proud

We used to have a man in the White House we could be proud of; Joan Baez explains in ‘The President Sang Amazing Grace’ (video)

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At the memorial service in Charleston, S.C. for the victims of a white wing racist terrorist, Barack Obama, the last real President of the United States, joined the congregation of mourners. What he did on that day became a song by Zoe Mulford, performed here by Xicana OG activist Joan Baez and animated in pastel watercolors by Jeff Scher. [EDITOR’S NOTE: It’s OK to cry.]

Video via The Atlantic.

Mexican immigrant parents: From my shame to my pride

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dignidadlaloWhen I first applied to UCLA, I wrote in my personal essay that I didn’t have any positive role models in my violent neighborhood.

Having grown up in East Los Angeles’ Ramona Gardens housing project, I wrote that most of the adults represented gang members, drug dealers, thieves, tecatos (heroin addicts), alcoholics, felons and high school dropouts (or push-outs). I also wrote about my disdain for housing authority officials and government workers for behaving like prison wardens and guards toward us: project residents who depended on government aid or welfare.

Moreover, I decried the police abuse that I had witnessed and experienced, like the time when a cop pointed a gun at me. My crime: being a 15-year-old making a rolling stop while learning how to drive.

Mas…Mexican immigrant parents: From my shame to my pride