We Have To Fight For Michigan & Others, Too!

P.S. And I'll look out for my brothers & sisters in Michigan, too!

We May Have To Fight To Save Cheap, Quality Produce In North Minneapolis

From "In Defense of the Minneapolis Farmers Market" by Susan Berkson:

We are in an under-served neighborhood. A neighborhood without food security. Without us, there would be no fruits or vegetables in this area. So by default, we are the green grocer for this neighborhood. And people want their bananas and pineapples and cherries. And they should be able to get them. Regardless of their income.

I don't know about you, but I like bananas. I like them year-round. Coffee, too. And none of it is grown here.

There is a moratorium on resellers, so no new ones can join. But those who are members now are not being kicked out. They fill a need. And when strawberries and raspberries are in season here, the resellers are not allowed to sell them.

The resellers meet a need. And that need should be met.

We feed families here, Minneapolis families. We are their green grocer.

Feeding families doesn't provide much money to the rich and powerful. Selling families football tickets does. So I'm horrified and frightened by the talk of ceasing to use the land on which the Minneapolis Farmer's Market sits as a farmer's market, and instead using it as a football stadium.

I know, one of the elected (*sigh*--seriously, folks??) Hennepin County commissioners who'd been planning to push for this has said he's not going to go through with pushing for it after all.

But what this has revealed to me is that a beloved Minneapolis site that feeds Minneapolis families cheaply is in the sights of people who want more yachts.

---------------------
I'm feeling particularly depressed about this after reading this post about Benton Harbor at the Radically Hott Off tumblr and following up on Benton Harbor + Jean Klock Park (click here to learn more--I was particularly outraged that among the arguments that might be working on the powers that be is that "public"-with-$200-a-day land = "public"-with-$0-a-day land!) and following up with this quote by "attempter," via Art Jacobson's article "Privatizing Public Properties Is Theft:"

Privatization is easy to understand once you see it as the final enclosure onslaught. Once again the people are to be driven en masse off their own property, for no reason whatsoever other than pure robbery.

Even if it were true that “balancing the books” were either possible or desirable (it’s neither; the books are nothing but fraudulent accounting, real “growth” ended years ago; and besides, if these books represented something real, nominal balance could easily be achieved by taxing the rich and corporations a fraction of their fair share), government officials would have no right to alienate public property. That’s a crime against sovereignty. It’s among the most profound forms of treason.

The fact is that capitalism is never sustainable. Even its own textbooks admit that it quickly runs down and reaches stasis. Or, from the point of view of the profiteers, it stagnates. So the only way to prop up profit rates is to continually repeat the process of primitive accumulation, direct robbery in order to accumulate enough of a capital base to recommence capitalist investment.

The classic example was Europe’s land enclosures. Subsequent examples were those of colonialism, imperialism, the IP regime, and financialization. Today capitalism is dead once and for all, since there’s no plunder frontier left. So the only thing left to do is carry out the terminal plunder, the direct robbery of whatever non-enclosed things are still left. Land, services, infrastructure, public heritage information, the water, the air.

And by the time that’s all commodified, it’ll certainly be impossible for anyone to pay for any of it. But by then debt indenture will no longer be meant to extract money, but to enforce the “new” serf system.

---------------------
But I guess what I really have to do is not get so depressed. A bumper sticker told me last week, "To be truly radical is to make hope possible rather than despair convincing." (-Raymond Williams, sez Google.)

I admire radicals! I want to be one. So I guess I have to fight FOR feeding families, and not cry ABOUT land-stealing yacht-buyers. Radically Hott Off also recently mentioned activism:

I wonder how much more helpful it would be to...start doing things like reimagining how organizing happens? So that the organizing itself becomes a healing space? (just as an example).

Looking at my tags, trying to see how to classify this post, I see that I've done this before. I have a whole tag called "University Avenue." I crashed and burned because I wore myself out working as a lone wolf. I wouldn't have to volunteer time on work I didn't 100% believe in (like not fighting the light rail's route, and only fighting for mitigation projects). I wouldn't have to suffer the heartbreak of finding out after asking that maybe no one but me wanted to do the project I 100% believed in (fighting the light rail's route). And my project didn't work, despite having 100% support from its volunteer corps of 1, because it had a volunteer corps of 1! :-)

But goddamn, I did it. I have worked to make hope possible. And I'll take all my lessons I learned from University Avenue (including volunteering my time to the projects of the people who are most in harm's way, even if they seem like lousy compromises to me, because 1) they're theirs and 2) they already have a team of affected people on board with the plan), and all the lessons I learn from radicals in the blogosphere, and I will look out for feeding Minneapolis families.

Immigrants Evicted And Then Abused in Bobigny, Seine-Saint-Denis, France

Immigrants Evicted And Then Abused in Bobigny, Seine-Saint-Denis, France

If I don't follow up w/ contact information, harrass me.

Rio Tinto Borax Trying To Hurt Working Conditions Of Workers Right Now

Via Jon @ Poetry Is For Assholes:

Remember when I posted about my fondness for the town of Boron, out in the High Desert above Los Angeles? Boron is in the news because the folks at the Borax mine have been locked out. Management refuses to bargain with the union unless they will concede seniority and almost every workplace practice. No surprise, the union couldn't negotiate on those terms so management locked them out.

America is being turned into a nation of rats and punks. People are so thoroughly narcotized by television that their highest ambition is to someday be allowed to kiss a billionaire's ass. I'm glad somebody is willing to stand for some kind of principle rather than blaming the immigrants or the poor people or unwed mothers or whoever they think needs kicking. If things go on this way soon we'll be a nation of Walmart employees who can't afford to shop at Walmart.

The normally unreadable Mike Davis wrote a pretty good piece on the lockout- Here

Update- The miners are represented by The International Longshore and Warehouse Union. I'd love to know the history of how the longshoremen ended up organizing so far from the water, but I can say that the ILWU is everything a union should be. Over the years I've had quite a few friends and a couple of family members who were ILWU and it is a real stand up, rank and file, solidarity based union. You can read about the lockout at the union's website HERE.

Jon also posted some YouTube videos--I'll direct you to his site for those.

I'm partway through the Nation article so far, and it's making me sad. :-( I don't know exactly what to do besides post the story on my blog. Please support the borax mine workers, at least by spreading the story, I guess.

Stop Forced Health Insurance Purchases - Call!

Please call Senator Franken tomorrow and pressure him to vote against the Senate Bill, to vote against President Obama's suggestion for a health reform bill, and to stop asking his constituents to bug the House to promise to pass whatever comes out of the Senate.

Please ALSO call Representative Ellison, if you live in his area, and pressure him to vote, even in the much-vaunted reconciliation process, AGAINST anything with less than a Medicare-like public option. He promised us multiple times, Goddammit. Remind him.

TELL THEM TELL THEM TELL THEM that we, the majority of people in the US, can't afford to be forced to buy expensive crap health insurance--particularly when we could easily get nothing for all that money we couldn't afford to spend via denials of coverage on claims.

Tell them. PLEASE!

(Once you're done, if you have extra time, write a letter to a newspaper for the editorials page and tell everyone else how much this sucks.)

Where's Aniysah? - Call For Donations ($1+)

I have a call for small donations to a good cause.

Ms. Angeline Hassell needs to get legal help. Her daughter, Aniysah, is in the custody of the man who abused her (Ms. Hassell), and she doesn't feel like her daughter is safe in his full-time custody. Click here for background or read about it at http://documentthesilence.wordpress.com.

Ms. Hassell can't get legal assistance in the area because none of the legal aid offices she's found are taking new cases--no matter how much they feel like the case deserves their help.

Ms. Hassell doesn't want Aniysah to grow up wondering why Mom gave up on the fight and left her in the full custody of someone she felt is abusive (and suspected would abuse Aniysah). She wants to continue to fight to ensure Aniysah's safety, even though she'll have to pay for private legal assistance.


Ms. Hassel is asking for $1 donations.
My note: I'm sure more is welcome if you have it. But $1 is all she's asked for.



Here's how to donate.

Cash donations can be deposited into Chase Bank Account # 861329829
Checks can also be taken into any JP Morgan Chase Bank and checks should be made out to Angeline Hassell Legal, for deposit into Account #861329829.
https://www.chase.com/ccp/index.jsp?pg_name=ccpmapp/shared/assets/page/Branch_Locator


Sorry it can't be done online; I hope it can work for you, though!

I Tried Not Taking Up So Much Space - Here's How It Felt

I want my behavior to reflect the lessons I think I'm learning from activist writers. Last night, I imperfectly tried behaving in such ways.

I had mixed emotions about the way I behaved.

I didn't get what I wanted, and I don't think that the result of me sharing power with others really resulted in progress towards a more just society like I hoped getting what I wanted would.

(How's that for a sentence?)

But gosh darn it, no matter what the outcome--no matter whom I shared power with (perhaps people more conservative than me)--I did it.

The quiet folks in the back didn't have to see me make a scene of two upper-middle-class healthy young white people in the front who've already talked all night going at it against each other for minutes on end (when there's a time limit to the whole meeting).

Maybe what I'm feeling right now--this dejected feeling that I could've done more if I'd just stood up for doing things my way--is one of the negative emotions BFP and others have said can accompany not taking up space. (Maybe not.)

But a fair life doesn't involve all joy, all the time anyway, right?

Maybe what I did last night is okay to repeat. And worth repeating.

Where's Aniysah?

Okay, I did think of something I want to write about Aniysah's case.

Short story, as I understand it:

• Aniysah's father abused Aniysah's mother.
  
  
• Aniysah's mother got out, and even got a protective order to get Aniysah's father to have to stay away from both of them.
  
  
• Aniysah's father persistently filed for chances to get that protective order overruled and see Aniysah anyway. This was granted.
  
  
• Aniysah started talking about getting abused and showing physical signs of being abused. Professionals reported this to the court system.
  
  
• Another professional 1) said it was Aniysah's mother who'd been reporting those signs and 2) said they were lies. Aniysah's mother wrote a clarifying letter to a judge, saying that 1) it was professionals, not her, who'd been reporting signs of abuse, and 2) this other professional was, well, behaving unprofessionally.
  
  
• That judge decided that this professional wasn't doing anything uncouth.
  
  
• Aniysah's mom moved out of the state to get Aniysah away from the abuse, since the courts weren't helping her get Aniysah away from it.
  
  
• A judge decided this wasn't cool and granted full custody of Aniysah to the very same father she'd initially told to stay away from Aniysah. I don't know why. I guess...I guess he was really convincing over all the time between when this story as I'm summarizing it started and the point I'm up to now.
  
  
• Aniysah's mother and Aniysah came back to New York City to visit other family, and the police came and took Aniysah away and gave her to ... well, it sounds like it's not 100% clear, but that Aniysah's father certainly has a heck of a lot of access to her right now. (Which seems crazy to me. I mean, he abused her mom so much they initially said stay away from Aniysah; later on there were professionals starting to say that when Aniysah was around him & his family, she was getting abused by someone...yikes.)
  
  
• Aniysah's mother is hanging around New York City, trying to get custody of Aniysah back, or at least trying to make sure that New York won't leave Aniysah in any situation that'll lead to her being abused. But apparently, even the latter isn't proving very fruitful--and she could use help from people to make at least the latter happen, if not the former.

Okay, so maybe it's not much shorter than fuller story explained on Document The Silence and other blogs. Whoops.

Anyway, I hope people will blog her story, write letters to the editor about it maybe? (not sure if that'd be considered welcome by Aniysah's mother or not), show up at the court date (definitely welcome), etc.

Where's Aniysah?

For 27 hours now, I've been wanting to write something about Aniysah & her mother's quest to make sure she stays free of harm and grows up w/ truly good care and love. But I just can't figure it out yet. So there it is--a link to her story.

And I'll throw in that if you're in New York City and you'd like to support Aniysah's mother's struggle, please go to her court hearing on December 22. Directions, etc. at this link.

Thanks.

Humanitarian Intervention and Present-Day (2009) Darfur

I wanted to take a printout of this to a speech in the city. The speech was calling the current situation in Darfur a "genocide" and hoping to "raise awareness" of it. After reading works like this by Richard Seymour, I agree w/ him 1) that it's not and 2) that it's likely to make things worse for people in Sudan to call it one.

But I knew I should come home and spend time w/ my family, not go to that speech.

But...I also felt like...that's probably at least 100 people who're going to hear the speaker's point of view, and if I don't go and get my 30-second point in during Q&A, only the 1 or 2 of those 100 attendees I e-mail over the next couple of days will hear this point of view.



But then I remembered that in my dawdling, trying to stay geographically closer, I'd forgotten all about a promise I'd made to help my neighbors w/ stuff "this afternoon." And it was dark!

So I had an answer--1 or 2 people it is on the Darfur thing.



I'm writing about this here also to hold myself accountable and force myself to have the guts to do the "conversation w/ 1 or 2 people" thing at all, now that my opportunity to set out anonymous printouts on random tables is gone and I could just run away from real, heart-to-heart conversations.

Feel free to comment in a week and ask, "So, didya do it?"

We Really Need To Up Our Efforts Changing Our Culture

This would be a good reason to work on KEEPING BOYS FROM THINKING THEY'RE ENTITLED TO SEXUAL RELATIONS WHENEVER THEY WANT THEM.

Because here are obviously huge-ass problems with jumping in violently, like that you might kill the boy.

THAT is why "just beat up sexual assaulters" is NOT a good default response from society to the existence of sexual assault.

IT RESULTS IN DEATH.



"Stop people from wanting to do things that are sexual assault" is a BETTER default reponse from society to the existence of sexual assault.

Here are good examples of things that're wrong right now that we could non-violently reduce sexual assault incidents by fixing:

Harriet Jacobs wrote at Figitivus:

What I mean to say is:

The way men and women interact on a daily basis is the way they interact when rape occurs. The social dynamics we see at play between men and women are the same social dynamics that cause men to feel rape is okay, and women to feel they have no right to object. And if you accept those social interactions as normal and appropriate in your day to day life, there is absolutely no reason you should be shocked that rape occurs without screaming, without fighting, without bruising, without provocation, and without prosecution. Behavior exists on a continuum. Rape doesn’t inhabit its own little corner of the world, where everything is suddenly all different now. The behavior you accept today is the behavior that becomes rape tomorrow. And you very well might accept it then, too.

Aaminah Hernandez wrote on FlipFloppingJoy comments:

consent is a good starting point, in so far as “man, did you ASK her and did she give you a clear yes” but we know there’s still lots of room in that. much better to get to the radical “man, why do you even feel compelled to get off by doing that to a woman?”. let’s address why men WANT to do certain things that are hurtful to women, regardless of whether or not women will “let” you do it. that’s not the point. the point is where does the inclination to dominate a woman come from and why is that what makes you “feel like a man”?
...
and yes, i know that opens up a can of worms on the BDSM issue and policing what people get off on, and questionning women’s right to consent to things just because we find them abhorrant. but i think that’s NOT what we are talking about here. ... i think we’re talking about a whole different matter which is men being able to be men, confident in their masculinity, sexually expressive, without it resting on degradation and pain to women (or other men for that matter).

Especially us people w/ time on our hands--let's CHANGE that "daily basis" and that "day to day life" and that basis for boy's and men's masculinity and sexual expressiveness for the boys whose lives we influence. NOW. WIDESPREAD. INTENSE.



Because this boy didn't deserve to die for what he did to the female friend he was traveling with.

"Deserve" isn't even the right word for how I would feel about one punch in response to what he was doing to his friend.

I think he DID deserve a culture / cultures that would, throughout it / them, SUPPORT non-violent lifestyles.



I'll get more active in anti-violence work.

The rest of our boys and girls who are still alive deserve it, and to make what people "deserve" happen, someone's gotta do it.
(Lots of someones. But I'll start w/ me.)

Vacation - Italy vs. Not Italy

If I could get the $ together, I really wanna go to Rome again, w/ my partner.

I'd said I was going to do something else for a vacation until Italy (as a government) treated its gypsies better (also, side note: despite that article's mention of crime, their violent crime rate is actually the exact same as their population proportion), and that I'd tell their ministry of tourism (or whatever they have) so...

...but I thought about that idea well over a year ago and I still haven't gotten around to sending that letter to their ministry of tourism, so I haven't done one lick of good...

...and the "I wanna see Rome again" bug is really hitting me hard as my vacation time draws near.


And if I could get the $ together, I mean, how kick-ass would the following trip be:
- Hiking at sunrise in the Lake District of England on the same hill my stupid roommates didn't wake me up to hike w/ the rest of the group at sunrise
- Visit my many friends / his 2 friends in France
- Get my partner a few artistic master classes w/ his idol in France if said idol is open to teaching him
- RomeRomeRomeRomeRomeRomeAwesomeRome fuck yes gelato cheap olive oil a-whole-lox&caviar-pizza-for-$10 holy crap cool buildings and stuff everywhere even if a dictator did destroy lots of other cool buildings to unearth them rabbit-ragout-at-this-one-cool-restaurant GELAFUCKINGTO
- The one limoncello I actually liked (house version at a hotel outside Naples)
- Greece - whatever my partner's favorite parts were
(Though I guess that "Lake District" part and the "Rome" part don't exactly go together, since in my dreams, I'd totally be hiking in the summer and visiting Rome in the winter. Hmmmmm.)


Oh yeah. After looking up this link, I saw a photo that reminded me that France is kind of on my shit list, too. Though at least I have friends there--it's not quite straight-up tourism the way a trip to Italy would be. Not that the United States doesn't do the same things--but I can't exactly tell an American tourism bureau that I'm not coming. I already live here.

Please Pray For Donna (And Donate If You Can)

Donna, one of my favorite blog authors, has asked for prayers.
This is why.
I'd recommend sending money, too, if you can. She's said that money sent to Paypal link on the left side of her blog, in the sidebar, under her blogroll, is only accessible by her.

A message to those who have plenty of money to spare:
501(c)3 deductible? Hell, no. Neither prayers nor money. The right thing? Hell, yes.

Thanks.

Cirila Baltazar Cruz And Action Links To Help Other Mothers

Just keepin' the names Cirila Baltazar Cruz and Rubi Juana Baltazar Cruz on the radar every couple of weeks till November (the next court date that has anything to do w/ the case). You could donate/volunteer for the SPLC or MIRA, by the way, if you want to do something that won't hurt the case while that gag order's on, maybe. (Lawyers working on the case, after all, still get to talk about it to each other...)

Or, for another thing to do between now and November: volunteer and/or raise hell about these issues brought up by BFP:

i hadn’t known about the “offer” to let her be a governess to her own child. thanks for pointing that out. it makes me sick to my stomach–mothers of color are SO good at helping white women reach their full potential as mothers. they even provide a child to practice on and everything!

I also want to say, women caught up in the immigration system ALWAYS have responsibility of the children, if there are any. they are forced to do things like express milk from their breasts to prove they are breastfeeding (in front of gaurds who make mooing sounds at them), they are locked up in small cells with the children (check out hutto prison), they are silenced or kept from protesting while in jail with threats of separation from their children (which has happened–there are several cases of women being deported while the children are left in prison with no caretaker at all–and to add insult to injury, those children often are u.s. citizens who have committed NO crime at all)–there have been *several* cases of women being raped while in front of their children by prison guards in “exchange” for extra bedding or food–and it’s a small thing, but a devastating thing–mothers are often not believed when they say who the father of the child is (i.e. a husband or partner)–and children are thrown into foster care until “paternity” can be established. and none of this gets into the abysmal way *pregnant * women are treated.

All of these things–including more, are regular experiences of mothers going through immigration. I think it’s important to point out so that we don’t only support women like Cirila–but so that we also ask the right questions and support the right answers (and organizations–because trust me, not all immigration orgs are as connected to the community as MIRA is) as the U.S. begins to confront “immigration”–as Barack Obama et al have promised to do in the next year.

With respect to Ms. Baltazar Cruz's case, please keep in mind the following comments by AnonymousCoward (1,2,3):

As terrible as this situation is, contacting the presiding judge is not the appropriate course of action. Your letters, calls, faxes, and other communications will go completely unheeded, as the judge is ethically obliged to ignore them.
...[citations]...
With that in mind, I think donating to SPLC or writing letters to the editor of the Clarion-Ledger would be more productive. Citizens of Mississippi may want to consider writing their representatives in the state legislature to encourage them to explicitly condemn the actions of CPS and pass legislation to make this action clearly illegal.

(emphasis mine)

I’d just hate to see this case get prolonged because the “foster” parents find out about the flurry of letters and raise the issue on appeal, claiming that the judge should have been recused or something.
...
If you want to put pressure on someone in this case to make them consider doing the right thing, you should be pressuring the parties (apparently the Department of Human Services), not the court. You’ll just annoy the clerk of court, frustrate yourself, and arm your opponent with grounds for appeal.

Here’s the contact information for DHS, obtained from Shakesville.

Children’s Justice Act Program
MS Dept. of Human Services
750 North State Street
Jackson, MS 39202
(601) 359-4499

Ex parte communications are not limited to factual matters. Ex parte communications are *not permitted* unless explicitly authorized, for things like administrative matters, emergencies (TROs, for instance), speaking with court personnel, or asking disinterested legal scholars with notice to both parties and the opportunity to respond. Notably excluded from that list is: “angry members of the general public.”

A judge isn’t permitted to discuss (including listen to) their own family on how a case should be handled; what makes you think it would be appropriate for them to factor in the opinions of the general public? I’d refer to this as a “question of justice,” but it’s not even really a question – judges interpret and apply law, not the views of the general public, no matter how outraged that public may be.

As I said before, contacting the parties, writing letters to the editor, or supporting SPLC are appropriate reactions. Attempting to sway the court proceedings via unethical direct contact with the judge won’t be effective, and might create grounds for appeal if the judge ultimately rules against the “foster” parents.

Another thing you can do between now & November, besides following AnonymousCoward's suggestions, is to help this other mother whose child the state has unjustly kept away from her.

Immigration Changes I Want To See

I see a lot of activism about a few aspects of immigration law that would keep help a few immigrants stay in the country, but I sure do wish I saw more on the following:

"10-year/3-year ban"

From Immigrants' List:
The three- and ten-year bars were added into law by the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 (IIRAIRA).
...
INA § 212(a)(9)(B)(v) provides a waiver of these bars if ... refusal of admission of the foreign national would result in extreme hardship to that spouse or parent. Hardship to the foreign national or his or her children is not a factor.

That's an insanely LONG line people with kids are having to go to Mexico/Honduras/India/Guatemala/Ecuador/the Dominican Republic/Nigeria/etc. and twiddle their thumbs in while their KIDS GROW UP. Parents can't stand their kids growing up by a year when they're in the country and just working too hard to really see it. Geez Louise, 3/10 years OUTSIDE THE COUNTRY w/ your kids growing up? Frack. I want to see this one changed.

Thanks, Dave Bennion, for bringing my attention to this.

Judicial Review, part 1

It looks like the same bill (the "IIRA" half of it) did the following:

this legislation stripped immigration judges of the ability to take into account any persons circumstances when it came to deportation matters.

That's absolutely ridiculous. I don't know about the campaign at the link I found this language from, but if what it says that bill did is accurate, all clauses of that bill need to be taken right back out of federal law.

Judicial Review, part 2

From Immigrants' List:
cases decided by the immigration agencies have life-altering consequences. Under current law, even decisions which are arbitrary, capricious, show prejudice or misconstrue or fail to consider the evidence are not reviewable by the federal courts. In addition, the critical safety net provision of habeas corpus review is no longer available.

What...the...f***. ARRRRRRRRRGH. *hangs head*


I'm not really sure where the "amplify your voice" area of activism is if you're really interested in these issues. Maybe just Immigrants' List & (according to Dave Bennion) Families for Freedom right now. I hate starting things. I am such a joiner. Am I really going to have to get up & start something out here in this part of the country?

The Star-Tribune Could Do Better Publishing Hmong Farmers Speak For Themselves (especially considering their importance)

Hmong Farmers Talked About, But Mostly White Farmers Get To Talk, In Star-Tribune Article On Farmers' Markets

All right, I figured out what's wrong with the way this article on Minnesota farmer's markets (note: multiple pages) is written.

Click here to jump to the end of this post and see what made me figure it out.

Actually, I'll start with some "right" things: Ms. Blake's and Mr. Giles's article starts strong, by having the first quote, and a good amount of quote, come from a Hmong farmer.

Why is that so right? Well, as quoted and elaborated upon in the article (the other "right" things):

Hmong growers represent about 70 percent of sellers in suburban markets and more than half of all growers in Minneapolis and St. Paul markets, said Jack Gerten, manager of St. Paul Farmers Markets. "If you didn't have the Hmong you couldn't have these markets," he said.

However, the article is 3 pages long, and most of the farmers interviewed are white farmers. Despite them making up only 30-50% of the farmer population at the markets.

Challenges of Talking Business w/ Hmong Farmers

This weekend and last week, I finally met children of Hmong market vendors who both:

1. were raised so much in America that I had no language barriers talking with them at all, and
2. were super-duper interested in "shop talk" and the business of, well, the family business.

I'd met plenty of farmers and family members who fell into one category but not the other over the past 3 years. These are people who I feel like my grocery store might actually sustain conversations with if I connect them.

If it took me 3 years to find 2, then yes, I get how "on assignment," Ms. Blake & Mr. Giles might have had a tough time getting interview quotes they like for their article from Hmong farmers and their families.

But you know what?

I'm not a reporter.

Surely my search was slow because it related to a spark of an idea in the back of my mind (getting Hmong produce distributed in cooperative grocery stores, too) as I went about my chores (shopping for food).

Now, I understand that even for a journalist, whom I'm going to hold to the standards laid out by blackamazon below, it might be a challenge to find these people to talk to in a single 2-hour interview-gathering trip to a market.

Why? Because children of farmers who are 100% fluent in American English and who are interested in the business probably spend a lot of time talking to non-Hmong customers, pushing the family's produce, explaining things, giving impromptu cooking lessons, etc. If you're actively hunting for them (which I wasn't over these 3 years), you can probably find them (now that I'm getting a sense of what to look for--start with the twentysomethings, not the teens or the people whose names are on the signs), but you might not be able to interview them.

But.

But after reading blackamazon's writings below, I now believe that the right thing for a journalist assigned to this story to do, as soon as he/she finds out the markets are 50-70% Hmong, would be to actively hunt for lots of such people and schedule interview appointments outside of peak market hours.

How I Came To Be Able To See This In That Star-Tribune Article

From blackamazon:

Immigration is a great topic, centering immigrants making safe spaces for them to talk to be credited and set the tone for their work

Not so much

Talking about black women/people , issuing dictums and easily digestible pieces for non black audiences, or even having to prioritize non black audiences over black ones.

Can make you famous.

Being one often makes the act of reading news something to be accompanied by a finely tuned bullshit meter and someone to hide the sharp objects so you don't go to jail.
...
Let's speak about events as snippets that we can skim or miss, let's write more and more about populations we are not a part of, or frame the populations we are apart of as voiceless by not actually hearing from them.

And from make/shift magazine, "Listen: Voices the World Needs to Hear" (Oh. Hey! Also from blackamazon!) issue 5 p. 7:

The all-too-common idea that underrepresented communities need spokespeople in the media because they are not...speaking for themselves justifies their erasure from the media. ... "Some of Us Are Brave" exists to amplify," [Thandisizwe] Chimurenga says. "Black women are already speaking."

What I Plan To Do About It

I think I'll write Ms. Blake & Mr. Giles and give them tips, based on my experience, on how to find Hmong farmers w/ no language barriers but w/ enough of an interest in the business to say "quotable" things.

I think I'll also include my suggestion about scheduling interviews because of such people's importance to their vending tables (if they step away for an interview, there might not be anyone else w/ no language barriers and a strong interest to pitch veggies to potential customers like there would be at a booth of farmers who've lived in an English-speaking country for generations).

I think I might include (with full citations) those quotes or some others from blackamazon, if she'll allow me to, to express why I feel that my suggestions are important.

And I'll ask that they pass these tips around the staff writers so that next time someone has to do a similar article (or an article that, on the interviews, they discover is similar), they will be armed with those tips. (And, if I include the quotes from blackamazon, armed with a sense of importance about trying them out.)

Block Party

I am going to throw a block party to get to know my neighbors!
Just submitted the permit tonight.
Sounds like a lot will be out of town or simply aren't interested...but hey...maybe we'll get some reeeeally enticing food smells going and they'll come out, too.

Yay!

Don't Let Cirila Baltazar Cruz Drop Off The Radar

Cirila Baltazar Cruz has dropped off the news and blog radar.

If you don't keep blogging, at least keep writing/calling!

Request for Action from the Mississippi Immigrant Rights Alliance (MIRA):

Cirila Baltazar Cruz gave birth to her baby girl in November of 2008 at Singing River Hospital in Pascagoula, MS. She speaks very little Spanish and no English, as her native language is Chatino, an Indigenous language from Oaxaca, Mexico that is spoken by some 50,000 people.

The hospital provided her with an “interpreter” who is from Puerto Rico and does not speak Chatino, the language of the mother. Because of the language barrier and the misunderstanding by the hospital’s interpreter who only spoke Spanish and English, a social worker was called in.

The hospital’s social worker reported “evidence” of abuse and neglect based on the following:

* The “baby was born to an illegal [sic] immigrant;”
* The “mother had not purchased a crib, clothes, food or formula.” (Most Latina mothers breast feed their babies).
* “She does not speak English which puts baby in danger.”

Ms. Baltazar Cruz’s baby was snatched from her after birth at the hospital and given to an affluent attorney couple from the posh Ocean Springs who cannot have children.

The authorities made no effort to locate an interpreter in her native tongue. MIRA located an interpreter who is fluent in Chatino in Los Angeles CA and has interviewed the mother extensively with the interpreters help. The mother has been accused of being poor and not being able to provide for this child. No one has asked the mother to provide evidence of support. She owns a home in Mexico and a store which provides both secure shelter and financial support, not counting the nurturing of a loving family of two other siblings, a grandmother, aunts, uncles and other extended family.

Meanwhile, there is word in the Gulf Coast community that the “parents to be,” have already had a baby shower celebrating the “blessed arrival” of this STOLEN child!

PLEASE MAKE CALLS & WRITE LETTERS DEMANDING THE SAFE RETURN OF BABY & REUNITE WITH HER MOTHER

If you believe this is unjust and outrageous and goes against all moral and religious beliefs and values, please call or write to the presiding Judge and the MS Department of Human Services to STOP this ILLEGAL ADOPTION! Stealing US born babies from immigrant parents is a growing epidemic in the United States. Many Latino parents have lost their children this way!

Honorable Judge Sharon Sigalas
Youth Justice Court of Jackson County
4903 Telephone Rd.
Pascagoula, MS 39567
(228)762-7370

Children’s Justice Act Program
MS Dept. of Human Services
750 North State Street
Jackson, MS 39202
Call (601)359-4499 and ask for Barbara Proctor

For more information please call MIRA at: (601) 968-5182

MIRA Organizing Coordinator
Victoria Cintra at (228) 234-1697 or Organizer Socorro Leos at(228) 731-0831

http://www.nnirr.org/action/index.php?op=read&id=229&type=0

Call To Action: Demand Mississippi Reunite Mother & Baby Daughter!

BFP broke the story into my sphere.
BA sliced my heart, which helped me act:

Poor women shouldn't have anything rich people want.

including children.

PLEASE DO THIS:

Request for Action from the Mississippi Immigrant Rights Alliance (MIRA):

Cirila Baltazar Cruz gave birth to her baby girl in November of 2008 at Singing River Hospital in Pascagoula, MS. She speaks very little Spanish and no English, as her native language is Chatino, an Indigenous language from Oaxaca, Mexico that is spoken by some 50,000 people.

The hospital provided her with an “interpreter” who is from Puerto Rico and does not speak Chatino, the language of the mother. Because of the language barrier and the misunderstanding by the hospital’s interpreter who only spoke Spanish and English, a social worker was called in.

The hospital’s social worker reported “evidence” of abuse and neglect based on the following:

* The “baby was born to an illegal [sic] immigrant;”
* The “mother had not purchased a crib, clothes, food or formula.” (Most Latina mothers breast feed their babies).
* “She does not speak English which puts baby in danger.”

Ms. Baltazar Cruz’s baby was snatched from her after birth at the hospital and given to an affluent attorney couple from the posh Ocean Springs who cannot have children.

The authorities made no effort to locate an interpreter in her native tongue. MIRA located an interpreter who is fluent in Chatino in Los Angeles CA and has interviewed the mother extensively with the interpreters help. The mother has been accused of being poor and not being able to provide for this child. No one has asked the mother to provide evidence of support. She owns a home in Mexico and a store which provides both secure shelter and financial support, not counting the nurturing of a loving family of two other siblings, a grandmother, aunts, uncles and other extended family.

Meanwhile, there is word in the Gulf Coast community that the “parents to be,” have already had a baby shower celebrating the “blessed arrival” of this STOLEN child!

PLEASE MAKE CALLS & WRITE LETTERS DEMANDING THE SAFE RETURN OF BABY & REUNITE WITH HER MOTHER

If you believe this is unjust and outrageous and goes against all moral and religious beliefs and values, please call or write to the presiding Judge and the MS Department of Human Services to STOP this ILLEGAL ADOPTION! Stealing US born babies from immigrant parents is a growing epidemic in the United States. Many Latino parents have lost their children this way!

Honorable Judge Sharon Sigalas
Youth Justice Court of Jackson County
4903 Telephone Rd.
Pascagoula, MS 39567
(228)762-7370

Children’s Justice Act Program
MS Dept. of Human Services
750 North State Street
Jackson, MS 39202
Call (601)359-4499 and ask for Barbara Proctor

For more information please call MIRA at: (601) 968-5182

MIRA Organizing Coordinator
Victoria Cintra at (228) 234-1697 or Organizer Socorro Leos at(228) 731-0831

What I ran into and what I was able to do:

I got forwarded to a voicemail (note--the names on that machine aren't Honorable Judge Sigalas's name--but I was told it's the correct machine) at 228-762-7370 and left a message, rambling as it was, stating reasons I didn't think Ms. Baltazar Cruz's case was abuse or neglect and thought she must be allowed to raise her baby.

Someone asked who was calling for Ms. Proctor at 601-359-4499, and I gave my name but said she wasn't expecting a call. Then I was asked what I was calling about, and I said I wanted to weigh in on the issue of Ms. Baltazar Cruz's baby. She said they'd "already received calls" on that and were "working on" it. At that I asked if I could simply leave a message--that I thought Ms. Baltazar Cruz's baby should be returned to her--and asked if I could have that message taken down. She said okay to that.

Healthcare Organizing Meeting

I'm thinking about hosting one of those "organize for health care" meetings that Barackobama.com keeps sending me e-mail about.

I dunno--it's probably watered-down crap that won't do anything that their packet materials will be about...

...but maybe I could do something w/ it for a Medicare-like public option or single-payer?