A year after refusing to hand herself over to U.S. authorities Elvira Arellano, a Mexican-born woman working illegally in Chicago was arrested and deported to her native country. At the center of the controversy was Ms. Arellano’s unwillingness to part ways with her eight-year old son Saul who was born in the U.S. The case heightened awareness around immigration, specifically the impact on immigrant families with U.S. born children who because of their age are unable to claim their parents for citizenship. Last August Mrs. Arellano defied the INS authorities by taking refuge with her son at a local church in Chicago shortly after losing her job as a custodian at O’ Hare International Airport. Her case was significant in that it provided us with a very human and emotional lens by which to grapple with immigration. I, myself came here as an immigrant, at a very young age and that experience has forever framed the way I look at my surrounding environment. Hopefully her son will have a supportive network and use this experience as he matures and negotiates his political identity within this nation.

-vee bravo

Full Story:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6954639.stm

From the New York Times (my comments below)

Not for nothing but Jeff Ross killed it. People got open on Snoop and Ice T cause comedy isn’t their thing and they held it down, but truth be told Ross was in it to win it. It’s crass humor, but it’s funny ass hell…. “Starving children send YOU 50 cents a day!”
-vee ski

Just finished watching a documentary entitled “The Filth and the Fury” which chronicles the band’s rise to immortality. I gotta say, for all the knocks on Johnny Rotten, my man was one intelligent, ferocious, working class motherfucker, if there ever was one. He valued honest music, and to accomplish that within the UK’s neo-fascist society of the 70s, he created what we now refer to as the “underground”. And not to be cool and dress the part of a teenager looking for acceptance. Not at all. It was a communal refuge for London’s working class kids which quickly morphed into the Punk Rock scene. As the frontman of the band eloquently states: “We weren’t trying to be cool, we were fed up…and the reason why we wore bobby pins in our pants was because we couldn’t afford new jeans, so we held the one pair we owned with the bloody fucking pin!” Watch the doc and you’ll see them take on the Queen of England, get kicked off their label, and go on tour for striking factory workers. The sex, drugs, and murder are also in there, but the gem of this doc lies in the little know facts about the band’s political dealings with the recording industry, the media, and ultimately, themselves.

vee bravo

I know this is late in coming, I was away in South America for a few weeks. But it was strange to be chilling in Chile and seeing people's response to Obama's remarks about attacking Pakistan with or without their permission. Chileans, who have endured their own history with war mongering dictators were amazed with Obama's fiery position. A handful of people asked me: "Why do black people want to invade other colored nations? After explaining the to them the particulars about racial and class dimensions in the U.S. they still seemed perplexed that a representative who had benefited from the civil rights struggle would give himself the power to attack less powerful nations with even less powerful colored folks. It was a moment to dwell in…