Submitted by Tricia Perry on Wed, 09/12/2007 - 2:52pm
in
  • Our friends at Immigration Orange have written a very powerful post featuring the stories of two undocumented Brazilian men who have recently died while in detention.  25-year-old Maxsuel Medeiros died of a heart attack yesterday after being held by Massachusetts Police for a traffic incident.  And last month, the following occurred, also in Boston:

"Edmar Araujo, who is epileptic, died from a seizure after he was pulled over for a routine traffic stop.  Needless to say, psychological or physical stress is what causes a seizure.
Worst of all, his sister claims to have tried to bring his epilepsy
medicine to the local police that picked him up, but that information
was not used to save his life.  It's been over a month and we still
don't have answers as to whether or not Araujo's death could have been
prevented, and who is to blame."

That anyone should be living in this kind of extreme fear within the US is just devastating.  But to deny medical care to those being held is a tremendous violation of human rights and one which should weigh heavily on our national conscience.

  • Just News
    included a piece about a lawsuit just filed by the United Food and
    Commercial Workers International Union that seeks to collect damages as well as to put an end to a series of six
    raids of Swift & Co. meatpacking plants by Immigration and Customs
    Enforcement (ICE).  The union claims that "agents unlawfully detained
    workers and violated their constitutional rights," threatening even US
    citizens.  This sort of blanket crackdown on American workers can only lead to more violations of our rights.
  • Firedoglake
    has covered the "Hands Across El Rio" protest which lasted for sixteen
    days across the Texas border.  The protest was organized to show community
    opposition to the construction of a wall along the Mexican border, and included
    the display of a human chain which stretched the length of the river.

  • Both Racialicious and Resist Racism have noted the resurgence of noose imagery in the media and in public happenings.  Even a recent MSNBC Sports headline implies a lynching.  That's not just a bit distasteful, especially given current events.

  • Just News also mentions a study released in the LA Times which reveals that blacks have "borne the brunt" of Hurricane Katrina, as New Orleans' black population fell 57 percent a year after Hurricane Katrina while the white population only declined 36 percent. There is also a noticeable pattern in where blacks and whites have tended to resettle, with the former choosing to locate themselves in poorer, urban areas.

  • Finally, Afro-Netizen has posted about new data on racial segregation in nursing homes in the US.  Interestingly, facilities in the South have been found to be more integrated than those in the Midwest, but where segregation exists, differences in the quality of care are also evident.