Now those young immigrants have begun to tell investigators about their jobs. Some said they worked shifts of 12 hours or more, wielding razor-edged knives and saws to slice freshly killed beef. Some worked through the night, sometimes six nights a week.One, a Guatemalan named Elmer L. who said he was 16 when he started working on the plant’s killing floors, said he worked 17-hour shifts, six days a week. In an affidavit, he said he was constantly tired and did not have time to do anything but work and sleep. “I was very sad,” he said, “and I felt like I was a slave.”
The second half of the concert felt more convincing than the first. After Mr. Giorgetti’s “Dialogue” came the Venezuelan-American composer Ricardo Lorenz’s “Compass Points,” the most successful piece on Sunday’s program. Each of the work’s three sections was written in a different location and reflects the composer’s state of mind and circumstances at the time. The first movement, composed in Umbria, Italy, offered a sultry canvas with passionate violin interludes. The second — both melancholy and defiant, with languid clarinet riffs — was written in Bloomington, Ind., as a tribute to the pianist and composer Robert Avalon. The frenzied, driven dance rhythms of “Scherzarengue,” the last movement, evoke a busy period in the composer’s life when he moved to East Lansing, Mich.
All I can say is, you may call Venezuelan guys wimps but don’t mess with the women!
Beyond that, the confrontation has cultural and nationalistic implications. I’ll guarantee you viewers from Central and South America will view the incident VERY differently than the average American racing fan. For many of them, it will be the domineering Ugly American attempting to bully the underdog Latin American in a very visceral way.
For more than 60 years Mexicans have followed the adventures of “Memin Pinguin.” But the dark-skinned Memin’s exaggerated features in “Memin for President” came as a shock to Houston, Texas, Wal-Mart shopper Shawnedria McGinty.
In June, an Indiana think tank introduced a plan intended to encourage more Hispanics to pursue higher education. While this may seem like something that is good for the Hispanic community, it has raised no small amount of controversy. At issue is the Sagamore Institute researchers’ recommendation that Hispanics try for two-year degrees from colleges such as Ivy Tech rather than four-year, or ev
It might come as a shock to narrow-minded folks who devalue the richness of the English language by sending thinly veiled vile attacking Hispanics and immigrants - legal and otherwise as if the two are interchangeable - but this state’s heritage, culture and economy has strong Latin overtures.Three emails - of which one came from Southern California and the other from the Midwest - sent in response to a story that stated 3,000 foreign immigrants move to San Joaquin County every year blamed much of this nation’s ills on Hispanic immigrants
But in America, at least, we have narrowed the choices down to “Latino” or “Hispanic.” Each comes loaded with political baggage. Say “Latino” to a brown-skinned person, and you might receive a snappish “I don’t speak Latin!” in response. Refer to someone as “Hispanic” and you could hear that the word refers to Spain, the country that “raped my ancestors” or “subjugated the Aztecs” or some other historical atrocity that constitutes a fresh wound to people who have taken too many poli-sci classes.
AMES, Iowa — In many parts of the country, the idea that all illegal immigrants should be arrested and deported is popular, but in the wake of the Postville and Marshalltown raids, perhaps the solution isn’t as simple as it may seem. If this plan were enacted, there would be serious social and economic impacts in many communities across the nation, according to Liesl Eathington, coordinator of Iowa State University’s Regional Capacity Analysis Program (ReCAP). “I think there is a misconception in many communities that these immigrants are taking American dollars and sending it all back home,” Eathington said. “This really isn’t the case, because these people still pay sales taxes, rent and buy food. In some towns, they make up a significant percent of revenue that goes back into the community.”
national polls show McCain-Obama a close race, and the electoral map points to critical problems for Barack.He seeks, for example, to target Colorado, Nevada and New Mexico. But in all three the Hispanic vote may be decisive. And Barack was beaten by Hillary two to one among Hispanics, and between these two largest of America’s minorities, rivalry and tension are real and rising.
Contributors to the new anthology “Primera Pagina: Poetry from the Latino Heartland” — including one with ties to Wichita — say they want to express and draw attention to the Hispanic experience in the middle of the country.”I don’t think Hispanics in the Midwest have really been able to have a voice,” said Marcelo Xavier Trillo, 30, who was raised in Wichita and participates in the Kansas City-based Latino Writers Collective.
Gilchrist, a former California accountant, founded the project in October 2004. In two years, the grass-roots border-control group had grown to boast more than 200 chapters across the country.Today, Gilchrist says, a host of internal problems are bringing the movement to its knees.More than 20 chapters, including the Skokie-based Illinois Minuteman project, have disbanded, leaving fewer than 180 in operation.Dozens of chapters are fighting with one another and vying for attention, he said.
Last week, hundreds of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents, flanked by helicopters, a trail of SUVs and a convoy of buses, descended on the tiny town of Postville, Iowa. They set up a perimeter around the 60-acre kosher meat-processing plant operated by the global giant Agriprocessors, Inc. and conducted the largest workplace raid in U.S. history. Around 400 people were arrested — most from Mexico, Eastern Europe and Guatemala — representing 40 percent of the plant’s workers and 17 percent of the town’s population. Warrants for another 300 were issued.Some would call it a victory for law and order. But a closer look at the showy example of “getting tough on illegals” offers some insight into what immigration restrictionists are really asking for when they call for more immigration enforcement.
We have lost yet another legend, one of the towering figures in this music. Israel López Cachao died Saturday, March 22, 2008, in Coral Gables, Florida. He leaves behind a legacy few can touch. Not only was he literally part of the beginnings of modern Cuban dance music, he played a huge role in its ongoing creation. First, he and his brother Orestes López helped modernize the danzón while playing with Arcaño y Sus Maravillas, and then may well have created another genre, the mambo, through the use of syncopated tumbaos which later were adapted by pianist Dámaso Pérez Prado and applied to a jazz band format. Cachao then went on to record his legendary jam sessions with illustrious figures such as Aristedes Soto (Tata Güines), Alejandro “El Negro” Vivar, Guillermo Barreto and Rogelio “Yeyito” Iglesias, among others. After leaving Cuba as an exile in 1962, he joined the band of another legend, Tito Rodríguez, and accompanied a host of other legends, later recording a number of solo descarga albums in the 1970s. The 1980s saw him in relative obscurity, playing with local bands in Miami, until a famous admirer, actor Andy García, directed a documentary about his life, Como su ritmo no hay dos, which also included a special concert in his honor. Cachao continued to record in the 1990s, right up until 2004 with Ahora sí, his last album, consistently producing superb danzones (his passion) and rousing descargas which always were characterized not only by turbocharged playing, but also exquisitely tasteful phrasing. Indeed, his recordings could be considered musical guidebooks for all aspiring bass players and other instrumentalists who play Latin music.
According to a radio report on NPR yesterday, Latinos make up about five percent of the total population in Indiana. According to the same radio report, most of these Latinos are Mexican and Puerto Ricans.
4.) In the 19th and 20th century, also came Blacks from the South in at least two migrations; one via fleeing, and a second one when they came up as free people in droves for the jobs in factory and on farm. They and their offspring tend to be liberal in social justice issues, touchingly willing to go to war, and ultra conservative about gays and traditional marriage. They tend to be for the worker. And unions were built of the bones and blood of blacks and the eastern European. German, Italian and Irish immigrants.
Former Fort Wayne City Councilman Dr. Tom Hayhurst raised the most popular topic of the rally- namely, immigration. Candelaria Reardon said Obama offers the best hope to address immigration issues. She said Obama’s “priority is to safeguard the borders.”According to Candelaria Reardon said Obama favors a plan of “passion that does not separate families and does not take ten years to navigate.”She shared how difficult an issue this is for her. Candelaria Reardon said she is the “only Latino in the Assembly or Senate in Indianapolis.”I put aside that it (immigration reform) targets Latinos and I know it will apply to all,” she explained. “We have won small battles but we have not won the war.”Candelaria Reardon urged that action “at the federal level recognize that this is much bigger (than a Latino border issue).”
Sen. Clinton’s ace could be Puerto Rico, whose 2.4 million registered voters will hold their first-ever presidential primary on June 1. Puerto Rico doesn’t have an electoral-college vote, but it does have 63 delegates to the Democratic convention and enthusiastic voters — 80% of them turned out in each of the island’s past four gubernatorial elections. Sen. Clinton is popular among Hispanics nationally, and her home state has the country’s largest Puerto Rican-immigrant population.
Asi termino el cuarto encuentro entre la Universidad de Indiana y el equipo Nacional Mexicano U20. Un partido fuerte donde se alteraron algunos jugadores de ambas equipos, pero bastante parejo el nivel fisico y competitivo.
The New World Cinema Series will present six independent Latin American films in 20 U.S. cities during 2009.The traveling festival will visit theaters throughout the country, screening a new film every other month and giving directors an opportunity to travel with the film to speak to the public and the press.Organizers plan to target markets that have both large Latino populations and crossover potential, like Los Angeles and Miami, but also smaller cities like Bloomington, Indiana and Tucson, Ariz.
News accounts and early analysis claim that Hillary Clinton is favored in Puerto Rico even though there has been no polling on the island so far. Clinton certainly does better in primary states than in caucus states, so the change to a primary will help her. More importantly, the press notes how strongly Clinton has run among Latinos in other contests and assumes the same will hold in Puerto Rico. This ignores one big fact: Puerto Ricans are not like other Latinos.
If Barack Obama is the Democratic nominee, every analysis HillBuzz reads says the Latino vote will go to McCain in the fall.Here is one such analysis HillBuzz read this weekend, from a Latino activist in the Democratic Party, who sees defeat to McCain with Obama as the nominee:Since the mainstream media is feeding the public perspectives about the Latino vote from an outsiders viewpoint, let me share some keyaspects from the Latino viewpoint.
I am not sure what bible they preach out of up there in those big mansions in Carmel, but last time I checked disobeying the law was what got Jesus strung up on the cross in the first place.
“I think that those institutions that decide to run the model as it’s been so successfully run over the last decade and a half will see their admission rates go up,” said Kurt M. Thiede, vice president for enrollment management at Bucknell.Nationally, the population decline is projected to be relatively gentle, with the number of high school graduates expected to fall in the Northeast and Midwest, while continuing to increase in the South and Southwest.The number of white high school graduates will go down nationally, and the number of African-American graduates will remain relatively steady. But the number of Hispanic and Asian-American graduates will increase sharply, according to projections by the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education, whose demographic estimates are highly regarded by admissions officials.
When Puerto Rican officials in New York City honor Indiana this summer, they are going to expose what has always been the state’s paradox.In theory, Indiana’s primary city is also its capital city – Indianapolis ought to be the mecca of that rare breed of human being that willingly calls itself, “Hoosiers.” Yet the engine that in some ways provides what little significance Indiana offers comes from the northwest counties.
MILWAUKEE is a striking example of how much America owes to German immigrants. The city is a paradise for beer-swillers and sausage-scoffers (it was the scene of the “sausage summit” between Bill Clinton and Helmut Kohl in 1996). The grandest hotel is the Pfister, the local theatre is the Pabst, and one of the main streets is North Teutonia Avenue. The phone book lists 40 pages of Schmitts and Schmidts.And yet today this frozen chunk of Greater Germania is being transformed by people from much sunnier climes. Milwaukee’s 80,000 or so Hispanics make up almost 15% of the population.
Fittingly, the first person to detect a faint signal in all the noise was the interpreter. The 33-year-old woman who worked for eight years working with Spanish-speaking patients at a medical clinic in southern Minnesota noticed something familiar as she translated the story of a young meatpacker last September.Earlier last summer, she had heard a version of it from two other workers at the same slaughterhouse, and had told it to their doctors, who were different from her current patient’s. When the consultation was over, she pointed this out.The interpreter’s insight set in motion a story, still unfolding, that may be making envious the ghost of Berton Roueche, the legendary chronicler of medical mysteries at the New Yorker magazine.
What is it going to take for the WNBA to recognize Cindy Valentin as a true talent they can’t afford to miss? More than 40pts with 5 triples in a game? Aside from being a great player, she can be a perfect example for young (and older) fans that “Latinas can Jump.” Not to mention expanding their fan base, as Arroyo and Gasol have done for the NBA. Donna Orender, don’t let your talent and market base slip off so easily.
Dentro de un trabajo sobresaliente del grupo de Carlos Olano, el partido de Cyndi Valentín es para guardar en el archivo: 40 puntos, 5 triples, 8 rebotes, 4 recuperaciones, 9 faltas recibidos y 54 de nota. A la portorriqueña le secundó, en su vuelta a la cancha desde diciembre, Tamara Pérez, para echarse el equipo encima cuando más apretó el Uni CajaCanarias en la primera línea.
