Tag Archives: Caribbean

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Animals deserve love and respect too

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                                    Apparently, you can learn a lot about elephants by studying the ‘junk in their trunk’. The one in the back, that is.
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                                    Last Friday morning, the bound and beaten body of Jairo Mora Sandoval, a 26-year-old sea turtle activist in Costa Rica, was found onMoín Beach on the…
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                                    Just as Monsanto announces that it has given up trying to spread genetically modified seeds and plants throughout Europe (which is a huge win for…
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                                    Seven rhinos, their heads bloodied and their horns cut off, were found dead in the last week of May in five wildlife sanctuaries and national parks in…
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                                    When oil spills, responders rush to the scene with a huge toolbox and try to contain, clean up and disperse the oil so it will break down as quickly as…
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CUNY Honors The Internatio​nal Youth Associatio​n (TIYA)


TBI_Header_(1).jpg

The Black Institute’s (TBI) subsidiary organization The International Youth Association (TIYA) will be honored at CUNY’s first annual Murphy Institute Scholarship fundraiser. The Co-Founders Alden Nesbit and Mikhel Crinchlow will participate in a pre-event symposium where they will present their organizing plan for the immigration reform campaign as well as future campaign plans.

CUNYhonorsTIYA1.jpg Thursday, May 16, 2013 Click here to go to the event page.

For years several grassroots black-immigrant rights groups have been advocating for immigration reforms pertaining to Caribbean and African communities including family reunification, a pathway to citizenship for temporary status holders and affordable fines and fees associated with new citizenship. The International Youth Association (TIYA) has been instrumental in organizing the youth effort to be heard in the debate and has called for widespread changes to be made to the current Immigration Reform compromise.

This awards ceremony and symposium is a celebration of TIYA’s work but there is still so much more work to be done. TIYA believes our communities will not thrive under the current compromise because of the DREAM Act provision, backlog and triggers, and the elimination of the Diversity Visa Program. This first attempt at Comprehensive Immigration Reform is a valiant effort. But, it is clear that there is a lot of work ahead. Immigration Reform cannot be comprehensive nor common sense if it is exclusive and unfair.

Goals of The International Youth Association for the Outcome of Comprehensive Immigration Reform:

  • Comprehensive reform of Immigration policy to include protections for recruited immigrant professionals and their children (e,g, an expedited  pathway to Green Card status, a special category that includes recruited professionals from non-STEM disciplines, etc.).
  • Fulfill the promises of citizenship, education and job opportunity to recruited immigrant professionals and their families, including “aged-out” immigrant children.
  • End the criminalization and detention of immigrants, and implement safeguards to protect against racial profiling and ensure due process for all immigrants.
  • Reunite families torn apart by current Immigration policy by expanding benefits to include extended family, and altering the current DACA guidelines to allow children up to the age of 20 to enter the US.
  • Lessen the economic burden caused by current Immigration policy by investing resources and decreasing processing fees.
  • Expand the focus of the Immigration reform discourse to include the needs of Black immigrants and their children, who are often marginalized and ignored. This includes amending the language of the DREAM act to include children of immigrant professionals, and allowing the voices of Black immigrants to be heard.

Please help support our Organizing and Immigration Work. The gift that you give today will help our small but effective staff work to shed light on the issues that plague Black communities; empowering our men, women and children to speak out against injustice, maltreatment, ineffective government, poor public policy, inadequate and inefficient social service programs, and poor working conditions. Any amount you can give will help further our mission.

Please make a tax deductible donation or become a monthly Sustainer TODAY.

The Black Institute http://www.theblackinstitute.org/

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Tell the “Gang of Eight”: Stop the prison-to-​deportatio​n pipeline!


End the criminalization of our communities.boy holding immigrant rights sign

Tell the “Gang Of Eight”: We demand immigration reform that protects the rights of all immigrants.

Add Your Voice

 

In President Obama’s State of the Union address, he expressed his administration’s intention to make immigration a priority. Last month, a bipartisan group of senators known as the “Gang of Eight” rolled out a series of principles to overhaul the immigration system.1 Key among their proposed reforms is a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants as well as an increase in border security protocols.2

On April 10, immigrants’ rights groups from across the country will be joining together for a National Day of Action,3 calling on Congress to create immigration policy that recognizes the hardships and contributions of new Americans and aspiring citizens. With over 11 million undocumented immigrants4 in this country waiting for an answer, the “Gang of Eight” has an opportunity to write immigration reform that responds to the needs of everyone.

In anticipation of such a proposal, the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) has made immigration reform a key focus of this year’s policy agenda.5 The CBC has formed a task force to address what they’re calling the “prison-to-deportation pipeline” and its effects on the Black and brown community.6 They recognize what we already know — we’re stronger together.

Please join us in demanding the “Gang of Eight” write immigration reform that protects the rights of all immigrants. It only takes a moment.

For years, America’s broken immigration system has been focused on detention and deportation largely at the expense of our communities.7,8 While enforcement drives the political conversation around reform, inflammatory rhetoric attempts to pit Black and immigrant communities against each other as if the terms “immigrant” or even “Latino” can never have a Black face. Economic opportunities for Black folks have not grown increasingly scarce because of competition with undocumented immigrants.9 These tired rivalries are played up in divide-and-conquer power politics to distract us from the work of addressing the real causes of skyrocketing Black unemployment, which include a history of being economically exploited, marginalized and discriminated against.10

A focus on border security highlights a fundamental divide in the current immigration conversation. Often absent from immigration reform discussions are the more than three million Black immigrants who comprise nine percent of the U.S. foreign-born population, primarily coming from the Caribbean, North and sub-Saharan Africa.11 For Black immigrants, arrival often looks very different — many come into the country with some form of documentation, typically a visa. If these documents expire, those immigrants remain in the country undetected and without status. Although these crossings are less controversial, they remain fraught. For these immigrants, increased enforcement translates to an increase in racial profiling — a reality that is not lost on the already hyper-criminalized Black community.

Immigration reform that primarily focuses on enforcement through border patrol dragnets and the use of questionable government databases such as “Secure Communities” — a flawed, high-tech way of tracking immigration violators via fingerprint data procured from every interaction a person makes with Homeland Security in their lifetime — violates the basic promises of fairness in our legal system.12,13 Immigration Customs and Enforcement (ICE) has overwhelmingly targeted Black and brown folks through suspect methods that use racial profiling — separating families and continuing a pattern of distrust between our communities and law enforcement.14

Demand the “Gang of Eight” propose immigration legislation that includes a roadmap to citizenship for America’s 11 million undocumented immigrants and seeks to reduce the over-reliance on prisons and detention facilities for enforcement.

The Civil Rights Act of 1964 — one of the greatest pieces of civil rights legislation introduced in this country — ushered in sweeping reforms of U.S. immigration policy through the implementation and signing of the Immigration and Naturalization Act of 1965.15 Prior to this, our laws actively favored immigrants from Northern and Central Europe only. The new law shifted the focus to family reunification, while opening the door to millions of new immigrants from around the world by turning away from race-based quotas and including a provision giving preference to professional skills that were in short supply in the United States. At the time, these reforms were monumental. However, due to the racially-punitive nature of previous immigration policy, a focus on family reunification has created a stratified system where immigration quotas from some countries are higher than others, keeping our communities permanently at the “back of the line.”16

Under President Obama’s tenure, we have seen record-breaking detention and deportations of undocumented immigrants and legal residents swept up under unrealistic deportation quotas for minor traffic offenses, misdemeanors and visa violations.17 Although Black immigrants constitute such a small percentage of the U.S. immigrant population, they are always in the top ten of most-deported foreign nationals and have the highest per capita deportation level of any other racial group.18 Truly just immigration reform must address the inefficiencies in the visa system as well as unrealistic quotas introduced in the family reunification sections of the law.19

Demand immigration reform that ends the criminalization of immigrant communities. And when you do, please ask your friends and family to do the same.

Thanks and Peace,

–Rashad, Arisha, Matt, Aimée, William and the rest of the ColorOfChange.org team    March 29th, 2013

Help support our work. ColorOfChange.org is powered by YOU—your energy and dollars. We take no money from lobbyists or large corporations that don’t share our values, and our tiny staff ensures your contributions go a long way.

References

1. “Who Are the Gang Of 8 in Senate Immigration Debate?” ABC News, 01-30-13 http://act.colorofchange.org/go/2270?t=10&akid=2871.1174326.bvkukF

2. “Fixing the Immigration System for America’s 21st Century Economy,” The White House, 01-29-13 http://act.colorofchange.org/go/2225?t=12&akid=2871.1174326.bvkukF

3. “Wanna Get Involved in the Coming Immigration Reform Fight? Here’s How,” Colorlines, 02-01-13 http://act.colorofchange.org/go/2444?t=14&akid=2871.1174326.bvkukF

4. “11 Million Undocumented Immigrants: What’s Behind This Number,” Huffington Post, 02-13-13 http://act.colorofchange.org/go/2315?t=16&akid=2871.1174326.bvkukF

5. “113th Congress Outlook: CBC Policy Agenda” (.pdf), Congressional Black Caucus, 02-05-13 http://act.colorofchange.org/go/2452?t=18&akid=2871.1174326.bvkukF

6. “Black Lawmakers Demand an End to Prison-to-Deportation Pipeline,” Colorlines, 03-13-13 http://act.colorofchange.org/go/2424?t=20&akid=2871.1174326.bvkukF

7. “Documenting the Undocumented,” Slate, 01-13-13 http://act.colorofchange.org/go/2226?t=22&akid=2871.1174326.bvkukF

8. “Immigration tactics aimed at boosting deportations,” USA Today, 02-17-13 http://act.colorofchange.org/go/2265?t=24&akid=2871.1174326.bvkukF

9. “Blacks and the Immigration Crisis, Pt. 2: ‘Taking All Our Jobs,'” Ebony, 02-25-13 http://act.colorofchange.org/go/2450?t=26&akid=2871.1174326.bvkukF

10. “Organize to Improve the Quality of Jobs in the Black Community,” UC Berkeley Center for Labor Research and Education (.pdf), 05-01-04 http://act.colorofchange.org/go/2273?t=28&akid=2871.1174326.bvkukF

11. “5 Fast Facts About Black Immigrants in the United States,” Center For American Progress, 12-20-12 http://act.colorofchange.org/go/2228?t=30&akid=2871.1174326.bvkukF

12. “Immigration Crackdown Also Snares Americans,” New York Times, 12-13-11 http://act.colorofchange.org/go/2317?t=32&akid=2871.1174326.bvkukF

13. “New Secure Communities Study Reveals Troubling Data,” PBS, 10-19-11 http://act.colorofchange.org/go/2319?t=34&akid=2871.1174326.bvkukF

14. “Racial Profiling, False Arrests, Deportation — The True Face of Federally Mandated ‘Secure Communities,’” Alternet, 07-24-12 http://act.colorofchange.org/go/2291?t=36&akid=2871.1174326.bvkukF

15. “1965 Immigration Law Changed Face of America,” NPR, 05-09-06 http://act.colorofchange.org/go/2264?t=38&akid=2871.1174326.bvkukF

16. “Getting in line for immigration,” Twin Cities Daily Planet, 02-21-13 http://act.colorofchange.org/go/2316?t=40&akid=2871.1174326.bvkukF

17. “Blacks and the Immigration Crisis, Part 1,” Ebony, 02-13-13 http://act.colorofchange.org/go/2327?t=42&akid=2871.1174326.bvkukF

18. See reference 17.

19. “DHS Tells States: We Don’t Need Your Approval for Secure Communities,” Colorlines, 08-09-11 http://act.colorofchange.org/go/2276?t=44&akid=2871.1174326.bvkukF

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Alert: Hurricane adds to misery in Haiti


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In the wake of January’s earthquake and an ongoing cholera outbreak, CARE has joined the people of Haiti this week in shifting attention to a third life-endangering threat: Hurricane Tomas.

In times of crisis, your support is urgently needed. A gift of $25, $50 or anything you can afford today can help us continue to provide our emergency relief and poverty-fighting programs in Haiti and 71 other countries around the world.

The hurricane made landfall in Haiti on Friday morning bringing howling winds and heavy rain that ripped roofs off of buildings, toppled power lines and caused rivers to burst their banks. The resulting floodwaters have swept into the tents and temporary shelters that 1.3 million Haitians call home.

To help Haitians prepare for the storm, CARE swiftly mobilized. We’ve distributed food, water, first aid kits and radios. We’ve also passed out tarps, ropes and building supplies to help people reinforce their dwellings. And we stocked up on emergency supplies to help people after the storm passes.

As you may know, since late October, Haitians have been facing a serious outbreak of cholera. The deadly, waterborne disease has already claimed close to 450 lives and more than 6,700 cases have been reported. The torrential rains of the hurricane will most certainly worsen the epidemic.

Our priorities include making sure there is a supply of clean water for the most vulnerable — those living in camps — and distributing items to help prevent the spread of disease, such as clean water, jerry cans, aqua tabs, soap and hygiene kits.

In the aftermath of the storm, CARE will continue partnering with Haitians to rebuild their country and help empower them to lift themselves, their families and their communities out of poverty.

Our poverty-fighting work doesn’t stop in Haiti. Every single day of the year, CARE is on the ground in the world’s poorest countries. Whether we’re delivering emergency relief or carrying out innovative programs that strike at the root causes of poverty, CARE is there — thanks to the generosity of friends like you.

Please make a tax-deductible gift today to help ensure that we can make a lasting difference in the lives of poor people in Haiti and other countries across the globe.

Thank you for your continued support.

Sincerely,

Helene D. Gayle, MD, MPH
President and CEO, CARE