GREETINGS FELLOW DEMOCRATS!





Rep. Chet Edwards to speak on Campus at the Annenburg Center.

Friday, November 30, 2007 at 5:00.
Two hundred Tickets are available at KBTX, WTAW, Visitors and Convention Bureau, MSC Box Office, The Eagle. They are free. First come, First serve.

For more info call Phil at 691-8797.





Will Black Voting Rights Expire in 2007?

Netlore Archive: False email rumor claims that the right of African Americans to vote is set to expire in 2007 along with the Voting Rights Act of 1965

Another Internet hoax made headlines recently as the media got wind of the reaction among black Americans to a widely-forwarded email message claiming that their voting rights will vanish in the year 2007. Similar rumors have circulated since the mid-1990s.

The message currently raising concerns reads as follows:


PLEASE PASS THIS ON TO AS MANY PEOPLE AS YOU CAN!!!!

We are quickly approaching the 21st Century and I was wondering if anyone out there knew what the significance of the year 2007 is to Black America? Did you know that our right to vote will expire in the year 2007? Seriously! The Voters Rights Act signed in 1965 by Lyndon B. Johnson was just an ACT.

It was not made a law. In 1982 Ronald Reagan amended the Voters Rights Act for only another 25 years. Which means that in the year 2007 we could lose the right to vote!

Does anyone realize that Blacks/African Americans are the only group of people who still require PERMISSION under the United States Constitution to vote?!

In the year 2007 Congress will once again convene to decide whether or not Blacks should retain the right to vote (crazy, but true). In order for this to be passed, 38 states will have to approve an extension.

In my opinion and many others, this is ludicrous! Not only should the extension be approved, but ... this Act must be made a law. Our right to vote should no longer be up for discussion, review and/or evaluation.

We must contact our Congress persons, Senators, Alderpersons, etc., to put a stop to this! As bona fide citizens of the United States, we cannot "drop the ball" on this one!

We have come too far to let government make us take such a huge step backward. So please, let us push forward to continue to build the momentum towards gaining equality. Please pass this onto others, as I am sure that many more individuals are not aware of this.

[ READ FULL TEXT ]

NOTE: A latter-day version of this message attributes authorship to Camille Cosby, wife of comedian Bill Cosby. She did not write it.


The kernel of truth in the text is that the Voting Rights Act of 1965 is indeed set to expire unless it is renewed by Congress before 2007. The rest of it is false. The basic right of all American citizens to vote, regardless of race, is guaranteed in the Bill of Rights and can't expire with the Voting Rights Act.

The NAACP addressed this issue in a statement quoted in the November 19, 1998 issue of the Internet Tourbus:

African American voting rights were granted by the Fifteenth Amendment, which was passed immediately after the Civil War. Expiration of the Voting Rights Act will not terminate the rights granted under the Fifteenth Amendment.

The U.S. Department of Justice concurs. In its "Voting Rights Act Clarification" dated April 2, 1998, it states:

The basic prohibition against discrimination in voting contained in the Fifteenth amendment and in the Voting Rights Act does not expire in 2007 — it does not expire at all; it is permanent.

The confusion arises from the apparent assumption that it's the Voting Rights Act alone which guarantees suffrage to minorities. In reality, all the Act does is keep in place a set of so-called "extraordinary remedies" meant to enforce the Fifteenth Amendment at state and local levels, where, in defiance of federal law, obstacles to the voting rights of black people were still in place in some parts of the country as of the early 1960s. These remedies, designed specifically to address problems that existed at the time, were never meant to be permanent, which is why the Voting Rights Act comes up for renewal every 25 years.

It's difficult to determine exactly where and when the rumor that African Americans' voting rights will expire in 2007 got started, though Internet discussions of the topic in 1997 made reference to the issue being raised on Tom Joyner's radio talk show. One Usenet posting dated January 21, 1997 is clearly a precursor of the text now circulating.

"I'd say we have gotten hundreds of calls on this over the past two years," South Carolina Representative James Clyburn of told reporters this week. "It's frustrating dealing with this hoax."

And I thought I was the only one who had days like that.





What Are Environmental Habitats Good For? Bush says: Fences

By Grace Stevens
Wed, 11/21/2007 - 5:00pm

In the spirit of the holiday season, the Bush administration is fast-tracking the divisive fence on the U.S.-Mexico border by overriding environmental review for the land used and altering the wildlife habitat to a devastating degree.

Michael Chertoff, Homeland Security Secretary, allowed the exemptions to complete the fence in a timelier manner.

The fences require 50 feet of land to be cleared during the process. Some wildlife activists claim the fence will alter the habitat for indigenous plants and animals that federal money has preserved for years.

The fast-tracking by Homeland Security appears to fall in the category of act first, and then the American people will have a harder time to re-trace the political steps to remove a fence many don’t care for in the first place.

The political ramifications will be detrimental to any administration that tries to remove the costly fence after it has been put into place; therefore, the current administration appears to win in the debate by not allowing other departments to participate and once again changing the rules to fit the plan.





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Students, Friends, and Colleagues,

Saludos (hellos) from Mexico. Wanted to share a little bit of what I’ve been up to. The amount of suffering that many in the immigrant community are enduring in the U.S. right now cannot be over-stated. So I truly believe that these are great developments for immigrant leadership and immigrants, generally (see article below). I already got some hate mail about this so that’s a good sign that I’m doing the right thing.

And the economy continues to suffer, making things harder for folks here in Mexico. When you live in Mexico, poverty is very personal. People literally come to your home, begging for work, money, or both. You know never to leave your home without small bills or pocket change because you come to recognize and know those begging for food.

I daily observe prayers and open expressions of faith and gratitude even among vendors whose existence is also precarious. It’s all very touching and frequently frustrating to witness the level of suffering in a state that is not only wealthier (especially in the urban areas) than southern states like Oaxaca and Chiapas, but which has also disproportionately reaped the benefits of free trade.

The minimum wage here (one measure) is around 50 pesos a day, around $4.50 dollars. This may buy you a block of cheese and a kilo of tortillas, and some fruit. Check out this 4-page report <http://americas.irc-online.org/pdf/reports/0711nafta-eng.pdf> titled "NAFTA Inequality and Immigration" written by Laura Carlsen, October 31, 2007, of the Americas Policy Program. Other really informative articles can be obtained here <http://americas.irc-online.org/amindex/lapol/> as well.

The flooding in Tabasco was ruinous, completely inundating the capital city of Villahermosa and parts of Chiapas, a neighboring state. The similarities to New Orleans are striking. The differences, as well. Recovery for a poor country like Mexico is a much more challenging endeavor. This devastation portends ever more immigration.

As my cousin who lives near Guadalajara commented, “The ferocity of U.S. immigration policy is in chronic competition with the ferocity of hunger and need. And against that, there is no match.”

Guanajauto is treating our family very well. Learning a lot. Hope all is well with you and yours.

-Angela

P.S. I’m still maintaining my education blog <http://texasedequity.blogspot.com/>
with the help of my graduate student, Patricia Lopez, but am also developing a blog on Immigration, Education, and Globalization that you may find at: http://usmexico.blogspot.com/





Renewed focus on Mexican immigrants living in U.S.

By Dr. Angela Valenzuela
http://www.riograndeguardian.com/breakingnews.asp

MEXICO CITY, November 19 - This has been a momentous week for Mexican immigrants living in the United States. Two separate, high-profile, meetings took place with U.S.-immigrant leadership in Mexico in order to develop policy in response to the raids, mass deportations of Mexican nationals, and U.S. immigration policy, in general.

The first involved a meeting of advisors (“consejeros”) to the Institute of Mexicans Abroad (Instituto de los Mexicanos en el Exterior or IME), which is a federal agency within the Department of Foreign Relations and the second, a Congressionally-sponsored convening of approximately 600 immigrant leaders representing numerous associations of immigrants living throughout the U.S. and Canada.

In both meetings, immigrant leaders particularly called for an energetic response by the Mexican government to comprehensively address the surging humanitarian crisis borne by thousands of individuals whose lives have been traumatized by the current wave of mass deportations. Their litany of concerns included human and civil rights violations like warrantless home invasions, increasing numbers of border deaths, ineffective consulate offices, lengthy detentions together with familial separation and a loss of contact with relatives, and resulting economic and psychological hardship for the repatriated deportees, many of whom are children.

In both meetings, immigrant leaders called for funds to pay for legal assistance, including the establishment of an anti-defamation league whose first action will be to demand punishments for defamation and libel. Alonso Flores, President of the IME’s Commission for Media Dissemination, expressed the following in Spanish to “La Opinion,” a leading Mexican newspaper: “It’s nothing new: the Jews have done this, the African Americans and gays, and we had not done this. But enough is enough. They call us thieves, ignorant, useless and that we represent a public ‘charge.’ It’s not true. We give them our best.”

In his address to the 100 members of the IME, President Felipe Calderón expressed the government’s obligation to promote public policies that promote quality of life for immigrants abroad. Calderón further informed the group of his approval of next year’s budget. He said it reflects the government’s dedication to addressing the migration problem by including 163 million pesos for Mexican consulates and 670 million pesos for consular services.

Another measure is a federal-level campaign intended to sensitize North American citizens about the success stories, as well as social and economic contributions that Mexicans have made to the U.S. A highlight of his address that drew a standing ovation from the audience was when Calderón unveiled an initiative to create help centers close to the border for repatriates, particularly for children. In Spanish, Calderón stated: “My government will not rest until we have achieved full recognition and respect for the rights of Mexicans in the exterior.”

Undoubtedly, the most significant event of the week was the convening of approximately 600 immigrant leaders in the Mexican House of Representatives in order to form the “Primer Parlamento de Líderes Migrantes en Estados Unidos” (First Parliament of Migrant Leaders in the United States) that consists of immigrant leadership in Mexico, the U.S., and Canada. An organizing committee comprised of delegates from throughout the U.S. was formed and its first task is to plan a constitutional assembly that will take place within the U.S. This parliament is a permanent, non-partisan, bi-national, independent body that will develop policies and lobby for the rights of Mexican immigrants before Congress in both the U.S. and Mexico.

Drawing loud applause from audience members, members of Mexico’s Congress announced a new development, namely, to modify the Mexican Constitution in order to create a Secretary of State focused on attending to the needs of migrants and their families.

In response to the expressed allegation by Representative Dolores González of the Partido Acción Nacional (PAN) that the government sponsorship of this event was really a partisan ploy by the Partido de la Revolución Democrático (PRD) —Mexico’s anti- Calderón, leftist party to violate the sovereignty of U.S. immigration law—PRD Congressman José Jacques Medina flatly rejected this claim.

In Spanish, he told the audience: “They’re telling us here that this is a forced birth, hog-tied, and partisan, that 70 or 80 percent of you are partisan, that you belong to the PRD, PAN o PRI (Partido Revolucionario Institucional). There is nothing that [these parties] can do in U.S. territory. But a party created in defense of our nationality, a party called ‘Mexico,’ is what we are trying to create here. This congress is creating that party.” In response, the crowd cheered: “Sin-fron-teras / sin-fron-teras” (“No borders”) and “sí-se-pudo / sí-se-pudo” (“yes, we could”).

With a thusly empowered and legitimated Mexican immigrant leadership, an internationalization of the struggle for immigrants’ human rights has begun.

Dr. Angela Valenzuela is Associate Vice President for University Partnerships within the Office of Diversity and Community Engagement at the University of Texas at Austin where she also teaches in the Departments of Curriculum and Instruction and Educational Administration.

Valenzuela is currently a Fulbright García Robles Scholar with an affiliation at the University of Guanajuato where she is also teaching and developing a blog on U.S.-Mexico relations http://usmexico.blogspot.com/. She is currently conducting research in the intersecting areas of immigration, human rights, and binational relations between the U.S. and Mexico.


© Copyright of the Vox Veritas Corporation dba Rio Grande Guardian, www.riograndeguardian.com;
Melinda Barrera, President, 2007. All rights reserved.





Brazos County Democratic Party
P.O. Box 4568
Bryan Texas 77805
979-779-5600 Fax 979-779-5601

America was not built on fear. America was built on courage, on imagination and an unbeatable determination to do the job at hand.
Harry S. Truman, Democrat, President of the United States of America