Maybe I grew up in a Latino and African-American neighborhood

navarrobannerMaybe I grew up in a mostly Latino and African American neighborhood because that was where my parents could pay rent.

Maybe they could only pay rent there because my parents immigrated into this country with only a bag of clothes. Maybe they worked 16 hrs a day 7 days a week in ranches cutting cabbage. Maybe they worked 2 or 3 jobs, and yet it was barely enough to get by.

Mas…Maybe I grew up in a Latino and African-American neighborhood

Oklahoma GOP uses jumping bean in a sombrero on fundraising flyer

jumping150Come for the (Mexican jumping) “GOP Bean Feed,” read the Oklahoma Republican Party fundraising flyer, and maybe you’ll stay for the KKK lecture. No offense, though.

Truthyism has the story:

Oklahoma democrats were shocked to see the crude racially charged image of a Mexican jumping bean on a GOP fundraising flyer for governor Mary Fallin which claimed to have information about the KKK.

In fact, many had assumed this was a hoax or a parody.

Mas…Oklahoma GOP uses jumping bean in a sombrero on fundraising flyer

POCHO History 101: The invasion – how America ‘grew’ (video)


Via EHistory.org:

Between 1776 and 1887, the United States seized over 1.5 billion acres from America’s indigenous people by treaty and executive order. The Invasion of America shows how by mapping every treaty and executive order during that period. It concludes with a map of present-day Federal Indian reservations.

PREVIOUSLY ON NATIVE AMERICANS:

Mas…POCHO History 101: The invasion – how America ‘grew’ (video)

NPR: Who are the refugee kids at the border? (audio, video)

Researcher Elizabeth Kennedy interviewed a 12-year-old boy who returned to El Salvador barefoot; he had been robbed of everything he owned.

"I asked him if he was going to try again," says Kennedy, "and he just burst into tears and said, 'What would you do if you were me? I haven't seen my mom or my dad in 10 years ... and no one here loves me.'"

NPR/Parallels writes:

Since October, a staggering 57,000 unaccompanied migrant children have been apprehended at the southwestern U.S. border. Sometimes, they’ve been welcomed into the country by activists; other times they’ve been turned away by protesters.

Mas…NPR: Who are the refugee kids at the border? (audio, video)

Por los que no se rajan — for those that don’t crack

womanwithbaby(Antigua, Guatemala — December 2000) I glanced up from my plate of rice, beans and perfectly grilled chicken breast. I was nauseous and weak from days of vomiting. Third-world cuisine always leaves me thinner than when I arrive.

In hindsight, I’m not sure if it was the beautiful colors in the woman’s “huipil” or if it was the look of angst on her face that caught my eye. As I gazed out the window of the restaurant I sat in, all I could think about was my own discomfort and what my friends back in the U.S. were doing.

While I contemplated these trivial matters, my father jumped up from his chair. I watched as he grabbed my uneaten plate, bolted out the front door of the restaurant and caught up to the woman I had seen walk by.

Mas…Por los que no se rajan — for those that don’t crack