Franky Benítez

Today’s protest was planned last week.  In fact, I was confused Thursday night, thinking someone had made a mistake in saying there were two marches to the Sheriff’s Department, one for Friday and one for Tuesday.  Santa Rosa Junior College’s M.E.Ch.A.* planned this one.  Friday’s march went well, but was rather disorganized, mostly since it had been pretty spontaneous.  People wanted something a bit tighter for today.

Fast forward to Sunday night.  A secret meeting was held at Supervisor Zane’s home to discuss logistics for Tuesday.  In attendance were two school board members and the superintendent of Santa Rosa City Schools, Supervisor Efren Carrillo and other “community leaders.”  According to an email from Supervisor Zane sent to my friend:

FYI Laura wasn’t invited due to Brown Act. I didn’t create the invite list, just worked with Jenni Klose and Efren on it. There were 6 Latinos, one Afro-american and 6…

Recently President Obama spoke publicly about the need to get immigration reform passed. As he was closing his remarks, he said the following to the people watching him at The White House: “I want to thank you for your passion and your heart when it comes to this issue.  And I want to tell you, you’ve got to keep it up.  Keep putting the pressure on all of us to get this done.”

So in the interest of “keeping the pressure on all of us to get this done,” it is imperative that the President hears from all those who are pushing for reform, and not just the ones who are taking a more moderate approach and saying all we need is for the GOP-controlled House of Representatives to start moving on a bill. Those moderate voices have been doing a very noble job in raising that awareness: from a…

So tonight I tuned in for Al Jazeera America’s The Stream show (7:30 pm EST), featuring a panel discussing whether baseball can unite Americans and Cubans but, more so, the Cuban embargo and Cuban policy overall.

Thoroughly impressed by the show’s format and the debate, I felt compelled to write a quick post on it.

First, some background. When Al Jazeera America debuted earlier this year, the shrieking was rampant. Some, including (I’m embarrassed to say) my fellow conservatives, Tweeted that it was a sign of “Islamists” taking over the country. When I cautioned that we should maintain an open mind and reserve judgment, I was attacked mercilessly and unfollowed by multiple accounts. One even urged me to fess up and asked if my viewpoint was due to my dating an “Islamist.” Oh my. (For the record, no, I’m not dating a Muslim nor have I but, guess what? I’ve…

Before I share the reasons as to why I detest Hispanic Heritage Month, I pause to offer a history lesson.

Did you know that this whole Hispanic Heritage Month thing started as Hispanic Heritage Week in 1968, and it only became Hispanic Heritage Month on August 17, 1988, when a public law of the United States was enacted? Need proof? Here’s the public law.

And here’s the government page that describes the history of what is turning into one of the most annoying four weeks of the year.

If Hispanic Heritage Month actually achieved what it was created to do , that is, to celebrate “the histories, cultures and contributions of American citizens whose ancestors came from Spain, Mexico, the Caribbean and Central and South America,” then I would be cool with it. Instead, the hope of real and authentic celebration has turned into oversaturation.

Spare me.

Just like almost everything…

By Efrain Nieves

Without any intent of generalizing, if we ask boys growing up in the inner cities what success means to them chances are that they will answer “playing football like Victor Cruz, Ray Lewis and Lawrence Taylor or playing basketball like Dwayne Wade and Carmelo Anthony. But yet there are some boys whose role models are not…

With the news of the Dream 30 continuing to dominate the immigration reform debate this past week, a new twist to the public border action has emerged.

On Monday the group of 36 immigration activists who crossed the Texas-Mexico border in Laredo to protest record deportations by the Obama administration and call for Congress to move on immigration reform, hit a roadblock when the action’s organizers asked that Texas congressman Henry Cuellar, a Democrat who favors immigration reform and represents Laredo, write a letter to President Obama asking him to expedite the release of the 27 individuals still being detained.

Cuellar would not support the group, a part of the National Immigrant Youth Alliance (NIYA). As a local Laredo news report said, “Cuellar told us [Tuesday night] that he was opposed to the methods used by what he called professional activists who support the Dreamers movement. He told us…