bottom of the cracker barrel

In her post Niggers and Spics, brownfemipower wrestles with the real-life complexities of the workplace alliances and rivalries between Mexican-Americans and African-Americans in the microcosm of the Flint Cracker Barrel.

loose change and the fall of the wtc

Last April Fool's day I wrote a piece which discussed how folks (especially Muslims) relate to certain rumors and conspiracy theories (see april fool's and the fall of granada).

Oddly enough, a few days ago a friend pointed me in the direction of Loose Change a video which discusses the idea that the US government was behind 9/11. To be honest, I'm not sure how much credence to give these sorts of theories. On the one hand, 9/11 has certainly been exploited in order to justify certain policies in the Middle East. But are the people in charge so evil that they would have deliberately and consciously planned for 9/11 to happen in the first place? See the video and judge for yourself.

talisman

by Suheir Hammad


it is written
the act of writing is
holy words are
sacred and your breath
brings out the
god in them
i write these words
quickly repeat them
softly to myself
this talisman for you
fold this prayer
around your neck fortify
your back with these
whispers
may you walk ever
loved and in love
know the sun
for warmth the moon
for direction
may these words always
remind you your breath
is sacred words
bring out the god
in you

"querido fbi"

I blogged a little bit about him when he passed, but I recently went to a spoken word performance where they showed a Puerto Rican hip-hip video about the death of Filiberto Ojeda Rios so he has been on my mind again. The song was "Querido FBI" by a group called Residente Calle 13. I've noticed that sometimes my links to YouTube don't necessarily last very long. If the video has been removed, hopefully you can also listen to the song here... or if necessary find it on the web yourself.

Washington Post: Puerto Rico Asks Congress to Lean on FBI
Miami Herald: Protests in Puerto Rico mount against FBI over tactics
Democracy Now!: FBI Assassinates Puerto Rican Nationalist Leader Filiberto Ojeda Rios

Planet Grenada:
filiberto ojeda rios
the life and death of filiberto ojeda rios

"the sleeping latino giant has finally awakened"

Immigration reform and related demonstrations around the country are the issue of the day. In Denver, Chicago, Milwaukee, Phoenix, and of course Los Angeles (among other places) Latinos marched in order to press for a more sensible immigration policy. Being held up for particular criticism is House Resolution 4437 (“Border Protection, Antiterrorism, and Illegal Immigration Control Act of 2005”) which would:

-Make it more difficult for legal immigrants to become U.S. citizens.
-Disrupt American communities and put all Americans at risk by broadening the definition of smuggling to include anyone who aids or transports an undocumented immigrant.
-Make everyone who comes to the U.S. to work subject not only to deportation but also imprisonment.
-Disrupt the U.S. economy by creating an overly broad and retroactive employment verification system without creating legal channels for needed workers to work lawfully.

It seems kind of obvious to me, but it bears saying: Immigration policy and the anti-immigrant backlash are certainly issues which both Latinos and Muslims should be concerned about. And whenever possible, they should cooperate and coordinate their efforts accordingly. For example, recently in Chicago, I.M.A.N. worked with Latino activists there and supported a march against HR 4437. Hopefully we will see more such coalitions in the future.

Alternet: Immigration Reform in Living Color
Ihasn: The giant awakens! 10,00,000 march in Los Angeles!
La Voz De Aztlan: Aztlan Arising: 700,000+ March in Los Angeles
Common Dreams: "Latino Giant" Awakens: Demonstrations Gaining Strength
Common Dreams: Wage War on Poverty, Not Immigrants
Planet Grenada: inner city muslim action network and latino activists

also:
latino and islamic groups want tancredo to quit
you say it like its a bad thing...
obama and martinez
mexico and immigration

solar eclipse today

MSNBC: Watch a total eclipse on the Web It won't be visible in North America but you can see it online.

end of empire

I vaguely remember watching the Iran-Contra hearings on tv and being vaguely impressed by Henry Hyde and then being really surprised later on when I found out he was a Republican. It makes sense though. He was raised a Democrat (Irish Catholic) has supported (and even sponsored) gun control legislation, and currently he is critical of the administration's position on the Iraq War. He may be in the GOP but that doesn't make him stupid or crazy.

"Our power, then, has the grave liability of rendering our theories about the world immune from failure. But by becoming deaf to easily discerned warning signs, we may ignore long-term costs that result from our actions and dismiss reverses that should lead to a re-examination of our goals and means." - Henry Hyde

Imperial Overreach is Accelerating the Global Decline of America by Martin Jacques.

reverse missionaries

Check out: African Christians bring their zeal to U.S. Reverse missionaries seek to end our sinful ways by Rachel Zoll

I'm tempted to call this "beautifully ironic" except irony isn't quite the right word. After all, the Ethiopian Orthodox and Coptic (Egyptian) Churches are among the oldest forms of Christianity in the world. While the Protestant Churches which are dominant in the United States are all no older than 500 years (Martin Luther posted his 95 theses on the door of the Wittenberg Church in 1517). Christianity has a long and ancient history in Africa and so it isn't really ironic that they would send missionaries to the post-Christian West. It's just slightly funny.

"then they came for the..."

Alternet: Keeping Tabs on the Peaceniks Wow, this is bizzare. Food Not Bombs is on the FBI's terrorism watch list? They do things like go dumpster diving and help feed homeless people! We are living in strange times.

Wikipedia: First they came...

you are not alone

welcome to my quicki-mart!

us troops massacre iraqi family

La Voz de Aztlan: US troops massacre 11 member Iraqi family

muslim enclaves in the west

Assyrian International News Agency: The Islamist Challenge to the U.S. Constitution discusses the implications and challenges of Muslims in the West forming distinct communities in order to more fully follow the principles of Islamic life.

santana and iraq

LIMA, Peru - Carlos Santana, speaking to Peruvian journalists ahead of a Tuesday concert, said young people's opposition to the war in Iraq is reaching the dimensions of the anti-Vietnam war sentiment in the 1970s.

"There is more value in placing a flower in a rifle barrel than making war," he said. "As Jimi Hendrix used to say, musical notes have more importance than bullets."

In 1971, Santana was prevented from performing in Peru by the military dictatorship, which deemed his music an "alienating" force. Santana returned to perform in 1995
(full story)

Planet Grenada: carlos santana

what if she was condoleezza jenkins?

That's kind of deep. A radio host accidentally says "coon" when talking about Condoleezza Rice. (And if you look at the transcript, it really looks like an accident. It's not like some weird shock jock stunt) And he gets fired immediately. Wow.

But then that raises the obvious question: what happens to a working class African-American woman who ISN'T semi-married to the President when they get called "coon" for real? Is this about race, or class, or just power?

---
The original link expired but I found a replacement here.

better late than never...

Unfortunately this conference already passed, but if you check their website you can get some sense of what state-of-the-art research is like in this area. IRADAC (Institute for Research on the African Diaspora in the Americas and the Caribbean) in NY just had a day-long conference on March 17 called "Departures and Definitions of Afro-Latino and Afro-Latin American Identity in the New Millennium"

mexico and immigration

Immigration has been in the news lately, especially related to Mexico. I just thought I'd give a taste:
StarTelegram.Com: Mexican ads push guest-worker plan
Trentonian: ‘We are workers, not terrorists’
Black Electorate: Mexico And The Migration Phenomenon
Immigration Daily: Two Sides Of The Same Coin: The Connection Between Legal And Illegal Immigration by James R. Edwards, Jr.

latinos and baseball

I first thought about bringing these links together a long time ago when Spike TV announced that they were doing a special on Latinos in baseball. But then I more seriously started to look for link in early March, but then didn't really work much on it until now. To be honest, I'm not a big sports fan but I figured it would be interesting to see what was out there. Obviously alot of the Latinos in baseball are Afro-Latino which raises some interesting questions. But the last straw which finally got my butt in gear was just the fact that Cuba made it to the final game of the World Baseball Classic (and lost, unfortunately)

Now that I think about it, I wonder if anyone has done research on Afro-Latino identity and baseball players, especially around the time baseball was segregated. I remember reading that at times, African-American baseball players would try to "pass" as Latino and pretend to speak Spanish on the field in order to be able to play against white teams. And in the same vein the New York Cubans (an old team from the Negro Leagues) had no Cubans on the team. Anyway, if anyone could point me to good sources, I'd be interested.

Color Lines: Fields of Broken Dreams: Latinos and Baseball by Marcos Bretón

Early players hit home run for racial equality by Russell Contreras

Minnie Miñoso (Saturnino Orestes Armas Miñoso Arrieta) was a Black Cuban baseball player who played for the Chicago White Sox (and in Mexico, and in the Negro leagues). My dad knew him from a long time ago and somewhere in my house I think there is an autographed photo of him.

ESPN: Rise of the Latinos: Arriba Baseball brings together a number of different profiles and articles on Latinos in baseball.

Latino Legends in Sports Online Magazine and specifically: Latinos in the Major Leagues: The breakdown 2000

Major League Baseball Players by National Origin

Latino Baseball (Your Complete Guide to Latino Baseball)

Wikipedia: Roberto Clemente
Official Roberto Clemente Site

Other Grenada "sports" posts:
accepting the slurs
new york cubans
what's my name, fool?

this is what you can do with a good thesaurus

Will Durst: Don't Impeach, Impale

farrakhan in cuba

Most Grenada-esque post in a while:

Havana, Mar 20 (Prensa Latina) US religious leader Louis Farrakhan began a Cuba visit Monday, with plans to meet with US youth studying medicine on the Island.

Upon his arrival in this capital, Farrakhan, also a fighter against racism and poverty, was welcomed by Cuban Parliament Speaker Ricardo Alarcon.

During his stay in the country, he will meet with Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque and other political and social leaders.

As his first official activity, the religious leader will visit the Latin American School of Medicine where about 20,000 students from different countries are studying, including several US low-income youths unable to afford the universities in their country.

Farrakhan also plans to meet with relatives of the five anti-terrorist Cuban prisoners in the US, and members of the Henry Reeve Contingent, made up of Cuban doctors assisting other peoples in natural disaster situations.

The US leader will also tour an art instructors´ school, and meet Cuban athletes.

Prensa Latina