Submitted by Tricia Perry on Fri, 11/02/2007 - 12:31pm
in

"The dirty little secret is out: The T. Don Hutto Family Residential Center, a detention facility for immigrant families in Taylor, has employed undocumented workers, as well as contractors with criminal records. The revelation has put Williamson Coun­ty, which administers the center for owner-operator Correc­tions Corporation of America, in an embarrassing legal bind."

It's painfully ironic situation, for sure, but one that can be read as statement that our nation does indeed depend on immigrant labor to function.  Hopefully this situation will force us to question the role of these detention centers and our broken immigration system as a whole, with the intention to increase opportunities for everyone in America and abroad.

  • Also in Texas, Latina Lista has written about this year's 'Day of the Dead' celebration in the two sister cities of El Paso, Texas and Juarez, Mexico.

"From a 'culture cruise' which is an organized tour of museums in El Paso to the creation of the 'bones market' that serves as an opportunity for artisans from both sides of the border to showcase and sell their handiworks to a film fest and cultural festival, the three-day celebration is being used by city government officials to make a statement to Washington that a border wall is not needed nor wanted...

Though the concept is a way of life for El Paso and Juarez and countless other cities and towns along the U.S.- Mexico border, Washington still has a hard time wrapping their minds around that relationship.

But it doesn't matter to border residents. They'll keep the issue alive and not bury it until Washington understands that sisters are family and families don't build walls between each other."

The spirit behind this festival is a great reinforcement of the community frame that 'we're all in it together,' even showing that borders are often arbitrary constructions that keep us apart.

  • David Whettstone over at Afro-Netizen has touched on a media event planned for this past Wednesday. Document the Silence developed a campaign to have people wear the color red on Halloween in order to spread awareness about violence against women of color.  Participants are also encouraged to take photographs and video showing their solidarity and email them in with the goal of 'flooding the web with RED." Of its objective, the campaign states:

"Recent events in the United States have moved us to action. Violence against women is sadly, not a new phenomenon in our country or in the world, however, in the last year women of color have experienced brutal forms of violence, torture, rape and injustice which have gone unnoticed, received little to no media coverage, or a limited community response. We are responding to:

  • The brutal and inhumane rape, torture, and kidnapping of Megan Williams in Logan, West Virginia who was held by six assailants for a month
  • Rape survivors in the Dunbar Housing Projects in West Palm Beach, one of whom was forced to perform sexual acts on her own child
  • A 13 year old American Indian girl was beaten by two White women and has since been harassed by several men yelling “White Power” outside of her home
  • Seven Black lesbian girls attempted to stop an attacker and were later charged with aggravated assault and are facing up to 11 year prison sentence"

Here's hoping that we see more red and less violence against women of color in the coming months.