Call for Organizations to Join Amicus Curiae Brief  To Highlight the Impact of Arizona Law SB 1070 on Immigrant Women and Immigrant Victims of Violence Against Women
Sign on deadline: June 4, 2010

Dear Colleagues,
We are writing to seek your organization’s support in joining us in signing on to an amicus curiae brief in connection with litigation recently filed in Arizona federal court by the ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union) , MALDEF (the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund), the National Immigration Law Center and the Asian Pacific American Legal Resource Center.  The lawsuit seeks to invalidate Arizona’s new immigration law, SB 1070.  This Amicus Brief will highlight how SB 1070 disproportionately impacts immigrant women by undermining their legal rights as crime victims to access protections under U.S. criminal and immigration laws; as an especially vulnerable population to access services necessary to protect life and safety that Congress intended to assist them; and as mothers to nurture, care for and maintain custody of their children.

The attached call for organizations to join as amici highlights what will be covered in this amicus brief. [Read more…] about Amicus Brief Sign On – SB1070

By JULIA PRESTON, New York Times 5/15/10

Several large Latino and civil rights organizations on Thursday announced a business boycott of Arizona, saying that a tough anti-illegal immigration law there would lead to racial profiling and wrongful arrests.

The boycott call was led by the National Council of La Raza, or N.C.L.R., one of the nation’s biggest Latino groups, and was joined by the League of United Latin American Citizens and the National Puerto Rican Coalition. The groups said they would ask members and supporters to refrain from planning conventions or conferences in Arizona and from buying goods produced in the state.

“The law is so extreme, and its proponents appear so immune to an appeal to reason, nothing short of these extraordinary measures is required,” Janet Murguía, the president of N.C.L.R., said Thursday at a news conference in Washington.

The organizations said they would collect signatures on a pledge committing supporters to pressure corporations to stop doing business with Arizona. Also participating were the Service Employees International Union, the United Food and Commercial Workers union, and the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, a coalition of about 200 groups including African-American and Jewish organizations.

The Arizona law would require the state and local police to question people about their immigration status based on a “reasonable suspicion” that they might be illegal immigrants. Adopted on April 23, the law has not yet taken effect and is facing legal challenges.

Story continues here

We had a good discussion about the “race” question on the census form on the malcs email list (let us know if you’re not on the list yet).  Here’s more food for thought:

From “Still Black or White: Why the Census Misreads Hispanics”
Tim Padgett, Time Magazine

Many, if not most, Hispanics in the U.S. think of their ethnicity (also known as Latino) not just in cultural terms but in a racial context as well. It’s why more than 40% of Hispanics, when asked on the Census form in 2000 to register white or black as their race, wrote in “Other” — and they represented 95% of all the 15.3 million people in the U.S. who did so. (See the 25 most influential Hispanics in America.)

An even larger share of Hispanics, including my Venezuelan-American wife, is expected to report “Other,” “Hispanic” or “Latino” in the race section of the 2010 census forms being mailed to U.S. homes this month. What makes it all the more confusing if not frustrating to them is that Washington continues to insist on those forms that “Hispanic origins are not races.” If the Census Bureau lists Filipino and even Samoan as distinct races, Hispanics wonder why they — the product of half a millennium of New World miscegenation — aren’t considered a race too. “It’s a very big issue,” says Angelo Falcón, president of the National Institute for Latino Policy in New York City and a community adviser to the Census. “A lot of Hispanics find the black-white option offensive, and they’re asserting their own racial uniqueness.”

Read more

[“…half a millennium of New World miscegenation.” –?]

2010 CRSE 4th Annual Conference
Dates: May 13th through 15th of 2010
Site: University of Utah (Salt Lake City, Utah)
https://www.crseassoc.org/

Call for Proposals

Theme: “DECONSTRUCTING CONTEMPORARY POST-RACIAL DISCOURSES”
In light of the ongoing challenges faced by communities of color across the globe, this conference actively confronts the notion that we are living a post-racial period. Amid conversations about the end of racism, critical race scholars in education continue to use their research, teaching, activism and community work to address the challenges disproportionately experienced by Black and Brown youth in schools and communities. We invite papers and workshop presentations that document scholarship, teaching, local activist work, and community organizing efforts aimed at transforming racist practices, policies and systems in schools and in the broader society. Submitted proposals should use Critical Race Theory, Latcrit Theory, Asiancrit and Tribalcrit or Critical Race Feminism as a framework to explore a problem in one or more of the following areas:

1) Racial Politics, Schools and Society
2) The Experiences of Faculty of Color in Higher Education
3) The Lived Experiences of Students of Color in and out of K-12 and Postsecondary Institutions
4) Doing Critical Race Praxis in Communities and Schools
5) Beyond NCLB: Educational Policy and Post-racial Rhetoric
All presentations can be conceptual, theoretical or empirical, and can be focused on local or international contexts.

DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSION OF PROPOSALS: February 15th, 2010

Proposals for paper presentations should include the following:
• A cover page which includes title of paper, as well as name, affiliation, contact information, and a 100 word abstract and no more than a 1000 word descriptive summary that should include:
– A theoretical framework section that shows how the paper draws from Critical Race Theory
– An explanation of the methods (empirical, conceptual or theoretical) and a summary of the results
– A conclusion and educational significance section that illustrates how and why the topic is important and worthwhile for improving or transforming education for racially marginalized youth

Proposals for workshops should include:
• A cover page which includes title of workshop, as well as name, affiliation, contact information, and a 100 word abstract and no more than a 1000 word descriptive summary that should include:
– A section that shows how the workshop will draw upon Critical Race Theory o An explanation of how the workshop identifies practical applications for addressing racial inequality in schools.
– A conclusion and educational significance section that illustrates how and why the topic is important and worthwhile for improving or transforming education for racially marginalized youth

Proposals will be evaluated on their connection to CRT, quality of writing and organization and their overall contribution to the field of Critical Race Studies in Education.

Judith Flores Carmona, PhD Candidate
University of Utah
Department of Education, Culture, & Society
Judith.Flores@utah.edu

Angela de Hoyos, grande dame of Chicano poetry, dies in S.A.
By Elaine Ayala

Chicana poet Angela de Hoyos, considered the “grande dame of Chicano poetry,” died Thursday in San Antonio. In the 1970s, her poet fueled the Chicano Movement and her work continued to inspire generations of poets.
“Angela and her partner Moses Sandoval were always there as the Chicano Movement grew,” says fellow poet and artist Ramon Vasquez y Sanchez. Her poem, “Arise Chicano,” is credited with giving the movement its push, he said. “She was the ‘Frida’ of the Chicano cause.”

She is credited with mentoring poets such as San Antonio’s Carmen Tafolla. During a visit to San Antonio, Rudolfo Anaya, author of the Chicano classic, “Bless Me, Ultima,” praised de Hoyos contributions to the canon.

Funeral arrangements are pending.