Submitted by Tricia Perry on Thu, 11/15/2007 - 6:17pm
in
  • New York's governor Spitzer has done an about-face and decided that he does not wish to issue drivers licenses to the state's undocumented immigrants.  The Immigration Equality blog and The Huffington Post both spread the news that Spitzer is "shelving" the controversial plan because "immigration is a federal issue to be handled by Washington" instead of at the state level. Yet the absence of federal immigration reform has left thousands of immigrants at a loss for an identity that would allow them contribute fully to the success of our society.
     
  • The ImmigrationProf Blog continues to provide a balanced view of immigration, in part via its 'Immigrant of the Day' series. This week saw a feature on Sona Babai, who immigrated to the US from Iran in 2000 at the ripe age of ninety-nine in order to live with her sons in California.  Another inspiring piece involves a recent lawsuit won against the Esmor corporation that owns and runs a detention center for refugees. After being granted asylum, Somali immigrant Hawa Jama has been awarded $100,001 in damages for routine violations of her rights while in custody.
  • A number of blogs such as Racialicious and The Unapologetic Mexican have been writing about a fairly complementary Boston Globe article entitled Blog is Beautiful on the work of bloggers of color who are "fighting racial stereotypes and getting their voices heard in the mainstream media." However, Rachel's Tavern has pointed out that the author trivializes racial and cultural identity by suggesting that bloggers of color "discard the handcuffs of their ethnic origins to tackle subjects affecting a range of racial or ethnic groups."
  • Finally, the Tennessee Guerilla Women blog has featured a clever new ad campaign by the Center for American Progress and the Glaser Progress Foundation on what it means to be progressive.  The 'Progressive. And Proud of It' campaign includes a series of YouTube videos such as the two below which are meant to illustrate the historical context behind the term as it relates to social services supported by the majority of Americans. The second video in particular provides an entertaining assessment of the arguments being used by progressive and conservative groups.


Comments

re: Spitzer Drops Plan to Provide Drivers Licenses to Undocumen

Submitted by nezua (not verified) on Thu, 11/15/2007 - 7:00pm.

I'm really glad people are pushing back against the attempt to mangle the symbols we call Language. I have been outraged by the uncontested theft of Meaning perpetrated by Rovian tactics in the last few years. Corrupting words or tearing language inside out to mean nothing at all or to be faulty signs is an assault on our minds and our ability to think, and it's been infuriating to watch. And to feel. One by one, these attempts to make us ashamed of words like "sanctuary" and "amnesty" and "liberal" and it grosses me out that some would attempt to shower disdain upon such uplifting concepts. Nobody should buy into these desperate and perverse cheyne-stokes gasps of tactic.And as a Mac user, I had to laugh at the one takeoff on Progressives Vs. Conservatives. Good stuff. Both of the ads were very good. They make a lot of sense...it's scary that we need to be reminded of basic things like what Progressive means, eh? Wow. What strange times we live in.On Spitzer...I think the nastiest part was seeing how many of his peers fell all over themselves congratulating him on killing that plan. It was like a happy "whew, so glad we can stop talking about that tuff issue" party. A sad little festivity there.