Recently in Migrant Emancipation Category

Ray William Johnson is a college student in New York who produces Capitol Hill Gangsta on YouTube and he recently put out this video:



It's good to know that at least some people take the time to research the facts as they pertain to migrants.

(Sombrero tip to Kai at Zuky)



Watching this speech by Tim Wise cleansed my soul.  People that can articulate oppression like Time Wise are a treasure.  You have to watch the whole thing, but I especially liked his articulation of how white people, or those that buy into whiteness, are tricked into blaming migrants.  I'll quote it below.

Saturday, June 14 (Flag Day)

11:00 a.m. - 11:45 a.m.

at the Regional Transportation Center (Greyhound Bus and Amtrak Train Stations)

Join this lively, yet peaceful solidarity action

*  Distribute flyers  *  Inform travelers of their rights  * 

*  Show solidarity with those at risk of deportation  *  Hold Banners & Signs *

Crossing A Border is NOT a Crime, but a Civil Offense - Yet Families are being Torn Apart because of Border Patrol's activities at the Regional Transportation Center

All Those Who Show Up will Get an Attractive "United Nation's Blue" Wrist Band that says "Justice for Immigrants"

Bring a flag, help distribute "Know Your Rights" literature

We will supply you with a sign

Continue for Directions:

Yave wrote about why you should support the Uniting American Families Act the other day.  Coming from the Immigration Equality blog, yet again, is this Current video that personalizes the discrimination against same-sex binational couples. 


This just goes to show that discrimination against migrants, or anyone for that matter, isn't to far removed from discrimination against everyone else.  Just the other day, another U.S. citizen was deported from her own country.  When is the federal government going to come for you?

American Harvest, the non-partisan documentary about migrant farmworkers, American farmers, and the relationship between the immigration debate and our food, is hitting local theaters now!

Get into some air-conditioned comfort & see this important film, then get out and enjoy the season's bounty of fruits and vegetables with new eyes.

Roberto Lovato has been sounding the alarm for weeks now on the deaths in detention scandal that ICE is now trying to brush under the rug.  I have to admit I’ve not yet given the issue the attention it deserves in this small corner of the blogosphere. 

As is often the case, Nina Bernstein broke the story in the NY Times.  The Times’ editorial board, headed up on this issue by Lawrence Downes, followed up with an opinion piece citing Bernstein's article. 

Ms. Bernstein chronicled the death of Boubacar Bah, a tailor from Guinea who was imprisoned in New Jersey for overstaying a tourist visa. He fell and fractured his skull in the Elizabeth Detention Center early last year. Though clearly gravely injured, Mr. Bah was shackled and taken to a disciplinary cell. He was left alone — unconscious and occasionally foaming at the mouth — for more than 13 hours. He was eventually taken to the hospital and died after four months in a coma.

Nobody told Mr. Bah’s relatives until five days after his fall. When they finally found him, he was on life support, soon to become one of the 66 [ed. note: the Post reports the number is now 83] immigrants known to have died in federal custody between 2004 and 2007. Mr. Bah’s family still does not know the full story of when or how he suffered his fatal injuries.

Americans for Informed Democracy is holding a video contest, and among them is one of the most powerful DREAM Act video that I've seen.  I love it because it's the first DREAM Act videos that I've seen.  It connects the need to empathize with undocumented youth, with our privileges as U.S. citizens and the need to stand in solidarity with them.



Some of the gems from the video:

I just saw a video on the plight of Indian guest workers working for Signal International in New Orleans.  This just goes to show that we're fighting for more than just rights here.  We're fighting for migrant freedom.



Contact the New Orleans' Workers Center for Racial Justice to find out how you can help.

Picture from the New York Times.

It may not be politically viable, I may be attacking allies in this post, but someone needs to say it.  In the wake of shocking exposes in the New York Times, The Washington Post, and 60 Minutes, (h/t to Roberto Lovato for the links) it looks like there's actually some movement from the U.S. government to enact some pro-migrant, or better said, less anti-migrant federal legislation.   Nina Bernstein and Julia Preston of the New York Times report in "Better Health Care Sought for Detained Immigrants".

One consequence of the myth of sovereignty propagated through our current international political system is the war in Iraq.  Another is our broken immigration system.  Yet another is the skyrocketing death toll in Burma, caused in part by the massive storm and entrenched poverty, but in large part by an incompetent and corrupt government that makes George Bush look like Cory Booker.

It may comfort some in the U.S. to imagine that the first two problems listed above are rooted in the misdeeds of a particular leader, or a particular political party, or even in the dysfunction of the contemporary American political system.  

However, these diagnoses are mistaken.  The dysfunctional international political system permits an unconstrained superpower like the U.S. or warped polities like Burma or Zimbabwe to push far past the bounds of civilized conduct, but while culpability may lie with leaders and the voters who support them, the framework that allows such bad actions to persist is structural.