by Rev. Rims Barber, Mississippi Human Services Coalition

May 6, 2012
When the 2012 Legislative Session began, we were faced with an agenda crafted nationally by the conservative American Legislative Exchange Council (A.L.E.C.) and the TEA party.
Progressive and caring people came together to provide a balance to that kind of initiative.  The surprising result was that good prevailed over evil in many instances.  A number of those very bad ideas died, and did not become law in our state.
 
Religious leaders, business organizations and law officials came out and opposed the copying of …

by Bill Chandler, Executive Director of MIRA
May 6, 2012
It is amazing the misinformation and ignorance that abounds about Latinos.  A sad but good example is that of the perception that Cinco de Mayo is “Mexican Independence Day.”  It is not. Mexican Independence Day is September 16, 1810. While Cinco de Mayo is sometimes promoted as such mainly to sell beer and tequila in the United States, that date had far reaching consequences not only for Mexico, but also for the U.S.
 
Cinco de Mayo celebrates Mexico’s victory over invading French …

Courtesy Huffington Post
by Christopher Brauchli
It’s hard to keep Alabama out of the news. Two of its recent newsworthy events deserve attention. The first is its attempt to improve on the Beason-Hammon Alabama Taxpayer and Citizen Protection Act, a 76-page statutory creation as remarkable for its length as for its content that was designed to rid the state of undocumented immigrants.
As drafted, the Act prohibits anyone from giving an undocumented immigrant a ride to church (or any other place for that matter). In addition, undocumented immigrants may “not …

by Hedy Weiss
February 27, 2012

Politicians of every stripe in this country seem to lack the will, creativity and sheer guts to deal in some practical and humane way with the complicated issue of immigration. But where they have failed, the Albany Park Theatre Project — the prodigiously gifted, exquisitely directed youth theater ensemble rooted in a classic “gateway for the world” Chicago neighborhood — has triumphed.
In its latest production, “Home/Land,” now playing to consistently sold-out houses and extended through April 28, the company has transformed an often virulent and intensely partisan …

by Bill Chandler
February 20, 2012
A recent study from the Center for Business and Economic Research at the University of Alabama found that because of HB56 (Alabama’s new immigration law), Alabama’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) could shrink by up to $10.8 billion.1 Prof. Addy estimates that a loss of 40,000 to 80,000 unauthorized immigrants who earn between $15,000 and $35,000 annually could result in:

70,000 to 140,000 lost jobs;
$2.3 to $10.8 billion reduction in Alabama GDP, or 1.3 to 6.2 percent of the state’s $172.6 billion GDP in 2010;
$57 to $264 million loss in …