Supporters of a longtime California activist, Carlos Montes, rallied outside a courthouse in Los Angeles Tuesday calling on authorities to drop his prosecution. Montes faces four charges including one for firearms possession that dates back to the 1960s.
A longtime leader in the Chicano, immigrant rights, and antiwar movements, Montes’ arrest in a May 2011 raid followed similar FBI raids on activists in Minnesota, Michigan and Illinois targeting fellow members of a political group called the Anti-War Committee.
“They are attacking me for my activism against the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, but also because of my solidarity work with oppressed people throughout the world — whether they be in Palestine, Colombia or Mexico,” says Montes, who plans to march against NATO this weekend in Chicago. Montes helped organize the Brown Berets and took part in the famous 1968 walkout by high school Chicano students in East Los Angeles to protest academic prejudice and dire school conditions. We also speak with Bruce Nestor, past president of the national lawyers guild and a criminal defense and immigration attorney in Minneapolis.
To watch the complete daily, independent news hour, read the transcript, download the podcast, and for more information, visit http://www.democracynow.org/
Under Arpaio, a documentary by Pan Left Productions, recently picked up the Best of Arizona prize at the Arizona International Film Festival. The film has been shown in many communities, educating immigrants, activists and neighbors about the kind of hatred that law enforcement is promoting, not just in Maricopa County but in cities and towns everywhere. The film will be shown in New York City on May 22 in partnership with DRUM-Desis Rising Up & Moving, a grassroots organization based in the South Asian community.
More information on the free screening of Under Arpaio: Tuesday May 22 7 p.m. at DRUM-Desis Rising Up & Moving 72-18 Roosevelt Avenue, Jackson Heights, NY 11372 [Take the E/F/V/R or 7 train to 74th Street/ Roosevelt] view map at drumnyc.org/DRUM/Contact_Us.html Film is in English with Spanish subtitles.
More about Under Arpaio, from Pan Left:
Under Arpaio shows the grassroots resistance to Maricopa County, Arizona’s Sheriff Joe Arpaio who prides himself on being the “toughest sheriff in America.” Arpaio prides himself on immigration raids on migrant and Latino neighborhoods, human rights violations in his jails and wasting hundreds of of millions of taxpayer dollars. Under Arpaio features the grassroots activists from low-income migrant communities, the attorneys, reporters, elected officials, and indigenous people who speak truth to power.
Another Mother’s Day has passed, and a domestic workers bill of rights in California has not. This simple piece of legislation, paralleling other state-level initiatives in New York and elsewhere, would be a watershed for the national movement to give domestic workers fair working conditions and long-overdue respect.
Throughout California, domestic workers and allies will be celebrating Mother’s Day by honoring moms and recognizing the role of domestic workers in the American household.
California’s approximately 200,000 domestic workers do the work that makes other work possible and ensure a thriving economy. They perform the fundamental duties of the home, including childcare, house cleaning and cooking, as well as caring for people with disabilities, the sick and the elderly. The vast majority of California’s domestic workers are women, minorities, and immigrants.
If you’d like to sing along, here are the lyrics, from their YouTube Channel:
Chorus 2X So what we hang out? So what we drink tea? We juss eating good In the SGV So what we eat late? That’s how its spose’ to be 6-2-6 young wild en free
Let me tell you about a place out east Just Fifteen minutes from the LA streets Hollywood doesn’t even know we exist Like it’s a mystical land, filled with immigrants The foods authentic, the price is perfect Where restaurants focus on the taste not service Be ready to share cuz it’s family style Time with the fam, makes granny proud!
We’re far enough from LA where nobodys actin phony! Except maybe on our taxes, it’s cash only! Tell the health department stop hating cuz a B-rating stands for better tasting Where kids drink more milk tea than liquor And they roast more duck than Swishers The Six two six, man check the address Home of Sriracha and Panda Express
Chorus 2X So what we hang out? So what we drink tea? We juss eating good In the SGV So what we eat late? That’s how its spose’ to be 6-2-6 young wild en free
Sometimes I wonder, am I still in America? how come there’s still a language barrier?
If you need help, read Yelp, check the reviews My Elite friends make it easy to choose
Traditional rivalries between high schools They started back when there was still some white dudes
No matter where you go they can’t match the price So you’re always coming back to the Cafe Life If J-Town’s got sake, en KTown soju What do we have? Oh yea we got boba’s Hot spots to get some, hot pot en dim sum Shout out to Asian girls let the lights dim some
From Shanghai to Saigon, Tokyo to Taiwan Beijing to Hong Kong something to bite on Valley, Atlantic, Garvey, I drive on 3 in the morning, cafes got their lights on
Chorus So what we hang out? So what we drink tea? We juss eating good In the SGV So what we eat late? That’s how its spose’ to be 6-2-6 young, wild and free So what we hang out? So what we drink tea? We juss eating good In the SGV So what we eat late? That’s how its spose’ to be 6-2-6 yum, mild and cheap
Chiggas in Paris
Fluff Ice (That’s 626) Factory Tea Bar (That’s 626) The Open Door (That’s 626) JJ cafe (That 626)
I eat so much shop owners really love me Girl friends wanna hug me What’s twenty to a playa like me? Can you please unplug me? Whats good Latinos, I’m that Chino Fancy chick, San Marino MPK, Arcadia, El Monte all my people
:32 She wanna hit Santa Anita maaalll after we eat out in Monterey Paaaaark She Chinese but her mom from Vietnaaam This food out here is so good, nooooom
Wong Fu Pro, 626 JK Films, 626 Jason Chen, 626 Olivia T, 626 TSJ, 626 Cha and Cafe, 626 Akufuncture, 626 Fung Brothers, 626
The first in a new series of videos where The Deacon of Speakin’ Mr. Abraham Beltran talks to any and everyone under the sun.
This episode features Los Angeles-native DJ Sloepoke speaking about the significance of the 1992 Los Angeles Uprising and the reverberations that this event had in the community of South Los Angeles which are still being felt to this day.
Sometimes we’ll have laughs, sometimes we won’t, but please know that EVERY time we will have damn good content for your enjoyment.
On the twenty-year anniversary of the L.A. riots, and in the wake of the killing of Trayvon Williams, the country is revisiting its familiar demons of racial violence and police abuse of power. Now it’s time to broaden the dialogue on law enforcement and racial oppression to the border. Please view this video appeal from Presente.org, featuring footage from PBS Need to Know, and support the campaign calling for justice for Anastasio Hernandez-Rojas.
From Maria Puga, widow of Anastasio Hernandez-Rojas:
In 2010 near San Diego, Border Patrol beat and tasered my husband Anastasio while he was hogtied and face down on the pavement. They tortured him to death, despite his repeated pleas for help.
Over the last two years, Border Patrol has refused to release the names of the agents responsible or to reveal whether those involved have been disciplined. Anastasio was not their only victim. Since the year Anastasio was killed, Border Patrol agents have killed or seriously injured at least 9 people from San Diego to Texas.
My family is demanding that the Department of Justice conduct an open and thorough investigation of all the killings committed by the Border Patrol since 2010. Will you join me in bringing justice to my family and the other families that have been victimized?
This is a call to action, in the name of dignity and human rights for ALL people oppressed by racism and xenophobia. The culture of fear and exploitation of people of color (specifically migrants) are symptoms of the capitalistic, neoliberal policies catered to uphold white supremacy and colonialism. We must stand in solidarity with all brothers and sisters in struggle. Mobilize and Organize for a world where many fit!!
