tag:newamericamedia.org,2009-04-06://19 2012-02-09T23:18:12Z New America Media is a nationwide association of over 3000 ethnic media organizations representing the development of a more inclusive journalism. Founded in 1996 by Pacific News Service, New America Media promotes ethnic media by strengthening the editorial and economic viability of this increasingly influential segment of America's communications industry. tag:newamericamedia.org,2012://19.8565 2012-02-10T09:00:00Z 2012-02-09T23:18:12Z

Karl Marx, the Father of Communism (Marxism), would be blushing if he could come up from Hell and look at what the United States Department of Education is trying to pull off on the American public.The power grab began when...

Harry C. Alford ]]> http://publisher.namx.org/mt-cp.cgi?__mode=view&blog_id=19&id=103
The power grab began when the economic downturn hit us. The provider of college student loans, SallieMae, was a victim like many other institutions. Like a “duck on a June bug” the federal government pounced on it. It wasn’t long before the DOE became the owner of SallieMae, shut it down permanently and took total control of student lending. It was the beginning of the end for student lending as we know it.

With its new found power, it initiated the “Gainful Employment Rule.” This rule, which is a way around actual Congressional legislation, would calculate loan pay back ratios against students of particular schools. If the formula was substandard than that particular school would no longer be allowed student financing. Thus, a school not meeting the requirement would be destined to destruction.

The formula was “cooked” to go against for-profit schools such as Kaplan, University of Phoenix, DeVry, etc. What is noticeable is the fact that these schools graduate the lion’s share of minority students – particularly African-American students. Obviously, this rule will deliver a deathly blow to the futures of millions of African-American students and so, we cried foul! The DOE didn’t care and pursued this vicious plot.

We caught the attention of Congress, particularly the Congressional Black Caucus. They politely approached the White House. Even liberal groups such as Operation Push voiced much concern. Noticing the attention, the DOE decided to publish a “study.” The saying “figures don’t lie but liars figure” applies here. They actually had the audacity to present to Congress and the public a study that claimed there would be no disproportionate impact on minorities resulting from the implementation of the Gainful Employment Rule.

Oh, what a lie! It took a formal lawsuit by the Association of Private Sector Colleges and Universities to get to the truth. It was proven in court that the so-called study by DOE omitted African-American students from its calculation. Can you believe it? They were looking for impact on minorities but excluded any information about African-American students. It was a total deceit.

Keep in mind that as this rule is written, 93 percent of our historically Black colleges and universities (HBCU’s) also will no longer qualify for student loans from the federal government. What will happen to them? The power hungry DOE would shut down their legacies and merge them into state university systems. Our college tradition will be gone forever. Black folk, I think you need to pay more attention to this.

There is another thing this “freight train” is trying to do. They are encouraging state legislatures, such as Indiana and others, to no longer have a licensing system for barber and beauty schools. Why? They want to take the entrepreneurship out of this industry.

So many of our youth are given a second chance by going to barber college or beauty school and getting a license to open up their own shop and earn an honest living. Many times it is the only way an ex-offender can get a professional license. By doing this, it would kill all of these schools. Then, the giant DOE can start producing barbers and beauticians through their federally funded community schools. It would kill a longstanding and prosperous way of life within our communities.

The above is all about “Europeanizing” our educational system. Before long, they will be deciding what African-American youth ought to do with their future. They will reserve college space for their chosen ones (including African-American bourgeoisie) and for the common folk they will slot in particular spaces and crafts. They will choose what a youth is going to do at an early age, not what the youth dreams of doing or what his parents encourage him/her to become. They will be sent to culinary schools, hospitality fields, machinists and blue collar activities.

Freedom of choice, entrepreneurship and living the American dream will soon fade away if we let these zealots have their way. America, it is time to “dig in” and fight back. Don’t let them destroy our way of life.

Harry C. Alford is the co-founder, president/CEO of the National Black Chamber of Commerce®. Website: www.nationalbcc.org. Email: halford@nationalbcc.org.

]]> tag:newamericamedia.org,2012://19.8528 2012-02-06T18:05:00Z 2012-02-06T18:35:22Z

The participation of the Los Angeles Latino community in the process of redistricting has been extremely low. The absence of their voice either through private channels or public hearings will have long-term negative repercussions over the next 10 years.The Redistricting...

Staff ]]> http://publisher.namx.org/mt-cp.cgi?__mode=view&blog_id=19&id=103
The Redistricting Commission that is in charge of redrawing the political landscape of Los Angeles to reflect demographic changes that have taken place in the past decade has now released the borders of the map. It is now the public's turn to make its opinions heard so that needed corrections will be made in the final map.

The danger is that the current draft doesn't reflect the growth of the Latino community, which today is close to half of the city's population, yet, only five of 15 districts are represented by Latino council members.

The new map holds the possibility of creating a sixth Latino-majority district. The problem is Latinos don't seem to support the idea.

The absence of Latinos at previous commission public hearings was startling whereas the participation of other groups with interests in the new map – be they ethnic or geographic groups or especially neighborhood councils - was very active.

It is possible that this pattern of absence of Latinos could continue into the new round of public hearings. That would be completely inacceptable.

There are many Los Angeles-based organizations that advocate for the interests of Latinos, whether they are voters, documented or undocumented immigrants, business people, workers, the unemployed, or women and children. What they hold in common is that they all are residents of this city.

This is why we must ask, why aren't the many pro-Latino organizations that thrive in Los Angeles participating in the redistricting process, giving voice to a geographic priority that should unite them across the broad range of important causes they fight for on a daily basis.

One of the most repeated comments made by our readers is about the disunity among the Latino community. In many cases, the idea of unity is more of an ideal than a reality given the very real differences that exist in such a diverse community. Other times, it is individual egos that get in the way.

Political power for Latinos is the way for the concerns of our community to be heard and solutions sought for these problems. It should be a goal in common for us all.

Start participating in the process by attending one of the hearings or use the Internet to make your opinions heard.


]]> tag:newamericamedia.org,2012://19.8483 2012-01-31T00:13:38Z 2012-01-31T01:01:49Z

The African American community in Dallas has been protesting a gas station run by a Korean-born U.S. citizen in a predominately black neighborhood in South Dallas for over a month, taking issue with what they claim were racial remarks by...

Gwang-lip Moon ]]> http://publisher.namx.org/mt-cp.cgi?__mode=view&blog_id=19&id=103 The African American community in Dallas has been protesting a gas station run by a Korean-born U.S. citizen in a predominately black neighborhood in South Dallas for over a month, taking issue with what they claim were racial remarks by the station’s owner.

The Korean government dispatched the consul general of the Korean Consulate General in Houston to the area yesterday to help resolve the issue, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

“We made emergent contact with the Korean community, requesting that its members restrain from an emotional response and examine their relationship with other communities,” an official of the ministry said.

According to the ministry and the local Korean community, the conflict occurred on Dec. 9, 2011, between the Korean-American owner of a gas station in southern Dallas and a black customer over the sale of gas.

The customer, complaining that the price of gas at the station was much higher than at other stations, demanded he be able to buy gas by smaller amounts than what the owner set as the minimum sales unit. The owner refused and told him to go to another station, to which the customer responded by telling the owner to go back to his country. The owner responded by telling the customer to go back to Africa.

That triggered a boycott of the gas station by the black community in the region, followed by them speaking out against Korean and other Asian immigrant communities.

The Los Angeles branch of the JoongAng Ilbo reported that leaders from the black community in the region also requested cooperation from the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), and the Nation of Islam.

The tensions are of concern to the Korean community in the U.S., with fears that the case may develop into a replay of the massive anti-Korean riot by African Americans in Los Angeles, which marks its 20th anniversary in April. The official of the ministry said the risk that this will happen remains slim so far, saying that the actions taken by the black community remain civil.

“It is also a conflict between U.S. citizens, so there is not much that we can do because it could be seen as inappropriately intervening,” the official said.

The Korean community in the U.S. said that the case reflects the underlying conflict between the two communities.

“We see the fundamental causes lie in the exclusivity of the Korean community, which is stingy in sharing with others, as well as the black community’s relative sense that the Korean community is depriving them of opportunities,” a member of the Korean community in the U.S. told the JoongAng Ilbo’s Los Angeles bureau.
]]> tag:newamericamedia.org,2012://19.8463 2012-01-27T21:10:23Z 2012-01-27T21:18:16Z

Stepping into the position as CEO of NBA China seven months ago, David Shoemaker could never have predicted just how quickly basketball in China was about to change.On July 1, exactly one month after starting the job, the dispute between...

Todd Balazovic ]]> http://publisher.namx.org/mt-cp.cgi?__mode=view&blog_id=19&id=103 Stepping into the position as CEO of NBA China seven months ago, David Shoemaker could never have predicted just how quickly basketball in China was about to change.

On July 1, exactly one month after starting the job, the dispute between the NBA and its players over salary caps reached a breaking point, resulting in a lockout that resulted in Shoemaker's debut season being cut in half.

One week later China's basketball superstar Yao Ming, who played a critical role in drawing in many of China's 37 million strong NBA viewers, announced he was retiring from the court after an awe-inspiring 10-year career.

Now, as the delayed 2011 season begins, players such as J. R. Smith and Kenyon Martin, who signed to play with the Chinese Basketball Association during the lockout, find themselves in a difficult position, wishing to return to the NBA but under full-year contracts in China.

It has been a busy few months for Shoemaker.

But despite rocky waters, the 39-year-old Ottawa native continues driving the NBA's decade-long China hot streak, getting back to the sport's grassroots and continuing the search for China's next Yao Ming.

"What I find so fascinating about this role is that no single day repeats itself," Shoemaker told China Daily in an interview on the 19th-floor of the NBA's Beijing headquarters, overlooking the central business district.

"The experiences are so varied because the business runs the gamut, whether it's dealing with sponsors one day or the government the next day."

And Shoemaker is no stranger to the everyday challenges of running a sports franchise in China.

He was introduced to the rigors of China's sports industry in 2005 when, working with the Women's Tennis Association, he began traveling east to promote the sport at a time when Li Na had yet to popularize it.

Officially becoming the head of the WTA's China operations in 2007, Shoemaker had the task of opening and operating the association's first Beijing office as China was beginning to prove itself on the global stage.

"For tennis in particular at the time the opportunity was quite ripe. It had been just at the Athens Olympic games where a Chinese pair had won the doubles gold and kind of surprised the world in doing so," he says. "Olympic success had come early for women's tennis in China."

The same year Shoemaker became head of the WTA, in the US, the NBA's top two Chinese players, Yao Ming and Yi Jianlian, were making NBA history as their respective teams faced off, drawing a record 200 million Chinese viewers and making it one of the most watched games in NBA history.

Shoemaker recalls that when he was with the WTA he looked to the NBA as a model.

"I was always looking at the NBA as really the gold standard of professional sport in China. It's something we always set our sights upon when we were trying to model our business. It seems so funny to be saying that as I sit here today."

He attributes the NBA's success in China to the number of partnerships it has managed to forge with Chinese media and social networking sites.

With 25 seasons hosted on the sports channel of the China Central Television (CCTV 5), partnerships with Chinese web portals Sina and Tencent, and more than 36 million followers on micro blogs, he says the NBA is the most followed US sports code in China.

"That's more than double the combined fans and followers of Major League Baseball, the National Football League and the National Hockey League globally. And that's just what we have here in China."

Even as the NBA enters its protracted season following the lockout, with no Yao to draw the Chinese audience, Shoemaker remains confident that the NBA will continue to enjoy success in China.

"So much credit should go to Yao for how far the popularity of basketball has come in this country. So much so that he helped create a whole generation of highly sophisticated basketball fans who now cheer for more than one player and more than one team."

With Yao spearheading China's fascination with the NBA, China's fan base has now become a self-propelling force, with basketball fans across the country fascinated by what Shoemaker calls a "captivating sport to watch both on and off the court".

"For me the NBA is not just the biggest sports brand in China. For me it's one of the biggest commercial brands, period, in China."

Shoemaker started his working career as a lawyer in 1996 after graduating in law from the University Western Ontario in Canada. Shoemaker soon found himself working for Cravath, Swaine & Moore, the same law offices that once employed the NBA commissioner David Stern.

Given the chance to join the WTA as a litigator, Shoemaker was able to combine his passions.

"What I was able to do at a young age was transition from practicing law to combine my professional interest in law with my personal interest in sport."

Now as he steps into a position where he can influence the NBA's direction, he says he will focus on continuing to develop basketball in China.

By working with the Chinese Basketball Association organizing referee programs and opening the Dong Guan Elite basketball school, he says he is staying "true to the core of the NBA".

"My strategy is to make sure we develop the game of basketball. More dribbling of balls and shooting of basketballs."
]]> tag:newamericamedia.org,2012://19.8447 2012-01-25T23:49:43Z 2012-01-26T00:32:39Z

Colorblind racism is the new normal in American conservative political thought. Well after the election of the nation's first African-American president, in 2012 Republican candidates are using egregious signals and dog whistles to incite racial divisiveness as an effective tool...

Edward Wyckoff Williams ]]> http://publisher.namx.org/mt-cp.cgi?__mode=view&blog_id=19&id=103 Colorblind racism is the new normal in American conservative political thought. Well after the election of the nation's first African-American president, in 2012 Republican candidates are using egregious signals and dog whistles to incite racial divisiveness as an effective tool for political gain. But when confronted about the nature of their offensive rhetoric, the answer is either an innocuous denial or dismissive retort.

It is curious that people bold enough to make outlandish racial claims never admit guilt or receive a proverbial trial and conviction by the greater populace. Paul Rosenberg, a political contributor to Al-Jazeera, recently explained that this curious phenomenon of "racism without racists" has become de facto in today's political discourse and is best described as "colorblind racism."

First explored in the book Racism Without Racists: Color-Blind Racism and the Persistence of Racial Inequality in the United States by Eduardo Bonilla-Silva, a professor of sociology at Duke University, the concept explains much of the Republican strategy to defeat Barack Obama, using race as a wedge issue. Bonilla-Silva defined colorblind racism as a racial ideology that expresses itself in seemingly nonracial terms. As such, it is most practiced by people who never see themselves outside their own myopic worldview.

Last week's Fox News debate prior to the South Carolina Republican primary was an excellent example of the hubris inherent in today's racially charged, conservative environment.

All the more offensive was the fact that this debate took place on the national holiday celebrating Martin Luther King Jr. As Michael Keegan explained in the Huffington Post, "What could have been an opportunity for the candidates to express their support for the myriad advances of the civil rights movement and to address the real challenges that remain, instead turned into a mess of racially charged attacks on African Americans, immigrants and the poor."

Newt Gingrich -- the worst offender -- doubled down on his prior attacks. When asked by Juan Williams, the lone African-American Fox News moderator, about calling Barack Obama the greatest "food stamp president" and his insistence that he would "talk about why the African-American community should demand paychecks and not be satisfied with food stamps," Gingrich played to the bloodthirsty audience.

"Can't you see that this is viewed, at a minimum, as insulting to all Americans, but particularly to black Americans?" Williams asked.

"No," Gingrich replied. "No, I don't see that at all."

The response? Roaring applause and a standing ovation.

Now confident, with the wind at his back, Gingrich went on to repeat his misguided call for poor, inner-city children to be forced to work as janitors.

But this is only the least of offenses. The former House speaker has been using blatantly racist rhetoric to attack President Obama for the past two years. Starting with the suggestion that Obama could only be understood through a Kenyan, anti-colonialist mindset -- an idea he borrowed from the equally problematic Dinesh D'Souza -- to his oft-repeated correlation of the president with food stamps and welfare dependency, Gingrich refuses to accept responsibility and is quick to accuse liberal media of bias.

Mitt Romney, the candidate most likely to receive the nomination, was not immune. In response to a question from Rick Santorum, Romney declared his opposition to extending voting rights to convicted felons, an issue that disproportionately affects African-American and Hispanic males and is a direct result of the vast disparity created by the drug wars implemented during the Reagan administration.

Romney also promised to veto the Dream Act, a law supported by Obama's White House, which would allow the children of long-term, illegal immigrants to gain citizenship while proving themselves through military service or higher education. All these statements reflect a post-Tea Party conservative climate, which is fueled by xenophobia and racial animus.

Perhaps if these instances had not become so commonplace, they could be disregarded as gaffes, but following Santorum's remark in Iowa that he did not want "to make black people's lives better by giving them somebody else's money" and the unearthing of a new set of newsletters from Ron Paul's past framing African Americans as ravenous criminals, the racism is too obvious to be dismissed as subtle subtext.

In his article, Rosenberg notes that one of the central frames at the core of colorblind racism is "minimization of racism, [which] suggests discrimination is no longer a central factor affecting minorities' life chances ('It's better now than in the past' or 'There is discrimination, but there are plenty of jobs out there'). It remembers the past with a highly selective intent, to excuse the evil that remains."

Gingrich, Paul and Santorum convey textbook definitions of the minimization of racism. Paul "can't remember" who wrote what and thinks "it's not important anyway." Gingrich doesn't see anything wrong with any of his comments about the poor and blacks. Santorum's excuse is "blah." They each adopt a cavalier attitude toward the feelings of minorities and suggest that the fuss is much ado about nothing.

Why do they do it?

Just a quick look at Gingrich's rise in the polls and his recent win in South Carolina explains why it's a winning strategy among white GOP primary voters. The latest Gallup poll shows the race in a dead heat nationally, with Gingrich at 28 percent to Romney's 29 percent. Romney has essentially lost any advantage he had before the South Carolina primary.

Yet the American public and media have developed an acute sense of political correctness, which allows conservative politicians like Gingrich to lie and bait so outrageously without being called to task. And when confronted, Republicans are always quick to deny any malicious intent.

As I expressed in a previous article, poor whites have been encouraged to vote against their own economic interests; more broadly, middle-class whites are encouraged to vote against their better judgment. They are manipulated by race-baiting tactics that lead them to believe that the social ills of the nation are caused by the black and brown poor -- or, as Gingrich would have you believe, the black "elite" currently residing in the White House.

The political rhetoric being espoused from the far right has become inundated with corrupt language born of a racist past that still plagues the American consciousness. An informed electorate can no longer excuse blatant racism as a casual, social faux pas.

Voters in the upcoming Florida primary and across the nation must demand that Republicans take responsibility for wallowing in a cesspool of race-baiting for political advantage, ever hiding behind a veil of colorblind ignorance and innuendo.

Edward Wyckoff Williams is an author, columnist, political analyst for MSNBC and a former investment banker. Follow him on Twitter and on Facebook.
]]> tag:newamericamedia.org,2012://19.8405 2012-01-20T08:05:00Z 2012-01-20T03:33:15Z

Mitt Romney, the Republican Party's presumptive presidential candidate, made his first attempts to gain critical support from Latino voters this month, but failed to confront his own negative record on issues of high priority to Latino voters.During a primary race...

Griselda Nevárez ]]> http://publisher.namx.org/mt-cp.cgi?__mode=view&blog_id=19&id=103 Mitt Romney, the Republican Party's presumptive presidential candidate, made his first attempts to gain critical support from Latino voters this month, but failed to confront his own negative record on issues of high priority to Latino voters.

During a primary race stop in New Hampshire Jan. 9, he spoke of the need to "convince more Latino Americans to vote Republican" if the GOP wants to be competitive in November against the Democrats and Barack Obama, who is already campaigning for reelection.

Running against John McCain in 2008, Obama won 67 percent of the Latino vote.

On Jan. 11 Romney released his first Spanish-language television ad in Florida's Miami-Dade County, which is heavily populated by Latinos. In a televised Sept. 22 GOP debate, he attacked Texas Gov. Rick Perry for having signed into law 10 years ago a bill granting in-state tuition at the Lone Star State's public universities and colleges and reaffirmed that he would not support an immigration reform proposal to legalize any of the nation's 11 million undocumented persons.

In an interview with Univisión Jan. 11, Rep. Xavier Becerra (D-Calif.) commented that if Romney is serious about trying to recruit Latinos to vote for him, he must change his tough stance on immigration. "He's right that he has to attract Latino voters. He's wrong in that every time he says something, he does
anything but attract Latinos to his candidacy," Becerra said.

Romney also stated during a Dec. 31 campaign stop in New Hampshire that, if elected, he would veto the DREAM Act.

On Jan. 11, the same day his campaign released the Spanish-language commercial, Romney enthusiastically accepted the endorsement of Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, who helped shape Arizona's and Alabama's immigration laws. Kobach is active with the Federation for American Immigration Reform, an organization the Southern Poverty Law Center has identified as a "hate group."

Adam Busto, president of Somos Republicans, points to Romney's endorsement from Kobach as well as his stances on immigration and the DREAM Act as examples of how the candidate is out of touch with issues important to Latinos. Somos Republicans is the country's largest such organization, with 6,000 members. Busto said that unless Romney changes his stance on the DREAM Act, the group would not support him if he becomes the Republican nominee. His group would even consider supporting a Democrat or a presidential candidate from another party, he told Hispanic Link.

Romney's release of the Spanish commercial comes just a couple weeks before the Jan. 31 primaries in Florida, where 22.5 percent of the state's population is Latino.

The commercial, titled Nosotros (Us), aired in Miami-Dade County where 72 percent of registered Republicans are Latino, mostly Cuban. It starts with Craig Romney, the former Massachusetts governor's son, talking in Spanish about his father's values. Congress members Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and Mario Díaz- Balart, along with Mario's brother and former congressman Lincoln Díaz-Balart,
elaborated on Romney's plans to create jobs and "restore this country's national security."

Romney won the Jan. 3 Iowa caucus and Jan. 9 New Hampshire primary. The next vote is Jan. 21 in South Carolina, where a recent poll shows a close contest brewing between Newt Gingrich, Rick Santorum and Romney.

On Jan. 16 former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman, who ran third in New Hampshire, withdrew from the primary and endorsed Romney.

Gingrich concedes that if Romney wins in South Carolina, "he's probably going to be the nominee." He also points to how Romney’s campaign funding advantage gives him a boost. In the last three months of 2011, Romney raised $24 million while Ron Paul and Gingrich combined raised $22 million.

Busto states, "Any candidate that has the Latino support behind him could win the presidency" but Romney won’t get support from Republican Latinos "if he's going to veto the DREAM Act, like he claims, and if he's going to accept the support of people like Kris Kobach."

Somos Republicans is also calling for the Florida delegation in Congress to renounce its support of Romney.

Most analysts claim a GOP candidate must gain at least 40 percent of the Hispanic vote to win the White House. A Dec. 28 Pew Hispanic Center poll showed in a match-up with Obama, Romney would get 23 percent of that vote while President Obama would get 68 percent.

Griselda Nevárez is a reporter with Hispanic Link News Service in Washington, D.C.

]]> tag:newamericamedia.org,2012://19.8396 2012-01-18T08:00:00Z 2012-01-17T23:03:00Z

Puerto Rico residents continued their exodus from the island over the past year during tough economic times, with the local population shrinking by 19,099 residents, or 0.51 percent, the biggest percentage loss by far of any U.S. jurisdiction, according to...

John Marino ]]> http://publisher.namx.org/mt-cp.cgi?__mode=view&blog_id=19&id=103 Puerto Rico residents continued their exodus from the island over the past year during tough economic times, with the local population shrinking by 19,099 residents, or 0.51 percent, the biggest percentage loss by far of any U.S. jurisdiction, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

The population loss was due to migration to the U.S., with a net 35,469 residents lost to out-migration, while island births outpaced deaths by 16,370 during the 15-month period covered by the new Census data, which runs April 1, 2010 to July 1, 2011.

The drop-more than double the average annual population loss reflected in the 2010 Census for the previous decade- is part of the first new U.S. population estimate released by the bureau since the 2010 Census, which showed the island's population had declined by 82,821 people, or 2.2 percent, over the past decade.

The population dive is bad news for Puerto Rico for several reasons. The island will receive less federal funding in many programs, and it means less demand for housing, cars and a wide range of services, which will only add to the challenge of trying to lift Puerto Rico's economy from its prolonged economic downturn.

The wide-scale migration, moreover, will add to the aging of the island's population, and many observers worry Puerto Rico is losing among its brightest and best-trained professionals, who are leaving to seek better opportunities stateside.

"A decrease in population is the hallmark of a sick society, where people do not have enough faith in the future to increase family size or to commit to live for the long term," said Sergio Marxuach, policy director at the Center for the New Economy. "It is also negative for economic growth, since there will be fewer people working, earning money, investing, saving and consuming."

Back in October, an Ipsos poll commissioned by WAPA-TV found 45 percent of islanders have considered leaving Puerto Rico in search of a better quality of life, with the majority of those setting their sights on the States. One-quarter (25 percent) of those who have considered a move from the island have taken concrete steps to do so, the poll found.

Projected over the entire population, the poll results indicate some 1.5 million people would consider leaving the island, while 419,000 of those have at least started a plan to move.

Marxuach noted that the latest data is based on a sample, which has a significantly larger margin of error than the decennial Census.

However, he said the finding that the island continues to lose population at a significant rate is a worrisome trend.

A few years ago, Puerto Rico had more population than 24 states but is now estimated to have more population than 21. At one time, statehood would have meant six representatives in the U.S. House of Representatives; at current population levels, Puerto Rico would get five.

Puerto Rico's population was pegged at 3,725,789 in the 2010 Census, down from the 3,808,610 registered in the 2000 Census. It marked the first time the local population had declined between census counts.

The 2010 Census also showed there were 4.7 million Puerto Ricans living in the States, which was the first time more Puerto Ricans lived stateside than on the island. Only one state, Michigan, registered a drop in population in the 2010 Census, dipping 0.6 percent.

While the 19,099 drop over the 15-month period ending July 2011 is more than double the average annual population loss reflected in the 2010 Census, most observers believe migration really began to pick up in 2006 with the onset of Puerto Rico's prolonged economic recession. Besides Puerto Rico, three other states lost population during that period: Rhode Island, which lost 1,300 residents, or 0.12 percent of its population; Michigan, which lost 7,400 residents or 0.08%; and Maine, which lost 200 or 0.01 percent.

The new Census estimates show the lowest U.S. growth rate since the mid-1940s, with the nation's population increasing by 2.8 million, or 0.92 percent, over the 15-month period. Texas gained more people than any other state between April 1, 2010, and July 1, 2011 (529,000), followed by California (438,000), Florida (256,000), Georgia (128,000) and North Carolina (121,000), according to the Census. Combined, these five states accounted for slightly more than half the nation's total population growth.

"The nation's overall growth rate is now at its lowest point since before the baby boom," said Census Bureau Director Robert Groves. "Our nation is constantly changing, and these estimates provide us with our first measure of how much each state has grown or declined in total population since Census Day 2010."


]]> tag:newamericamedia.org,2012://19.8384 2012-01-16T09:00:00Z 2012-01-14T22:11:54Z

Photo caption: Jonathan Perez, bottom left, is part of a new movement of undocumented youth in the San Gabriel Valley.Jonathan Perez felt the surprised stares as he ate his Chinese food. The East Los Angeles College student wore a t-shirt...

Daniela Gerson and Nathan Solis ]]> http://publisher.namx.org/mt-cp.cgi?__mode=view&blog_id=19&id=103 Photo caption: Jonathan Perez, bottom left, is part of a new movement of undocumented youth in the San Gabriel Valley.

Jonathan Perez felt the surprised stares as he ate his Chinese food. The East Los Angeles College student wore a t-shirt with the word "undocumented" emblazoned across his chest in large letters. It's what he is: Since Perez jumped the border at age three fleeing his native Colombia, he has been an undocumented immigrant.

Perez is part of a wave of young people who are choosing to come out about status as a vehicle to empowerment, similar to the way that the gay movement did a generation before. "If we're in the shadows, we're actually more vulnerable," Perez said. "It's easier for you to get deported because you don't have a support network that's organized."

Not everyone agrees with his approach. When he began sharing his status, he noticed a clear divide in the area where he grew up on the border of East Los Angeles and the neighboring more Asian and suburban San Gabriel Valley. In East LA, he says, the shirt got a lively reaction. In Alhambra, where the 24-year-old lived for a few months last year, he says, "people just looked and are shocked." At restaurants, he recalls, customers and employees alike would approach him and ask, "Aren't you afraid?"

Last spring, Perez joined Pasadena City College students Martha Vasquez and Isaac Barrera and several other activists dedicated to creating a new immigration advocacy movement in the San Gabriel Valley. Crucial to their mission is advocating for immigration reform in an area where status is often kept hushed. They want young people who live here and are rarely heard from, in particularly Asian students, to share their experiences as well. Nearly half of undocumented students paying tuition in the California system are Asian, according to a College Board study, but the stories told about them are by and large Latino. (A recent prominent exception is the Filipino reporter, Jose Antonio Vargas, who came out as an undocumented immigrant in a New York Times Magazine essay.)

"I was frustrated, both in Alhambra and other parts [of the San Gabriel Valley], because I didn't see any immigrant movements happening," Perez said. "It's different when you come to East L.A. and see everyone is organizing and I got used to that. Looking at communities in the San Gabriel Valley, it's not present."

Since then, the San Gabriel Valley Dream Team members have attented rallies, worked to forge alliances with ethnic organizations, and hosted civil disobedience actions as far away as Alabama. This week they have been the driving force in expanding the movement to an alliance of groups called the Immigrant Youth Coalition. And on January 21 they will run a seminar for high school students at Cal State-LA.

Despite the San Gabriel organization's growth, engaging their Asian peers has been a challenge.

Nearly a year in their group remains almost entirely Latino. It's not for lack of trying, organizers say. They have worked with national and campus Asian organizations, such as APALC, but found being undocumented still provokes a greater barrier of shame in those communities. Vasquez, who arrived from Mexico at three and whose first memories are in the United States, said that it has been a struggle with fellow students at PCC.

"I tell them we're all in this together and we need to come out," she said, but has been challenged. "It's very difficult for a lot of Asians to talk about their own stories. Or their families tend not to talk about it."

Perez said that he has spoken with dozens of Asian undocumented immigrants, but that they "don't want to talk about it or don't want to come out."

Challenges notwithstanding, organizers reported a change is already happening amongst San Gabriel Valley area youth. For Perez, this became clear to him after being arrested in Alabama last fall when he turned himself into Border Patrol in an attempt to prove that the Obama administration is deporting immigrants who are not criminals. He was sent to a detention center in Louisiana. Crucial to his release, he says, was that so many young people at Pasadena City College were out about their status — and advocating for him. "When I was that age, I wouldn't have done something like that," Perez said at a press conference after he returned. "That was a big thing for me to see."

Daniela Gerson is the editor of the Alhambra Source. Nathan Solis is a community contributor to Alhambra Source.

]]> tag:newamericamedia.org,2012://19.8361 2012-01-15T08:05:00Z 2012-01-13T22:21:05Z

José de la Isla ]]> http://publisher.namx.org/mt-cp.cgi?__mode=view&blog_id=19&id=103 Traducción al español

MEXICO CITY — Opinion pieces appeared in two of this city’s daily newspapers that would not normally reach U.S. audiences and are worth mentioning.

One by Luís Gutiérrez Esparza, appearing Dec. 28 in the Excelsior newspaper, recaps disclosures that have been trickling out about U.S. military policy since last year. Gutiérrez Esparza reminds readers that the Washington Post had disclosed during mid-2011 that the Obama government intensified a secret war on hostile countries and organizations.

With a considerable budget, the U.S. is today active in more than 75 countries, 15 greater than in 2009. Investigative reporter Jeremy Scahill wrote that the Obama administration has sent special forces units to Iran, Georgia, Ukraine, Bolivia, Paraguay, Ecuador, Peru, Yemen, Pakistan, the Philippines, and since 2006 to Venezuela, Colombia and Mexico.

We have, of course, already been massaged into understanding our military policy is gearing up for new kinds of engagements, should they become necessary. The new policy is asynchronous, which means confronting the adversary on the same basis it operates. Who or what comprises the opposition, and the method of engagement is situational. In this world, the military can do police actions and police do military work. Aid workers (like USAID, National Endowment for Democracy, Freedom House) serve as leverage.

Last May, Gutiérrez Esparza, who heads the think-tank Latin American Circle of International Studies (CLAEI, by its Spanish initials), said a German authority had revealed that NATO had 29 Latin American military bases, stretching from El Paso, Texas, to Tierra del Fuego, just above Antarctica.

Ten of these bases are reportedly secret, details even kept from some national congresses. Sixteen of the 29 are U.S. The number of U.S. soldiers deployed is secret.

The UK maintains three bases in the Falklands, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands. The U.S. air base in Palanqueto, Colombia, is a point of departure to Africa. Honduras, Panama and El Salvador also have bases.

But all of this preparation for war is like saddling a horse backwards. You can’t get to where you’re going that way. Which brings up Farid Kahhat’s thought piece in Reforma’s Dec. 31 edition, which focuses on interventions by great powers.

In fact, wars are actually diminishing, he says, due to UN peace missions. In a cost-benefit calculation, the average intervention costing $8.5 billion saves $18 to $75 billion when the mission alone is nation-building.

He notes a Rand Corporation study that shows that eight peace-keeping UN missions attained a sustainable peace in seven. Meanwhile, of eight U.S. led interventions only four led to a sustainable peace. The entire cost of UN peace missions since the end of the Cold War up to 2005 came to the equivalent of one month’s cost of the Iraq occupation.

The reasons causing conflict need to be factored in. They include poverty, economic and social inequality, and changes in regimes giving rise to “anocracies,” countries where lack of central authority causes a power vacuum, which is taken up by competing elites, warlords, pirates and criminals.

The announced strategy and budget changes in military policy by President Obama and Defense Secretary Leon Panetta are driven by the need both see to save about $450 billion over 10 years and the ending of the U.S. interventions in Iraq and Afghanistan. Still, even with a new “asynchronous” strategy and new sights set on the Pacific and Asia, there are limits to what violence accomplishes. Sometimes it takes a UN posse, economics and most of all, strategic intelligence — not breaking the bank — to accomplish what it was believed only a John Wayne could do.

The two opinion pieces seem to urge a comprehension of the limits of power. This mirrors the message espoused by one-time ranking Arkansas U.S. Senator and Foreign Policy Committee Chairman J. William Fulbright, who wrote about the issue in 1967 and named his book, “The Arrogance of Power.”

José de la Isla, a nationally syndicated columnist for Hispanic Link and Scripps Howard news services, has been recognized for two consecutive years for his commentaries by New America Media. His forthcoming book is “Our Man on the Ground.” Previous books include “DAY NIGHT LIFE DEATH HOPE” (2009) and “The Rise of Hispanic Political Power” (2003). Reach him at joseisla3@yahoo.com.

]]> tag:newamericamedia.org,2012://19.8359 2012-01-12T17:30:00Z 2012-01-12T19:11:21Z

Christina Gordon, Olga Imbaquingo, Lauren Paverman, Alex Sanchez ]]> http://publisher.namx.org/mt-cp.cgi?__mode=view&blog_id=19&id=103
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad arrived on Sunday night to Caracas in the first stop of a four-nation tour of Latin America. Besides Venezuela, the Iranian leader will also visit Nicaragua, Ecuador, and Cuba during a week-long tour of the region.

Ahmadinejad’s visit comes at a critical time for Iran as it faces the possibility of new sanctions by the European Union over its controversial nuclear program. Tehran is widely suspected of trying to build nuclear weapons, but insists that its uranium-enrichment program is entirely medical and scientific in nature. Hence, the Iranian leader’s visit is a way for Iran to gather and maintain some international diplomatic support. It is no surprise that the four countries that Ahmadinejad will visit are the most vociferous in their anti-Washington rhetoric and initiatives, particularly Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez and the Castro government in Cuba.

Ecuador

Ecuador’s relatively under-developed and all-but-unprecedented diplomacy, along with Rafael Correa’s chronicled rambunctious attitude, have been at work to help stage this relatively noteworthy visit by the Iranian president. By warmly receiving him, the Correa administration will again demonstrate its two-fold mission: first, to show the United States that Ecuador does not share its international political position, and second, that the eight-member ALBA alliance is alive and well. Correa has not outwardly expressed any concern over Washington’s apprehension toward the largely left-leaning alliance, which was founded by Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez, with whom Correa shares many ideological beliefs.

Iran has something to gain by fostering good relations with countries even of secondary importance in the international context. Ecuador, on the other hand, has a lot to lose in this relationship, as it is consistently walking the tight rope between maintaining narrow commercial ties with the all-important U.S. market and staying as far away as possible from what Quito calls U.S. hegemony and imperialism.

It is well-known among some of the better-informed Ecuadorians that the current Iranian government has a history of notorious human rights abuses and multiple attempts to strain legality by remaining in power, a fact which has fueled the Ecuadorian opposition’s unfair equation of Correa and Ahmadinejad in this regard. The Ecuadorian government is defending Ahmadinejad’s visit as an act of sovereign will on its part; of course, there is no need for an Ecuadorian head of government to ask for permission to hold such a meeting.

Reportedly, his visit to Ecuador will provide an opportunity for the governments of Iran and Ecuador to address issues of bilateral cooperation, politics, trade, and health, among others. Of some importance, this will be the first time that a good number of these areas of concern have been addressed in any meaningful discussion between the two countries. Arturo Valenzuela, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s former right-hand man in dealing with Latin America, spoke to President Correa last week about concerns in Washington over Ecuador’s relationship with Iran. Correa’s response fell under the category of defending a pragmatic foreign policy. El Universo reported the President as saying, “Ecuador is willing to maintain amicable relations with all countries. If that means selling Iran more bananas, even better.” But any analysis of President Ahmadinejad’s Latin American tour must raise the important point that Brazil, another ally and growing international actor, has curiously been left off the itinerary.

Brazil

While Brazil was not one of the countries scheduled for a visit, important developments have been occurring in Washington’s relationship with Brasília, which eventually will affect the latter’s relationship with Tehran. After decades of taxing foreign ethanol, the United States government decided to open its market by allowing the federal tariff to expire on December 31, 2011. Previously, foreign ethanol producers had to forfeit USD 0.54 in taxes per gallon of ethanol exported to America. In addition, Congress passed the country’s federal spending bill without renewing the VEEC subsidy that would have been granted to national ethanol producers.

Brazil would be quite interested in this change, as it is the biggest sugarcane ethanol producer in the world. The measure represents a big win for Brazil’s ethanol industry, which seeks to maximize its production and exportation to the United States. Marcos Jank, President of UNICA (Union of the Sugarcane Industry), Brazil’s biggest representative of the sugar and bioethanol market, expects an increase of 12 billion liters of ethanol exported to the U.S. until 2020. The new arrangement will strengthen Washington’s leverage over the country, and weaken the tidal tug of Iran’s pull on its Brazilian ally.

President Ahmadinejad will be visiting the host governments of Nicaragua, Venezuela, Ecuador and Cuba. The fact that he hadn’t canceled the trip as a result of the heated statements being currently made by both the US and Iran indicates the sobering thought that the situation is less fraught with danger than it first seems, and that neither side will permit the current fractious situation to get out of hand. The fact that he is undertaking the trip despite the fact that Cuba, Ecuador and Nicaragua will not provide a notable venue for transformative talks, no truly important geo-political decisions are likely to be made, and no block-buster developments are anticipated as a result of the trip, reflects its symbolic nature. Although both Fidel Castro and Chavez at times have resorted to heated and intemperate language in reference to the US president, the Venezuelan leader by no stretch of the imagination is a Pinochet-class dictator. While he may have sorely tested the spirit of the Venezuelan Constitution, he has not, up to now, represented any threat to its letter.

The sad fact is that President Obama obviously hasn’t given any serious thought to the issues effecting US-Latin America policy, nor has he appeared to have any compelling notion of its importance. Latin America has been experiencing a profound historical transformation. The US response has been uninspired and devoid of any creativeness or a willingness to seek opportunities to come forth with a truly relevant regional policy since the Obama administration commenced.

Washington’s mano dura tactics towards Cuba and Venezuela represent a grave disappointment with the timeliness and relevance of Obama administration policy. Clearly the administration is being driven by opportunism, self-interest and pandering to the basest of political motives, if not by high-minded ideals. Rather than take advantage of the unique historical opportunities provided by Raúl Castro’s extraordinary reforms by putting them to the test, President Obama and Secretary of State Clinton have been content to depend upon diplomatic clichés and ideological bromides. Today the White House is far more prepared to make major concessions to Iran and North Korea in order to avoid the diplomatic conundrums with those countries, than deal with a much more democratic Venezuela. US-Latin American policy has to be rescued from the dead-end zone in which it is now found. Clearly, the Obama administration’s stance has mostly to do with the issue of new beginnings and the sterile politics of hope and change that the President defined in the days that he was running for office, but never came to pass. There is no reason to believe that he will be able to kindle excitement and enthusiasm for a strategy that never had any prospects concerning US-Latin American policy. The truth is that Obama’s regime policy is all but indistinguishable from that of the last Bush administration.




]]> tag:newamericamedia.org,2012://19.8369 2012-01-12T11:00:00Z 2012-01-11T23:59:46Z

For more than six years, Lilia Fuentes did not get a Pap test. Lilia, whose name has been changed, didn't think it was necessary since she always felt healthy. Then, at the beginning of 2010, she went to see a...

Maria Luisa Arredondo ]]> http://publisher.namx.org/mt-cp.cgi?__mode=view&blog_id=19&id=103
Then, at the beginning of 2010, she went to see a doctor after she started to bleed profusely. The test results were devastating: she had advanced cervical cancer. From that moment on, her life took a 180-degree turn.

The independent and hard-working woman who cleaned houses in San Jose, Calif., had to undergo intensive treatment that left her bedridden. To prevent the cancer from spreading, her uterus and ovaries were removed and she started chemotherapy and radiation. She spent entire days in the hospital, completely isolated.

"Neither her sister, nor her two kids -- a 22-year-old daughter and a 19-year-old son -- could see her," recalls Claudia Colindres, who works for the non-profit organization Latinas Contra el Cáncer (Latinas Against Cancer), which offers support for those who suffer from the disease, as well as their families.
Colindres says that despite doctors' best efforts, the cancer not only did not diminish it became more aggressive.

"She lost a lot of weight and they decided to refer her to a home care program for terminal patients,” she says. “I visited her and the last time I went, I knew I would never see her again. Her skin was yellow and she looked very skinny, very tired.

Lilia died two weeks later, on July 4, 2011.

The family, according to Colindres, is still so upset they refuse to even talk about Lilia, who was 58 years old at the time of her death, originally from Mexico and a single mother.

"At her funeral, the one who looked the most depressed was her sister, who had never lived apart from her. After Lilia died, the family broke up. Her daughter went to live with a friend and her son stayed with his aunt because he was going to school.”

Colindres says that the family is finding it hard to cope with Lilia’s death. They feel guilty for not pressuring her to get tested on time and take better care of her health.

To make matters worse, Colindres adds, they lost the house that Lilia had bought making many sacrifices because they could no longer make the payments.

"Lilia's mom, who lives in Mexico, cries a lot because she can’t see her again and can't even visit her grave because they cremated her here and her ashes remain here," she says.

Lilia's story illustrates the tremendous emotional, social and economic impact the death of a middle-aged woman has on a family from a preventable disease.

"In general, (these women) are the cornerstones of their homes, the ones who give unity and strength to the nuclear family," says Alejandra Casillas, an internist at the Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholars Program at the University of California in Los Angeles (UCLA).

Although this type of cancer affects all ethnic groups, Latinas are diagnosed with this disease twice as often as Caucasians. They also have the highest mortality rate in California, according to Casillas.
This is because, among other reasons, many Latinas lack health insurance. It is also due to cultural reasons.

"Latinas don't take charge of their health; they don't value the importance of staying healthy to support their families,” Casillas observes.

Cervical cancer is the second-most common cancer worldwide and is responsible for 250,000 deaths a year, of which 4,000 are recorded in the United States.

In California, nearly 1,400 women are diagnosed with this cancer and 400 of them die each year. The deaths are needless because cervical cancer is a preventable disease. It can be easily detected through a relatively simple, low-cost test and can be prevented by a vaccine.

The majority of cervical cancer cases is caused by the human papilloma virus or HPV. Each year, millions of women are infected with the virus, but because they do not have any symptoms, they don't realize that they are at risk of developing cervical cancer.

The California Medical Association (CMA) Foundation has undertaken an intensive educational campaign to reduce the number of victims. Carol Lee, president and CEO of CMA Foundation, notes that "with proven prevention methods, including HPV vaccine, regular Pap tests and greater public awareness, we have a tremendous opportunity to reduce the devastating effects of cervical cancer and completely eliminate this disease."

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the highest rate of advanced cervical cancer occurs among Hispanic women between 50 and 79 years of age.
Casillas says that several studies show that in California, Latinas are the least likely to get a Pap test. Ten percent have never had the test in their lives.

Pap tests are available for free for low-income women through the "Every Woman Counts" program, and HPV vaccines are covered by insurance and through the "Vaccines for Children" program.

To see if you qualify for a free cervical cancer test through this program, call 1-800-511-2300, Monday through Friday, 8:30 am to 5 pm. Spanish-speaking operators are available. To see if your children can be vaccinated free of charge, ask your doctor about the Vaccines for Children program. All children eligible for California's Child Health and Disability Prevention (CHDP) program may also qualify for free or low-cost vaccines.

The 2011 CMAF/Cervical Cancer Reporting Fellowship is sponsored by the California Medical Association Foundation (CMAF), a charitable arm of the California Medical Association, to bridge physicians to their communities to address community health. The journalism fellowship program, administered by New America Media, is designed to raise awareness and provide public health information on cervical cancer to the at-risk Latina population in Los Angeles.

]]> tag:newamericamedia.org,2011://19.8292 2011-12-31T22:15:00Z 2011-12-31T21:21:33Z

Steffane Flores and Cesar Flores ]]> http://publisher.namx.org/mt-cp.cgi?__mode=view&blog_id=19&id=103 In San Jose, Calif., as participants of the Occupy movement protested in front of Wells Fargo with a backdrop of the city's "Christmas in the Park," Silicon Valley De-Bug asked protesters: What is your resolution for the Occupy movement in 2012?

Less Wells Fargo, more credit unions, and more Latinos in the Occupy movement
NAME: Kathrine Rodriguez
VOCATION/OCCUPATION: San Jose State University Student
RESOLUTION: "I'd like to see more Latino citizens coming down and supporting the movement. Also, people moving their accounts out of Wells Fargo into credit unions on a bigger scale and foreclosed homes being occupied by tons of students, tons of people from the community... So that the banks have to do something about it!"

A culture of resistance
NAME: Latu Taputota
VOCATION/OCCUPATION: Member of 50/50 Collective
RESOLUTION: "Just to see how we as folks from different organizations and different communities of color can come together to move beyond an occupy movement, how do we build a cultural resistance in San Jose that addresses all these issues already, be well prepared if the banks continue to foreclose our homes. My resolution is to see how we can move beyond it and use our resources and our bodies to build a cultural resistance in San Jose thats more collective."

Pay for your home, stay in your home!
NAME: Gina Gates
VOCATION//OCCUPATION: Most Holy Trinity PACT leader
RESOLUTION: "We'd like to see some people go to jail! We support our Attorney General Harris %100. We want to see a meaningful settlement for folks who have lost their homes to these bank... And some relief for home owners, we want to see principle reduction. And we want to see people who can pay for either homes, STAY in their homes!"

Organizing on a daily basis
NAME: Adam
VOCATION//OCCUPATION: Customer Service in Medical Industry
RESOLUTION: "To see the Occupy movement be a place to expand organizing into workplace issues, foreclosures -- what people are experiencing locally on the day to day."

Take over the banks in 2012
NAME: Sandy Perry
VOCATION/OCCUPATION: Outreach Minister for Community Homeless Alliance Ministry
RESOLUTION: NO MORE BAILOUTS! More public banks, more public money systems to take care of jobs, housing, healthcare, and education -- instead of investing so much on jails and prisons. We need to take over the banks in 2012!"

Human need over corporate profit
NAME: Cesar Juarez
VOCATION/OCCUPATION: Community Organizer
RESOLUTION: " A 2012 when human need is given precedence over profit, and ultimately an economy and government system that reflects the need of the people."

Less reflection, more action
NAME: Jose Sandoval
VOCATION/OCCUPATION: COORDINATOR IN SAN JOSE
RESOLUTION: "I don't want a 2012 resolution, I want a resolution for TOMORROW! Year goals are no good. That's the problem, people go and sit down and want to plan out their next step and take so much time in meetings writing down their resolution, that by the time the next year is coming to an end, nothing has been done! There is a formula everyone must follow: R + A = S. Reflection + Action = Solutions!

]]> 33699043 tag:newamericamedia.org,2011://19.8272 2011-12-28T22:38:48Z 2011-12-29T00:13:07Z

Chen Jia and Luo Wangshu ]]> http://publisher.namx.org/mt-cp.cgi?__mode=view&blog_id=19&id=103
It is a literal translation of the Chinese expression renshan renhai, which is commonly used to describe a host of people jostling with each other.

An increasing number of new English words and phrases are being coined in China.

"I speak Chinglish, and my British assistants have adapted to Chinglish," Hu Ruyi, a senior Chinese engineer who works in Britain, told China Daily.

Now, everyone in his lab ends most of their talks with the word "geilivable" - a transliteration of a popular net word, which combines Chinese words gei li (give strength) with an English suffix to create a word meaning "empower", he said.

"I always grab language from my Asian friends, and I think I do adapt a lot of mystery language, that's what I call it, which my parents do not really understand," Michael Lee, an IT support worker who lives in Seattle, told China Daily.

"Our foreign colleagues in the Beijing office always try to learn Chinglish from us as a way to make friends," said 28-year-old Duan Chen, who works for a consultancy company. "That's the best way to team-build."

In fact, English has already absorbed many Chinese phrases, like "long time no see" (hao jiu bu jian), "no can do" (bu neng zuo) and "no go" (bu xing).

The Global Language Monitor, a San Diego-based consultancy that analyzes trends in language use worldwide, says Chinglish has contributed 5 to 20 percent of the words added to global English since 1994, more than any other single source.

TOEFL, the Test of English as a Foreign Language, which has a keen sense of changing linguistic trends, says it is also keeping an eye on Chinglish.

"We have to reflect global perspectives in higher education. The test will reflect it," Walt MacDonald, executive vice-president at Educational Testing Service (ETS), told China Daily in Beijing.

ETS introduced TOEFL to China 30 years ago and MacDonald said the number of test takers in China has increased constantly every year since then.

"Over the last 30 years, almost 3 million Chinese students took the TOEFL," he said.

In 2011, ETS launched the TOEFL Junior Test in China, which measures the English-language proficiency of students aged 11 to 14. With China's economic growth, more Chinese children are studying overseas at a younger age.

"The size of the Chinese English learner population is comparable to the total size of the US population," said Shen Yang, vice-director of the Education Ministry's department of international cooperation and exchange.

"We are proud of that, and now we are making the point that the international community should learn more about Chinese in return," he said.

He pointed out along with the national development at all levels, educational international cooperation has changed.

"Thirty years ago, we were only sending Chinese students to other countries to meet the increasing need for English and other foreign languages," he said.

"But today it has become a two-way flow," he said.]]> tag:newamericamedia.org,2011://19.8270 2011-12-28T19:16:37Z 2011-12-28T20:12:10Z

La Opinión ]]> http://publisher.namx.org/mt-cp.cgi?__mode=view&blog_id=19&id=103 editorial in today's La Opinión.

The Latino community is still feeling the severe impact of the Great Recession. Thousands of families had to leave their homes due to foreclosures resulting from the real estate crisis. At the same time, unemployment and underemployment rates are higher among Hispanics than the national average.

The harmful effects of a rocky economy and budget cuts have negatively impacted Latinos in various ways, including public education.

Meanwhile, in 2011 undocumented immigrants became the target of numerous restrictive and discriminatory state laws. Alabama, Arizona, South Carolina, Georgia, Indiana and Utah enacted their own immigration laws, which in some cases were lessened by the courts. The issue of whether or not these laws are constitutional will be decided in 2012.

The good news happened in California, with the arrival of Governor Jerry Brown: DREAM Act laws and a law stopping arbitrary car impounds were approved.

On the other hand, the undocumented did not fare well on a federal level. Under the wide net of the Secure Communities program, the U.S. set a new record for deportations. The majority of those being deported were not the dangerous criminals sought by the program, but fathers and mothers who were separated from their families.

Cooperation between local law enforcement agencies and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) yielded disastrous results; it impacted public safety by undermining the trust between the Latino community and the authorities.

This has been a difficult year, filled with challenges and dangers for Latinos. 2012 will not magically change the situation, but there will be elections at all levels next year, so there is hope for positive changes.



]]> tag:newamericamedia.org,2011://19.8242 2011-12-24T08:05:00Z 2011-12-24T01:12:52Z

Purchasing demand for Chinese goods has slowed a tad in the United States as higher manufacturing and shipping costs are prompting US retailers to turn to cheaper destinations in a bid to crank up profit margins.Though most of the new...

David Lariviere ]]> http://publisher.namx.org/mt-cp.cgi?__mode=view&blog_id=19&id=103
Though most of the new orders are believed to be flowing into emerging economies, many retail industry experts still say that China still has the best brand equity in the US.

"Retail executives have told me that some low end orders are being routed to countries like Vietnam, Indonesia and Bangladesh," says Erik Autor, the International Trade Counsel for the National Retail Federation (NRF), the world's largest retail trade association. "There might be some empirical data on it but I am yet to see it," he says.

The US Commerce Department, the National Association of Manufacturers, the US Trade Representative and the Toy Industry Association, some of the agencies that provide data on the retail trade in the US, also did not have any figures to support the claim that manufacturing is being routed to newer locations.

The latest CNBC All-America Economic Survey shows that the average American plans to spend $751 (570 euros) on gifts this year, up 22 percent from last year's spending plans. That number would represent a 4.6 percent gain over the actual holiday spending in 2010 as measured by the NRF. It should also come as a welcome relief for US retailers who have been facing a torrid time for the last few years due to the economic woes in the US.

Though much of the spending resurgence will be driven by the wealthy, every income group, including those with salaries of $30,000 or lower, will spend more this year, says the survey.

But the euphoria in the US retail sector has not had a transformational effect on companies in the Pearl River Delta region of Guangdong province in South China. Contrary to earlier years, companies here are languishing as reduced order intake this year from Europe and the US has triggered fears that Christmas orders would eventually be shifted out of China.

"To some extent, Chinese products have become less competitive due to the higher costs. Labor costs have gone up, while the yuan is steadily appreciating," Autor says. But that does not necessarily mean that, "there will be a big rush to the exits (by US retailers)," he says.

However, Autor says the evolution of China's rapidly growing economy is an inevitable trend of economic development.

"China is losing out on the lower-end consumer products like cheaper shoes and T-shirts. But at the same time its manufacturers are steadily moving up the value chain and focusing more on higher-end electronics, computers and capital goods," Autor says.

According to him, the decision by some US retailers to seek alternate manufacturing locations is not necessarily a conscious one.

"Investment just migrates to these places," says Autor. "Vietnam has a skilled work force, low labor costs, and specializes in apparel, furniture, food products, footwear and consumer electronics."

Major US retailers like Walmart Inc and Target have indicated that they have no plans to reduce their retail intake from China. "Our direct sourcing volumes from China have been fairly consistent in recent years," says Megan Murphy, Walmart's international corporate affairs manager.

"China has been and will continue to be a very important sourcing market for Walmart. We are committed to a long-term, mutually beneficial partnership with our suppliers in China. As such, we are working with them in various initiatives to help them meet increasing customer expectations and enhancing production efficiency."

Target, on its part does not even mention China when asked to comment. "Target's approach to sourcing products throughout the world is grounded in its strong business ethics," says spokeswoman Jessica Carlson. "Target's mission is to bring high quality products at competitive prices. We directly import over 30 percent of our products and we continually evaluate the mix of countries from which we source and adjust them for many factors, including production quality and capacity, speed to market, price and risk."

Two other factors that could be adversely impacting China are landed duty costs and higher fuel prices. The landed duty cost is all the costs involved in importing the product including the duties, something retailers look at closely, Autor says.

"If the choice is between China and El Salvador, labor costs may be higher in El Salvador but the transfer fee may be lower so it's all about the balance between the two."

In addition, the spike in global fuel prices makes transporting goods from Central America or Mexico easier than going to Asia.

Autor doesn't think the recent wave of "China bashing" by US politicians has affected retailers' choices. "Retailers don't view China as a threat," he says.

To some extent, the slowdown in external demand for Chinese goods has also been prompted by the 12th Five-Year Plan (2011-2015), which calls for an increased emphasis on Chinese consumers.

"China is going to continue to be a significant economic force, but won't be as competitive as its costs increase. It is no longer going to rely on the (unstable) European markets for growth and instead will be relying more on domestic consumption," Autor says.

"Home textiles were doing well (in the US) during the booming housing market. But when the housing market hit the bubble here, the industry took a huge hit," Autor says. "China now is the best housing market in the world, so most of the companies are focused on the domestic market."

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