2009/04/02

EVENTO 090406/The Invisible Population/Main West Quad-Duke University

The Invisible Population
Main West Quad, Duke University
Monday, April 6, 2009
2pm-7pm

An art installation presented by Duke Students for Humane Borders in conjunction with Farmworker Awareness Week.

The Invisible Population display seeks to promote dialogue among the Duke Community on issues of undocumented labor in the United States. For hundreds of years the United States has depended on the work of migrant Latinos but it was not until the 1940’s through the Bracero Program that this relationship was fully recognized. Today, legal guestworkers as well as undocumented migrants serve as the chief source of unskilled labor in the United States. Our economy depends on cheap labor to keep prices low in manufacturing, hospitality, agricultural, construction, and meatpacking industries. Millions of Americans owe their daily comforts to the labor of the undocumented worker, often unknowingly.

It is time for United States citizens to recognize the significance of this seemingly invisible population.

For more information about National Farmworker Awareness Week, visit www.farmworkerawareness.org


--

Tony Macias
Assistant Director
Student Action with Farmworkers
Phone (919) 660-3652
Fax (919) 681-7600
Web www.saf-unite.org

2009/03/03

EVENTS: 090304/PREMEDITATED: MEDITATIONS ON CAPITAL PUNISHMENT by MALAQUIAS MONTOYA

EVENTS: 090304/PREMEDITATED: MEDITATIONS ON CAPITAL PUNISHMENT by MALAQUIAS MONTOYA

The Program in Latino/a Studies in the Global South at Duke University invites you to an opening reception for the exhibit,

PREMEDITATED: MEDITATIONS ON CAPITAL PUNISHMENT by MALAQUIAS MONTOYA,

on March 4th at 5:00pm in the Fredric Jameson Gallery, Friedl Building, Room 115, Duke East Campus

(Please see full list of co-sponsors below.)

The opening reception will begin at 5:00pm, with a gallery talk by the artist, Malaquias Montoya, at 6:00pm.
This event is free and open to the public. Parking will be available on the East Campus Quad.
See map at http://latino.aas.duke.edu/about/contact.php.
The exhibit will be on display from March 5 through April 17th and from mid-May through Mid-September.
Hours from March 5 through April 17th are 10am – 5pm. Summer and fall hours to be determined – please check our website after April: http://latino.aas.duke.edu//.

Montoya is a leading figure in the West Coast political Chicano graphic arts movement, a political and socially conscious movement that expresses itself primarily through the mass production of silk-screened posters. Montoya's works include acrylic paintings, murals, washes, and drawings, but he is primarily known for his silkscreen prints, which have been exhibited nationally as well as internationally. This exhibition features silkscreen images and paintings, and related text panels dealing with the death penalty and penal institutions-- inspired by the escalation of deaths at the hands of the State of Texas in recent years. As Montoya states, “We have perfected the art of institutional killing to the degree that it has deadened our national, quintessentially human, response to death. I want to produce a body of work depicting the horror of this act.”

Since 1989 Montoya has been a professor at the University of California, Davis. His classes, through the Departments of Chicana/o Studies and Art, include silkscreening, poster making and mural painting, and focus on Chicano culture and history. He is credited by historians as being one of the founders of the “social serigraphy” movement in the San Francisco Bay Area in the mid-1960s. His visual expressions, art of protest, depict the struggle and strength of humanity and the necessity to unite behind that struggle. Like many Chicano artists of his generation, Montoya’s art is rooted in the tradition of the Taller de Grafica Popular, the Mexican printmakers of the 1920s, 30s and 40s, whose work expressed the need for social and political reform for the Mexican underprivileged. Montoya’s work uses powerful images that are combined with text to create his socially critical messages.

This exhibit is presented by the Program in Latino/a Studies in the Global South at Duke University and is co-sponsored by: the UNC Chapel Hill Program in Latina/o Studies and the following Duke University units: Duke Human Rights Center; the Spanish Service Learning Program; the Program in Literature; the Departments of Cultural Anthropology, African & African American Studies, and History; the Archive for Human Rights and Duke University Libraries; the Franklin Humanities Institute; the Institute for Critical US Studies; and the Kenan Institute for Ethics.

---------------
The following is an excerpt from Malaquias Montoya’s artist statement:

“I have always been against the death penalty. It is an irrational idea that you kill a person because they have killed another. It seems like the State, composed of intelligent people, would find another way of seeking justice; revenge seems too infantile a way of settling a dilemma. So how does the victim obtain justice? In a recent murder of a young woman and her unborn child, the victim’s mother said she hopes that whoever killed her daughter, would hear her daughter’s pleas not to be killed for as long as he lives. Life imprisonment without parole would allow this torment to continue. For proponents of the death penalty, however, this punishment is too easy; there is no immediate satisfaction; it is too anticlimactic after a long and agonizing trial where we are daily kept in suspense by headlines and TV news briefs. Death penalty proponents argue that life imprisonment would not be enough to deter those preparing to murder; that those convicted must be killed in order to prevent others from committing such heinous crimes. Numerous studies, though, conducted by various researchers, report that the death penalty has no deterrent effect.

What concerns me is, why do we kill, what happens to our humanity and to us, as a culture? Why is state-sanctioned killing any different than a killing that takes place in the streets? One is planned and the other is not? Amadou Diallo, shot forty-one times by the NYPD, had no weapon, was innocent, and yet, the police officers were set free. I personally remember the young man, Jos?xE9; Barlow Benavides, shot to death by Peace Officer Cogley in Oakland, California. The investigation was futile—no one was charged for the crime. One must ask one’s self––who lives and who dies?”

2009/02/24

EVENTS: 090227/“ON THE CORNER: DAY LABOR IN THE UNITED STATES”

EVENTS: 090227/“ON THE CORNER: DAY LABOR IN THE UNITED STATES”

UNC Department of Geography Colloquium Series and the

Center for Urban and Regional Studies present:
DR. NIK THEODORE
UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT CHICAGO

“ON THE CORNER: DAY LABOR IN THE UNITED STATES”

Friday, February 27th at 3:30
Saunders Hall 220
Refreshments served at 3:15

Each morning, in cities throughout the United States, large numbers of men gather on street corners, in parking lots of home improvement stores, and in public spaces to search for work. These job seekers, the majority of whom are undocumented immigrants, are day laborers employed by non-union construction contractors, landscaping companies, and private households looking for no-strings-attached workers to complete manual labor tasks for low pay. The day labor site is a spot market where workers jostle with each other for job opportunities, negotiating wages in a matter of seconds with employers who set the terms of employment and must be trusted to make good on them. Given that day laborers inhabit a zone within the labor market that lies largely beyond the reach of regulatory enforcement agencies, it is not surprising that this occupation has been associated with rampant wage and hour as well as health and safety violations. This presentation considers factors that have led to the re-emergence of day labor in the U.S., with particular emphasis on the interaction between immigration status and workers’ rights abuses. It concludes with an assessment of community-based interventions to mitigate the problems faced by day laborers.

2009/02/17

EVENTS: 090219/NC Playing at Border-Crossing in a Mexican Indigenous Community-by Tamara Underiner

“Playing at Border-Crossing in a Mexican Indigenous Community. Seriously.”

A Presentation by Tamara Underiner, Director, Ph.D. Program in Theatre of the Americas, Arizona State University

Thursday, February 19, 2009
3:00pm-4:30pm
4th Floor, FedEx Global Education Center
University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

Sponsored by: Curriculum in International and Area Studies, UNC Program in Latina/Latino Studies, Latino Migration Project at the Institute for the Study of the Americas, Department of Romance Languages and the Department of Dramatic Art

2009/02/14

CALL2ACTION: 090214/TAKE "HOMELAND SECURITY USA" OFF THE AIR

from MAPA Newsletter
newsletter@mapa-ca.org

Feb. 13, 2009
Greetings!

HOMELAND SECURITY USA BY ABC ADDS INSULT TO INJURY
Why would anyone think that just because we have entered the 21st Century anything about racism in the corporate media would be any different than what we have known about U.S. media outlets throughout our history? The only significant difference is the ever growing concentration of the media in fewer and fewer hands, in other words, complete monopoly. I share with you this information I received from friends of the Chicano/Latino Artists for Social Equality. It raises the issues of the recently aired program - Homeland Security USA - by the American Broadcasting Corporation, but more importantly it exposes the steady decline of Latino participation in programs aired on the public airwaves. Not only are we disappearing from the small screen, but ABC actually has the temerity to air a program that focuses on immigration and the infamous and nefarious role of the Department of Homeland Security as this relates to immigration and the apprehension of "fugitive" immigrants.
I invite you to join the growing list of organizations that will protest ABC at their home in the city of Burbank (ABC/DISNEY Headquarters - 2400 W. Riverside Drive, Burbank, CA 91521 - Just off 134 Freeway Exit) this Sunday, February 15, 2009 at 3:00 - 5:00. We demand that this program be eliminated from ABC's season programming to never again appear before the American public.

The Mexican American Political Association (MAPA) stands proudly with our brother and sister cultural workers who struggle so hard to break through the racial barriers in the media and the imposition of stereotypical roles assigned to them by white producers and directors. Enough is enough.

TAKE THE RACIST "HOMELAND SECURITY USA" OFF THE AIR

On January 6, 2009, ABC Television premiered a reality show called HOMELAND SECURITY USA - a racist program that demeans the Latino, Middle Eastern and other communities of color and vilifies the immigrant community by glorifying a government agency that terrorizes and denigrates it.

Since 2002, when the Bush Administration created the Department of Homeland Security, all living beings living in this country have been subjected to live in a climate of terror and fear. Many, however, have been the victims of hate crimes while others have been imprisoned wrongfully and without legal representation simply because they looked too 'ethnic'. These government-sanctioned crimes have worsened over the years and there is no end in sight.

The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency, created and charged with the specific task of handling immigration enforcement, has been the biggest perpetrator of human and civil rights violations against the immigrant community. With growing pressure put on Border Patrol agents to meet new quotas, the number of workplace and neighborhood raids will increase and the number of innocent, hard-working people held in any one of the over 250 detention centers across the country will have to sit around and wait for weeks or months to hear from or be reunited with their loved ones. The Southern California Immigrant Coalition - an organization comprised of activist groups, community leaders, student organizations and individuals who support human rights - condemns these inhumane crimes by the Department of Homeland Security and accuses The Walt Disney Studio and its ABC Television Group of contributing to this climate of fear and racism by broadcasting a show that masquerades itself as a show about 'American Heroes' when it in fact portrays the Latino, Muslim and other communities of color as criminals, drug traffickers and terrorists.

Looking back at the history of ABC Television, specifically during its first major broadcast produced by and starring Walt Disney himself over 55 years ago, ABC has had very few programs that have included actors, directors, writers or producers from the Latino or Muslim communities that did not have characters that were depicted in a stereotypical and demeaning manner or dealt with themes that did not create a sense of panic and fear. Instead, ABC and Disney have promoted themselves as companies committed to making 'family-oriented' programming but have exhibited an "anything goes" attitude towards the Latino community. Their indifference and lack of support and representation has helped shape the opinions of those who oppose legalization for all immigrants. We cannot and will not allow this to continue any further.

Disney/ABC Television has offended the immigrant and the Middle Eastern communities with this program. If it stays on the air the network will continue to perpetuate and condone racism. Those who sign this petition, along with the Southern California Immigration Coalition (SCIC), demand that ABC/Disney take HOMELAND SECURITY USA off the air immediately!

Check it out for yourself: http://abc.go.com/primetime/homelandsecurity/

CHICANO/LATINO ARTISTS FOR SOCIAL EQUALITY - message to the public. I just received an email from the National Association of Latino Independent Producers where they are reporting that for the 2009 midseason replacement schedule, "Latinos were notable for their absence". Below is the entire article, which talks about which Latino shows are going to premiere or start airing starting in a few weeks through June, as well as the names of actors with prominent roles in them. Notice the characters Latinos will be playing. Oh, and in case you're wondering, no, there aren't any Latino- themed shows, not that many of you are surprised by that outcome.

This is why we need to turn out in great droves this Sunday at ABC, not just to send ABC, its parent company (Disney), their subsidiaries (Film - DreamWorks (as of Monday), Hollywood Pictures, Miramax Films, Touchstone Films: Television - A&E, ESPN, Lifetime, Disney Channel) and their corporate sponsors (Coca Cola, McDonalds, Pizza Hut, Burger King (family-friendly businesses)), but to send a clear message of unity to the other networks (CBS, NBC, and FOX); their parent companies (Viacom, General Electric, and News Corp., respectively), and their subsidiaries (for Viacom; Film - Paramount Pictures, Republic Pictures, MTV Films, Nickelodeon Films, Go Fish Pictures: Television - Comedy Central, Logo, BET, Spike, TV Land, Nick at Nite, Nickelodeon, Noggin, The N, Nick Jr., MTV, VH1, MTV2, CMT -- for General Electric; Film - Universal Pictures, Focus Features: Television - NBC, Telemundo, Bravo, Oxygen, SciFi, Sleuth, USA, MSNBC, CNBC -- for News Corp.; Film - 20th Century Fox, Fox Searchlight, Fox 2000 Pictures: Television - Fox, Regency Television, Fox News, Fox Classics, Fox Movie Channels, Fox Sports, etc.) that HOMELAND SECURITY USA is just the beginning of our righteous cause and that if they persist in exploiting and corrupting our rich history, culture and traditions to get a cheap laugh, to divide us or to denigrate us, then they too can expect to find us walking their pavement up and down until they understand that we will no longer tolerate their indifference and bigotry. Here is the essay, with side note commentary from me (notes are in parenthesis). See you all on Sunday! Mid Season Primetime TV A Barren Wasteland For Latinos

By Julio Martinez, Latin Heat Online At the recently completed January meeting of the national Television Critics Association (TCA) at the Universal Hilton, the mid-season 2009 replacement schedules of new shows on network, cable and Public Broadcasting (PBS) were revealed. Unlike past years, Latinos were notable by their absence. However, PBS is to be lauded for the return of The Electric Company, which offered much praised continuing education and entertainment for post Sesame Street-age children when it launched in 1971, featuring Rita Moreno, Bill Cosby and Morgan Freeman, among its regulars. The 2009 version features an all new cast, including newcomers Josh Segarra, Priscilla Star Diaz and Dominic Colon (The show teaches children to read, count, etc.). PBS has been a pioneer in offering behind the camera opportunities for Latinos that helped launch the careers of Hector Galan, Moctesuma Esparza and Gregory Nava. On May 12, Independent Lens is airing the investigative documentary, Crips and Bloods: Made in America, filmed by Stacy Peralta (documentary about African American gang violence), whose previous directorial credits include Riding Giants (history and origins of surf culture), Dogtown and Z-Boys (documentary about 1970's skating team). The usually vast untamed frontier that is cable television is playing it a bit conservative this spring. There are fewer new programs being produced and even fewer opportunities for Latinos. One exception is the AMC series, Breaking Bad, starring Bryan Cranston, launching its second season, focusing on a cancer-stricken chemistry teacher who operates a meth lab to support his family. Finding regular work on the series is Raymond Cruz, who portrays the resident crime lord Tuco (A crime lord, enough said!). Also recurring are Cesar Garcia (as GONZO in 2 episodes), Jesus Payan (as NO-DOZE in 3 episodes) and Carmen Serano (as Carmen in 5 episodes). On the reality front, professional jockey Alex Solis is featured in the Animal Planet special, Jockeys, airing February 6. That's about it for cable folks, except for Rodrigo Garcia continuing as one of the many executive producers on HBO's In Treatment, starring Gabriel Byrne, which returns for a second season in April (TBA).

The most notable new addition to the broadcast network schedule is NBC's Southland (premiering April 9 10/9c), proclaiming to be "a raw and authentic look at the police unit in Los Angeles." Its producing pedigree is impressive, helmed be Emmy Award winners John Wells, Ann Biderman and Chris Chulack. "This series will definitely reflect life in Los Angeles in all its diversity," promises Wells. "Of course that means we'll be calling upon a significant number of Latino actors." (So again, we should feel indebted to John Wells for hiring Latino actors to portray gang members, domestic workers, street vendors, extras, etc.) On board as a series regular is Kevin Alejandro (Drive, Ugly Betty) as gang unit detective Nate Moretta.

ABCs mid-season claim to Latino fame is Castle (premiering March 9, 10/9c), starring Nathan Fillion and Stana Katic as a New York-based crime-fighting romantic duo. On board portraying embattled NYPD detectives are Ruben Santiago-Hudson and Jon Huertas. (Are there any Latino detectives on that are not embattled?).

The rest of the broadcast can be dispensed with rather quickly. Over at FOX, the return of 24 (TBA) will also see the return of series regular, Carlos Bernard. At the TCA meeting, CBS combined sessions with it cable partner Showtime. The only CBS Latino present was a biggie, Nina Tassler, President, CBS Entertainment. She talked a lot but said little of interest to Latinos hoping to make it on the "Big Eye" network. When it was Showtime's turn, they unveiled the upcoming Secret Diary of a Call Girl, produced by Rebecca de Souza. As far as the CW is concerned, Nada.

abc.go.com/primetime/homelandsecurity/

Join us in this prolonged campaign for driver's licenses and visas for our families. The first step in making change is to join an organization that pursues the change we desire. We welcome you to our ranks.
Other organizations leading this movement include: Hermandad Mexicana Latinoamericana, Mexican American Political Association (MAPA), MAPA Youth Leadership, Liberty and Justice for Immigrants Movement, National Alliance for Immigrant's Rights, and immigrant's rights coalitions throughout the U.S..

CONTACT:
Nativo V. Lopez, National President of MAPA (323) 269-1575

2009/02/12

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