Border Explorer: Librotraficante Caravan received rousing welcome in El Paso, Texas

Border Explorer: Librotraficante Caravan received rousing welcome in El Paso, Texas

Unions fight back...!

In an effort to keep in with the struggle for the Copper Miners in Arizona I have decided to also blog about the struggle for the Copper Miners in Mexico, which mirror the many cases that Arizona has had dealing blows to the Unions.

The Mining companies have targeted all workers, and in the case of Nacozari and Cannanea they shut down the water  to the miners as well as hospitals.. It is a war waged on the Copper Miners that resonates throughout the Southwest..

This documentary was created to show the struggles that the workers and townspeople have had to deal with against a brutally harsh employer called ..Grupo Mexico..

Dream Act Students receive support from the Manzana Foundation..

The Manzana Foundation, was created as a non-profit organization, to help immigrant students receive a college education in Maricopa County..

Arizona Dream Act Students, now have an alternative to attend College Level Courses, that are ...'affordable'... in the County.

This non-profit organization was created by several activist and concerned politicians in the community, who wished to help out the Dreamers, and provide an easier and a more cost effective method to the Maricopa Community College (MCC) system..

The cost to attend a college level course has shot up this year almost 240%, for these immigrant youth. The tuition increase was a critical blow to immigrant students, who have been taking community college classes as a way to continue their education in this post-Prop 300world.

With the help of this enrollment drive by Manzana, the students can now pay $90 per credit hour vs $317 offered currently by MCC..

This tuition increase by MCC, has not deterred the spirit of these very insightful and vibrant youth segment of Arizona.  They continue to strive for higher education, and along with the help of organizations such as the Manzana Foundation, and  Navajo Technical College from New Mexico. The Dreamers will have a pathway for affordable higher education, that will one day lead to a degree.

These two Organizations have partnered up to allow the Dream Act Youth in Maricopa County, an alternative to continue to strive for and receive a college degree. There may be other options, as well, in-the-works. University Level courses may become available, due to the significant interest shown by out of State Educational Institutions willing to offer these courses to these students..

The Dreamers will succeed and prosper, and one day be the future of Arizona..

You can read the press release in its entirety here..

Dream Act Students get affordable alternative to xenophobic Maricopa Community Colleges..

Dream Act Students now have an opportunity to attend affordable college while residing in Maricopa County.

Arizona DREAM Act Coalition, member Viridiana Hernandez, has pointed out the fact that the Maricopa Community College Board, was targeting the immigrant youth who wished to attend higher education courses and advance their potential employment opportunities.

Out-of-state students (or in this case immigrant students) taking six or fewer credit hours pay $96 per credit under the current policies, with a rate increase for more credits. The new rules charge out-of-staters (immigrants once again) $317 per credit, or about $1,000 per class, even if they take a limited schedule.

The targeting of these students came from Debra Pearson, a member of a hate group labeled by the SLPC, called the ...Minutemen...

This group ...'The Minutemen'... as the link mentions, targets not only immigrant students, it targets all Hispanics..

It is this same hate group responsible for the death of 9yr old Mexican/American Brisinia Flores, and her father. They pleaded for their lives in a home invasion that resulted in both of their deaths. As well as the injuries to the mother Gina Marie Gonzales (Mother of Brisinia), the lone survivor of the brutal attack. Gina recently testified in court, resulting in the plaintiffs receiving the death penalty Apr-2011.

In the case of targeting Dream Act Students in Maricopa County, the 230% tuition hike that was sponsored by Debra Person, passed.

The tuition increase for these students, has become the topic of many immigrants rights organizations, as well as activists, and politicians.

Maricopa, remains the only Community College system in Az., that has implemented the tuition hike...as other Counties in Arizona, have refrained from doing so.

Many wishing to help the Dream Act Students , have worked hard at finding and providing these students an alternative.

As in this case of a  Non-Profit Organization called.."Manzana Foundation", this Organization has been working with a partner to make classes affordable. Navajo Technical College, from New Mexico, has agreed to extend satellite classes in Maricopa County, and make them available to the Dream Act Students.

There may be other alternatives, in the works as well, as out-of-state Universities, also have shown interest in educating these students (locally via satellite classes), in the near future.

These monies, of course, could have benefited the State of Arizona, however it chose to send these coffers elsewhere, as it created a hostile environment to educating these young immigrant Dream Act Students.

You can read the press release by the Manzana Foundation by clicking the link here.

Mexican American Studies (Ethnic Studies)..., hearing to proceed..

• 

  This was directly out of the..."Arizona Capitol Times".. This is the text in its entirety..
  
  Note: The findings from the ...'independent commission'.. (hired by Tea-Party extremest Huppenthal) are being virtually ..'ignored'.. in their entirety..?
  Huppenthal and Horne are on a mission to take down the program, that was praised by the same commission these Tea-Party politicians hired..? Not to mention, the program has also been found to have an overall ...'positive'.. affect on the students..? 
  
  There is more.. as the TUSD is not only under a ...'Federal Mandate'.. to keep Ethnic Studies ..  It is also required to expand the program.., according to a court document that found the TUSD out of compliance Federally. They (the Feds) now threaten to withhold up to an estimated 64 Million.... Which is a much larger amount than the States threatened 10%.. 
  
  *Will the State takes its chances in Court...? [Even though the evidence is stacked against it..?] (probably so)  
  
  
  *If it loses in Court, will the State try to create another Anti-Mexican American Studies law..? 
  
  
  *What if the State wins (though it does not appear it will?) Will the State decide to withhold the 10% and then risk losing the larger Federal Monies..?(64  Million)
  
  *What will the State do when it finds itself paying the TUSD the lost Federal Funds..? 
  
  *Will the TUSD join the teaches and in all likelihood ..win.. the court proceedings..? 
  
  *Will the TUSD not join the teachers and try to dismantle the successful program from within..?
  
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  Hearing to test ruling against Mexican-American Studies
  
  
  By Gary Grado
  
  
  Published: August 16, 2011 at 6:11 am
  State Superintendent of Public Instruction John Huppenthal, who ruled that the Tucson Unified School District’s Mexican-American Studies program violates state law, is expected to be called before an administrative hearing later this month to explain his decision. If Huppenthal’s ruling is upheld, the school district could lose 10 percent of its state funding. (File photo)
  
  
  Attorneys for Superintendent of Public Instruction John Huppenthal aren’t planning on calling him as a witness in an administrative hearing to defend his findings that Tucson Unified School District’s Mexican American Studies program is race-based and promotes resentment toward a class of people. But that doesn’t mean he isn’t going to be questioned.
  
  
  Huppenthal’s spokesman, Andrew LeFevre, said the rationale behind leaving the superintendent off the witness list was to present the testimony of the people in the Department of Education who gathered, reviewed and passed along the information Huppenthal used in his decision-making.
  
  
  “It’s not what he decided, but how he decided,” LeFevre said.
  
  
  Few motions have been filed in advance of the three-day hearing scheduled to begin Aug. 19, and attorneys aren’t disclosing strategy, but the witness lists for both sides provide a glimpse into their cases.
  
  
  For instance, the district is going to call Huppenthal and expects him to explain how he determined the program is violating a law passed in 2010 that bans ethnic studies, and the scope of the investigation that led to his decision.
  
  
  The hearing is on the district’s appeal of Huppenthal’s June 15 finding that the Mexican American Studies program puts the district out of compliance. The district could lose up to 10 percent of its state aid money if Huppenthal’s decision stands.
  
  
  He is also expected to testify about the audit of the program conducted by Cambium Learning Group. The company found that there was “no observable evidence” to suggest the district was in violation of the law.
  
  
  Taking a page from the state’s playbook, the district is not calling its top man either, Superintendent John Pedicone, and relying instead on people who are closer to the program to testify, such as school principals, an assistant superintendent and the leader of the audit for Cambium Learning.
  
  
  “He believes and others in the district believe that there are other individuals that have pertinent information regarding the program,” said Heather Gaines, an attorney with DeConcini, MacDonald Yetwin & Lacy, who represents the district. “He’s the superintendent, he’s aware of it, he has certainly a lot of knowledge, but he’s in charge of everything.”
  
  
  Huppenthal intends to call Pedicone.
  
  
  Huppenthal’s lawyers named 11 witnesses in a list filed with the Office of Administrative Hearings, and two of them are school board members who are either against the program or want to modify it.
  
  
  Board member Michael Hicks, a Republican, has called for an end to the program, while Board President Mark Stegeman, a Democrat, has said he has reservations about the program and he unsuccessfully pushed for making the classes elective instead of core graduation credits. Stegeman, a college professor, said he’s never concealed that he believes the classes are too political.
  
  
  He said he has already been deposed and was asked about his impressions upon visiting the classes and his opinion on various pieces of evidence.
  
  
  “Obviously, I’m not taking the position that we’re in violation of the law because that would contradict the board’s expressed position and be inconsistent with my fiduciary responsibility to the district,” Stegeman said. “The state feels my answers help them in some way or they wouldn’t be asking me to come down.”
  
  
  The district isn’t planning on calling any board members.
  
  
  Gaines said it is unusual to call individual school board members to testify at administrative hearings because boards function as a body and their actions are a matter of public record that can be introduced as evidence.
  
  
  “We don’t think it’s particularly appropriate or relevant to call individual board members as to what they feel or think because we don’t think that relates to the actual issue here, which is compliance with the statute,” Gaines said.
  
  
  Huppenthal’s lawyers intend to call two parents of students who were in the program.
  
  
  Mary Stevenson is an English teacher in the district whose daughter took Mexican American Studies classes in the last school year.
  
  
  According to a June 19 email Stevenson sent to Huppenthal, her daughter was required to attend rallies in support of the program and “Chicano Americans.”
  
  
  Stevenson said Latino students grew larger chips on their shoulders as the class progressed and the teacher taught the class that Chicanos have been treated worse than any other culture.
  
  
  She said she also found the teacher’s use of the term Chicano offensive because the way he used it placed a label on all people of Mexican or Latin American heritage.
  
  
  “I, for one, prefer ‘American,’” Stevenson wrote.
  
  
  The other parent doesn’t seem so favorable to Huppenthal’s case at first glance. Irene Corella sent the superintendent a
  
  
  Jan. 24 email saying she and her daughter are conservative and are against “this whole taking away ethnic studies” and if that happens she will vote Democrat in the next election and persuade her friends and family to do the same.
  
  
  “I believe her perspective changed as her child went through the program,” said Huppenthal’s attorney, Bryan Murphy of the firm Burch and Cracchiolo.
  
  
  Huppenthal is also going to call two teachers from the program, but their attorney is trying to limit their testimony because of a pending lawsuit against Huppenthal.
  
  
  The program has been in existence since 1998, but it came under the scrutiny of Huppenthal’s predecessor, Tom Horne, current attorney general. In 2006, civil rights activist Dolores Huerta told a group of Mexican American Studies students that Republicans hate Latinos.
  
  
  Horne wrote and advocated for HB2281, which prohibits classes that promote the overthrow of the U.S. government, promote resentment toward a race or class of people, are designed primarily for pupils of a particular ethnic race and advocate ethnic solidarity instead of treating pupils as individuals..
  
  
  The law took effect Jan. 1 and Horne in his last hours as superintendent found the Tucson program out of compliance.
  
  
  Rather than upholding Horne’s findings, Huppenthal hired Cambium Learning Group in March to audit the program.
  
  
  Huppenthal found the district in violation of three of the four prohibitions, saying that the audit was flawed because most of it was beyond the scope of determining compliance and the classroom visits by auditors were too short in duration and announced ahead of time. The program teachers, 11 of whom are suing Huppenthal in federal court, also refused to cooperate with the audit.
  
  
  Huppenthal said he based his findings on textbooks, class materials and the program’s website.

Citizens for a Better Arizona (CBA), posts statement on Russell Pearce recall..

Russell  Pearce has attacked the group trying to recall him. 

He has called this group ..."outsiders", ..."open borders liberals", and more.. He has filed a lawsuit against the State of Arizona, for certifying over 10,000 signatures to recall him. He is seemingly threatened as his political career is nearing its end.. This statement was posted on a blog by those who have been targeted by his constant attacks..The quote is from Chad Snow, who along with Randy Paraz and 'Citizens for a Better Arizona' are behind his recall.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chad Snow

Chuck Coughlin was right - politics is a team sport.  The voters of Mesa can now decide which team they want to be on. 

Russell Pearce has pursued a very extreme agenda at the legislature and has been an enemy of education and our state's economy.  He has clearly become a tool of outside special interests like CCA, ALEC, FAIR, and the Fiesta Bowl.  His only supporters at this point are lobbyists.  He has been dishonest with the voters of Mesa with regard to his involvement in the Fiesta Bowl, his ties to Neo Nazi's, the recall effort, and many other issues.  He has presided over the most divisive, polarizing period in our state's history. 

"Team Lewis" on the other hand, has shown that they will take the high road and reintroduce integrity and comity to the state legislature.  He will unite our state rather than divide it.  He will focus on issues that are higher on the priority list like education, health care, and economic growth.  He can restore the credibility of the state Republican party, which has recently too often backed extreme, one-issue ideologues like Pearce, Arpaio, and Thomas. 

Which team are you on? 

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This statement posted from Chad Snow of the Group Citizens for a better Arizona.. CBA Jul-27-2011

Tucson Students stand up in solidarity...

click to enlarge

 The youth of Tucson and several other groups, including Civil Rights Activist and Unions,  joined efforts to battle the attacks on Chicano Studies.. 

These protesters took on the TUSD Chairperson John Pedicone, and the attacks by Tom Horne, who has targeted this 'ethnic minority'.. with passage of hb2281. 

Over the past two years, the Ethnic Studies Program in Tucson has been subjected to a controversial and costly witch hunt by Attorney General Tom Horne.

This law sponsored by Steve Montegnegro was backed by Russell Pearce who's relentless attacks on Hispanics continue today. They include forwarding racist letters, and having racist letters read on the Senate Floor by fellow GOP Senator Laurie Klein. 

Todays protest marks a milestone in the struggle for equality in Az., as the Hispanic Community as a whole has been targeted by the extremist  who are in control of Az. This comes shortly after the one year anniversary of the signing of sb1070 or the ...'papers please' ..or...'guilty while brown'...law.. 

...“Just like the people of Wisconsin took a stand and said ‘enough is enough’, the youth of Tucson are standing up and letting it be known that they are fed up with these attacks on their education and on their future. They have been under relentless assault by Tom Horne, John Huppenthal, and by the Arizona State Legislature, and they have had enough,” said Sal Baldenegro, Jr., a TUSD Ethnic Studies alum and member of the Southern Arizona Unity Coalition. “As Arizonans, we absolutely must stand behind our youth and say ‘enough is enough’ with these attacks on their education. There has never been a more critical time to stand behind our children as they fight for their rights and for their futures.”

The students brought a taste of Wisconsin to Arizona, as they peacefully chained themselves to the TUSD chairs, in solidarity of the continued and relentless attacks on their education. 

Protests will continue, until the attacks have ceased.. 

Courtesy  jeffbiggers alternet.org