EthnoBlog

The Week in Dope: January 19-25

By Daniel Hirsch, Jan 26, 2010 2:32 PM

Amidst the annual glut of award ceremonies for film and television, Colorado cannabis fans had the privilege of hearing this week that they’ll be able to enjoy an award ceremony all their own. Coming this April, Aspen will host the first-ever Western Slope Cannabis Crown, where growers from across the country will compete for the hearts and votes of event-goers. According to Cannabis Crown organizer, 1,500 tickets have already been sold.

Samoans in the NFL: How Mainstream Media Hurts our Community

By Silicon Valley Debug, Jan 21, 2010 12:57 PM

Editor's note: This piece by Val LiHang Jacobo originally appeared on Silicon Valley De-Bug.

Long Beach, CA - On Sunday, Jan 17, in the height of the NFL Playoffs, 60 Minutes, a CBS evening news show, aired a segment titled "American Samoa: a football island."

Weekly Diaspora: Does Coakley's Loss Spell Trouble for Immigration Reform?

By Nezua, Jan 21, 2010 9:58 AM

Professional pundits and Democratic politicians are in a frenzy over what Martha Coakley's senate seat loss to Republican Scott Brown might mean for American politics.

Immigration reform in jeopardy

As Harold Meyerson of the American Prospect reports, the loss of one seat probably won't derail heath care reform, but it does make the chances of passing immigration reform slimmer. Meyerson writes that immigration reform is "necessary to restore our economic vitality and political equality," and actually passing reform would benefit the Democratic faction. Unfortunately, that means that immigration reform will require 60 votes in order to pass the senate.

L.A. Gang Tours: Innovative or Dehumanizing?

By Leticia Miranda, Jan 20, 2010 2:56 PM

Hmm...voyeuristic, dehumanizing, fetishizing and exploitative sound right to me.

Alfred Lomas (pictured below) is leading the L.A. Gang Tours which will host paid bus tours through South Central Los Angeles for people who want to learn about local gangs and gang culture.

For 65 bucks, tourists will get a two-hour tour through Los Angeles, Calif. Stops include the L.A. County Jail, the Metropolitan Detention Center and the Jordan Downs Housing Project. And, all of the profits from the tours will go towards encouraging capitalist entrepreneurs through jobs, franchised tours in new areas, and microloans to inner-city entrepreneurs, according to the Boston Globe.

The Book of Eli (Albert & Allen Hughes, 2010)

By Prometheus Brown, Jan 20, 2010 2:06 PM

Editor's note: This blog originally appeared on Prometheus Brown.

The future is not what it used to be. No march toward space-age utopias, no super-technological fascist states. Just utter destruction and debased, near-extinct humanity. Hollywood is having a fiesta profiting off all this media-fueled Apocalyptic fetish (2012, The Road) and if the world really is on the verge of a meltdown, I can’t even begin to comment on how fascinating and depressing it is that we moviegoers can’t get enough of seeing it before it even happens. The Book of Eli (2010) isn’t just any post-apocalypse film, mostly because it’s a mash-up of every apocalpyse film (and done surprisingly well). Name one–I’m sure you’ll find a scene in Eli that was damn near bitten from it.

The Week in Dope: January 19, 2010

By Daniel Hirsch, Jan 19, 2010 10:29 AM

For those watching the ever-changing landscape of marijuana laws and reforms, the future of the substance doesn’t just affect the weekend plans of teenage skaters. Marijuana reform touches on the lives of cancer patients, small business owners, prison populations, law makers, tax payers and just about everyone else you know. To help keep abreast of the latest dope across the country, we present you... The Week in Dope, a roundup of the week’s marijuana news and commentary. Sit back, relax, be informed.

On The Right Wing And Bank Bonsues

By Aaron Glantz, Jan 15, 2010 9:39 AM

 Yesterday afternoon, I was driving my son to the doctor to get some shots. As is my custom, I turned the dial to right wing talk radio, Hot Talk 560 KSFO to get a different perspective on the news of the day. Their afternoon host, nationally-syndicated blowhard Marc Levin had a most impressive spin on the record bank bonuses, where he argued that Obama's proposed tax on bank bankers' bonuses is really an attack on "regular working people like you and me."

"D'oh!" -- We Are All Part of the Simpsons' Family

By Silicon Valley Debug, Jan 15, 2010 9:17 AM

Editor's note: This Silicon Valley De-Bug piece was written by Angel Luna.

"D'oh" is more then just an expression, "d'oh" is the way to be. How many of you would have always wanted to live in the Springfield we all saw once a week? I met the Simpsons back in the 90s.  I was 8 years old, and it was in my living room in Oaxaca, Mexico. Bart Simpson was four years older then me. It was a very weird meeting because I'd never seen them before, but after a while it became part of my reality.

They were yellow and funny looking, I was brown and human looking. They were also Americans, but spoke a very clever Spanish through my screen. I was real and they were also real in their own way. And now, I've turned 25, am now living in San Jose, California, and the Simpsons just celebrated their 20th anniversary on the air.

Napolitano Orders Stop of Haitian Deportations Due To Earthquake

By Dolores M. Bernal, Jan 14, 2010 3:06 PM

Editor's note: This post originally appared on NEWS JUNKIE POST.  Dolores M. Bernal is a print and radio journalist who has covered politics from Washington, DC, natural disasters, and immigration for Free Speech Radio News and Radio Bilingue. She's Co-Editor-in-Chief of NEWS JUNKIE POST.

The Department of Homeland Security announced this afternoon that deportations of people from Haiti are being halted due to the destruction from a 7.0 earthquake that hit the country on Tuesday. The damage hasn’t been assessed but reports that the infrastructure of the country has been devastated make it clear that Haiti is no place to visit at this time.

Weekly Diaspora: Protecting Haitian Refugees Through Immigration Reform

By Nezua, Jan 14, 2010 9:53 AM

On Tuesday, the worst earthquake in 200 years struck just off the coast of Port-au-Prince, Haiti, as The Nation reports. Bringing "catastrophic destruction" to the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere, the disaster has spurred relief efforts worldwide. Crises like this are important reminders of how the treatment and protection of refugees must be a part of immigration reform.

Temporary protected status for Haitian refugees

No, There Are No Vampires in My YA Novel.

By Laura Goode, Jan 13, 2010 12:15 PM

The Twilight phenomenon has monopolized media chatter for over a year now, and while many have vetted, bemoaned, and dissected the complicated sexuality of the ballad of Bella and Edward, few have done so in the greater context of Twilight’s paramount position in popular young adult fiction. Twilight, and our culture’s current vogue of vampires, reveals a subtly toxic sexual messaging still being slipped into the literature young American women are consuming en masse.

Full disclosure: I am a recovering teenage girl with a YA novel, Sister Mischief, coming out next year. In the early stages of conceptualizing SM, I realized that writing the book was a way of putting my money where my mouth was: giving young people access to candid, high-quality literature is important to me, so I figured I should try to produce some.

Not Granting Haitian Immigrants TPS After Earthquake Would Be 'Not Only Immoral, But Irresponsible'

By Andrea Nill, Jan 13, 2010 11:01 AM

Editor's note: This piece originally appeared on The Wonk Room.  Andrea Nill is an Immigration Researcher/Blogger for ThinkProgress.org and The Progress Report at the Center for American Progress Action Fund. She holds a bachelor’s degree from Cornell University in Political Science with a concentration in Latin American Studies and Law and Society.

Since the election of President Obama, Haitians in the U.S. have been anxiously awaiting a change in immigration policy which would grant undocumented Haitian immigrants temporary protected status (TPS). TPS is a temporary immigration status that is available to individuals from a small number of federally-designated countries suffering armed conflicts, natural disasters, or other extraordinary circumstances. Haitian immigrants in the U.S. probably should’ve been granted TPS long before yesterday’s earthquake. Yet now, as Rep. Alcee Hastings (D-FL) points out, it would be “not only immoral, but irresponsible” not to.

Video Doesn't Necessarily Link Taliban in Pakistan to C.I.A. Attack

By Jalal Ghazi, Jan 11, 2010 4:36 PM

Something important was missing in the New York Times article examining the recorded message of the Jordanian doctor, Humam al-Balawi, who carried out the suicide attack in a CIA base in Afghanistan, killing 7 CIA employees and private contractors as well as a senior Jordanian military officer.

Balawi appeared in the recoded video, which was aired on Al Jazeera, sitting next to Hakimullah Mehsud, a current commander of Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) who succeeded Baitullah Mehsud after his death in a US bombing in August 2009.

Wash Post Hit for Tainted Content Sharing with Billionaire-Backed "News" Service

By Paul Kleyman, Jan 7, 2010 1:50 PM

“Balanced and accurate reporting” is a phrase that might well clunk up against the Fox News claim to be “fair and balanced” if the first filing of The Fiscal Times (TFT) is any indication. Touting itself as "The Source for All Things Fiscal," the new wire service, co-founded and initially funded by anti-social-insurance propagandist Peter G. Peterson, the online new enterprise has already been hit by a distinguished group of progressive academics and analysts for slanted reporting. The tainted article appeared in the news columns of the Washington Post on Dec. 31, as the first entry in the newspaper’s content sharing deal with the supposedly “independent” news entity, and the Post soon was forced to admit to the piece’s lack of balance and failure to acknowledge potential conflicts of interest in the article.

Weekly Diaspora: Real Immigration Reform in 2010

By Nezua, Jan 7, 2010 10:35 AM

"Is it ever 'the right time' to pass immigration reform and a path to legalization?" asks Maribel Hastings at New America Media. The short answer? Yes. Our national economic situation dictates that we are smart about the resources available to us all. It's also a moral imperative to adjust our laws to protect the most vulnerable of us.

Hastings runs through the complications, campaign promises, and opportunities facing the Obama administration in regards to immigration reform. While acknowledging the nature of our government as "a complex organism," Hastings nonetheless signs off with a warning: There are many awaiting action today, people "who voted for Democrats with the expectation that they would make comprehensive immigration reform a reality."

NAM Stimulus Investigation Continues to Elicit Personal Responses

By Aaron Glantz, Jan 6, 2010 2:30 PM

Just before leaving for the day, I received a call in the office from Enrique Muhammad, an African American small business owner in Scranton, Pennsylvania.

Muhammad said he had just read NAM's investigation, "Minority Businesses Shut Out of Stimulus Loans,"  in the Final Call -- one of more than 30 publications nationwide to reprint the story, which showed how loans handed out to struggling small businesses as part of President Barack Obama's stimulus package have largely shut out minority businesses -- especially those owned by Blacks and Latinos.

Dead Latinos

By José R. Sánchez, Jan 6, 2010 11:08 AM

Editor's note: This piece originally appeared in the e-newsletter of the National Institute for Latino Policy.  José Ramon Sánchez is Associate Professor of Politics and Chair of Urban Studies at Long Island University - Brooklyn; he is also Chair of the Board of the National Institute for Latino Policy, Inc. He is the author of "Boricua Power: A Political History of Puerto Ricans in the U.S." (2007) and co-author of "The Iraq Papers" (2010).

When does one dead Hollywood actor trump another? When does one fierce dead organizer against social injustices trump another? In fact, when does a dead chimp responsible for a hideous attack catapult himself above the life of a dead Mexican anthropologist with over 150 books and articles filled with archaeological and cultural studies about Mayan civilization? For the New York Times the answer seems to be whenever the second option is a Latino.

2010 Heralds Female Majority in the American Workforce

By Laura Goode, Jan 5, 2010 4:37 PM

The year 2010 may be remembered by America’s children as the year women took command of its workforce.

Accordingly, more and more major news outlets, themselves the beneficiaries of and sometime obstacles to women’s ascendancy (the sudden death of Deborah Howell, a titanic shatterer of journalism’s glass ceiling, provides a fresh reminder of this), are trumpeting the imminent female majority in the workplace.

When Grief Kills

By Jamilah King, Jan 4, 2010 4:48 PM

It's official: Grief can kill.

I once read Alice Walker's words that her father, a sharecropper in Georgia, ultimately died from "heatbreak." I think the same principle can apply to the families of murder victims, especially Black folks whose cases rarely land headlines.

Heartbreaking news out of Florida. Denise King, the 40-year-old mother of murder victim Simmie Williams, collapsed and died in her apartment just hours before midnight on New Year's eve.

NAM Stimulus Investigation Reaches Over One Million Readers

By Aaron Glantz, Jan 4, 2010 3:22 PM

My investigative report showing the by-passing of ethnic businesses in stimulus-funded small business loans has appeared -- or is scheduled to run -- in 29 publications across the country with a combined circulation of over 1.2 million readers.

The report, which was originally published on the website of New America Media, has truly stuck a chord in ethnic communities across America who rightly see the success of small businesses in their neighborhoods as key to a meaningful economic recovery.