EthnoBlog

Colin Powell, We Ask But You Still Don't Tell

By Sandip Roy, Feb 4, 2010 2:36 PM

 If the State of the Union made one concrete promise it was to repeal Don’t Ask Don’t Tell. And the president obviously means business. The powers that be are lining up behind it.

Robert Gates said the Pentagon is preparing to repeal the law.
Adm. Mike Mullen got a lot of press for his comments that it is his “personal belief” that lifting the ban is the “right thing to do.”

Now Colin Powell has added his voice to the chorus. “Attitudes and circumstances have changed,” Powell said. They certainly have in the 17 years that have passed since he had opposed it.

Immigration Reform - Killing it Softly With a SOTU

By Sandip Roy, Jan 28, 2010 12:49 AM

 I think President Obama just killed comprehensive immigration reform.

If he did, he killed it gently, with a pat on the head. Actually to be fair, he did not kill it. He sent it to the back of the bus. Behind the gays and lesbians.

The gays got the promise of the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. And a reminder that he’s already given them Employee Non-Discrimination.

Immigration reform got a casual platitude.

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.

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.

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.

Goodbye to The Last Communist

By Sandip Roy, Jan 19, 2010 8:13 AM

 When the US Immigration and Naturalization services asks the pro forma question – Have you ever been or are you a member of the Communist Party – I always gulp.

I have not.

But I wonder, does it count that for almost all my growing up years the party in power in West Bengal was the Communist Party of India (Marxist). Surely some red must have seeped in growing up with symbols of sickles and stars graffitied on the neighborhood walls. The men who drank tea and smoked Wills Filter cigarettes on the tea shop across the street stood every morning reading Ganashakti – the Communist party mouthpiece – pasted on a billboard on the street.

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."

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

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.

My Big Phat Same-Sex Prison Wedding

By NAM Youth Communications Team, Jan 11, 2010 2:59 PM

Editor's note: This piece by Dawn Davis II also appeared on YO! Youth Outlook and New America Media.

I was wearing my orange jumpsuit with black tennis shoes on my wedding day. And I was not able to kiss my wife.

We got married in San Francisco County Jail on Aug. 19, 2008. I remember it like it was yesterday. The jail staff told me this was the first time a same-sex marriage happened there. I was so scared and nervous.

I signed the marriage license papers in front of the notary lady from the bail bonds place across the street. My wife-to-be, Shayonna, wasn’t allowed upstairs, so we signed it separately.

Economic Development At Home: A Moral Imperative

By Michael Kroll, Jan 8, 2010 3:50 PM

As I listened to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton pronounce her world view on why international development is the key to combating terrorism—key to our own domestic security — I was struck by the dramatic disconnect between our official rhetoric about the need for development abroad, which she called a “strategic, economic and moral imperative,” and the political platitudes that define that “moral imperative” at home (“Leave no child behind.”)

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.

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.

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.

Weekly Diaspora: Working Together for Reform

By Nezua, Jan 4, 2010 2:02 PM

As we usher the last decade into the realm of memory, it’s time to stop viewing immigration reform as an Us vs. Them issue. The metaphors and language we use are key to framing a debate because they can communicate broader truths via association. For example, a scientist might mention the porous nature of all membranes and boundaries found in nature to describe the ineffectiveness of the militarized U.S.-Mexico border.

Reporting for New America Media, Marcelo Ballvé defines two emerging policy terms—“complementarity” and “circularity”—that are being used to describe the seasonal ebb and flow of migrant labor and argue for progressive reform. The terms effectively render concepts impenetrable borders and zero sum supply of resources, which are key fighting points for those who oppose progressive immigration reform, rigid and backward in contrast.

"Is There a Doctor in the House -- or Senate -- Before 2013?"

By Paul Kleyman, Dec 23, 2009 2:25 PM

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., seems to have his 60 blue ducks in order for a health care reform vote by Christmas Eve. And journalists on the political "dog watch" will start eyeing the conference committee process for reconciling the House and Senate versions to see where Democrats will have to sidestep congressional IEDs (improvised electoral detonators) for the 2010 and 2012 elections.