Project Economic Refugee

• PBS report: a program designed to crack down on immigration may actually be making communities insecure.
• Latinos for Internet Freedom: our online freedom is under attack by corporations like AT&T, Comcast and Verizon that want to control the Internet … As the largest community of color in the United States, Latinos number 47 million. Of these, nearly 19 million are online … read the rest of this campaign here.
• Disturbing: white supremacists continue to infiltrate the environmental movement.
• CA Senate Race: check out this note exposing candidate Fiorina’s anti-immigrant agenda (who, ironically enough, is pretending to be a “friend” of Latinos).
• Now that the bill passed out of the CA Senate, please sign this petition urging CA’s Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to sign the California DREAM Act SB1460/AB1413.
• In case you missed this: the U.S. Department of Justice finally started to get more aggressive against the bigot Sheriff Arpaio, asking him to show the Department his papers.
• …and finally, this update wouldn’t be complete if it didn’t include Arizona’s Governor Jan Brewer in all of her embarassing glory, which started to unravel in the recent debate she participated in.

• Bigots are infiltrating the environmental movement: the Center for New Community has put out a new report titled Apply the Brakes: A Report on Anti-immigrant Co-optation and the Environmental Movement.  On the heels of this, imagine2050.net reported:

The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) released a new report today titled, Greenwash: Nativists, Environmentalism & the Hypocrisy of Hate.

The report details decades-old attempts by anti-immigrant groups – all part of the John Tanton Network – to lure environmentalists and environmental groups into adopting their anti-immigrant agenda.  Read more here.

• In case you missed it, here’s the video of the publicity stunt that immigrant rights activists pulled at this year’s progressive Netroots Nation gathering.
• A story claiming that Mexican drug cartels had seized ranches in Laredo Texas turned out to be a hoax, apparently created by extremists in the Tea Party crowd.  In fact, even some conservative bloggers denounced the story as a lie.  Check out this conservative blog that conducted an interview on this topic.
• GALEO & the Georgia Latino Vote announced the launch of the “Orale! 10″ campaign video and radio Public Service Announcements.  Here are the TV ads and here are the radio ads.  The “Orale! 10″ campaign’s goal is to register 100,000 new Latino and pro-immigrant voters in time for the General Election in November.
• Speaking of reports, the Immigration Policy Center has released this analysis of how, in fact, there will be a multitude of training problems if police are expected to enforce Arizona’s SB 1070 law.
• Check out Puente Arizona’s note on how social media has helped fuel the movement to oppose SB 1070.  You can access Puente Arizona’s flickr stream here. 
• Showing that opposition to Arizona’ authoritarian police law is coming not only from Democrats but also from Republicans: sign the “Not In My America” petition, which is based on Republican Congressman Connie Mack’s piece on the Washington Post in which he lays out why conservatives should oppose Arizona’s immigration law.  Here’s the campaign’s promo video:

• If you haven’t already, check out the film Entre Nos, an inspirational new movie and true story about an immigrant mom devoted to keeping her family together and making a better life for her young kids.
• The AFL-CIO calls on members of Congress to take immediate steps to pass the DREAM Act in 2010 as down payment to Comprehensive Immigration Reform.  Sources say resolutions such as these are being closely monitored by Senator Reid.  Has your organization passed such a resolution yet? 

• What is Democratic Senator Kay Hagan’s position on the DREAM Act?  Three students recently staged a hunger strike to demand that Senator Hagan’s comes out in support of that piece of legislation.  Unfortunately, the Senator has not even agreed to meet with them.  The story was featured on the Charlotte Observer, the Raleigh Public Record, and this blog.
• Today’s most machiavellian web of anti-immigrant groups, the white supremacist John Tanton Network, uses the issue of immigration to drive a wedge between communities of color.  This video takes an in-depth look at what is going on.
• Another of example of a politican going as low as he can go to advance his own political career: New York Republican Michael Allegretti viciously going after DREAM students to rile up the party’s anti-immigrant base in his favor during the nomination process.  Read the Silive.com piece here.  Make sure you thank his Democratic opponent, Rep. Mike McMahon, for standing up to Allegretti’s bullying.  Click here for the act.ly petition.  
• The New York Times: A 61-year-old Jamaican man who spent three decades living and working in New York, was stuck in an immigration detention center for over five years!  He was barely released last July 1st; here’s the official statement on this from the National Immigrant Justice Center.
• The United Farm Workers has teamed up with Stephen Colbert on the hilarious and thought-provoking ”Take Our Jobs” campaign.  Here’s a blog post on Crooks & Liars.  Also check out the Coming to a Farm Near You: Steven Colbert? post on DailyKos.
• Instead of passively waiting for copy cat laws of Arizona’s authoritarian policy law to pop in their own states, State Legislators for Progressive Policy are taking a pre-emptive strike in the battle against bigotry.  Read the Washington Post story here.
• The Immigrant Youth Justice League launched a campaign to demand on moratorium on deportations.  The next major action is scheduled for Saturday July 17th, 2010 at the Cook county Jail, located on 26th St. and California Ave.
• A new poll has revealed strong bipartisan support for the DREAM Act.  Click here to access it.  In fact, 70% of Americans support it.
• Bob Anderson, Democratic former lieutenant governor of Iowa, advocates for comprehensive immigration reform in this opinion piece.
• Immigration Talk with a Mexican American has an idea for President Obama: The U.S.A. Jobs for Americans Plan and Honors Program. 
• Sign this petition on Change.org thanking President Obama for filing suit against Arizona’s authoritarian police law.
• Brookings Institution: a new immigration policy is necessary to secure American competitiveness and long-term economic development.
• New York Times Editorial: The Constitution Trumps Arizona.
• If you haven’t seen checked it out already, make sure you take a look at Senator Durbin’s webpage on the DREAM Act (he’s one of the lead sponsors of this piece of legislation).
• Looks like President Obama has now moved away from loud and all-too-public ICE raids against economic refugees and instead is opting for so-called “silent” ones.  Find out the details here.
• Call to action: Mass DREAM mobilization in Washington D.C. on July 19th-21st.

Missed the speech? Watch the whole speech online on CSPAN’s website here.

Click on the picture to access CSPAN's full video of the President's July 1st, 2010 speech on immigration.

Here’s President Obama’s entire transcript of what he said during his speech.


Positive: the President mentioned the DREAM Act.  Called out the mistaken notion that taking on immigration reform is “bad politics”.  Pointed out what few dare to admit with the passing of immigration laws similar to Arizona: how they actually increase crime because they plant fear in immigrants and deter them from trusting police to report crimes.  Recognized the nature of the humanitarian crisis going on in our borders: having thousands upon thousands of human beings risk their lives, with many dying in their treks in the quest to escape oppressive poverty for themselves and their families.

Negative: on parts of the speech the President relied too much on conservative buzz phrases, which tends to constrict the immigration debate to issues of legalese rather than on fighting the extreme poverty that drives people to flee their countries in the first place to take refuge in the U.S. economy, in other words: the root of “illegal immigration”.

Evocative: the choice of location was designed to evoke the memory of Senator Ted Kennedy, who was an icon for Latinos and other immigrants in the advancement of their civil rights. 

Follow up questions: what was the purpose of the speech? It was powerful, as President Obama’s speeches usually are.  There was no mention of a specific timeline for next steps, no mention of what are the actual next steps, no actual commitment to pass a specific part of immigration reform (like the DREAM Act, for example).  Was the speech intended to be more of a campaign promise for the Latino vote going into the upcoming difficult midterm elections?

Update: Reform Immigration for America has a great tool to send a message to Republicans to stop standing in the way of immigration reform.  Click here to send a fax to them. Putting pressure on the Republicans is a good starting point but Democrats and the President himself need to be held accountable as well.  Besides federal action against Arizona’s new authoritarian police law, we need a down payment on immigration reform this year.  Enough stalling; a DREAM Act and an AgJobs Bill would be two good down payments, starting with the DREAM Act.  America’s Voice Online has this great tool to tell the President and Congress to move the DREAM Act forward.  Here’s the petition too.

• AFL-CIO’s blog: most economists and those who have researched the issue, say undocumented workers are not taking away jobs from U.S. citizens, a major claim of those who oppose immigration.
• In light of President Obama’s recent of order of 1,200 National Guard troops to the border, watch Gabriela Flora from the American Friends Service Committee (video on the right of this article) argue on Colorado’s Channel 9 how the militarizing of the border has actually resulted in increased deaths along the border.
• Phoenix New Times: Jan Brewer’s CCA Money and Her Possible Conflict of Interest Over SB 1070. Several months before signing SB 1070, Governor Jan Brewer accepted hundreds of dollars in “seed money” for her clean elections campaign from corporate executives and others with a possible stake in Arizona’s “papers please” legislation becoming law. Read the story here.
• Zack de la Rocha, Kanye West, Juanes, others launch AZ boycott‏. The campaign, called the Sound Strike, has been organized by Zack de la Rocha, the lead singer of the rap metal band Rage Against the Machine, and is endorsed by English-language rock and rap performers like Massive Attack, Kanye West, Conor Oberst, Sonic Youth and Joe Satriani.
• Drop a comment of support on the Tennessean.com’s note on Lipscomb University’s policy of admitting and providing private financial aid to students without regard to their immigration status.
• Please comment and vote no on this poll. You can find it on the bottom right corner. They are asking if Florida should have a law like Arizona’s.
• BostonHerald.com: Immigration activists urge Sen. Scott Brown to back  the Dream Act.
• Check out this new project: Immigrant Stories from the 5%.  The project is currently run as a Facebook Page with the idea to collect immigrant stories from Asian Americans.
• Interesting: Steve Poizner Receives Political Kiss of Death in the Latino Community: A Joe Arpaio Endorsement.
• Rep. Linda Sanchez Tells The Truth About Arizona’s Senate Bill 1070.

• The AFL-CIO and the nation’s largest civil rights coalition issued a strongly worded call for the Obama administration to sever its ties with law enforcement officials in Arizona.  Drop them a comment in support here.
• 4 undocumented youth have staged a sit-in at John McCain’s office urging him and Congress to pass the Dream Act now.  Check out this TwitPic that was posted as it happened.  The students were later arrested and put on deportation proceedings.
• Marielena Hincapie’s Huffington Post column explains why the National Immigration Law Center and its allies filed their lawsuit against Arizona’s SB 1070.
• Show your support for Jessica Colotl’s struggle to remain in the U.S. to finish her college education by voting on these two polls: wsbtv.com & Fox5.
• Several members of San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors introduced a resolution asking law enforcement to opt-out of the dangerous police-ICE collaboration program which is so disingenuously called the “Secure Communities” program.
• President Obama’s Organizing for America wants to hear the stories of those who voted for the first time in 2008.  Please forward this link to those who voted for the first time with immigration reform in mind.
• The SEIU recently sent this e-mail asking the following question: Who benefits from our broken, enforcement – heavy Immigration policies?  Check out this graphic and this video that shows who are the people that benefit.  Last year, there was over $1.7 billion in revenue – 40% of it from contracts with ICE, US Marshals Office, and Federal Bureau of Prisons – and a large portion of that work was immigration related.
• It looks like Mr. Cafferty is trying to pick up where Lou Dobbs left off at CNN.  He has published a few anti-immigrant blog posts using lines like these: But when one of our states that is being ravaged by the presence of 460,000 illegal aliens inside its borders does something about it, the president says that’s “misguided.”
• Rhode Island State Rep. Palumbo has introduced a bill that is similar to Arizona’s authoritarian police law.
• Amazingly, the President of FAIR (an organization with ties to white supremacists) Dan Stein is scheduled to appear On Democratic Party Panel.
• Michelle Obama Talks Immigration with 2nd Graders; Mrs. Obama was having a little problem explaining to a little girl why Obama is deporting so many people. The little girl then reveals to her that her mom doesn’t have papers.  DIGG the story.
• Protesters, many of them college students, rallied outside the downtown Orlando office of Sen. George LeMieux to call for his support of two immigration reform bills lingering in Congress without enough votes for passage.
• Northeastern University President Joseph Aoun (AH’-oon) has endorsed a federal proposal that would allow undocumented college students a pathway to permanent residency and U.S. citizenship.
• Check out this opinion piece from Cesar Chavez’s long time press aid.  The Tea Party folks should not be able to use Cesar Chavez as a symbol of anti-immigration!

• Massachusetts: many blame Gustavo Rezende’s suicide, a Brazilian immigrant youth, on the pressures and limitations of his undocumented status. Read the story here and don’t forget to DIGG it.
• US Olympian Simon Cho Reaches Out to Youth in Face of Anti-Immigrant State Proposals: recently, U.S. Olympian Simon Cho completed a community speaking tour sponsored by NAKASEC and the Korean Resource Center, speaking to over 1,000 youth from kindergarten to college age, as well to dozens of Korean American seniors.  Read her Op-ed piece that appeared on The Baltimore Sun here. 
• Senator Rick Durbin issued a statement on making the DREAM Act a reality in light of the new Arizona authoritarian police law.
• William Gheen and ALIPAC ridicule the “Frustration of a legal immigrant”: Steinar Andersen, a legal immigrant from Norway and an IT manager for a logistics firm in the Chicago area posted this letter on May 2, 2010 in the Chicago Tribune, only to be quickly ridiculed and belittled by racist ALIPAC.
• Maine’s Bangor Daily News: John Buell, a political economist, published a thoughtful Op-ed piece on immigration.  Favorite line: “Yet despite overwhelming evidence about the weaknesses in our deregulated banking system and crude and illegal union busting tactics, there is, other than from Michael Moore, no movement to deport bankers or corporate thugs.” Drop him a comment of support here.  
• On CNN, Anderson Cooper ran a debate between Tom Horne, the sponsor of the bill to ban Cesar Chavez and other figures within Ethnic Studies, and Professor Michael Eric Dyson. Professor Dynson just obliterates Horne in this debate. Check it out here.
• Newly independent Florida Gov. Charlie Crist, who is running for Senate this year, has an idea to address two of the nation’s most pressing political issues: Give undocumented immigrants a chance to become citizens so they can pay into Social Security. Read the story on USA Today.
• Los Diablos, ASU’s Latino Alumni Association, has unveiled a brilliant new retort to Arizona’s nasty “paper’s please” legislation: A maroon and gold T-shirt, which reads, “You want to see my papers? Here’s my degree from ASU.” Here’s the story and you can DIGG it here.
• Sam Stein on The Huffington Post: “…The nation’s largest union organization and one of its biggest civil rights groups have written a stern letter to Secretary Janet Napolitano demanding that the Department of Homeland Security cut programmatic ties with law enforcement officials in Arizona or be complicit in the state’s controversial immigration law.”
• Texas: Austin City Council passed a resolution to stop doing business with Arizona.

Trail of DREAMs has just learnt that Senators Richard Durbin (Democrat) and Richard Lugar (Republican) have asked authorities to stop the deportation of children of economic refugees, aka “DREAMers”.  Here’s their press release:

For Immediate Release

Wednesday April 21, 2010

Contact: media@trail2010.org  – 202.787.1813/ www.Trail2010.org 

Trail of DREAMs Congratulates

Senators Durbin and Lugar for Their Leadership to Halt Deportations of Undocumented Students

Immigrant students walking from Miami toWashington, DC witness their impact in the immigration reform debate as they soon approach toWashington, DC

Washington, DC: Today, Senators Richard Durbin (D-IL) and Richard Lugar (R-IN) sent an unprecedented letter to the Secretary of theDepartment of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano asking her to halt deportation of undocumented students, also known as DREAM students in order to accentuate the DREAM Act legislation that legalizes undocumented students with good moral character.

“The leadership of Senators Lugar and Durbin truly empower us as a youth movement,” expressed Carlos Roa, a 22 year old undocumented student walking in the Trail of DREAMs. “We have walked almost 1500 miles from my hometown in Florida to ask President Obama to stop deportations of youth like me. I really want to thank Senators Lugar and Durbin for taking leadership to help us.”

Roa, who has lived as an undocumented person in the United States since the age of 2,and the other students from the Trail of DREAMs – Gaby Pacheco, 25; Felipe Matos, 23; and Juan Rodriguez, 20, took off by foot in an inspiring 1500 miles journey from Miami on January 1, 2010. They are scheduled to arrive in Washington, DC on Wednesday April 28 for an event at the National Press Club followed by a final walk to the White House to ask President Obama to issue an executive order that would immediately stop detentions and deportations of undocumented students like them.

“Our dream is the opportunity to fully participate in the U.S. society, but we cannot become the professionals we wish to be because we are undocumented,” stated Gaby Pacheco.  “We have been waiting for years to speak up about our situation as immigrant students. Mr. President Obama, we cannot wait any longer, please don’t deport us from our home.”

[Here] is a copy of the letter by Senators Durbin and Lugar, for more information please contact their D.C. offices at 202.224.2152 and 202.224.4814, respectively.

Meet the DREAMERS:

Update: getting word of the following.

The trail of DREAMs is almost in DC. [They] are only 60 miles away but need your help more than ever. [They] have some 30,000 people that already signed the petition but to have a real impact we need 50,000 before [they] get to DC. Please forward this email below to your list. … The most important thing is that we get as many people to sign it and that we, as a movement, get to hold Obama accountable to his promise.

Please forward this to everyone you know.  Clicking below will sign your name to our petition to end the deportation of DREAM students.

Our petition: We stand with Senators Lugar and Durbin in calling onthe Obama Administration to immediately end the deportation of students eligible for the DREAM Act.

For the past four months, we have been telling you the story of Gaby, Juan, Felipe, and Carlos as they walk from Miami to Washington, D.C. Now, just 87 miles from Washington, D.C., they have an announcement they want to share. 

——————————————————————————–

Yesterday, everything changed. We just learned that Senators Durbin (D-IL) and Lugar (R-IN) have called on the Obama administration to do the key thing we’ve been calling for: halt the deportation of undocumented “DREAMers” like us —students who were brought here as children and yearn for the opportunity to study, serve the country we love, and realize ouraspirations.

Change is in our grasp, but we need your help to make it real. Now is the time to show President Obama that everyday people stand with us DREAMers and the Senators who have joined our call for change.

Clicking below will add your name to our petition to the Obama administration to end deportations of DREAM students now. We need all the help we can get, so please tell your friends and family to join us too.

Clicking here will sign your name to our petition Our petition to the Obama Administration reads as follows:

We stand with Senators Lugar and Durbin in calling on the Obama Administrationto immediately end the deportation of students eligible for the DREAMAct. This is exactly why we are walking. For years, we have fought against deportations of our friends andfamily members and demanded an end to the senseless targeting of hard-working students. Now, two U.S. Senators are echoing our call. We have walked more than 1,000 miles because growing up undocumentedhas meant living in fear that any moment we could be taken from thecommunities that raised us and believed in us for so long. We have achance to erase that fear for families across the country. The effort of Senators Durbin and Lugar to stop deportations ofstudents could be a powerful start to mending the many failures of ourimmigration system. As we have learned over the past few months, even the longest journey begins with a single step. This step is real, it’stangible, and now we need your help to take the next one. Please join our call. Clicking below will add your name to ourpetition to the Obama administration to end deportations of DREAMstudents now. Clicking here will sign your name to our petition:

http://www.trail2010.org/action/

Thank you,

Gaby, Juan, Felipe, and Carlos

This is an interesting concept … is your city doing anything like this?

Tacos for Justice: Innovative Effort Launches

LA-area plan will help fund national advocacy strategy for immigrant justice 

For Immediate Release

Contacts:    Armando Gudino:  562-413-9003, Erin Glenn:  213-434-0071 

(Los Angeles, CA, Feb. 22) Responding to the call of the National Latino Congreso (NLC) held in El Paso, Texas, January 29-31, a multi-level partnership launched Tacos for Justice/Tacos Para Justicia today, an effort to include millions of local immigrant justice supporters in the national campaign to achieve legalization for America’s 10-12 million undocumented persons in 2010.

“Through Tacos for Justice the simple act of eating is converted into an act of social justice,” said Erin Glenn, Executive Director of the Asociación de Loncheros L.A. Familia Unida de California. “Our trucks will give a 10% discount to every patron as well as donate to the national Immigrant Justice Campaign for every Tacos for Justice coupon used in a purchase of the “Justice Menu” at our participating trucks,” she continued. “The lunch truck addresses are on the back of the coupon or can be accessed online at tacosparajusticia.org.”

More than one million discount coupons are being issued by the Latino Voters League (LVL), an advocacy group designated by the National Latino Congress to manage the proceeds. “Grassroots funds gathered through Tacos for Justice will fund organizers and media in key states and congressional districts throughout America to persuade federal legislators to support good immigration reform bills. For example, HR 431 (the CIR ASAP Act) would legalize all qualified undocumented and Dream Act, would legalize 65,000 college eligible undocumented high school graduates,” said Armando Gudino, Communications Director of the LVL, agudino@latinovotersleague.net.

The general public can download the free coupons at tacosparajusticia.org now. Some 200,000 coupons are being distributed this week to participating organizations to give to their members including Anahuak Youth Sports Association, La Placita Church, Mexican American Political Association, National Day Laborers Network, William C. Velasquez Institute, National Alliance of Latin American and Caribbean Communities, Hermandad Mexicana Latinoamericana, and others.

“Any interested group can order bulk discount coupons from their members (300 booklet minimum order; booklets contain 16 coupons each) by contacting me. Also restaurant chains that want to join the “Tacos for Justice” can also contact me,” said Tacos for Justice LA Coordinator Carmen Amaya (323-246-2210 or info@latinovotersleague.net).

“The NLC is organizing numerous efforts across the country as part of its Immigrant Justice Campaign. Later in this week the high tech companion to “Tacos” will be released: Texts for Justice, as well as a new immigrant-interest scorecard,” said Angela Sanbrano for the NLC Conveners.

Update:

Tacos for Justice Update: Coupons Hit the Field!

Over 100,000 Coupons Will be Distributed This Weekend…With More Available Online!

What’s the Latest:
Monday, the Latino Voters League (LVL) announced it was launching the “Tacos Para Justicia” program, as part of the National Latino Congreso’s Immigrant Justice Campaign. 

This weekend, the first 100,000 coupons will be hitting the community, as partners Anahuak Youth Soccer Association, La Placita Church, Dolores Mission Church, and IDEPSCA will join the LVL in distributing coupons for 10% off selected menu items at various Lonchero locations, listed on www.tacosparajusticia.org.  Another 70,000 coupons will be ready for circulation at the beginning of next week when partners MAPA and NALACC hit the field…and even more partners are on their way!

The general public can download the free coupons at www.tacosparajusticia.org now…just sign up for the Latino Voters League email list. 

" ¡Agua sagrada no se vende!" -Lead organizer of March for Water '09, Miguel Luna.

I was recently asked to do a guest post for Heal the Bay‘s President Mark Gold’s blog.  It was titled “Ground Control to Guy”, because it was a report post on Guy Laliberté’s (founder of Cirque du Soleil) Poetic Social Mission in space.  If you haven’t already seen my post, I invite you to go over to Mark’s blog and check it out there.  I gladly accepted the offer to do a guest post on Mark’s “Spouting Off” blog, specially since Guy’s Cirque has been extremely supportive of Heal the Bay through La Soirée, which will take place this October 16 to benefit Heal the Bay and Guy’s organization ONE DROP Foundation (for ticketing info click here).  The event will feature the premier of Cirque du Soleil’s Koosa in the Southern Cal city of Santa Monica. 

I watched the entire two-hour live webcast of Poetic Social Mission featuring a myriad of voices around the globe all honoring and advocating for social justice in the protection of our water.  Water IS life and has been the basis for all civilizations.  We must revere it, respect it, and protect it from pollution and abuse.  The Latino experience in Southern California with water has been evolving into a battle for the narrative of just what is at the root of the water crisis in the state.  The battle is basically between the responsible/sustainable management of our water and the put-profits-before-people “backdoor deals with agribusiness” that the moneyed powers-that-be in California make all the time.

One prime example of such backdoor deals are the blatant manipulation of Latinos to use them for props in campaigns to build dams/reservoirs and handing out big contracts that generate a sweet pot of money for rich developers.  I am talking about Governor Schwarzenegger, who, on the one hand kills Latino kids’ dreams of going to college and on the other he’s using Latinos as fixtures in support of his big Agribusiness pals’ pockets.  It has now been reported that Governor Schwarzenegger presided over the birth of the so-called “Latino Water Coalition”, which has been intrumental in pushing the governor’s plans to basically ‘build bigger dams baby!’  In fact, it is a very little-known secret that Schwarzenegger’s rich friends have been pulling ENRON-like stunts with our water supply, which was reported on an interview that Dorothy Green gave to LA Weekly, a month before she passed away. 

Latinos actually care very deeply about what is going on with the protection of our water and the responsible use of this precious resource, whether it’s on an individual personal behavioral basis to prevent waste or on a government policy level to combat its pollution or overuse.  Last March, I helped craft the messaging for the 2009 “March for Water” in Los Angeles,which sought to move people to action on the issue of social justice when it comes to the protection of water.  Water conservation is not just an issue of scientific urgency or of supply and demand but of a higher moral call that we all, as human beings, must answer.  At the March for Water, many Latinos answered the call, and joined in an effort to stand with solidarity of the recent FLOW film’s theme of “water for people, not for profits!” … just check out this video from the actual march.  Latino immigrants are oftentimes very much in tune with nature because many of them grew up in or came from rural areas in Latin America.  As such, they immediately understand just how important it is to care for our environment.  Yes, March for Water might not have had the money kick-backs that Schwarzenegger is able to throw around or the ability to broadcast from space.  There is no doubt in my mind, however, that Latinos will continue to be instrumental in the fight for a more just and responsible use of one of our most precious sources of life: water.