Librotraficantes Mark Opening of New Latino Cultural Space in Central City

From a press release from friends of the Librotraficantes:

Join the Librotraficantes for an evening of contraband prose at Casa Borrega, 1719 Oretha Castle Haley Boulevard, Friday, November 2, from 7-8:30pm.

Imagine the New Orleans School Board banning African American books. Well, the equivalent of this happened just this year in Tucson where the Latino population is comparable in size to that of the African Americans in New Orleans.

In January 2012 the Tucson Unified School Board banned Mexican American ethnic studies. This means no history, prose, fiction or other forms of Mexican American culture can be taught in the schools.  This includes classics like Bless Me Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya and The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros. This anti-constitutional book ban is part of a curriculum change to avoid “biased, political and emotionally charged” teaching. In response to this law, the Librotraficante Caravan to Smuggle Banned Books Back to Tucson grew and blossomed into a movement. In March of 2012, the group organized six cities, smuggled over 1,000 “wet-books” donated from all over the country, and opened four Under Ground Libraries.

According to their website, “The Librotraficante movement is the tip of the pyramid. It stands on the base created by its parent organization Nuestra Palabra: Latino Writers Having Their Say. Nuestra Palabra has been promoting Latino literature and literacy in Houston, Texas since 1998. “

The original Librotraficante and founder of Nuestra Puebla is professor and writer Tony Diaz, the author of novel The Aztec Love God, which was selected as the 1998 Nilon Award for Excellence in Minority Fiction. Ishmael Reed called Diaz “Relentlessly brilliant.”  Diaz has just completed his second novel The Children of the Locust Tree.

According to the New York Times, “Mr. Diaz is the impresario behind an inspiring act of indignation and cultural pride.”  Tony explains, “My first job as a child was to translate the outside world for my parents. Now, I translate our culture for the rest of the world.”

Tony and fellow Librotraficantes Liana Lopez and Bryan Parras are travelling the country to raise awareness sharing their mind altering prose, news, and writing-before it is confiscated.

With its growing Latino population, Greater New Orleans has been desperately in need of a gathering place to celebrate the cultural life of this important ethnic group. Casa Borrega intends to fill the gap, and this event serves as a sneak preview for the venue, which will open later this year.

Casa Borrega will have an altar installed to celebrate Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead).

Coalition of Black and Latina Women, Women from Arizona, Demand Sheriff Stop Submitting to Immigration Hold Requests

From our friends at the Congress of Day Laborers:

A delegation of undocumented women from Arizona will join local immigrants and civil rights leaders from Women United for Justice, in demanding that Sheriff Gusman stop holding undocumented immigrants for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The visit will happen Thursday, August 9, at 1:30pm at the office of Sheriff Marlin Gusman, 819 South Broad Street.

The delegation is part of Women United for Justice, a group of New Orlean women of all races and backgrounds organizing against over-incarceration and deportation of communities, families, and children. They will join an Arizona delegation, part of the ‘No Papers No Fear Ride for Justice,’ a group of undocumented immigrants traveling across the south working for immigrant rights. They will bring the example of Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s notorious treatment of undocumented immigrants, and ask Sheriff Marlin Gusman to stand on the right side of history.

The delegation includes undocumented women from Arizona, part of the ‘No Papers No Fear’ Ride for Justice, a journey that began in Phoenix, Arizona on July 29th; Deliny Palencia, member of the Congress of Day Laborers and local leader who was unconstitutionally held by the Sheriff’s department; Latoya Lewis, organizer with Stand with Dignity, New Orleans.

The Sheriff’s submission to immigration hold requests has led to numerous, grave, constitutional violations and a deterioration of trust between the immigrant community and local authorities. The Sheriff could follow in the footsteps of Cook County, Washington D.C. and the state of Connecticut, and no longer use city resources to divide families and deteriorate civil rights. This is an opportunity for the Sheriff to hear how people in Arizona have been affected by implementation of similar policies, and to chose to be on the right side of history.

Actions by undocumented students, such as coming out of the shadows events and civil disobedience actions, have demonstrated the power and results of communities acting and speaking for themselves. The riders are undocumented people  from all over the country and their allies, including mothers, fathers, day laborers, people in deportation proceedings, students, and many others who continue to face threats of deportation, harassment, and death while simply looking for a better life in the only nation many of them know and call home.

More information on the No Papers No Fear Ride for Justice is at www.nopapersnofear.org.

New Orleans Workers Stand in Solidarity With People of Arizona

In recent weeks, the New Orleans' Workers Center for Racial Justice has been sending activists from their organization to Arizona to document and stand in solidarity with the grassroots immigrants' rights movement in that state. Since the passage of SB 1070, the notorious Arizona law that legalizes racial profiling, Arizona legislators have also passed laws that ban ethnic studies and attack teachers based on perceived accents. In short, they are creating an atmosphere that is unsafe and unlivable for many, and it is time to fight back.

On Mother's Day, a delegation of national feminists and labor leaders, journalists and organizers - including several folks from the New Orleans Workers Center - went to Arizona to record the experiences of women and children in the wake of this bill.

According to a recent report from the Workers Center, "The testimonies we heard make clear in vivid and haunting detail that SB 1070 constitutes a violation of principles we hold dear. The draconian legislation has paved the way for assaults on basic human rights and has created an environment in which violence against women and children - physical, spiritual and legal - has been state-sanctioned. Recognizing these issues are relevant across ethnic and immigrant communities, the national outrage at the passage of this bill has catalyzed a movement for immigrant rights."

New Orleanians who had been to Arizona came to a reportback on Saturday, May 22, at First Grace United Methodist Church in Midcity. More than a hundred members and staff of the Workers Center and their allies, including representatives from STAND for Dignity, the Congress of Day Laborers, and Safe Streets Strong Communities, came out to the event. Black and Latino New Orleanians in attendance drew links between the racial profiling faced by African Americans here with that faced by Latinos in Arizona, and spoke of the importance of uniting and struggling together for justice everywhere.

As a next step, members of the Workers Center are planning to send a large delegation to Arizona for this weekend's mass protests and National Day of Action to Stop the Criminalization of Our Communities. Thousands of people concerned about justice from around the US as well as tens of thousands of Arizonans are expected to take to the streets for the massive protest in Arizona's capitol.

Similar legislation to SB 1070 has recently been introduced in 13 other states. This is an important time for us all to stand up and be counted.