Elenamary

High School sucked, racism made it suck more…but damn trying to hang someone while screaming racist slurs, come on Ohio, we can do better.
From

Teen Accused of Tying a Noose Around a Latino
An Ohio teen accused of dragging a Latino young man in a parking lot with a noose last year has been sentenced to 10 days in jail.

The 18-year-old pleaded no contest to ethnic intimidation in juvenile court Wednesday after dropping his original plea of not guilty. A charge of aggravated menacing was also dropped.
Robert Cantu , 17, says a group of teenagers tied a noose around his neck and dragged him from a sidewalk to a parking lot while shouting racist slurs. He says a bystander intervened before the teens were able to follow through on their threat to hang him.

Cantu’s family is now planning to sue the city of Mount Vernon, Ohio.

(See Citizen Orange for more details about Robert Cantu and his attack)

My very good friend, Miles Curtiss is running for University Area Commissioner.  Those living between High street to the train tracks, and from 5thAve to 16thAve, can vote for Miles Curtiss.  All you have to do is show up, this Saturday, with either your Buck-ID, or other photo ID, or mail at one of the voting locations (listed below).

Voting Locations:

Metropolitan Library, Northside Branch
1423 N. High Street, Columbus

Jack & Benny’s Restaurant
2563 N High St @ Hudson & High

Northwood Building, Election Headquarters
2231 N. High Street

The Godman Guild
303 E. Sixth Street

I’m Miles Curtiss, a native of the Columbus, a musician, community
organizer, and third generation chronic do-gooder.  I work with
FreeGeek Columbus,  The University Area Enrichment Association, The
Ohio Community Computing Network, and Columbus IndyMedia, mostly
helping under resourced  people and communities get access to, and
training for, computers, self publishing, and e-waste recycling.  I’m
also very active with Yay Bikes, The Third Hand Bike Co-Op, Arawak
City Gardens and other groups centered around transportation and
fighting poverty.   In the past, I’ve been involved with the Columbus
League Of Young Voters, and the BLD artist co-operative.  I’ve been
drawn to the university area for it’s energy, it’s creative capital,
and it’s easy maneuverability.  It is a place where tens of thousands
come every year to become independent.  After finishing my own
university experience, this is the place I immediately came to.  This
neighborhood has always glowed with a “make your own future” ethic
that has informed me ever since I was old enough to walk from downtown
to the campus area record stores.

I think, I really only know, approximately three things about George Tiller, he was a medical doctor who was willing to provide abortions, he went to church, he was assassinated.  I don’t know if George Tiller was a good or bad doctor.  I don’t know if he was a regular church goer.  I really know very little about him.

I do know that his assassination has put fear in me.  I work at a clinic that is willing to provide abortions.  I am not sure if anyone close to me, knows the fear I feel.   I fear the websites that take pictures of my car when I go to work (not one of those cars has ever been in my name).  I fear they will publish the address of the person who lent me their car, and that the retaliation will be against them.  I fear  going to work.  I fear for my patients, including the ones that say to me “They don’t know I am christian too”… as if casting the first stone were a Christian act.  I fear copy-cats.  I fear people who don’t understand.  I fear people who aren’t more pensive in their analysis of  life.    I fear people who can’t understand the conversation I had this morning with a doctor who works at a pro-choice clinic.

The doctor I spoke with, is  Roman Catholic,  born and raised in Latin America; for most of his life he has worked at Catholic hospitals.  He frequently tells his patients that he has never met a mother who regretted her child.  He does not perform abortions;  he refuses because he does not agree with them.  He does however, counsel women and provide the 24 hour medical consent they need in order to get abortions.  His stance, a rather conservative one, is that women deserve to be educated and make a logic based decision for themselves in a supportive environment.  He feels there are women who will go to no ends to make sure they can have an abortion, so why not make sure they are aware of all consequences and ensure that they have their abortion in a safe, clean, environment?

His view is more conservative than mine.  However today, we both shared in our fear of a copycat.  We shared, in our fear of what it means that some praise an assassination.

In sixth grade I remember checking out books on Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor and wanting to be like her when I grew-up.  I figured I could be President first and then a Supreme Court Justice.  Some point during high school I came to believe that Presidents really didn’t have as much power as supreme court justices and that I only I wanted to be a justice.  I decided that like Thurgood Marshall I would stop as many government executions as possible.  I would create laws that would directly effect Americans in the present and future.

Today, Obama selected what could become our first Latino (and it was a Latina to boot!) Supreme Court Justice, Judge Sonia Sotomayor.   I am excited to see how our court evolves over the next 3.5 years (or 7.5?!)

This does not mean that we don’t have  a battle still as Latinas and Latinos recall that just a few years ago that Sotomayor’s

… nomination was approved overwhelmingly by the Senate Judiciary Committee, but became “embroiled in the sometimes tortured judicial politics of the Senate,” as some Republicans said they did not want to consider the nomination because elevating Sotomayor to the Appeals Court would enhance her prospects of being appointed to the Supreme Court.^[21][22] An anonymous senator put a secret hold on her nomination, blocking it for over a year. Democratic Senator Patrick Leahy called the length of the hold “disturbing,” “petty,” and “shameful,” also noting that at that time, “[o]f the 10 judicial nominees whose nominations have been pending the longest before the Senate, eight are women and racial or ethnic minority candidates.”  (Sotomayor Wikipedia)

It is wonderful to take note that despite the hurdles, Judge Sotomayor does not turn her back on her Latina identity, as noted in her lecture given at the University of California in 2001.

I first met Joseph (José) Mas in the early 2000’s when he came to speak to my Latino Studies class.  That quarter on a weekly basis different local Latino leaders came to speak to us.  I prejudged José Mas, thinking, “here comes this white Cuban lawyer who is going to be another anti-Castro, GOP mouth piece who takes for granted the dry foot policy.”  Again, I was stereotyping, and boy was I wrong.  He was and is an advocate for the people.  I have been impressed as he has fought for all immigrants (not just the wealthy privileged as I had incorrectly expected).  It was also from Mr. Mas that I first learned the phrase “¿Y tu Abuela donde esta?“  A phrase that literally means “And your Grandmother, where is she?”.   The question is regarding race, when someone denies their African or indigenous roots, you might ask them to not forget that their “grandmother” may be part of whatever they are denying or mocking etc.   He brought this up in the context that we different Latinos must not forget that our abuelas may have more in common than we want to admit.

On Thursday Joseph L. Mas was selected to sit  on the Franklin County Board of Elections.  The capital of Ohio, Columbus, is located in Franklin county.  Congratulations to Mr. Mas!

(From the Columbus Dispatch: Native of Cuba joins elections board &  Secretary of state appoints Joe Mas to Franklin County Board of Elections)

Monday, May 4th the Columbus Dispatch had an Editorial “Tighten ID process: Bureau of Motor Vehicles makes it too easy for people to commit fraud“.  The opening line:

“Ohio is known to illegal immigrants as the place to go to score an easy ID, and that’s unacceptable.”

This statement is offensive in all kinds of ways.  First no one is illegal, you don’t rob a bank and become an illegal, you committed a crime–that was illegal.  If you enter a country without proper documentation that is illegal, you as a person are not illegal.
Second, Ohio is NOT known as state where it is easy to get a State ID.  There are states were you can legally obtain state IDs without being a documented citizen.  Why would you go to a different state where you would be committing fraud to get an ID when you could go to any state that legally offers a legit ID?

The Dispatch goes on to address a worker at the BMV who was charged with

“..processing hundreds of Ohio ID cards for illegal immigrants between 2004 and 2007. People would bring Puerto Rican birth certificates and Social Security cards and would communicate through a translator.”
“…She testified that a “no racial profiling” rule imposed by the BMV prevented questioning of this flood of people bringing her Puerto Rican documents. If that’s true, this is a case of political correctness trumping common sense.”

It is common sense to think Ohio doesn’t have a Puerto Rican population?  Nor that it has had an increase in Puerto Ricans?
I call BS.  For example let us take note of Puerto Ricans from Lorain Ohio.

What the dispatch did was racist.  Instead of adequately addressing faults in the BMV’s operation, it instead pointed a finger at the Latino community and said “Look at all them illegals!  Those law breakers!” and wrote an article that only propagated a stereotype that some how Puerto Ricans and “Illegals” are the same thing, and oh don’t forget so are those that don’t speak English!

- My personal experience with the BMV and Puerto Rican Birth Certificates -

I received a phone call from a Puerto Rican woman asking if she could pay me to translate her birth certificate from Spanish to English in order for her to get her drivers license.  I explained she really didn’t need to hire me, that the BMV had to accept her birth certificate.  She shared with me her tribulations at the BMV and her failure to have them understand that Puerto Ricans are US citizens and her certificate was valid.  I asked her which office she had gone to and then called them on her behalf.  The person that answered knew exactly of the case I was calling about and told me that they required that all documents be in English.

I called the Puerto Rican woman back offered to translate the document for her and gave her the phone number to her congressional representative, encouraged her to talk to an aid who would call the BMV on the behalf of the congressional representative (I used to have that job—you wouldn’t believe how fast you can get through red tape when you say “I am calling from Representative Smith’s office”).

When I received the document, I rather quickly noticed that under every Spanish heading, in smaller text, it was in English (ie Place of Birth - Lugar de Nacimiento).  I called the woman back and told her not to bother having it translated and to just point out the English text…something no one had looked at.

Ohio is not an easy place to get a drivers license (there are states where it is easy or at least comparably easier).  If Ohio were smart we would allow those without Social Security Numbers to get drivers licenses after going through the same process as everyone else (required testing, required insurance).  Without the ability to get a drivers license or car insurance, the state of Ohio is only encouraging undocumented citizens of Columbus to drive without insurance and to flee whenever an accident happens.