer add among his visions, the following:


- I feel that there is a very strong likelihood of Rudolph Giuliani running for and subsequently winning the US presidential election in 2008. Giuliani will begin campaigning in early 2007. Senator John McCain may chosen as Vice President.

- There is a strong possibility of the reinstatement of the military draft system in the USA by the middle of November, 2007.

- In December of 2007 information will be released regarding a long standing cover-up by the US government.

Of course, no list of psychic predictions would be complete without one from Latina Lista.

- Latina Lista will soon leave blogspot and have her own domain which will amaze, intrigue and inspire readers everywhere!

Exactly two years ago this week, the Mexican government found itself under attack for trying to provide a humanitarian aide to the thousands of people who illegally migrate from and through Mexico on their way to the United States.

It was titled Guide for the Mexican Migrant and contained instructions on how NOT to die in the desert or drown swimming across the river.


Guide explains how to cross the border safely.
(Source: Mexico Foreign Ministry)

Though many in the United States condemned the book as an underhanded attempt by Mexican officials to condone illegal immigration, the parts of the book that dealt with encountering the Border Patrol precisely explained that migrants should never run from agents or throw anything at them.

In fact, the book said the migrants should surrender to the agents.

Now, this week, comes word from a Mexican university that they are willing to build and outfit about 10,000 migrants in a test run of a GPS device that can help Border Patrol agents locate those migrants who are hurt or lost in the "no-man's land" between Mexico and the United States.

It's being reported that the Monterrey Technological University is behind the initiative which would consist of small receivers along the lines of those used in recovering stolen cars.

When the devices are activated, border agents can locate the lost or injured migrants and work with Mexican officials to transport the migrants back to Mexico.

The program, with some devices ready to illustrate how it works, is supposed to be presented to federal officials in March. The hope is to get the program in operation by December.

Feelings are mixed as to whether or not this will even fly in Mexico given that no one really knows the cost or even if the migrants themselves will go for it.

Yet with rumors circulating that Mexican emigration will increase by 40 percent this year, many, who are looking at the humanitarian side of the issue, hope that it does become a reality and the migrants take advantage of them.

As can be imagined, the critics on this side of the border are already accusing the Mexican government of aiding and abetting their countrymen in coming to this country without waiting their turn in line.

But this time, there are some differences.

For one, the idea of the GPS device was the brainchild of educators at the Monterrey Technological University, not the government. Spokespeople at the university defend their idea by saying that it was created and presented from the standpoint of saving lives.

It's a known fact that while ICE may be boasting higher numbers of undocumented immigrant apprehensions — And how hard is it really when they can be found working for the same company? — deaths are rising along the border.

The Border Patrol agency tabulated 441 border deaths last year as opposed to 266 in 1995 — and those are the ones that were found.

There are still too many families who never know what happened to their loved ones who came norte. They wait and wait and beg any US visitor to their towns for help in locating their sons, daughters, husbands, wives, mothers or fathers.

Why shouldn't this technology be made available to these people, if they want it?

At the least, families will either be afforded a sense of closure or peace of mind if their loved ones have these devices.

At the most, it will be a true test of cooperation between two countries that share so much more than just a border.

The newswires and blogosphere has been abuzz all day with the swearing-in of Nancy Pelosi as the first female Speaker of the House.

Everyone around the world is taking notice that Ms. Pelosi is now the most politically powerful woman in the United States.


First Female Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi

Of course, some will probably argue with that and say that as long as there is a married, heterosexual President in the White House, the First Lady will always be the "unofficial" holder of the title "Most Politically Powerful."

But for all practical, not to mention, legal purposes, Speaker Pelosi will go down in the history books as the first woman to be publicly recognized as the holder of that title which also includes the fact that she is second in line to succeed the Presidency if anything should happen to the President and Vice-President.

It's said that Speaker Pelosi carefully chose her wardrobe today. Her suit was a shade of purple, not coincidentally one of the colors of the woman's suffrage movement.


Purple and tri-color mementos of the woman's suffrage movement.

Her suit was not all that she planned carefully.

Speaker Pelosi also carefully chose her words.

In her speech, Speaker Pelosi has one sentence that should inspire all Latinas and women of color.

And today, I thank my colleagues. By electing me Speaker, you have brought us closer to the ideal of equality that is America's heritage and hope.

For too long, women of color have suffered through "motivational" speeches that never let us forget that unlike our hermanos (brothers) who only contend with racial discrimination, las mujeres (the women) have the proverbial "two strikes" against us: ethnicity and gender.



Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN) photographed with his wife Kim and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA). Ellison and Pelosi placed their hands on a copy of the Koran once owned by Thomas Jefferson
(Source: nwhm.org)

Any gains made in spite of our ethnicity were always tempered with reminders of our gender.

Pelosi's position as Speaker solidifies the concept of equality more than any other leadership position held in the public or private sector by a woman.

Why?

It's simple. Because Congress has always been historically majority male and white, Pelosi's presence "at the head of the table," if you will, illustrates that from the one place in the country where the rest of the nation still waits for its seal of approval on most things before embracing it in the national psyche, there is a woman who will for the next few years occupy the most visible chair in our government.

As people get accustomed to seeing Speaker Pelosi in the background as the President gives his State of the Union and others take the podium before her, it will start to be seen as the most natural thing to have a woman in such a high position.

And the days of hearing that Latinas have 2 built-in strikes against us, will be history.


Speaker of the House with future voters.
(Source: NYTimes)

This past Christmas season was tight for anyone in college or who is footing the bill for college tuition.



With books and fees, today's tuition hits the majority of families hard. So, it's to be expected that those families who feel the pinch are going to resent anyone they feel is getting a free ride at the expense of their pocketbooks.

That's pretty much been the attitude of some people when they find out that undocumented students are paying in-state tuition at their local colleges.

It doesn't matter that these students most probably lived the bulk of their lives within that state, attended the local elementary, junior high and high school and learned the same lessons as everyone else — go after your dream and make it real.




Starting in two weeks, college students in Arizona, who are undocumented, are going to have an extremely difficult time of making even their basic dream of getting a good education difficult.

That's because Arizona voters passed a law, Proposition 300, that triples college tuition for undocumented students. For example:

At Arizona State University's Tempe campus, undergraduate out-of-state tuition per year currently is $15,846 compared with the in-state fee of $4,686.

At Northern Arizona University, out-of-state tuition is $13,487 compared with $4,546. At University of Arizona's main campus, out-of state tuition is $14,960 compared with $4,754.

At Maricopa Community Colleges, the price tag for a full-time, out-of-state student is $3,360, up from $780.

How grossly unfair is this law for those undocumented students who have struggled the past 4 years balancing jobs and study to almost reach their goal, only to have it snatched away from them when it's finally in reach.



Has education become so elitist that students who deserve to be in those college classrooms must be driven out because their parents wanted a better life for them and couldn't wait to escape their poverty to begin it?

Unfortunately, more states are looking to follow Arizona's lead — but it would be the biggest mistake this country could make in terms of our future.

Yet, I guess it's not all that surprising in a country that has become renown for wasting its own resources.

And today's college students are one of the most vital resources we have going for us.

As it stands now:


* "The scientific and technical building blocks of our economic leadership are eroding at a time when many other nations are gathering strength" — National Academies.
* In 1970, the United States produced more than half of the world's science and engineering doctorates; by 2010, our share is projected to fall to about 15 percent (Richard Freeman, National Bureau of Economic Research).
* U.S. students rank 24th out of 29 developed nations in mathematics problem-solving (20program'smme for International Student Assessment test [PISA]).
* The U.S. has fallen to ninth in the developed world in high school graduation rates among young adults (OECD).

(Source: ed.gov)

Yet, we are willing to throw away deserving talent that can help this country sustain itself among global competitors in the future simply because they are the unwitting victims of their parents' search for a better life.

It doesn't make sense.

If thought was really given to "making" these students pay for being in the country illegally then let them get their degrees and contract them to work for a certain number of years to "work off" their presumed educational debt. (Nobody has said that they get free tuition. The vast majority of these kids work a job to pay their tuition now.)

It would seem that having students in school, learning either a trade or academics, and then giving back to the country, is much more preferable than forcing them to go stand around on street corners and getting into trouble because they're bored and can't legally work.

Some work has already begun in Washington to give these students a chance. It's called the Dream Act but it's fate is in as much limbo as the immigration reform bill.

As debate increases on crafting a Congressional immigration reform bill, those who disagree with Congress will try to implement more of these knee-jerk responses, and in all their delusions, they will think they are winning the war on illegal immigration.

When in reality, they're the ones lacking the education to analyze the problem at hand, and create a solution that will carry the country forward rather than backward.

The most positive news that has greeted us in these first two days of 2007 was how Oprah Winfrey has finally realized her dream of opening up an all-girl school in South Africa.


Oprah and the first class of girls for the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy
(Source: oprah.com)

Christened the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy, it is built in Henley on Klip, outside Johannesburg.

The $40 million (Oprah confesses to capping expenses at $50 million) price tag for this state-of-the-art school for girls, who are more accustomed to living in one and two-room shacks and sharing one toilet with whole neighborhoods, rather than living on a 28-building campus with all the modern conveniences that they never had, is Oprah's way of feeling closer to the people she helps.

Oprah personally selected the first class of 152 disadvantaged 11, 12 and 13-year-old girls who will comprise grades 7 and 8. Eventually, the school's enrollment will expand to hold 450 girls.

It's said that when Oprah was visiting a home of one of her future students the women in the neighborhood came outside and shouted "VIVA, Oprah Winfrey, VIVA."

Well, it seems shouts of "VIVA" are in order for another all-girls school with the same objectives as Oprah's.

And by all accounts, with the same kinds of girls, as the South Africans, who are having to rise above their environments for a chance at an opportunity that wouldn't otherwise be readily available to them.

The only things different about this school is that there's no 28-building campus and the school isn't across the ocean. Depending on where you live, the farthest it is located is across the country — in Lawrence, Massachusetts.

It's called Esperanza Academy.

Esperanza means hope in Spanish and this middle school is giving just that to some girls whose daily lives are punctuated with poverty, gang violence and low expectations of themselves.

The school is a joint venture between Christ Episcopal Church in Andover and Grace Episcopal Church in Lawrence.

It was created after a study found that middle school girls were at greatest risk of failure in this city. None of the families pay tuition since school organizers have aggressively sought out sponsors for each of the girls.

The first group of 42 students, who are primarily of Dominican and Puerto Rican heritage, put in extra long study hours from 7:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m.


Esperanza Academy

The girls must commit themselves, as well as their parents, who have to volunteer at least two hours a week at the school to cook and clean.

After-school activities involve extra tutoring and other activities to keep the girls busy and focused on succeeding.

As with most private schools with such high goals, and no Oprah Winfrey benefactor, Esperanza Academy must struggle on a daily basis for the money to expand their enrollment and keep this oasis of hope alive for their students and the girls who would like to attend.

Schools like Esperanza Academy and Oprah's Leadership Academy recognize the fact that there exists a window of opportunity in a young girl's life, especially disadvantaged girls, where the value of education is weighed against the realities of their environment.

The secret is to find that window and — keep it open.

Latina Lista applauds all the muchachas of Esperanza Academy and proclaims them

LATINAS LISTAS!