It was a weird week to become an American. I was sworn in on Tuesday, in the federal courthouse in D.C. on Constitution Avenue, as a financial crisis entirely of the country's own making was inspiring descriptions like "armageddon" and "apocalypse."

Via ThinkProgress, news of a recent Pew Hispanic Center study that found one in 10 Hispanics are stopped by authorities who question them about their immigration status.

http://news.newamericamedia.org/news/view_article.html?artic...

I quite like this article from New American News. While a bit basic in its explanation of migration, I appreciate its comparative approach, particularly through the telling of immigration  stories  from both Vietnamese and Mexican perspectives. 

Today, Senate leadership failed to win the 60 votes (falling 52Y/44N) needed to move the DREAM Act toward a vote and delayed an opportunity to hold true to the values of our country.

Every year, approximately 65,000 qualified undocumented students graduate from high school, but are stuck in limbo without the ability to legally obtain work or access the necessary aid to attend college.

I repost this from my blog, openforum.wordpress.com

It was not a surprise to learn that the Senate did not get the Grand Compromise done. The senate failed to pass a vote to adjour the debate. Therefore, the senate majority leader, Harry Reid did the right thing by moving on to other agenda. Illegal Immigration can not be solved within two weeks. This issue should have more time and take a look at it seriously. The Grand Compromise has too many loopholes that I, as legal immigrant, find it unfair for those who are in this country legally.

Hey guys.

I'm currently involved in a leadership prorgam at school, that prepares young leaders who want to serve their communities and enact change.

As a freshman, our first year in the program revolves around a yearlong service project. I was placed in a group with six other students, addressing the issue of immigration. With such a broad topic, it took us forever to figure out what we wanted to do.

We decided to partner with a local community-based organization in need. Newcomer Community Service Center, or NCSC is " "a minority-based non-profit organization that helps refugees and immigrants from all countries achieve self-sufficiency and become participating members of American society."

This 2007 National Summit for Progressive Leaders has been a haven for individuals passionate about the rights of people--all people, no limitations or specifications. At the Open Spaces discussion for Immigration Reform, a small group of such dedicated, concerned individuals opened up and expressed our concerns, issues with and feelings about the current situation of immigration and the conditions in which immigrants live.

I am empowered, proud, and enthused and just ready to jump in to get some work done. There are hundreds upon hundreds of people out there in desperate situations being utterly overlooked by our societies. Finally, people are speaking and touching upon those issues. Finally, light is being shone. Hopefully, through this passion and the commitment we will be able to have and exert through this organization and the YP4 fellowship, students throughout the United States will be able to act and speak, learn and teach about this urgent situation and what can and needs to be done about it.

I know I need more inspiration and creativity, as well as common sense and rationality. We want to do some good work; we want to get some things done. Hundreds in detention centers need support so they can find their way home--wherever that may be or become--and to safety and humane treatment. We need action...

Earlier this week I posted a letter to Secretary General Kofi Annan, urging him to send aid to Miami, which according to Rep. Tom Tancredo has become a Third World country because there are a lot of people that speak Spanish there.

I was confident that of all the rhetoric tossed around in the immigration debate, Tancredo's comments would take the prize for the dumbest of the year (and there were a lot of dumb comments). However, less than two weeks before the New Year, Virgil Goode (R-VA) announced that allowing elected congressman Keith Ellison (D-MN) to take his oath of office using the Koran, would spur a wave of illegal Muslim immigrants intent on running for office and using the Koran to pledge their allegiance to the Constitution.

Dear Mr. Secretary-General Kofi Annan,

I write this letter with great urgency regarding a situation that has developed in Florida. I have just learned that according to Representative Tom Tancredo (R-CO) Miami has turned into a Third World country! A wave of illegal immigrants have come to Miami hoping to improve the lives for them and their family and pursue the American Dream. The situation is so dire that people are speaking Spanish there! I urge you to allocate the necessary aid and possibly dispatch peace-keeping forces to ensure that college students can go out salsa dancing and drink mojitos on the beach and participate in other "All-American" Spring Break activities.

Sometimes it's difficult to fight the good fight when there are so many frontlines in the progressive cause. But if we desire to be successful, sustained, and stregthened--we must support each other's causes, in whatever capacity we can!

True compassion and concern requires that we take concerted direct actions against injustice anywhere it exists, in all forms it exists.
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. directly, aptly, and eloquently sets forth the challenge:


"In the End, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends."


The progressive community at MSU has requested that we all be a part of their non-violent protest "The Clothesline Project." I challenge all of you to respond today!