Colorlines Magazine articles from July 2007

Colorlines Magazine archives from July 2007

A time for organizing.
July 1, 2007... AS I WRITE THIS, George Bush has just announced his veto of the Iraq withdrawal bill passed by Congress. With more than 65 percent of Americans opposed to sending more troops, and more than 73 percent of people around the world against the U.S....

Blog on.(LETTERS)(Letter to the editor)
July 1, 2007... I discovered your website today, and I am elated! Thank you for your existence. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Regarding this paragraph in "The Segregated Blogosphere" article: "I didn't personally comment on a lot of the other boards because...

Mental health and suicide.(LETTERS)(Letter to the editor)
July 1, 2007... First of all, I would like to thank the editorial staff of ColorLines for doing work that focuses on issues affecting the poor and disenfranchised. I am writing this note regarding the article "Suicide Rate Up Among Latina Teens"...

A disservice to Jocelyn Elders.(LETTERS)(Letter to the editor)
July 1, 2007... I read the cover article of the current issue of Color-Lines ("What Your Doctor Won't See..."). Overall, a really useful article. But, I was brought to tears when I saw David Satcher identified as the first Black Surgeon General of the U.S....

In focus: family in exile.(Brief article)
July 1, 2007... WHEN March 28, 2007, 10 a.m. WHERE Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic Santa Bernabel reunites with her son Juan who was deported after living in the United States for 22 years as a green card holder. He was convicted for drugs...

The second-most-covered story: Imus, the man, has been eclipsed by Imus, the era of haphazard race debates.(NEWS)
July 1, 2007... ON WEDNESDAY, APRIL 4, radio host Don Imus sat down to talk to the public, like he had almost every day for the past 25 years. But by the end of "Imus in the Morning," the 66-year-old's career and reputation were already crumbling. ...

A union push wins results in Chicago: could the progressive wins be a model for other local elections?(NEWS)
July 1, 2007... IN APRIL, during Chicago's municipal elections, several union members stopped by Lillie McCrea's house and asked if she would vote for city council candidate JoAnn Thompson. The campaigners, all Black and Latina women from UNITE HERE and...

When E.R. is shut down.(NEWS)(New York plans to close nearly 60 hospitals)(Brief article)
July 1, 2007... COMMUNITIES OF COLOR stand to be hit hard by a new mandate to close nearly 60 of New York's 200 hospitals. According to a report published by The Opportunity Agenda, an advocacy group, two-thirds of the 12 New York City hospitals closed between...

Trying for Safe Streets: as New Orleans reemerges, one organization takes on the criminal justice system.(GULF COAST UPDATE)
July 1, 2007... ON MAY 9, 2006, Robert Goodman's brother Ronald was killed in an encounter with the New Orleans police. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] For Goodman, who was born and raised in the schools and prisons of Louisiana, the primary crisis of...

Are immigrants and refugees people of color? We might not like the label, but we can't afford to lose the racial analysis.(TO THE POINT)
July 1, 2007... TODAY, I COULD BE CONSIDERED a professional person of color because I've worked on race issues for more than 20 years. So colleagues are sometimes surprised that until I was 17, I was an Indian immigrant and a "minority." [ILLUSTRATION...

See no evil, hear no evil.(READING BETWEEN THE HEADLINES)(Brief article)
July 1, 2007... Prison guards have been accused of physically and sexually abusing juvenile offenders at a number of Texas Youth facilities. Accounts of conditions at the Evins Regional Juvenile Center in South Texas were so bad that the federal government...

Maybe they forgot that 15 percent of New Jersey is Latino.(READING BETWEEN THE HEADLINES)(Brief article)
July 1, 2007... The Jersey Guys, the same radio duo that mocked Asians with "ching-chong" on-air chants, have resorted to more anti-immigrant antics to boost ratings, this time under the guise of public safety. Enter "Operation La Cucha Gotcha," a call for...

When enough is enough.(READING BETWEEN THE HEADLINES)(Brief article)
July 1, 2007... Within days of Don Imus's now-infamous rant, four Black female NYPD officers were called "nappy-headed hos" in two separate incidents. In the first, Sgt. Michael Cantatore, who is white, told Detective Aretha Williams, "Don't give me no lip...

Fight the power? Not in the Bronx.(READING BETWEEN THE HEADLINES)(Brief article)
July 1, 2007... Karim Lopez, an after-school coordinator in the Bronx, was asked to take his internship program to another location when he brought in the ACLU to observe security scanning systems at the school. Administrators say that Lopez didn't get school...

Now if they could only get paid minimum wage too ...(READING BETWEEN THE HEADLINES)(Brief article)
July 1, 2007... A Suffolk County, New York bill that would have barred day laborers from congregating near public roads was defeated, protecting the constitutional rights of those seeking work. Similar bills targeting the largely immigrant and Latino laborers...

Now what about those reparations?(READING BETWEEN THE HEADLINES)(Brief article)
July 1, 2007... The Tuskegee Airmen were finally honored with a Congressional Gold Medal this year--more than 50 years after their military service during World War II. The awards were made possible by legislation introduced by Sen. Carl Levin and Rep. Charles...

Unpatriotic pizza?(READING BETWEEN THE HEADLINES)(Brief article)
July 1, 2007... Texas-based pizza chain Pizza Patron has extended its "Pizzas por Pesos" campaign, despite being deluged with hate mail and even death threats. The program allows customers to pay for food with Mexican pesos and has drawn ire from...

Surprise, you're out.(READING BETWEEN THE HEADLINES)(Eddie Zheng )(Brief article)
July 1, 2007... Prisoner Eddie Zheng got a big shock when he was suddenly released this year after 21 years of incarceration. The move was applauded by his legal team and community activists, who have long rallied for his freedom based on his in-prison...

Marilyn Vann: the Black Cherokee advocate speaks on racism, tribal membership and the future of the Freedmen.(Q & A)(Interview)
July 1, 2007... This year, Cherokees voted to expel Black Indians, known as Cherokee Freedmen, from the tribe. Last year, the highest tribal court voted that this would be illegal. How did the conflict begin? The Freedmen had been recognized as citizens ever...

My road out of Iraq: a Latino soldier gives his take on the racism of the occupation.(The Road from Ar Ramadi: The Private Rebellion of Staff Sergeant Camilo Mejia)(Excerpt)
July 1, 2007... CAMILO MEJIA WAS BORN IN 1975, the son of prominent Sandinista revolutionaries. He grew up in Nicaragua and Costa Rica before moving to the United States with his family in 1994. In 1995 he was working full-time at minimum wage to pay for his...

Singing for our lives: is there a soundtrack for protest in the age of terror, shock and awe?(FEATURE)
July 1, 2007... WHEN FUTURE GENERATIONS survey the culture of post-9/11 America, they will likely linger on the phrase "shock and awe." There is something frighteningly imaginative about it. The term first appeared in a report published a little over 10 years...

Power from below: the immigrant rights movement needs to define the debate beyond Beltway politics and the border.(FEATURE)
July 1, 2007... MORE THAN A DECADE BEFORE last year's marchas of millions, I felt the dreamy exhilaration of organizing and leading marches of tens of thousands. And, like many of today's organizers and leaders of historic marchas, I know the dejection and...

L.A. story: who gains from framing gang attacks as "ethnic cleansing"?(FEATURE)(Los Angeles, California)
July 1, 2007... "WE NEED TO GO ON THE OFFENSIVE to put an end to this idea of ethnic cleansing in L.A.," declares Noreen McClendon, executive director of Concerned Citizens of South Central Los Angeles. "It is not happening." McClendon--an African...

Follow the leaders: U.S. progressives need to support a global effort to halt neoliberalism in its tracks.(FEATURE)
July 1, 2007... THIS YEAR, THE DEMOCRAT-CONTROLLED U.S. legislature has an important opportunity--the kind that maybe comes once in a Ways and Means Committee member's political lifetime--to radically shift course in U.S. trade policy. It has a full plate of...

Gentrifying downtown: a new urban politics is tailoring cities for affluent whites, but communities are pushing back--with a theory of their own.(FEATURE)
July 1, 2007... MANNY DIAZ HAS A VISION, and he's made no secret of it. As the mayor of Miami, Diaz wants to cement the city's position as an economic, political and cultural hub for the Americas and pursue the holy grail of mayors everywhere: world city...

A meditation on media consumption: with so many ways to get the news, many of us are creating our own media systems.(FEATURE)(Essay)
July 1, 2007... I DON'T READ BLOGS. It feels like something I should whisper to a priest in a confessional booth. I could make the sign of the cross and blurt out: "I don't watch television. I've only been on YouTube once. I don't own a cell phone that...

Where do you get your news? Four news junkies share their sources.
July 1, 2007... ROBIN D.G. KELLEY Author of Freedom Dreams You're on a desert island. You can only take one news source with you. What is it? BBC News. Not that it is the greatest, but it offers a more international perspective, and I was impressed...

Spotlight: Linda Goss; Official storyteller of Philadelphia.(CULTURE)(Brief article)(Biography)
July 1, 2007... Last year, Linda Goss spread out a large cloth with the word "peace" written in several languages before a class of mostly Asian-American students at a Philadelphia school. She told the group to find the language of their ancestors. The...

Mujeres making movies: three Latinas band to change media and the arts.(PROFILE)
July 1, 2007... TWO STRAY DOGS IN VIEQUES, PUERTO RICO were responsible for the naming of Chica Luna Productions. There alone working on a documentary about the U.S. military occupation of Vieques, cofounder Elisha Miranda befriended and adopted the canine...

The Wire's new take on an old TV genre: it's not just cops and criminals in this drama of race in the city.(CULTURE)(Television program review)
July 1, 2007... THE WIRE, newly acquired by BET, is a realistic, complex drama set in present-day Baltimore. It's a story about cops, criminals and politicians, and combinations of the three. It's a story about bystanders. A story about the underclass. A story...

Can We Talk About Race? And Other Conversations in an Era of School Resegregation.(Book review)
July 1, 2007... CAN WE TALK ABOUT RACE? AND OTHER CONVERSATIONS IN AN ERA OF SCHOOL RESEGREGATION By Beverly Daniel Tatum Beacon Press, 147 pages BEVERLY DANIEL TATUM'S NEW BOOK is an accessible and engaging take on a broad range of issues...

The Darker Nations: a People's History of the Third World.(Brief article)(Book review)
July 1, 2007... THE DARKER NATIONS: A PEOPLE'S HISTORY OF THE THIRD WORLD By Vijay Prashad New Press, 364 pages IN HIS ELEVENTH BOOK, historian Vijay Prashad situates the Third World as a largely political and economic project whose alliances...

They Take Our Jobs! And 20 Other Myths About Immigration.(Brief article)(Book review)
July 1, 2007... THEY TAKE OUR JOBS! AND 20 OTHER MYTHS ABOUT IMMIGRATION By Aviva Chomsky Beacon Press, 264 pages IF EVER THERE WAS A NEED FOR A PITHY PRIMER on immigration, it's now, and scholar-activist Aviva Chomsky has provided just that. She...

Homelands: Women's Journeys Across Race, Place, and Time.(Brief article)(Book review)
July 1, 2007... HOMELANDS: WOMEN'S JOURNEYS ACROSS RACE, PLACE, AND TIME Edited by Patricia Justine Tumang and Jenesha de Rivera Seal Press, 320 pages THE 28 ESSAYS in Homelands explore personal relationships to the notion of home. Some authors...

Erzulie's Skirt.(Book review)
July 1, 2007... ERZULIE'S SKIRT By Ana-Maurine Lara Red Bone Press, 276 pages www.redbonepress.com DOMINICANS AND HAITIANS SHARE A LONG HISTORY, one painfully marked by the brutal 1937 massacre when almost 30,000 Haitians were murdered on...

Los Amigos Invisibles: Superpop Venezuela (Gozadera Records).(Sound recording review)(Brief article)
July 1, 2007... LOS AMIGOS INVISIBLES continue their streak of smart, catchy, hook-laden dance albums, cleverly fusing traditional Latin music styles with modern instrumentation and production techniques. Contextualized as a crazed 1970s AM radio program and...

Susan Tedeschi: Hope and Desire (Verve Forecast).(Sound recording review)(Brief article)
July 1, 2007... Susan Tedeschi's fifth release (and first for the Verve label) finds her in fine form, covering a variety of rock and soul standards. Well-known for her deft guitar work, Tedeschi concentrates primarily on vocals for this set, leaving the bulk...

Gabriel Teodros: Lovework (Massline Media).(Sound recording review)(Brief article)
July 1, 2007... Born in Ethiopia and raised in Seattle, Washington, emcee Gabriel Teodros brings a litany of international influences and concerns to his music--so many it seems that an attempt to address all he's chosen to speak on would make for a weighty,...

Omara Portuondo: Sentimento (Escondido Music).(Sound recording review)(Brief article)
July 1, 2007... Coming to international attention and acclaim for the first time in the 1999 documentary Buena Vista Social Club, Cuban vocalist Omara Portuondo has since kept up a busy schedule of touring and public appearances around the world. She began her...

Various Artists; Eccentric Soul: Mighty Mike Lenaburg (The Numero Group).(Sound recording review)(Brief article)
July 1, 2007... Eccentric Soul is the fifth disc in a continuing series of compilations featuring 1960s soul and rhythm and blues labels that were mostly unknown to wide audiences. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Functioning much like a time capsule, Eccentric...

Escape on the Mekong: I wanted to make the same journey in reverse, without fear.(TRANSFORMATIONS)
July 1, 2007... WHEN I WAS 22 DAYS OLD, my mom cradled me gently as we drifted along the Mekong River. It was the evening of Cambodian New Year. The Khmer Rouge soldiers were drunk, making it the perfect night for our family to escape. My dad made a small raft...