Colorlines Magazine articles from November 2008

Colorlines Magazine archives from November 2008

What we can do online and on the bus.
November 1, 2008... I AVOIDED BARACK OBAMA'S Web site for months. I refused to get caught up in any love fest over any candidate. For me this election season would be the usual experience: catty political commentary from reporters on the campaign trail. Besides, I...

How the military treats women of color.(LETTERS)(Letter to the editor)
November 1, 2008... I recently read Michelle Chen's article, "Home from the Military," and was impressed by the stories in the article. A few days later. I came across another heartbreaking story of a woman of color discarded by the U.S. military: LaVena Johnson,...

Teens facing homophobia.(LETTERS)(Letter to the editor)
November 1, 2008... As always, I enjoy your informative and provocative articles and, as such, will describe one of several points missing in the cover story "We're Here, We're Sexual, Get Used To It" [May-June 2008]. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] As a native...

Moms in immigration limbo; Where: Postville, Iowa.(IN FOCUS)(Brief article)
November 1, 2008... MARIA ROSALA MEJIA MARROQUIN, a Guatemalan immigrant, was arrested during an immigration raid in May at the Agriprocessors meatpacking plant. The raid was the largest workplace raid at a single worksite in recent history. Although Maria...

Solidarity at the liquor store? A new project in Chicago aims to change race relations.(NEWS)
November 1, 2008... NOT MANY PEOPLE consider the liquor store a place for racial solidarity, but that's the hope of Rami Nashashibi. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Nashashibi, who was born in Jordan and has lived in Chicago since the early 1990s, is the executive...

Finding families for black children; A new study calls for amending adoption laws to talk about race.(NEWS)
November 1, 2008... IT'S TAKEN 15 YEARS, but at last adoption agency officials are realizing that race matters. A new study shows that the current "colorblind" adoption laws are failing to get Black children out of foster care at a faster rate. They're also...

New publisher for the incarcerated.(NEWS)
November 1, 2008... FEW PEOPLE THINK of the men and women in prison as a pool of emerging writers, but Resilience Multimedia, a new publishing house in New York City, is hoping to change that image. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] "I found so much talent and...

Sweet, short victory: organizers defeat eight anti-immigrant laws but ready themselves for the next round.(GULF COAST UPDATE)
November 1, 2008... IT WAS A SWELTERING MORNING in the Louisiana a capital this past June when the state legislature convened to hear testimony for HB 887, a bill that would have denied undocumented immigrants the right to sue for medical malpractice. Sen. Julie...

The state of immigrant U.S.A.(CHECK THE COLOR LINE)
November 1, 2008... IN THE ABSENCE OF immigration reform at the federal level, states are implementing their own laws--for better and worse. New Haven, Connecticut has granted residents municipal ID cards, making it easier for undocumented immigrants who don't...

Who says Tasers aren't deadly weapons?(RANTS & RAVES)(Brief article)
November 1, 2008... BARON "SCOOTER" PIKES, a 21-year-old Black man, was tasered to death by Scott Nugent, a trigger-happy, white police officer in Winnfield, Louisiana, in July. Pikes died from nine electric Taser shots struck in a 14-minute period, two of which...

Victoria's dirty little secret.(RANTS & RAVES)
November 1, 2008... STATE LABOR INSPECTORS discovered a sweatshop manufacturing women's apparel for Banana Republic, Macy's and Victoria's Secret in Queens, New York, in July. Workers--about 100 Chinese immigrants--were paid $3.79 an hour and forced to work...

Native boy caught in the crosshairs.(RANTS & RAVES)(Brief article)
November 1, 2008... FIVE-YEAR-OLD ADRIEL AROCHA of Fort Bend County, Texas, has never cut his hair out of respect for his Lipan Apache roots. But this year, the boy was barred from kindergarten because his waist-length hair violated the school district's hair...

Police botch raid and win medals.(RANTS & RAVES)
November 1, 2008... POLICE MISTAKENLY stormed into Vang Khang's home looking for a gang member last year. Khang, who speaks no English, thought his family was being robbed and shot at police officers, who returned fire, spraying 22 bullets throughout his house....

Say goodbye to youth prisons.(RANTS & RAVES)
November 1, 2008... JULY 31, 2008, was the last day of operation for DeWitt Nelson Youth Correctional Facility in Stockton and EI Paso de Robles Youth Correctional Facility in Paso Robles, California. Corrections officer associations mourned the closures, but the...

Former slaves become citizens.(RANTS & RAVES)
November 1, 2008... MALIWAN CLINTON and Sukanya Chuai Ngan, two former Thai workers held captive as slaves in California, won U.S. citizenship 13 years after they were discovered in a sweatshop with 70 other immigrant workers. The women, along with 20 Mexican...

Better late than never? You make the call.(RANTS & RAVES)(slavery)(Brief article)
November 1, 2008... THE HOUSE ISSUED an unprecedented apology this summer to Blacks in the U.S. who had endured slavery and Jim Crow laws. Apologizing for the institution of slavery has enjoyed being in vogue in state legislatures in recent years, with New Jersey,...

Nannies and cleaners have rights, too.(RANTS & RAVES)(Brief article)
November 1, 2008... IN MONTGOMERY County, Maryland, domestic workers are demanding justice and getting it in writing. CASA de Maryland, a statewide immigrant advocacy organization, announced in July that the county adopted a Household Workers' Bill of Rights to...

Nawal nour: the MacArthur Genius is training healthcare providers to work with African women who've undergone female genital circumcision.(Q & A)(Interview)
November 1, 2008... Why did you decide to open the African Women's Health Center in Boston? When I was doing my ob/gyn residency at Brigham and Women's Hospital, I gradually developed a practice for African women who have circumcision... I grew up in Sudan where...

About that ad you clicked on ... for-profit colleges target people of color with misleading advertising about certificate programs that don't deliver.(TO THE POINT)
November 1, 2008... DAYTIME TELEVISION--including shows like Judge Joe Brown, Jerry Springer, and Divorce Court--features a slew of predatory advertising, including financing for people without dental insurance, rent-to-own furniture and attorneys offering...

Upload real change: what activists can learn from Obama's web politics.(COVER)
November 1, 2008... WHILE CRISSCROSSING CRACKED STREETS to knock on the rickety doors of rundown row houses in Philadelphia's 14th Ward, Liza Sabater also found herself crossing the overlapping lines of political and technological history late last spring as she...

The ghost of Ronald Reagan; How we remember the real legacy of the conservative icon.(FEATURE)
November 1, 2008... AS PRESIDENT RONALD REAGAN visibly aged in office, skin wrinkling and memory fading, his abundant hair remained deep black and glossy--a perennial topic of wonder to gossip columnists and shallow journalists. But late-night TV host Johnny...

Two words that can get you life in prison; Prosecutors are labeling more people as gang members. Congress considers if it should take similar measures.(FEATURE)
November 1, 2008... BEFORE REBECCA RIVERA ENTERED the California courtroom to hear if her son, Joshua Herrera, was going to face a life sentence in prison, she gathered with 40 or so supporters, who were bustling with nervous tension. "I talked to Joshua last...

Sacred Places at risk; Native people struggle to save their lands but find that everyone else--from Congress and the Transportation Department to the NAFTA Tribunal--has the final word.(FEATURE)
November 1, 2008... HUNDREDS OF PLACES that are sacred to Native people are being threatened by development, pollution, looting and vandalism. Some may not last until the end of this century, despite the valiant efforts by a small number of tribes and allies...

Where's the color in the antiwar movement? Organizers connect the war abroad to the one at home.(FEATURE)
November 1, 2008... THE OCCUPATION IN IRAQ is going on its sixth year and so are the antiwar demonstrations. While people of color can be seen at the demonstrations, it remains largely a white movement. But in a war where people of color and working-class...

Silenced in the classroom: it was to have been the country's first public school teaching Arabic and English Today, the Khalil Gibran International Academy is mired in fear and tension.(FEATURE)
November 1, 2008... SIXTH-GRADE STUDENTS at the newly opened Khalil Gibran International Academy in Brooklyn were probably surprised last year when they opened their Arabic books to find photographs cut from the pages. "We cut pictures of mosques out of the Arabic...

Political posters for the masses.(SPOTLIGHT: FAVIANNA RODRIGUEZ)(Reproduce and Revolt)(Brief article)
November 1, 2008... FAVIANNA RODRIGUEZ, 30, is constantly thinking of new ways to get political messages across through art. Her newest project, the bilingual book Reproduce & Revolt/Reproduce y Rebelate, does just that. It's chock full of black-and-white images...

The big easy's emissaries; With thousands of musicians displaced, the Soul Rebels do their part to rebuild in the post-Katrina era.(PROFILE)
November 1, 2008... IN THE DAYS AFTER HURRICANE KATRINA, the band members from the Soul Rebels Brass Band--dispersed from Texas to South Carolina and beyond--made a pledge over their cell phones. They would go home again and blast funk-infused horns at club Le Bon...

Out of the frying pan into the fire; a law professor tracks policies that fail prisoners and their families.(BOOKS)
November 1, 2008... THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION is failing to address the needs of veterans from the Iraq war, but it's arguably doing even worse when it comes to reintegrating prisoners--casualties of the War on Drugs--into their communities. In his new book,...

Race records.(REVIEWS)
November 1, 2008... SHEVA Live In Australia (Globalev Music/OmLev Music) CULLED FROM FOUR PERFORMANCES IN SYDNEY and Melbourne on a 21-show tour during 2004, Sheva's fourth CD, Live In Australia, captures the Israeli world music ensemble al its...

Racist families: we all got 'EM.(OFF COLOR)
November 1, 2008... ON THE HEEL5 of an historic presidential election, the topic of race will undoubtedly present itself around American dinner tables this holiday season and add to the usual familial anxiety created by the annual trip home. For some of us, it...