Cuidado! Watchale! Darth Vader is Watching YOU!!! Border Patrol Drone, VADER, Tracking Undocumented Sojourners in the U.S. Southwest

Click the bad guy for the story via the LA Times...

Here's a quick infographic on how the next-gen migra system works... Sleep Dealer ain't science FICTION!

 

Hey! I Didn't Mean no Disrespect, "Wetback"! Don Young in the News...

 “My father had a ranch; we used to have 50 to 60 wetbacks to pick tomatoes,” he said. “It takes two people to pick the same tomatoes now. It’s all done by machine.”

Perhaps this was a misplaced attempt to bond with the Hispanic community in search for votes. Either that or it was offensive. Let's go with offensive. When called on his racist comment,  Rep. Don Young gave a response equivalent to "Some of my best friends are Hispanic," explaining that the term "wetback" is just tried and true lexicon usage.

Alaskan Rep. Don Young, one of the most senior Republicans in the House, has apologized for using the racial slur "wetbacks" in referring to Hispanic migrant workers. The Republican congressman dropped the racial slur during an interview with the Alaska radio station KRBD when talking about the changing market for U.S. labor jobs.

Read full story here:

Rep Don Young"wetback has always been used in the Same way"

Mr. Young could have used Wikipedia to teach himself a thing or two:  

 

Wetback(slur)"is a derogatory term used in the United States, for a non-American foreigner, commonly a Mexican citizen, especially one who is an illegal immigrant in the U.S"

 

Who knew? Mitt Romney is Mexican! Sort of...

NBC’s “Rock Center with Brian Williams” recently aired a full report revealing Mitt Romney’s roots south of the border. Mitt Romney’s father, former Michigan governor George Romney was born in a Mormon colony in the Mexican state Chihuaha. His ancestors fled the United States to avoid prosecution concerning anti-polygamy laws. Then, during the Mexican Revolution, George Romney’s father's family fled Mexico to the United States where Mitt Romney was born years later.

Wait, so does that make the GOP candidate, presidential hopeful, is half-Mexican? Oh the posibilities. This means he could actually apply for dual citizeship, and if he chose to, hold public office. Fortunately for Mexico,  since Romney’s not a natural-born citizen, he wouldn’t be able to run for Presidente. Romney still has relatives living in the Mormon colonies of Colonia Juarez and Colonia Dublan, but doesn’t acknowledge them or even visited them.

Meanwhile, Mitt Romney’s campaign holds a stance against immigration reform, despite the fact that his family were once immigrants themselves,  Maybe the Democrats should ask Romney for his long form birth certificate…

Huge Economic Consequences for TEXAS if it Follows Arizona's Neo-Fascist Line...

Arizona! Where Prisons are Great Business and a Source for Innovative Legislation | via BoingBoing.net

Open Season on Mexicans in America

Watching the Washington Post Watch the Neo-Nativist, Neo-Cons

The Open Season of War Against Latino/a Immigrants Must Be Stopped! Abelino Manzaniego Murder in New Jersey!

Artist Perry Vasquez Clues Me in On Some Cyber-Hate on the Internets

Only click the image below if you have a strong stomach for the "entertainment" below, the "Shoot the Illegal Immigrant" game via addictinggameonline.com--take your pick of targets: the "Mexican Nationalist," the "Drug Smuggler," and, most lurid (and most convincing cultural artifact proving the merits of Tex[t]-Mex, the "Breeder." Write in your comments on the site and let's bring this game down.

The MLA Holds Forth on Arizona's Legislated Lunacy

Puerto Rican, Who "looks MEXICAN" Almost Deported in Chicago!

Gracias to David Diego Rodriguez, who forwarded me this story.

The United Nations Commission on Human Rights Weighs in on Arizona

Italian American / Mexican American Solidarity! Spread the Word! Anthony Tamburri on Arizona

Anthony Tamburri, a dear friend, remarkable scholar, and the head of the John D. Calandra Italian American Institute holds forth on the dangers of what passes for "progress" in the state of Arizona; his heady words are a necessary reminder of growing dangers in these days of change:

While one might “rationalize” (NOT condone) certain consequences of the Smith Act of 1940, which, in 1941, ultimately designated citizens of Germany, Italy, and Japan “enemy aliens” in this country (my grandmother being one of them), the more recent bill passed and signed into law yesterday in Arizona is ever so complexing, especially in this global world, in 2010. Indeed, given that this comes on the heels of another Arizona bill of three weeks ago, one might sarcastically muse, what’s in the water out there…

As stated in the LA Times, the bill basically “bans schools from teaching classes designed for students of a particular ethnic group.” Arizona’s State Supt. of Public Instruction, Tom Horne, sees the bill as targeting Chicano and/or Mexican-American studies programs in the Tucson school district.

Why should we care, beyond, of course, the general issues of human decency? Many of us in Italian-American studies, at various levels and to varied degrees, have and continue to campaign for Italian and Italian-American courses to be part of the curricula in the public school districts in which we live, as well as at the college/university level. Such a bill, as the one Arizona Gov. Brewer has signed, would disallow such campaigns. Such a bill, in retrospect, would have disallowed the momentous Italian-American curriculum that was spearheaded in the 1980s by then First Lady Matilda Cuomo (Italian Americans-Looking Back-Moving Forward, published by the New York State Education Department in 1992), as well as the equally impressive New Jersey Italian and Italian American Heritage Commission’s curriculum (K-12) that is currently being used in numerous school districts across the Hudson.

We will have more to say about this in the coming days. Stay tuned to this list-serve, Italics2.0, i-Italy.org , and here on YouTube.
Alla riscossa,

Anthony Julian Tamburri, Ph.D.
Professor and Dean

Huge Abrazos to Anthony and his colleagues for the love, for the solidarity!

Here's Tamburri in a recent videocast:

Ethnic Studies and Arizona--Gracias to Ric Salinas of Culture Clash for the LINKazo!

The DOWN FOR BROWN NBA! Arizona Suns are LOS SUNS!

Remember Walter Rodney's Amazing HOW EUROPE UNDERDEVELOPED AFRICA? Call This: HOW ARIZONA UNDERDEVELOPED CHICANAS/OS

Media Matters Tracks the Rise of Neo-Anti-Immigration Rhetoric/Movements

Lalo Alcaraz on Lou Dobbs

Tex[t]-Mex on with El Araña, Radio 1470 @ 5:15pm TODAY!!!!

Hit the image to hear the live-feed @ 5:15pm today; here's more, in Spanish, on the show today with its cool host Pieter Speyer! It should be a great conversation--even more interesting because everyone will learn just how bad this Tejano's Spanish really is! Pochos of the world unite!

Another Chapter in the History of Anti-Mexican Hate Crimes