Is the person next to you being racially profiled?

by: Restore Fairness

Tue Apr 13, 2010 at 17:54:47 PM EDT

From the Restore Fairness blog.

Roxana Orellana Santos was sitting by a pond and enjoying her lunch when two officers walked over to her and asked her for identification. They immediately took her into custody, detained her, and very soon she was handed over to government agents for possible deportation. For the month and a half that Roxana then spent federal custody, she was separated from her son, who was a 1 years old. She was released after 46 days.

Immigrant advocates later filed a civil rights lawsuit on her behalf, challenging her arrest, stating that neither of the police officers who questioned Roxana Santos had any authority to arrest her based on her immigration status. As Jose Perez from LatinoJustice (a New York-based nonprofit civil rights organization) said in the Washington Post-

Since there was never any suggestion of criminal activity by Ms. Orellana Santos, her questioning and detention were clearly based on one element: her ethnic appearance…This is the essence of racial profiling.

Why did the officers walk up to Roxana on that particular day? She had no criminal record and her information was not previously in the system. It seems to add up that she was asked for her identification purely based on her ethnic appearance. Unfortunately Roxana’s story is far from unique. Racial profiling is a very real and serious problem in the United States, and its integration with immigration enforcement in the past year has increased it by horrific leaps and bounds.

Racial profiling affects members of many communities across the country, including Latinos, African Americans, Arab Americans and Native Americans. Researchers at the Center on Race, Crime and Justice recently analyzed data provided by the New York Police Department (NYPD) examining the demographic trends of their stop-and-frisk policy and found that in 2009, African Americans and Hispanics were stopped at a rate that was 9 times higher than whites, even though they account for only 27% and 24% of the population of New York City. And once stopped, they were far more likely to be frisked and faced with physical force than whites who were stopped.

Even though profiling people on the basis of their race and ethnicity is a deeply alarming trend, a recent study found that subjecting the issue to public scrutiny is one of the most effective ways to reduce racial profiling. Heightened coverage in the media has proved to reduce racial profiling practices of police officers in routine traffic stops, making it important to highlight individual stories and put pressure on the authorities to respect civil rights.

Make a difference by writing a letter to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and Assistant Secretary John Morton in ending an egregious immigration enforcement program that has led to many racial profiling and civil rights abuses. Take action now.

Photo courtesy of allpsychologycareers.com

"(Pre)Viewing the Right-Wing Playbook on Immigration"

by: Restore Fairness

Thu Apr 08, 2010 at 17:08:41 PM EDT

From the Restore Fairness blog.

As we continue to fight for immigration reform, one  thing that we can  be sure about is a right-wing attack. A preview of  this came about in  the days building up to the successful immigration march in D.C. when fringe right-wing   groups like Numbers USA, The John Tanton Network and the Tea Party Movement started pulling out all the stops to counter the building   momentum for immigration reform. Predictably, their approach mirrored   the strategies they employed a few years ago, during the last big push   for reform that took place in 2007 under former President George Bush.

A report by liberal advocacy group People for the American Way called “(Pre)Viewing the Right-Wing Playbook on Immigration”  has pulled from years of expertise on the right to lay out a list of   the key strategies that are traditionally employed to defeat immigration   reform, followed by tools to retaliate against these irrational and unsound attacks.

One of the  most common strategies employed by the right is an appeal  to racial  fear. This is carried out in a number of ways, including the  positing  of the “Brown” threat to a “White America,” and the outrageous   portrayal of immigrants and their supporters as invaders and enemies of   the United States. Inciting prejudice against Latinos, Rep. Tom  Tancredo  commented in November 2006-

Look at what  has happened to Miami. It  has become a Third World country…. You would  never know you’re in the  United States of America. You would certainly  say you’re in a Third  World country.

Not to be  left behind, former Presidential candidate Pat Buchanan  continued in  the vein of this fear-mongering around the “immigrant  invasion”. He wrote in 2007-

What is  happening to us? An immigrant  invasion of the United States from the  Third World, as America’s white  majority is no longer even reproducing  itself. Since Roe v. Wade,  America has aborted 45 million of her  children. And Asia, Africa and  Latin America have sent 45 million of  their children to inherit the  estate that aborted American children  never saw.

It goes without saying that claims that  America has been built by and  for White people are historically  incorrect and intensely racist. More  importantly, this country  continues to be shaped by immigrants and draws  immense political and  economic strength from its diversity.

Continuing in the vein of  racial divisiveness is the idea that  immigration rights advocates are  themselves racist, a notion that has  emerged in the post Obama election  days. While television personality  Glenn Beck has referred to  President Obama as someone who was opposed to  white people, he has  generated the idea from numerous accusations of  racism thrown at  pro-immigration advocates during the 2007 push for  reform. At that  time, the radio host Michael Savage attacked the National Council of La Raza by calling it “the Ku Klux Klan of the Hispanic   people.” He went on to say that it was “the most stone racist group I’ve   ever seen in this country”.

Portraying undocumented immigrants  as responsible for terrorism and   crime waves, as well as positing them  as “unclean” carriers of disease   and bio-terrorism is one of the  tactics that the far right has employed   on both local and national  levels during past debates around   immigration. Such as when  Lou Dobbs claimed immigrants were   causing an   epidemic of  leprosy in the country which was simply untrue. Or when   during the debates over immigration reform, Rep. Steve King, of the   House Republicans’ “Immigration Reform Caucus” extrapolated fictional   statistics claiming that 12 American citizens “die a violent   death at the hands of murderous illegal aliens each day”. If that’s so,   then why is it that the President’s  Council of Economic Advisers reports that immigrants have lower crime rates than   U.S. citizens and that immigrant men ages 18 to 40 are less likely  than  other U.S. residents to be incarcerated.

While we hope that  most of you would be taken by the impulse to laugh  off these  strategies as racist, rabble-rousing garbage, we must take  note that  such nativist fear-mongering has the power to garner  significant  support from many, especially within the current climate of  an unstable  economy. Work such as People For the American Way’s “Right Wing Watch: In Focus” series gives us the   best tool to fighting these attacks – truly understanding the reasoning   behind them, and countering them on their own territory.

Let’s  fight racism on our route to humane immigration reform!

Learn. Share. Act. Go to restorefainess.org

Racial profiling in Georgia a microcosm of what's happening all over the U.S.

by: Restore Fairness

Thu Mar 25, 2010 at 16:35:07 PM EDT

From the Restore  Fairness blog.

As the dust settles around  the 200,000 March for America in D.C. this weekend, it is   important to remind ourselves why we need immigration reform. A new   report by the ACLU is one such reminder of racial profiling that is   alive and kicking in the United States. As one of the most   unconstitutional implications of our broken immigration system, racial profiling takes place when police stop,   interrogate, and detain people on the basis of their appearance, accent   or general perceived ethnicity, rather than on the basis of concrete   evidence of criminal activity.

Called “The Persistence of Racial Profiling in Gwinnett: Time   for Accountability, Transparency, and an End to 287(g),” the report   uses individual testimonies from the community to examine the   persistence of racial profiling in Gwinnett County, Georgia, before and   after the introduction of the 287(g) program that partners local law   enforcement with federal Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to   enforce immigration law. Dedicated to the brave undocumented students walking the Trail of Dreams who  marched into this “risky”  287(g) county, the report focuses on Sheriff  Conway known as the “Joe  Arpaio of the South”, who claimed that November 16th, 2009 or the day that   the 287(g) program officially took off in Gwinnett County “was a great   day for Gwinnett County citizens.”

Racial profiling has always  been prevalent in Gwinnett County. In a  case that took place before the  implementation of 287(g), a  woman named  Mary Babington witnessed two  police offers stop a white  Sedan and pull  out two Latino men at  gun-point, shouting at them the  entire time.  They were then cuffed and  made to lie on the ground,  shirtless. One of  the men was crying and  asked the officer for his  shirt, saying he felt  cold. The officer then  kicked him on his back and  yelled at him not to  move. Mary then heard  one ="padding-left: 30px">They  wouldn’t come out when I pulled my   gun, so I sprayed the whole can of  pepper spray. I emptied the whole   can on them…Dude, I emptied the can  in his face. I love my job.

According  to the witness, Mary, the officers did not tell the men why   they had  been stopped, and did not read the men their rights at any   point.  Finally the officers administered a breathalyzer test and gave   one of  them a ticket for driving under the influence.

The implementation  of the 287 (g) program has  only exacerbated  racial profiling. Many  people of color have been stopped, interrogated,  detained and even   abused based on minor traffic violations even though  287(g) is supposed  to be implemented to catch serious criminals. Some  were stopped  without any  probable cause and never given an explanation.

A  case in point is the testimony of Juan, a 48-year maintenance   technician who is a legal permanent resident, entitled to live and work   in the U.S. In the last year he has been stopped by local police on two   different occasions, both times without any legal basis. On the most   recent occasion, a Gwinnett police officer asked Juan to pull over as he   was driving home from work. Despite him asking the officer five times   why he was being stopped, he was given no answer. Instead the officer   continuously screamed at him for asking questions and asked him for his   driver’s license, which he handed over. Juan was eventually released   without a citation but never found out why he had been pulled over and   detained. He is now constantly worried about such an event recurring and   avoids driving in certain areas of Gwinnett County.

In a podcast interview, Azadeh   Shahshahani from the ACLU talks about the ways in which the 287(g)   program has been extremely harmful for the 70 jurisdictions in which it   operates. Local profiling has threatened public safety so that instead   of trusting the local police, people are increasingly afraid to  approach  them, creating a dangerous communication barrier between local  law  enforcement and the community. In addition to diverting resources,  the  287(g) program employs local police officers who are not trained  in  making immigration and status determinations, resulting in them   restoring to their perceived notions about people’s race, ethnicity and   accent.

While 50% of U.S. states have enacted legislation  against racial  profiling, legislation is still pending for Georgia. According   to Azadeh -

In Georgia the problem is compounded   because not only is there not any meaningful federal oversight, but   there is also no oversight at the local or county level that we have   seen…One of our main recommendations would be for law enforcement to   revert to a policy of having federal immigration laws enforced only by   federal immigration officials, and leave police to the job of protecting   our communities.

So what’s the best outcome? Lacking training and   oversight, stop 287(g) program all over the country. Document all the   stops that are being made in the name of the program to check for   patterns of racial profiling. And pass anti-racial profiling legislation   so everyone is protected.

Photo courtesy of acluga.org

Learn.  Share. Act. Go to restorefairness.org

How far will the GOP go for the Latino vote?

by: Restore Fairness

Mon Feb 22, 2010 at 16:55:03 PM EST

From the Restore Fairness blog.

In the 2008 Presidential Election, Republicans won only 31% of the Latino vote, down from 40% of Latino votes they had four years earlier when George Bush took office for the second time. And based on exit polls, it seems apparent that the Hispanic vote played a large part in President Obama’s Electoral College victory and win over John McCain. Add to this the fact that from 1998 to 2008 the number of Latinos eligible to vote rose by 21% (from 16.1 million to 19.5 million), and factor in estimates that say that by 2050 the Hispanic population is expected to increase by 200% and you get a reasonable explanation why Republicans are beginning to panic about how to ensure support from the Latino community. Now that Republicans have woken up to the fact that they desperately need to secure Hispanic support, the question is how they intend to go about doing this, and whether they have it in them to go beyond the surface and address issues that resonate deeply with the Latino community.

Earlier this month, America’s Voice brought out a report that spotlights the growing power of the Latino electorate and suggests that candidates in all political races should keep a close eye on the issues that influence the Latino vote if they intend to remain viable in the House and Senate elections for 2010. The report, The Power of the Latino Vote in America, gives a detailed account of Latino voting trends, identifies 40 Congressional races across 11 states where Latinos are likely to made a huge impact in the November elections, and makes a strong argument for how deeply the issue of immigration reform will affect the Hispanic vote.

While it rates the economy as the top-most issue for the Hispanic population, the report makes it clear that immigration reform has played a key role in how the Latino voters made their choices in 2008, and will continue to do so. The report says,

Polling of Latino voters shows that the Republican Party’s image has been severely damaged by GOP lawmakers’ demagoguery on the issue, and that the vast majority of Latinos simply will not vote for a candidate who advocates mass deportation instead of comprehensive immigration reform…Politicians of both parties also need to approach the issue responsibly during their election campaigns. Heated rhetoric coupled with unrealistic policy solutions like mass deportation will turn off both the crucial Latino voting bloc and other swing voters, who are tired of Washington policymakers talking tough, but delivering little.

But life isn’t hunky dory for Democrats either. Moving forward, the report tells us that while Hispanics have been tending towards the Democrats for years, taking the Latino vote for granted would be a huge fallacy on the part of Democrat candidates. The recent victory of GOP candidate Scott Brown over Democrat Martha Coakley in Massachusetts was attributed to the fact that Coakley failed to reach out to the Latino vote base, and works as a good warning to Democrats who must show leadership and work towards ensuring that their campaign promises be kept in order to keep the support of the powerful Hispanic voter base. Moreover, the Latino-swing constituency, comprising of foreign born, naturalized U.S. citizens of Latino descent who represent about 40% of the Latino population, tend to be favorable to some of the Republican ideals such as the emphasis on “family values.”

On the day of it’s release, Janet Murguia, President and CEO of the National Council of La Raza, wrote an article in the Huffington Post in which she prescribed that this report should be bedside reading for any politician in America today. And looking at the activities within a segment of the Republican party in the past few weeks, it looks like many have taken her advice quite seriously. Tea Party extremism aside, a number of Republican candidates in states such as California and Texas, seem to have adopted a more favorable attitude towards immigration reform in order to gain the support of the large Hispanic voter bases. In Texas, George P. Bush, an attorney of Mexican descent and son of Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush has founded a political action committee, The Hispanic Republicans of Texas, aimed to promote Hispanics running for office. A number of Republican party strategists are researching social and economic issues that affect the Latino community. And in order to bridge the gap between the Hispanic community and Republican ideals, the Christian group, The Latino Partnership for Conservative Principles, plans to spend $500,000 on helping pro-immigration Republican candidates and promote conservative values in the Latino community.

Running a focus group that is researching economic and social issues that face the Latino community, Former Republican National Committee Chairman, Ed Gillespie wants to reach out to Hispanic voters on issues that are important to them. Gillespie blames the loss of Latino support on past “Republican rhetoric,” and says that the key lies in changing the “tone and body language” when addressing the issue of immigration.

We have to make clear to Latino voters that we care as much about welcoming legal immigrants into our country as we do about keeping illegal ones out.

Actions speak louder than words. So while the new GOP language on immigration is evident when Sarah Palin said on Fox News that conservatives needed to be “welcoming and inviting to immigrants” and recognize that “immigrants built this great country,” a lot more than that is necessary before the tides turn. When Republicans stop blocking all immigration reform bills introduced in the Senate and the House, then we will talk.

Learn. Share. Act. Go to restorefairness.org

You Need to Watch Lou Dobbs: Or the Dobbsian Economy of Racism

by: samcclennen

Mon Oct 19, 2009 at 09:36:13 AM EDT

But we need to watch him, and in this instance I am using "watch" in the sense of keeping an eye on him, and here's why.  

First of all, there is growing pressure from Latino activist groups, especially BastaDobbs.com to convince CNN to drop his show.  Which would be a good thing.  But it already seems likely that he will simply move to Fox, probably to Fox Business.  So, while I recommend joining the efforts of groups like BastaDobbs.com, it is likely that Dobbs won't disappear from the media landscape anytime soon.  

Secondly, and much more importantly, Dobbs's media personality seems to offer a complicated set of contradictions as he blends so-called "populist" economics (anti-globalization, anti-outsourcing, pro-middle class, pro-union) with virulent racism.  He represents himself as an independent, referring to his radio show as "The Independent Nation", and he repeatedly claims that he is disappointed by both parties.    He makes much of the fact that his economic policy appeals to some on the "left," while his anti-immigration, pro-gun stance appeals to the right.  Referring to himself during an interview with Larry King as an "unaffiliated independent" Dobbs appeared to offer CNN a media personality "free" of typical party politics.

Don't be fooled.

Politico: 90% of Latino Leaders Believe CNN's Lou Dobbs Makes it Harder to be Hispanic

by: AmericasVoice

Fri Sep 25, 2009 at 17:43:24 PM EDT

Today Democracia Ahora released a new report on their newly-launched website TellCNNEnoughisEnough.com.

Just Imagine…

by: kesquivel@nclr.org

Thu Sep 03, 2009 at 12:31:42 PM EDT

Speak Out/Stop Hate Video Contest

by: kesquivel@nclr.org

Wed Aug 26, 2009 at 14:29:12 PM EDT

Holder Pushes Hate Crime Bill in Wake of Recent Wave of Hate

by: kesquivel@nclr.org

Mon Jul 06, 2009 at 15:12:50 PM EDT

What You Hath Wrought and With Vitriol Sought

by: nezua

Thu Jun 25, 2009 at 14:49:22 PM EDT

Something needs to change, when US citizens already suffering from a terrible loss are attacked by other citizens en masse, and for what? For having Spanish names! Wow. I feel like the past has reared up, the days of Civil Rights era struggle, the days of anti-Greaser hate, the days of Los Vatos Locos and the dangerous fabled Pachuco. We are still fighting. La Lucha Sigue.

Keep the Nomination Process Civil, Respectful and Constructive

by: kesquivel@nclr.org

Wed Jun 24, 2009 at 16:12:49 PM EDT

http://capwiz.com/stopthehate/...

NCLR will be presenting the petition to Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele, House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY). Please join us in asking these Republican leaders to denounce this smear campaign and keep the nomination process civil, respectful and constructive. If you haven't already done so, please sign NCLR's petition today. If you have, forward it on to your family and friends. Let's make sure that this petition has 5,000 supporters by the time it lands on Michael Steele's desk.

http://capwiz.com/stopthehate/...

Weekly Immigration Wire: Why Are Hate Crimes on the Rise?

by: The Media Consortium

Thu Jun 18, 2009 at 11:55:56 AM EDT

by Nezua, TMC MediaWire Blogger  

On May 30, 29-year-old Raul Flores and his 9-year-old daughter Brisenia Flores were shot to death, purportedly by a group of far-right anti-immigrant activists who broke into the Flores home by posing as police officers. On Friday, Shawna Forde, anti-immigrant activist and Executive Director of the Minutemen American Defense, (MAD) along with accomplices Jason Eugene Bush and Albert Robert Gaxiola were arrested on two counts of first-degree murder and burglary charges related to the Flores murders.

Weekly Immigration Wire: Modern Day Slave Trade Uncovered

by: The Media Consortium

Thu Jun 04, 2009 at 09:38:55 AM EDT

by Nezua, TMC MediaWire Blogger

The Wire will be brief this week, as I'm attending New America Media's Expo and Awards at the University of Georgia's Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication. I'll be speaking about New Media and accepting an award on the behalf of the Sanctuary group at ProMigrant.Org.  

The Luis Ramirez Murder: A Logical Step in the Process of Establishing a Subhuman Class

by: The Editors

Tue May 12, 2009 at 16:49:31 PM EDT

Three things immediately shock the conscious soul upon learning about the murder of Luis Ramirez. The simple manner in which he died is the first of those.

Ramirez, a father of three, was beaten to death in the streets of Pennsylvania by as many as seven young men who were at the end of a night of drinking. The motive? Judging by the slurs heaped upon him along with the many blows to his body: apparently nothing more than being out at night while Mexican. The teens who ganged up on Ramirez came upon him walking with a young woman, reportedly his girlfriend's sister. Obviously bringing threat, they asked him what he was doing out at that time of day. Then they set upon him. In the end it was a final hard kick to the skull which left the 25-year-old father convulsing on the concrete with fatal brain damage.

Weekly Immigration Wire: The Importance of Building Toward Change

by: The Media Consortium

Thu Apr 23, 2009 at 12:00:25 PM EDT

As the U.S. moves closer and closer to enacting immigration reform, the situation on the ground is evolving as well. Nothing is static for an issue that touches so many people across so many communities. This week's wire follows up on trends observed last week: holding mainstream media accountable, enforcement tactics, and immigration's positive effect on the economy.

Weekly Immigration Wire: Policy Must Inspire Allegiance, Not Anger

by: The Media Consortium

Thu Feb 12, 2009 at 13:46:36 PM EST

by Nezua Media Consortium Blogger

George W. Bush told the world that the US was targeted for 9/11 because "we're the brightest beacon for freedom and opportunity in the world." And as President Obama said in his inaugural address:

The success of our economy has always depended not just on the size of our gross domestic product, but on the reach of our prosperity; on the ability to extend opportunity to every willing heart - not out of charity, but because it is the surest route to our common good.

The Sleeping Giant is Awake and Bleeding

by: nezua

Wed Nov 12, 2008 at 14:30:25 PM EST

The Clotty Red Stopper should not be yanked from its bottle so casually, as both Sarah Palin and John McCain ought to know by now. Demons claw at the cork all night. They gain legs in the silences left by the Left and are called forth from many foaming mouths on the Right.

Marcello Lucero was killed late Saturday night near the commuter railroad station in Patchogue, N.Y., a middle-class village in central Long Island. He was beaten and stabbed. The friend who crouched beside him in a parking lot as he lay dying, soaked in blood, said Mr. Lucero, who was 37, had come to the United States 16 years ago from Ecuador.

The police arrested seven teenage boys, who they said had driven into the village from out of town looking for Latinos to beat up. The police said the mob cornered Mr. Lucero and another man, who escaped and later identified the suspects to the police. A prosecutor at the arraignment on Monday quoted the young men as having said: "Let's go find some Mexicans."

-A Death in Patchogue

Hate Speech, Vandalism, and Death Threats Have No Place in Immigration Debate or the Election

by: kesquivel@nclr.org

Wed Oct 29, 2008 at 11:48:19 AM EDT

NCLR launched http://www.WeCanStoptheHate.org to address the surge of hate and violence infecting the immigration debate, but this is not the only place where hate is showing up these days.  Extremists are now bringing hate into the voter debate and the portrayal of people of color.  Most recently, the Association of Community Organizers for Reform Now (ACORN) was bombarded with malicious emails, voicemails, and death threats, and transgressors vandalized their Boston and Seattle offices.

The Emails:

Email #1:

"_____ is going to have her life ended."

Email #2:

"You blue gums are not going to steal the election.  All of you porch monkeys need to go back to Africa."  

More Than Marches: Growing Latino Power is all About the Demographics

by: ILLJustice

Tue May 13, 2008 at 13:46:37 PM EDT

Originally posted on AlterNet, with a local focus story on Progress Illinois, Joshua Hoyt explores his secret love of demographers in the afterglow of this year's May Day Marches.

More Than Marches: Growing Latino Power is all About the Demographics

By Joshua Hoyt, AlterNet. Posted May 12, 2008.

"62 percent of the recent growth in the Latino population has been through births, not immigration."

Most of the people who know me think of me as a fiery activist for immigrant rights, but I would like to confess that I have a secret, quiet quirk.I love demographers. Doug Massey of Princeton; Audrey Singer of Brookings; Dowell Myers of the University of Southern California; and Chicago's own Rob Paral of Notre Dame: Wow! Superstars and heroes, one and all!

I know that these demographers are an understated, tweedy sort of crew, and I doubt that they will ever make the cover of Rolling Stone. But I have discovered that they have a wondrous ability to shine a light on the future and, just as usefully for advocates and activists, they also can paint a road map for political extermination campaigns.

NAFTA, Unions, Community, Immigration, Swing Votes

by: American Blues

Thu Apr 24, 2008 at 18:33:02 PM EDT

Southwestern moderates view McCain favorably on immigration, but not his party base.  By going on the offensive with immigration in IN and NC Dems can attack the Republican base in new swing states, build bridges between unions and Latinos, and frame the immigration debate for the fall.