Friday, January 29, 2016

Latino Teacher Shortage in the Area Created by Sac State College of Education

Tell the Truth and Shame the Devil.
by Duane Campbell. Prof. Emeritus.  Bilingual/Multicultural Education. CSU-S. 

In 2015 after the Great Recession  a new state budgets sent large amounts of funds to k-12 schools and the funds of the Local Control and  Accountability Plan  were targeted to low income schools.  This increased funding will lead to a dramatic need for new teachers.  Sacramento City Unified plans to hire 100 new teachers, and many other local urban districts will do the same.  This faculty growth will continue for from 3-5 years.
But credentialed teachers from the Latino community and several Asian communities will not be available to hire because the Sac State pipeline for minority teachers  has been broken.  A new generation of mostly Anglo teachers will be hired which will continue the past failure to integrate the teaching profession in this region. Ending the pipeline will shape the nature of the local teaching profession for decades. Latino students make up 37 % of Sac City Unified students, Asians 17.4 %, African Americans 17.7 %, and White students 18.8 %. Latino families now make up over 37 % of California residents and Latino descent children now make up over 50% of public school students.
   The Bilingual Multicultural Education Department at Sac State was  set up as  a structure so that the university, CSU-Sacramento, could  serve the community by preparing and advancing hundreds of Chicano and Asian teachers each year.  Unfortunately, others shut down this vehicle. Between 1994 -2006, Latino descent students were about 35% of the total teacher preparation students each year ( 60 -90 students per semester).  After the termination of the department in 2010, Latino descent students were less than 10% of the total students in teacher preparation at Sac State (about 7 students).  This decline was a direct consequence of eliminating the department. 
Update: Data just made available in Feb. 2016 shows that the percentage of Latinos in teacher credentialing  at CSU-Sacramento has increased to about 16% of the total credential students.  Hmong make up less than 2 %.  This is an improvement of 2012-2014, but only reaches the level of students we had in 1976, before the establishment of a department dedicated to Bilingual and Multicultural Education.  Sac State had a successful program, but neo liberal ideology and indifference to the needs to the Latino community ended the program.  See the Mexican American Digital History recording here. https://sites.google.com/site/chicanodigital/home/the-creation-and-demise-of-bilingual-education-at-csu-sacramento-2


Tuesday, January 26, 2016

Chicano History in the California State Textbooks


By Duane Campbell
The Mexican American Digital History Project and a broad group of allies have been working for over a year to add Chicano history to the California History/Social Science Framework, the document that determines what goes into textbooks in California. 
For  example see here. http://choosingdemocracy.blogspot.com/2015/04/teachers-we-need-your-letters-on.html  and numerous posts on this site. 
 The Quality Instructional Materials Commission of the California State Board of Education have posted their proposed revised framework and it includes most of what we proposed.  
Comments from teachers and community members are welcome. 
The IQC approved the draft History–Social Science Framework for California Public Schools for its second review on November 20, 2015. The approved draft is posted on the History–Social Science Curriculum Frameworks Web page at 


Going forward, any new public comments will be submitted as part of the second review process. 
Members of the public are invited to submit comments on the draft History–Social Science Framework through February 29, 2016, via e-mail to HSSframework@cde.ca.gov. Comments may be submitted in any format, but if a commenter is seeking revisions to the draft it is recommended that the comment include the chapter, page, and line number(s), the text as it is currently written in the draft, and the exact language of the suggested change.

Monday, January 25, 2016

Immigrant Activists Remaking the Democratic Primary

The Young Immigration Activists Who Are Remaking the Democratic Party.
An excellent description of the complex political issues coming from the immigration struggle and how it is entering the Democratic primary.



The Young Activists Who Remade the Democratic Party’s Immigration Politics
In 2012, DREAMers were once cajoling Democrats to be more creative and aggressive. In 2016, they’re leaders in both Bernie and Hillary’s campaigns.

This week’s Nation Magazine.


Friday, January 22, 2016

I don't do diversity, I do triage..


Rage Against the Narrative: "I don't do diversity, I do triage" 


Lisa Brock 
Date of Source: 
Wednesday, January 13, 2016
Praxis Center
On November 3, 2015, Jonathan Butler, a graduate student at the University of Missouri’s flagship campus in Columbia, Missouri, launched a hunger strike. Fed up with “institutional racism” and the university’s unwillingness to seriously tackle it, he stated that he and other black students “felt unsafe” [1] on campus. Mizzou’s students recounted scary drive-by insults, being called the n-word, and racist “pranks” as regular occurrences.[1] [2]
On November 9, 2015 Yale students protested. It was sparked by a white girls only frat party[2] [3] and an email from “associate master” of Silliman College Erika Christakis [4] saying that Halloween costumes, such as black face, are a matter of free speech. Further, she wrote, “there should be room for a …young person to be a little bit obnoxious … a little bit inappropriate and yes, offensive.”
By late November, students from Duke, Princeton, John Hopkins, Ithaca College and many more had launched actions. As historian Barbara Ransby [5] wrote recently:
On most campuses, there was a specific incident that sparked protests; the real issues are much broader and ongoing. The protesting students are not simply angered by a single incident or racial epithet; they are fed up with duplicitous campus cultures that tout diversity and tolerate pervasive racist practices, symbols and policies.
Within a month, student-led coalitions issued demands [6] of at least 82 institutions. As Ransby points out, “Black student struggles historically have had deep roots and strong ties to movements beyond the campus.” Many black students are from communities that James Baldwin termed Occupied Territory [7], so it is not surprising that movements for black lives would inspire students to stand up on the campuses that they attend.

Wednesday, January 20, 2016

Latino millennials could be major voting bloc -- if turnout is high enough | PBS NewsHour

Latino millennials could be major voting bloc -- if turnout is high enough | PBS NewsHour: If all Latino millennials voted in 2016, they'd have major sway in the presidential race. But that will depend on boosting turnout among young voters who make up almost half of the overall Hispanic electorate.

Republican Supreme Court to Take Up DAPA


NYT editorial. Jan. 20,2016.

As soon as 26 states took it upon themselves to sue President Obama over the sensible, humane executive actions he took in late 2014 to protect millions of undocumented immigrants from deportation, it was inevitable that the lawsuit would land on the Supreme Court’s doorstep.

On Tuesday morning, the justices announced that they would hear the case, which means a decision will most likely come down by the end of June. The states should never have been allowed standing to sue in the first place, and their substantive claims are groundless.

There are more than 11 million undocumented immigrants living in the United States. No one, besides Donald Trump, believes the nation has the resources, or the will, to deport them all. The clearest solution is to focus on removing those who pose an actual threat to public safety while deferring action on most of the rest and helping them “come out of the shadows.” In 2012, the Obama administration allowed young immigrantswho were brought here as children to be given work permits and be exempted from deportation, a program that has worked well. In November 2014, the president announced a plan to offer work permits and a three-year reprieve from deportation to as many as five million undocumented parents of American citizens or permanent residents, provided they had no criminal record and had lived in the country at least five years.

Tuesday, January 19, 2016

Obama Administration Deported Fewer in 2015 than in prior years

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Obama administration formally disclosed Tuesday that it deported the fewest immigrants since 2006. 
Between October 2014 and September 2015 the Homeland Security Department oversaw the deportation of about 235,413 people. At the same time, 337,117 people were arrested trying to cross the border illegally. 
The Associated Press in October reported that Immigration and Customs Enforcement deported about 231,000 people as of Sept. 28. 
DHS has previously said the drop in deportations overseen by ICE is largely due to the decline in arrests at the border. Border arrests dropped about 30 percent from 2014 to 2015. The 2015 border arrests included roughly 79,800 people traveling as families and children traveling alone, mostly from Central America. 
The overall total of deportations generally does not include Mexicans caught at the border and quickly returned home by the Border Patrol. 

Protect Female Farmworkers

Oakland, Calif. — ACROSS the country, some 400,000 women, mostly immigrants, work in agriculture, toiling in fields, nurseries and packing plants. Such work is backbreaking and low-paying. But for many of these women, it is also a nightmare of sexual violence.
In a 2010 study from the University of California, Santa Cruz, more than 60 percent of the 150 female farmworkers interviewed said they had experienced some form of sexual harassment. In a 2012 report, Human Rights Watch surveyed 52 female farmworkers; nearly all of them had experienced sexual violence, or knew others who had. One woman told investigators that her workplace was called the “field de calzón,” or “field of panties.” As an Iowa immigrant farmworker told her lawyer, “We thought it was normal in the United States that in order to keep your job, you had to have sex.”
The reasons behind this epidemic aren’t hard to fathom. Fields are vast and sparsely monitored; workers are often alone. It’s particularly bad for immigrant workers: The Department of Labor estimates that about half of farmworkers don’t have legal immigration papers, which makes them especially vulnerable.
So do low wages and competition for jobs: Male farmworkers make an estimated $16,250 a year and female ones $11,250 a year. With depressed wages and so many workers competing for the same job, women are hesitant to complain.

Monday, January 18, 2016

Socialism in Black America


by Rev. Andrew J. Wilkes

We live in strange times. We have a black president using race-neutral framing for social justice, alongside a Black Lives Matter movement using structural racism framing for participatory democracy. Killer Mike, a Southern rapper best known for his work with the Grammy Award-winning superduo Outkast, has endorsed a sitting U.S. senator and self-described socialist, Bernie Sanders. Some black preachers, apparently, are tripping over themselves to cozy up to Donald Trump or reposition themselves within the arc of Hillary Clinton's historic candidacy. Strange times indeed.

Today, presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders launches a tour of historically black colleges and universities (The HBCU Tour) in states where Clinton holds a clear advantage with black voters. He’ll be carrying a message of democratic socialism, one that rarely gets a hearing among any voting bloc.
Given the unique character of our political moment, I would argue that freedom-loving black folks should consider socialism as a viable political strategy for ameliorating the massive human misery in America. The reasons are embedded in our history and situation.
Socialism has deep roots in African American political history. The most famous and revered black person in America--Martin Luther King, Jr.--was a democratic socialist. Many of the most effective organizers and grassroots theorists of that era --folks like Ella Baker and A. Philip Randolph, and Bayard Rustin, for instance--held to a political vision of what may be called socialism. I appeal to black history to rebut the often-made claim that socialism has no lineage in communities of color and therefore is either untested or not to be trusted. 

Friday, January 15, 2016

Tuesday, January 12, 2016

Join the Campaign : Demand to Stop the Deportations


Join with our efforts, the campaign of Bernie Sanders, and others   oppose  the rising racist polarization in the country by strongly opposing the new Obama Administration policy of  community raids and stepped up deportations of Central American refugees already here in the U.S.
The New York Times describes the campaign as,

“an appalling campaign of home raids by the Department of Homeland Security to find and deport hundreds of would-be refugees back to Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador. The targets are those who arrived in a recent surge of people fleeing shockingly high levels of gang and drug violence, hunger and poverty and who offered themselves at the border to the mercy of the United States, but ultimately lost their cases in immigration court”

The DHS campaign is to use home raids to  deport these refugees before they can get legal counsel.  When refugees have legal counsel over 90% win their case for suppression of deportation to avoid the life threatening danger of drug lords, gangs, and military/police regimes in Central America.

(see posts below) 
Here is what you can do- today. 

1. Call the White House switchboard at 202 456-1414
2. Use sample script listed below.
3. Stay informed and repost our updates on your local Facebook pages. See www.antiracimsdsa.blogspot.com

Saturday, January 09, 2016

Bernie Sanders Calls For an End to Mass Deportation Raids of Central American Immigrants


Sanders has told the Obama administration, "I urge you to immediately cease these raids and not deport families back to countries where a death sentence awaits.” (Photo by Joshua Lott/Getty Images)


Sanders claims the Obama administration’s raids of Central American families and children are inconsistent with American values—and must be stopped. Hillary Clinton’s past support of such deportations sets her apart.



In a letter sent today from Sanders to Secretary Johnson, the Democratic candidate states unequivocally that, “Raids are not the answer. We cannot continue to employ inhumane tactics involving rounding up and deporting tens of thousands of immigrant families to address a crisis that requires compassion and humane solutions.”  
Sanders claims that rather than deporting these families, the administration should seek to provide them protection and employment within the United States. A statement from his campaign explains
“Citing the extreme violence that these families face, Sanders urged the administration to use executive authority to protect those fleeing unsafe countries in Central America by extending Temporary Protected Status. By granting Temporary Protected Status, the Department of Homeland Security could provide employment authorization and protection from deportation for a significant portion of these vulnerable people.”

Obama Admin. Appalling Home Raids

President Obama once said this about his administration’s deportation priorities: “We’ll keep focusing enforcement resources on actual threats to our security. That means felons, not families. That means criminals, not children. It means gang members, not moms who are trying to put food on the table for their kids.”
Encouraging words, a year ago. But a new year has dawned upon an appalling campaign of home raids by the Department of Homeland Security to find and deport hundreds of would-be refugees back to Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador. The targets are those who arrived in a recent surge of people fleeing shockingly high levels of gang and drug violence, hunger and poverty and who offered themselves at the border to the mercy of the United States, but ultimately lost their cases in immigration court.
Since New Year’s, the administration has been sending agents into homes to make an example of the offenders and to defend the principle of a secure border. A president who spoke so movingly about the violent gun deaths of children here has taken on the job of sending mothers and children on one-way trips to the deadliest countries in our hemisphere. Mothers and children who pose no threat, actual or imaginable, to our security.

Thursday, January 07, 2016

Invasion- Ted Cruz's policy





This is what candidate Cruz proposes.

Building Myths on the Border

Building Myths on the Border



Important video record of Republican racist campaigns against immigrants from Pete Wilson to Donald Trump and Ted Cruz.

Plus, video history of earlier California campaigns of fear.

by Harold Meyerson.

Monday, January 04, 2016

Obama Administration defends its deportation strategy

WASHINGTON -- The Obama administration on Monday defended its deportation tactics and confirmed it has begun raids on families, despite Democratic candidates and immigrant advocates saying officials could be sending mothers and children to their deaths. 
"This should come as no surprise," Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson said in a statement. "I have said publicly for months that individuals who constitute enforcement priorities, including families and unaccompanied children, will be removed."
The Department of Homeland Security began this weekend to conduct deportation raids that picked up 121 people, including children. All of them had exhausted their legal options to remain in the country after entering without authorization sometime after May 1, 2014, according to Johnson. Most of them are expected to be deported to Central America. 
Immigration activists say it's a dangerous and inhumane action, given the high levels of violence in Central America -- the homicide rate in El Salvador jumped 70 percent last year -- and that the current asylum-screening system can exclude some families who would be genuinely in danger at home.

Urge-the-White-House-NOT-to-conduct-raids-of-Central-American-refugee-children.html?soid=1114208817960&aid=NK6tHAWhgNs

ACTION-ALERT--Urge-the-White-House-NOT-to-conduct-raids-of-Central-American-refugee-children.html?soid=1114208817960&aid=NK6tHAWhgNs

The Republican Campaign to Restrict Latino Voting Rights : What counts as a Person?

The Next Big Voting-Rights Fight


Emily Bazelon and Jim Rutenberg
December 31, 2015
New York Times

If you’re no longer drawing lines on population but you’re selectively using criteria like age, that hits [the Hispanic] community very hard. Put aside the whole citizenship issue. The largest group of people who would be subtracted from the apportionment base would be children, and because [Hispanics] have disproportionately so many more children than the Anglo population has, that starts shifting seats all by itself, before you start to even consider citizenship.



U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-TX) (C) speaks as Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) (R) and Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund President and General Counsel Thomas Saenz (L) listen during a news conference in front of the Supreme Court on Dec. 8, 2015 , Alex Wong/Getty Images ,


Over the past year, The New York Times Magazine has chronicled the long campaign that led to the Supreme Court’s 2013 nullification of the Voting Rights Act’s most powerful provision — its Section 5 — and the consequences that decision has had for minority voters. As I’ve written in our Disenfranchised series, the gutting of Section 5 facilitated an onslaught of restrictive new laws that made voting disproportionately harder for minorities across the country, marking the biggest setback to minority voting rights in the half-century since President Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act.

Earlier this month, the Supreme Court heard a new case, Evenwel v. Abbott, that could also have a significant effect on minority political power — specifically, Hispanic voting power. Evenwel stems from a case first instigated in Texas by the same conservative group — the Project on Fair Representation — that helped bring about the decision gutting Section 5 in 2013. Like all of these big election cases, the issues involved are complicated, which may explain why Evenwel has drawn less media attention than it deserves; it does not reduce easily into sound bites. But the Court’s decision in Evenwel could be among the most important developments in politics in 2016, and well beyond. This series would not be complete for 2015 without a review of the case. My colleague Emily Bazelon and I have done our best to break it down as simply as possible, trading off segments to explain the main legal questions at play, the potential consequences and the likely outcomes. A decision is expected by June of 2016. 

Sunday, January 03, 2016

The Dolores Huerta Foundation


Dolores Campbell, Dolores Huerta, Duane Campbell
The Dolores Huerta Foundation is a grass-roots, community benefit organization, engaging and developing natural leaders. DHF creates leadership opportunities for community organizing, leadership development, civic engagement, and policy advocacy.
The DHF counts on your support to continue the grassroots community organizing and leadership development that improves neighborhoods and transforms lives. This takes a huge amount of resources. Your donation helps continue our work and organize new communities.
Ninety percent of our budget goes to direct action. Please consider sharing just a few dollars to cover the costs of sending our organizers into the rural communities of Arvin, Lamont, Tulare, Woodlake, and Linsday to develop natural leaders who volunteer to evaluate the specific needs in their communities, determine how they will resolve issues that affect them, and create an action plan mobilizing their neighbors and civic leaders to achieve their goals.

Friday, January 01, 2016