Day 3 of the week of action, much more to come

Hey Everyone,

Sorry we haven't been able to add much content today, its been a busy day with great actions and events across the country today, we hope to shortly be able to bring you updates on work that students - whether they be grad students trying to organize and get paid fairly for their work, campus students fighting for living wages for all campus workers, or students and workers fighting for fair contracts on their campuses- are doing to continue the legacy and dream of Dr. King and Cesar. E Chavez.

While we were out, here's what we saw this morning when we came in:

• 1. Over at Wichita State, great piece on their events yesterday dealing with the modern day slavery and horrible working conditions in the fields of Florida, to which a campus republican responded by saying:

  "that world markets should dictate how much money tomato pickers should receive. He feels that they should be paid only what the market determines their effort is worth."
  

If this is the same market that is in a crisis right now because it let greed and profit be its guide? The same market that has ALWAYS thought of people as a commodity? I don't think I want to give my morals or voice over to that market, but go on right ahead if you would like to, this is a free country. (no thanks to you saps who WOULD give up your freedom so easily)

• Thanks to the folks at "Labor Blog" for sharing what we have going on this week with the readers!
• Once again, thanks to the wonderful folks at the AFL-CIO Weblog who keep on sharing information on the week of action with their membership on the wide array of work happening and ways for folks to take action online
  
• Check out this piece out of NM on their Cesar Chavez March over the weekend
  

Speaking of Cesar E. Chavez, did you know there is a national effort to make March 31st a National Holiday in recognition of the great work he did? Check out this video we found over at the People's Weekly World by the leadership of the Communist Party USA titled "What does Cesar Chavez Mean to You?" (thanks for the shout out on the WoA!)



Sign the petition to make this a national holiday over at the UFW site

More to come soon!

cej

A real "April Fool"

On this April 1st, we would like to take a moment to call out one of the bigger "fools" who is spreading lies and misinformation on Affirmative Action across the country. We'd also like to share some of the amazing work students are doing in which they are "taking affirmative action" on their campuses and communities by doing events, actions, teach-ins, and a slew of other events to spread the truth on affirmative action.

So who are we talking about? None other than California's own, Ward Connerly. Recent reports indicate that California businessman Ward Connerly is attempting to qualify for the November 2008 ballot, anti-affirmative action initiatives in Arizona, Colorado, Missouri, Nebraska, and Oklahoma.

Well, he's got one hell of a fight in front of him if these folks have anything to say about it

Connerly, who on Wednesday traveled to Jefferson City to build support among lawmakers for what is known as the Missouri Civil Rights Initiative, spoke for nearly two hours before a largely hostile audience that frequently jeered, interrupted and laughed at some of his more contentious statements.

Already they are giving Ward a run for his money (and he's got plenty of it, being funded by extremist nuts and all), but we need your help spreading the word and donating if you can (unlike Ward, our people powered movement is not made of money) because with the proper resources, our heart(and the truth, of course) can and will trump their greed any day!

Sadly, Ward doesn't care about the negative effects that his life's work is having on universities.
From the Nation:

Jarring statistics about UCLA's freshman class this year testify to Prop 209's devastating impact on diversity in higher education. Only 100 African-Americans enrolled--2 percent of the 4,802 total and twenty-five fewer than last year. Twenty of those 100 were recruited athletes. This year's number is the lowest in more than thirty years--particularly troubling considering that the percentage of African-American applicants who meet minimum requirements to be considered eligible for admission to the University of California system has risen steadily in the past decade.

So what's it going to be? Are we going to try to pretend that we've made it to the "other side" of the mountain and are now living in a color-blind society, or are we going to do what's made this nation great, strap our boots on, and fight like hell to ensure that the institutions and systems around us reflect the society we all wish to see and live in?

Message on Solidarity

From the national M.E.Ch.A. conference and site, check out Student Labor Action Project (SLAP) coordinator Carlos Jimenez giving a talk on solidarity and change in 08....



Let's keep building our movement for change,

cej

Farmworker Awareness Week & other news

In case you'd missed it, this week is also "Farmworker Awareness Week", which is:

"a nation-wide week of action for students and community members to raise awareness about farmworker issues on their campuses and in their communities."

Did you know that:

The Bush Administration has proposed extensive and devastating changes to the H-2A program. These changes would drastically lower wages, labor protections, and housing standards for farmworkers, severely limit the ability of U.S. workers to obtain employment with H-2A employers, and limit the oversight and enforcement of the few protections that remain.

Learn more and take action at the wonderful folks at Farmworker Justice's page.


Also check out this article on Farmworker Awareness Week in the GristMill (Seattle), more from the great kick off event friday night in Philly, and if you hadn't heard of the 100 workers who are fighting for their livelihoods and marching from New Orleans to DC, read about it here!

A thought on race and intolerance.....

You all seen this video yet?



What was Lou going to say? Probably going to go into one of his not so subtle rants full of hate with a light touch of racism for the masses....


You know what, this is exactly what's wrong with America today when it comes to race and a slew of other issues, everything is about "ME". The whole issue of race, goes the logic, is moot because "I'm cool" and have grown beyond race....

Here's the thing folks, and for all of us that will someday find, or have found, ourselves on the other side of a coin with more privilege, ITS NOT ABOUT YOU! PERIOD. (well, unless you're a sexist, racist, or any other form of loser, then it is about you)

But let's stop, because its not me making up these next statistics....

• The national incarceration rate for whites is 412 per 100,000 residents, compared to 2,290for African Americans, and 742 for Hispanics.9 These figures mean that 2.3% of all African Americans are incarcerated, compared to 0.4% of whites and 0.7% of Hispanics. (Sentencing Project) (If current trends continue, 1 0f every 3 black babies born today can expect to go through the criminal system, 1 IN 3!!!!)
  
• In Education, of current 16-24 yr. old students, a total of 9.4 % are expected to drop out. People, that's horrible. To make it worst, Hispanics are expected to dropout at an astounding 22% and black students are expected to drop out at slightly above 10%

So the thing is, even if you are "cool" and with it, and even if the whole issue of race isn't "about you", what is your enlightened and "cool" self going to do about this and the fact that race is still an issue in this country.

If, as Lou Dobbs seems to believe, we have indeed reached a point where we want to claim that race isn't an issue in this country, then it is our responsibility and our moral obligation to ensure that there are no systematic traces of racism, sexism, or any other form of intolerance in the institutions we have built. You may disagree, but I think there's work to be done.

More on this later....

cej