By Mayela Sanchez
Global Press Institute

A group of mostly women remember victims of gender-based killings by embroidering their stories on handkerchiefs and displaying them at local demonstrations and events. There were more than 34,000 feminicides in Mexico from 1985 to 2009. Performing a traditional craft that requires time and patience, the embroiderers say they feel a connection with the women whose violent stories they stitch.

Part 1 in a Series

Shaping Their Future: Women in Mexico Seek Empowerment Through Crafts

MEXICO CITY, MEXICO – Edith López inserts her sewing needle into a white cloth in Mexico City, Mexico’s capital. Stitch-by-stitch, she embroiders the story of Gloria, a woman whose husband doused her with flammable solvent, then set her on fire. He tried to burn her to death because she tried to separate from him.

She is embroidering Gloria’s story as part of Bordamos Feminicidios, a collective of mostly women who embroider the stories of women who were assaulted and slain because of their gender. The group’s name translates from Spanish to “We Embroider Feminicides.”

Judith Flores holds one of the group’s embroidered cloths, which tells the story of a sex worker whose body was found mutilated and packed in a suitcase.

Although Gloria survived the assault, the group included her case as a way to raise awareness about gender-based killings. The embroiderers also connect with their subjects’ stories through the craft.

The first embroidery López did with the group included an extra link. A lawyer, she stitched the story of a case she had litigated involving three young women whose bodies had been found in a cotton field in Ciudad Juárez, a city in northern Mexico.

Feminicide in Mexico first caught national and international attention during the killings that occurred during the 1990s in Ciudad Juárez in the state of Chihuahua.

Bordamos Feminicidios uses embroidery to provide a voice to feminicide victims and to change society’s perception of these women as weak. The detailed craft also enables embroiderers to connect with the women and sensitizes them to the violence they suffered.

Mexican law defines feminicide violence as an extreme form of gender-based violence against women. It considers it the product of human rights violations in the private and public spheres and the combination of misogynist conduct and social and state impunity. It could result in homicide or other forms of violent deaths.

While the term “femicide” comes from the female equivalent of homicide, “feminicide” is a wider definition that encompasses the multiple forms of death that could occur, according to a 2012 national study by the Comisión Nacional para Prevenir y Erradicar la Violencia contra las Mujeres, a commission that aims to prevent and eradicate violence against women under the Secretaría de Gobernación, Mexico’s interior ministry.

Between 1985 and 2009, more than 34,000 women were killed because of their gender in Mexico, according to the commission’s study. It notes that feminicides have increased since 2007 because of the social violence that has accompanied the “war” on drug cartels waged by the previous administration of Felipe Calderón, who served as president from 2006 to 2012.

Minerva Valenzuela says she began the embroidery group in November 2012. She drew inspiration from a similar project called Bordamos por la Paz, in which relatives of people who were killed or who disappeared during the Calderón administration met in public places to embroider handkerchiefs with the stories of the casualties of the drug offensive.

Bordamos Feminicidios has embroidered about 350 handkerchiefs so far, says Valenzuela, who has personally stitched seven stories.

“I was totally mutilated and packed in a suitcase,” reads one of the cloths, telling the story of a victim who had been a sex worker.

Valenzuela, a cabaret actress who defines herself as an independent feminist, sits on the sidewalk in front of the Secretaría de Gobernación in Mexico City on April 18. Citizens are demonstrating to demand an investigation into the killings of women in the states of Hidalgo and Guanajuato. Valenzuela is embroidering one of the cases.

The group embroiders cases documented by the Observatoria Ciudadano Nacional del Feminicidio, a civil association that monitors and registers information on feminicides. The embroiderers carry out their project at various demonstrations against feminicide in the capital as well at other women’s rights events.

The mostly female participants are diverse in age and profession. They meet spontaneously, deciding when and where to convene through Facebook. They say they join the group because of an interest in gender-based violence or a passion for embroidery.

During the public demonstrations and events, they hang the handkerchiefs or cloths with the stories they have embroidered on makeshift clotheslines so passersby can read them.

“I was only 30 years old and had a world to discover,” reads the story of Teresa García Rosas. “My partner shot me in the face on June 26, 2007, in Jalisco. He returned days before from the U.S.A. to end my life.”

The embroiderers stitch the women’s stories in the first person in order to give them a voice and to portray them as strong. This gives them life, Valenzuela says.

It also aims to change the perception of feminicides in Mexico, she says. It contrasts with the usual image of a victim of gender-based violence as a suffering or dead woman, which conveys weakness.

The embroiderers also stitch the stories in the first person so they can identify with the victim to whom they are returning a voice, Valenzuela says. This link with the victims sensitizes the embroiderers to the violence the women suffered.

Judith Flores, a participant in the group, says the embroiderers connect with the women while stitching their stories onto the cloths.

“There is a little bit of you, a little bit of your heart, a little bit of your indignation,” she says.

The act of embroidery generates a link because it is a task that requires time and concentration, Valenzuela says.

“That makes the woman whom you are embroidering stay with you in many parts of your life,” she says.

And not only women participate in the collective. Freddy Bautista says that addressing the issue of feminicides is the responsibility of all citizens, of the country.

“It would have to be an issue that concerns us all,” he says.

Interviews were translated from Spanish.

Mayela Sanchez is the Mexico news desk senior reporter of the Global Press Institute. The story was originally published by Global Press Institute. (c) Global Press Institute 2013.

LatinaLista — It was no coincidence that President Obama signed the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) the day before International Women’s Day, whose theme is violence against women. The expanded version of the Act is an important milestone in recognizing the rights of women, whomever they are, to be protected and guarded against domestic violence and sexual assault.

President Barack Obama signs Violence Against Women Act, Interior Department, Washington, March 7, 2013.

Now the VAWA protects lesbian, gay, immigrant and American Indian victims from violence of all kinds. It should be a matter of no time before these women and men also feel empowered, like other American women, who have benefited from the original VAWA signed into law in 1994.

Because of the VAWA, “the rate of sexual violence against women and girls age 12 or older fell 64 percent in a decade and has remained stable for five years.”

Unfortunately, the same can’t be said for women in other parts of the world.

According to the United Nations:

• Up to 50% of sexual assaults are committed against girls under the age of 16.
• Globally, 603 million women live in countries where domestic violence is not yet considered a crime.
• Up to 70% of women in the world report having experienced physical and/or sexual violence at some point in their lifetime.
• Over 60 million girls worldwide are child brides, married before the age of 18…

And though women in the U.S. can rest easier knowing that whatever violent act is committed against them justice will be sought, women, as close as across our southern border, don’t have that same ease of mind.

In Chihuahua, Mexico, it’s reported that drug cartels involved in human trafficking have created concentration camps where kidnapped women are either kept or forced into sex 30-40 times a day, with little hope of escaping.

While it’s harder to influence the depraved minds of criminals, campaigns to reach men and boys discouraging the use of violence against women and girls are easier to enact and effect change — if the men and boys listen.

One campaign is known as Ring the Bell. Launched in 2008, the campaign goes global this year striving towards a goal of reaching one million men to make one million promises — to take concrete action to end violence against women.

The only way women, the world over, will achieve peace in their lives is if men see them as equals and that their rights are as important as the rights of men. This year, UN Women is releasing a specially recorded song to serve as “a rallying cry to inspire listeners to join the drive for women’s rights and gender equality.”

Titled “One Woman,” the song is sung by 25 international artists who sing about the solidarity that exists among women and how through that solidarity women can overcome the violence that still threatens too many in this world.

One Woman

In Kigali, she wakes up,
She makes a choice,
In Hanoi, Natal, Ramallah.
In Tangier, she takes a breath,
Lifts up her voice,
In Lahore, La Paz, Kampala.
Though she’s half a world away
Something in me wants to say …

We are One Woman,
You cry and I hear you.
We are One Woman,
You hurt, and I hurt, too.
We are One Woman,
Your hopes are mine.
We shall shine.

In Juarez she speaks the truth,
She reaches out,
Then teaches others how to.
In Jaipur, she gives her name,
She lives without shame
In Manila, Salta, Embu.
Though we’re different as can be,
We’re connected, she with me

We are One Woman,
Your courage keeps me strong.
We are One Woman,
You sing, I sing along.
We are One Woman,
Your dreams are mine.
And we shall shine.
We shall shine.

And one man, he hears her voice.
And one man, he fights her fight.
Day by day, he lets go the old ways,
One Woman at a time.
Though she’s half a world away,
Something in me wants to say.

We are One Woman,
Your victories lift us all.
We are One Woman,
You rise and I stand tall.
We are One Woman,
Your world is mine
And we shall shine.
Shine, shine, shine.
We shall shine
Shine, shine, shine.
We shall shine.
Shine, shine, shine.

LatinaLista — Since January 1989, 891 men and women have been exonerated from prison. What does that mean? It means that these men and women are the lucky ones. They were the ones who professed their innocence from the time they were taken into custody, endured years of imprisonment and separation from their families for crimes they did not commit — and someone believed in them enough to review their cases and discover they were telling the truth the whole time.

Knowing about these 891 cases is important for society. It underscores the fact that our judicial system makes mistakes and that not everyone who is sentenced is a criminal. Knowing that mistakes are made and that innocent people suffer from the mistakes of those in the judicial system should make the judicial system and all its players — from law enforcement to lawyers and judges — more diligent in finding the truth in every case.

The University of Michigan Law School and the Center on Wrongful Convictions at Northwestern University School of Law have partnered together to create the National Registry of Exonerations, the largest database of exonerations ever available.

From their extensive compilation of cases, the schools have gleaned certain facts about the exonerated which hold up an uncomfortable mirror to US society.

According to the Registry:

93% are men, 7% women;
50% are black, 38% white, 11% Hispanic and 2% Native American or Asian;
37% were exonerated with the help of DNA evidence; 63% without DNA;
as a group, they spent more than 10,000 years in prison – an average of more than 11 years each.
Since 2000, exonerations have averaged 52 a year – one a week – 40% of which include DNA evidence.

The exonerations in the Registry are unevenly distributed geographically. They are concentrated in several states, led by Illinois, New York, Texas and California. Some counties, like Cook (Chicago),Illinois, and Dallas, Texas, have dozens of exonerations; other counties with millions of people, like San Bernardino, California and Fairfax, Virginia, have none. Neighboring counties are often very far apart. Santa Clara County, California – home of the Northern California Innocence Project – has 10 exonerations; directly to its north, Alameda County has more violent crime but no known exonerations;

The 873 exonerations are mostly rape and murder cases, but the data also include many more exonerations for other crimes than previously known. All told, we have:
48% homicides (416) including 12% death sentences (101)
35% sexual assaults(305) 23% adult sexual assaults (203)
12% child sex abuse (102)
5% robberies (47)
5% other violent crimes (47)
7% drug, white collar and other non-violent crimes (58)

Thanks to the Registry, the notion that if a person is in jail, he/she must be guilty, rewinds that assumption and serves to remind everyone that every person is entitled to be seen as innocent until proven guilty — without a shadow of a doubt.

LatinaLista — Critics of the death penalty have ample ammunition to prove their case when using Texas as an example. The state has become almost as widely known for its exonerations as its executions.

One case that is drawing renewed interest is the execution of Carlos DeLuna from Corpus Christi, Texas. DeLuna was arrested in 1983, tried and executed for murdering a single mother named Wanda Lopez. Yet, DeLuna always maintained his innocence and pled people to believe that his was a case of mistaken identity. The real murderer was a guy with a violent record, who happened to resemble (people say) DeLuna, named Carlos Hernandez.

The Texas judicial system didn’t buy it and executed DeLuna in 1989.

Now, 23 years after his death, Columbia Law School Professor James Liebman and his students have wrapped up their 18-month study of the DeLuna case. They’ve compiled police photos, court files, taped witness interviews and 911 recordings and have documented their findings in a comprehensive report for the Columbia Human Rights Law Review (HRLR).

But the story doesn’t stop here.

The editors of the HRLR were so impressed with the depth of information that the professor and his students compiled, their conclusion and its impact on policy that they broke with standard practice and devoted the entire issue (Issue 3 of Volume 43) to the DeLuna report.

And that still isn’t all.

The full report, complete with video interviews, crime-scene photos, court records, an interactive map and audio recordings, is online and can be found at Los Tacayos Carlos.

On the site, the professor and his students pose a basic question to visitors: Did Texas execute an innocent man?

Reminiscent of those “48 Hours” and “Dateline” programs where viewers are walked through the crime scene, introduced to the players, hear the verdict and see the final outcome, visitors to the site can play arm-chair detective and review the complete trove of evidence gathered by Liebman and his students — and arrive at their own conclusion.

The hope of the report’s authors, as well as the editors, is that people will see that not only is human life fragile but the justice system that can determine anyone’s fate.

Los Tocayos Carlos poignantly reveals how easily our legal system can fail to produce just outcomes even without the deliberate interference of individuals acting in bad faith and how the consequences of such failures can be irrevocable and, at times, fatal…At a minimum, we hope that this breathtaking story will be an adequate answer to those who question whether it is possible that an innocent man has ever been executed for a crime he did not commit in the United States. — 2011–2012 Editorial Board, Columbia Human Rights Law Review

LatinaLista — Racial intolerance has reached such high levels of disbelief that it’s hard to believe we are talking about the United States and not some third world, oppressive country. Yet, two stunning examples of racial intolerance practiced by US citizens bring the issue “home for the holidays.”

The first example was when Lowes Home Improvement store pulled their ads from the TLC show “All-American Muslim” because an organization claimed the show “falsely humanized Muslims in America.” The backlash against, what Lowes is calling a “business decision,” has been strong and swift.

The second example is how a 19-year-old Chinese-American soldier, Pvt. Danny Chen, was driven to commit suicide while on duty in Afghanistan. Not because of the daily terror threats from Al Qaeda but from the daily terror imposed upon him by his fellow soldiers.

…the soldiers pulled Private Chen out of bed and dragged him across the floor; they forced him to crawl on the ground while they pelted him with rocks and taunted him with ethnic slurs. Finally, the family said, they ordered him to do pull-ups with a mouthful of water — while forbidding him from spitting it out.

The soldiers are now being charged in Pvt. Chen’s death.

These are only two examples but in reality there exists daily acts of racial intolerance across the country. Most of the time, these acts are done unconsciously but other times they’re done deliberately. Whether we chalk it up to ignorance or outright hatred, either way it’s a moral crime against someone.

A web site created at the height of the anti-Muslim fervor that swept the nation, My Fellow American, is reaching out to everyone in light of the recent Lowe’s insult to ask people to visit their site and share what this controversy means to them.

The purpose of the web site is to spread the message of tolerance and to fight back against intolerance and fear-mongering.

And it can only start when people speak up.

By M. Isabel Guerra
LatinaLista

LIMA, PERU — An incident that took place at a Lima shopping mall last weekend brought the attention back to the issue of racism in Peru. An indigenous from Cusco, who was visiting Lima on the invitation of some American friends, was treated with disrespect by the entrance guards of a movie theater, and finally was not allowed to re-enter after going to the restroom.

Peruvian (white) model surrounded by adoring (indigenous) fans

This was reported by some Twitter users and jumped quickly into the local news, generating many different reactions in both social media and the press — even the local government decided to start an investigation on this, in order to clarify the real facts.

(Update: At the time of publication of this post, the Municipality of Miraflores announced that the movie theater would be shut down for a week due to the discrimination charges.)

But this was only the latest story, an isolated incident that is now being used to promote some social media campaigns to raise awareness of the issue. And raising awareness is necessary because the shameful truth is that racism in Peru is still very alive.

We saw it booming and reaching surrealistic levels during the last presidential campaign, and especially after the first run, when it became clear that Pedro Pablo Kuczinsky, the “white” candidate, had not made it to the run-off. Social media, especially Facebook, was the platform for a “death-to-all-those-indians” (presumaby, they had voted for “that indian Humala”) hatred campaign, that was quickly denounced throughout other pages on Facebook, like that of Vergüenza Democrática which collected many of the most offensive posts.

¿”Whites”? ¿”Indians”? ¿Isn’t Peru a mestizo country?

A popular Peruvian saying states: “En el Perú , quien no tiene de inga, tiene de mandinga” “In Peru, whoever doesn’t have inga [Indian heritage] has mandinga [black heritage].” Well, yes — biologically speaking. We are a pluricultural country; we have a complex racial background (Spanish, Indian, African) enhanced with immigrants from Asia and Europe who have made the population ethnically richer and even more complex.

Many Peruvians will tell you that racism does not exist in Peru — this is partly the reason why it still survives. The victims refuse to believe they have been mistreated due to racism, and racist people have been subtly educated to assume racial discrimination is like something “normal,” so they don’t even notice. In any case, denial helps everyone to avoid assuming this painful and complex social situation.

I tend to agree with this description provided by the blog My Life in Peru: “…it’s not the kind of racism I’ve seen in the US, where you see an actual hatred for those of another race. Here [in Peru], it’s more of a caste type system where it’s typically assumed by people in Peru that you have – or are deserving of – a higher status in society if you have paler skin. In general, lighter skinned people (whether actual gringos or light-skinned Peruvians) are treated with more respect. And in the end, what’s the difference between that and any other type of racism?”

These issues started centuries ago, especially during the Spanish Vice Royalty, when the dominant, Spanish/Creole elites needed to clearly state its position of privilege. Centuries passed, Peru became an independent country, but the feudal mentality somehow remains.

If we review some of the Peruvian history, we’ll see that the political power in Peru has been mostly in “white” hands, excluding natives and other non-white nations. But what does “white” mean in Peru?

Basically it means non-indian, non-native, non-African… non-colored. But the real meaning of “white” (or “pituco” in slang) in Peru is much more related to economic power and to social status rather than to DNA. It means belonging to the elite social group that can have privileges based solely on its appearance, social relations… and on its wallet.

¿Classism or racism? ¿Both?

As Lima’s BBC correspondent, Dan Collyns explains: “The country has socio-economic gaps along race lines and its inherent, if subtle, discrimination can mean an indigenous woman may only ever work as a maid; a black man may only ever aspire to be a hotel doorman. This is the kind of everyday racism which dictates the lives of many Peruvians.”

Nowadays, racial discrimination in Peru can be seen in many places, despite the existence of anti-discrimination laws.

As an example, a non-white black person may be not admitted into a discotheque in a fashionable neighborhood, unless he or she is accompanied by a wealthy white person, or by a foreigner tourist. The official explanation will be, however, “we are already packed”, “we’re hosting a private event” or “admittance is only for members”.

Many job ads list “buena presencia” (“neat appearance”) as one of the requirements. Families will explicitly ask funeral houses to provide black pallbearers. Most local TV hosts, soap opera stars, news anchors, and models for department store catalogues are “whites”, or at least white-like looking.

Certain beach clubs and condos have enclosed their properties with fences. People hire maids and force them to wear uniforms in public spaces. Media does not hesitate in bullying lawmakers from indigenous or African descent. Andean and Amazonian communities’ rights are ignored under the pressure of corporations’ lobbying. Taking a look at the Peruvian Navy, you will not find any colored high-rank official. And the list goes on and on and on…

And Peruvians have learned to live pretending that nothing of this is happening, trying to joke about it, or simply believing that this is just the way things are and there is nothing that can be done about it. However, there are human rights activists raising awareness on this matter.

Wilfredo Ardito, from Aprodeh explains: People are skeptical at first, or they think we are going to talk about Martin Luther King and the civil rights movement…then they realize it is about their experience and then they share with others experiences of racism …”

Even the Peruvian Ombudsman is working on a strategy to fight racial discrimination. According to one of their documents, they are aiming “(1) to strengthen legal protection against discrimination through lobbying for legal modifications; and to (2) generating public awareness and support through high-profile media campaigns.”

Things are slowly changing.

Many people still remember that in 2007 an upperscale restaurant, Cafe Del Mar, was shown on TV discriminating against a mestizo couple. A hidden-camera video showed these images, as well as, the fact that they were told that they needed an invitation. However, after the couple was told this, a white customer was allowed in without being asked to show his invitation. Due to this, and to other similar allegations, the place was denounced and finally was closed for two months and fined US $70,000.

But many more effective measures are necessary, especially state-approved policies (laws, initiatives, educational campaigns, etc.) since racism is not an issue that will disappear on its own.

There are many pending tasks and challenges to this issue, and let’s see if the new government dedicates attention to this matter — if it really wants to make Peruvian society a truly inclusive one.

Learn more about Isabel

As if her photography doesn’t keep her busy enough, Isabel maintains the blog Las Burbujas Recargadas while also lecturing at the San Martin de Porres University’s School of Communication and serving as an author for Global Voices Online.

LatinaLista – A delegation of women leaders from over two dozen national human rights organizations traveled to Georgia to spend today and tomorrow speaking out against the recent anti-immigrant laws passed in that state. The women, part of the We Belong Together delegation, plan not only on speaking out against the inhumane bill but listening too.

The women will hear, and then share, the stories of women and children directly affected by Georgia’s anti-immigrant bill which, like other similar bills in states like Alabama, Arizona and Oklahoma is making Latino families fearful for their safety, their security and their future.

One of the delegates is Mary Olivella of MomsRising.org. In the following Guest Voz post, Mary shares her motivation for traveling to Georgia and taking part in a demonstration highlighting the harm such laws are doing to our nation.

For more than two hundred years, mothers from every corner of the globe have come here to seek a better life for their families, particularly their children. And all of us, newcomers as well as those with families who have been here for generations, want our children to live a safe and healthy life, one with the opportunity to fulfill their hopes and dreams.

Over the course of our nation’s history, there have been cycles of anti-immigrant fervor including a painfully virulent one right now. The most recent manifestation is Georgia’s passage of a harsh Arizona style anti-immigrant law. This law threatens the human rights, safety and dignity of many Georgia families.

Like Arizona’s SB1070, Georgia’s new HB 87 law will have devastating effects on women and children, including racial profiling, parent-child separation, home and workplace raids and grievous injury due to domestic violence as many women will be afraid to report domestic violence in fear of police retaliation.

But unlike Arizona’s anti-immigrant legislative passage last year, there is only sparse media coverage about the harm being done in Georgia in the name of immigration law enforcement.

The word needs to get out.

To help in this effort, I will be representing MomsRising, a million-member organization working to build a family-friendly nation, on the We Belong Together delegation of dozens of women’s organizations traveling to Atlanta on September 28 and 29th.

The purpose of the delegation is to listen directly to Georgia residents about the effects of the new law, and then share their stories with our respective organizations and the media.

We aim to help raise the national visibility of the harmful impact of Georgia’s law and also to promote a gender lens in the overall national debate on immigration.

It’s no secret that human rights abuses in the name of immigration law enforcement have been inflicted upon families in our country for a very long time. However, it is still far too prevalent, and the world is watching.

A United Nations report in March of 2008 states that: “Xenophobia and racism towards migrants in the United States has worsened since 9/11.

The current xenophobic climate adversely affects many sections of the migrant population, and has a particularly discriminatory and devastating impact on many of the most vulnerable groups in the migrant population, including children… [T]he United States lacks a clear, consistent, long-term strategy to improve respect for the human rights of migrants.”

There are times when a video can bring to life what is really going on for immigrant families in our country.

The (linked) video of what happened to two young children in Arizona in January of 2009 starts with the two small children crying and looking terrified, alone in a car, reaching out for their mother who had been taken away by sheriff deputies wearing ski masks after being stopped for a minor traffic violation.

Law enforcement officials in ski masks separating mothers from crying children is a nightmare that should never happen in America. Yet incidents similar to this where children and mothers are being treated inhumanely are occurring on a regular basis.

Any law that sanctions civil and human rights violations is not compatible with our nation’s principles. Children, especially, suffer when we treat each other inhumanely.

In Atlanta I hope to help raise the voices of countless women who have been marginalized and silenced in the name of immigration law enforcement. I also hope to learn how we can do more to bring about positive changes that will help our country as a whole.

Throughout our country there are many divergent opinions on how our immigration policies should be revised. But surely most of us can agree to uphold a vision that all children and their mothers — in fact everyone standing within our nation’s borders — should not be abused nor suffer from human rights violations.

This, our common humanity, needs to be our guiding vision. However difficult, we must work to advance cool-headed, fair-minded approaches to our immigration issues.

Making mothers and children suffer cannot be part of the answer.

Mary Olivella is the Vice President and Public Health Specialist for MomsRising.org

LatinaLista – The pictures from a new report titled, A Culture of Cruelty: Abuse and Impunity in short-term U.S. Border Patrol custody, about border patrol agents’ abuse against immigrants they have in custody are not just disturbing but repulsive.

Compiled and published by the human rights group No More Deaths, the authors documented more than 30,000 incidents of abuse and mistreatment from fall 2008 to spring 2011. The sad thing is that the abuse complaints have remained consistent over the years No More Deaths has been documenting testimony from detained immigrants.

Abuse complaints range from: “Individuals suffering severe dehydration are deprived of water; people with life threatening medical conditions are denied treatment; children and adults are beaten during apprehensions and in custody; family members are separated, their belongings confiscated and not returned; many are crammed into cells and subjected to extreme temperatures, deprived of sleep, and threatened with death by Border Patrol agents.”
The authors feel that the abuses occurring within the Border Patrol is systemic within the culture of the agency and that any past attempts calling for the agency to reform its practices or be more transparent have been ignored to the detriment of the health and safety of the immigrants.

According to the report:

Border Patrol agents denied food to 2,981 people and gave insufficient food to 11,384 people. Only 20 percent of people in custody for more than two days received a meal.

Physical abuse was reported by 10 percent of interview- ees, including teens and children. The longer people were held in custody, the more likely they were to experience physical abuse.

Of the 433 incidents in which emergency medical treatment or medications were needed, Border Patrol provided access to care in only 59 cases — 86 percent were deported without necessary medical treatment.

We recorded 2,926 incidents of failure to return personal belongings: 398 cases of failure to return shoes or shoelaces, 211 cases of failure to return money, 201 cases of failure to return identification, 191 cases of failure to return important documents, and 125 cases where no personal belongings were returned at all. People deported without money or key personal belongings are at heightened risk of exploitation and physical harm.

Border Patrol deported 869 family members separately, including 17 children and 41 teens.

1,051 women, 190 teens, and 94 children were repatriated after dark in violation of the Memorandum of Understanding between the Mexican Consulate and U.S. Customs and Border Protection and, in the case of children, the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act (TVPRA) of 2008.

The sad list goes on.

The alleged treatment inflicted upon the detained immigrants at the hands of the Border Patrol agents is a stain on the integrity of this country and what this nation has historically prided itself on — a champion of human rights.

A review of this report immediately illustrates there is something terribly wrong in this agency that needs to not only be addressed but reformed.

LatinaLista — The concept of peace around the world used to be considered a New Age ideal or the one answer that didn’t require too much explaining when uttered by beauty pageant contestants.

Yet, like all things, the issue of peace is no longer considered something on the fringe or a nebulous concept. Over the last several years, more and more people have joined together to push the issue of peace, with specific steps to achieve it, onto national governments and into the public arena.

From today, September 15, through September 21, people worldwide have the opportunity to participate in this global peace movement by registering for the free Peace Week 2011Global Telesummit.

The largest virtual peace summit ever created, the second annual online event features 62 notable inspirational speakers ranging from Alice Walker, Pulitzer Prize winner of the Color Purple, Deepak Chopra, Dr. Jane Goodall, Luis J. Rodriguez, Jane Velez-Mitchell to many more from all parts of the world.

Session topics include: Cultivating Inner Peace; Integrating Peace & Happiness into How We Do Business; Ending Our Addiction to Crime, Violence and War; Technology & Peace: Empowering Youth; A Peace Economy; Making Poverty History; A Path to Peace & International Security and A Conversation about Peace with Jane Goodall.

In addition to the inspiration delivered by these speakers, there will also be news released about groundbreaking work with the issue of peace from Israel to China.

All the sessions can either be listened to online or by phone. Listeners can also submit questions to the speakers via the web site session page. In case viewers miss a session, they can catch up at their own convenience as each session is recorded and posted within 24 hours of the session. Last year’s sessions are also available for listening to as well.

The “technologies” for creating peace at all levels of society are well-established – we simply need to share them on a grand scale and accelerate the evolution that will have us live, collaborate and create in the most harmonious ways. Doing so is necessary to address our global crises and birth a new, co-creative era of human evolution. — Peace Week 2011 organizers.

LatinaLista — Everyone thought it was a done deal. Both houses of the California legislature have passed the Fair Treatment for Farm Workers Act.

The Fair Treatment for Farm Workers Act.” Introduced by Senator Darrell Steinberg (D-Sacramento), SB 104 would give the state’s more than 400,000 farm workers an alternative to on-the-job polling place elections to decide whether to join a union. The new option would allow them to fill out state-issued representation ballots in their homes, away from bosses’ threats and other interference. If a simple majority – more than 50 percent — of workers sign the ballots, their jobs would be unionized.

In an industry that relies on the backbreaking labor comprised of both an undocumented immigrant population and low-income citizens where some employers have historically been found at fault for not providing basic necessities for their workers — like rest time, shade, water, etc. — it makes sense to allow workers to decide for themselves, away from intimidating employers’ threats whether or not they want to join a union.

Yet Governor Brown has gone on record as saying he’s “not yet convinced” California needs the bill.

Two months ago, Gov Brown vetoed the Fair Treatment for Farm Workers Act, a bill that would have made it easier for farm workers to join a union and speak up for their rights. More than 1,000 farm workers visited the Capitol during the 12 days Governor Brown deliberated on the bill. Risking their jobs to attend, they held vigils, fasted and rallied for change. They told the Governor how the laws in the books are not the laws in the fields. They talked about having no bathroom breaks, no overtime pay, no respect and the lack of enforcement of heat regulations. And they were right — two more workers may have died of heat related illness this year alone.

Maybe Gov. Brown doesn’t see farmworkers as his constituents. After all, they’re not the ones with the deep pockets who can pay $500 or more for a plate to fund his political aspirations.

There’s no doubt that SB104 will impact agricultural employers. As one wine law blogger wrote:

…From that point on penalties for missing deadlines or committing unfair labor practices are steep: ranging from $5,000-$20,000 per occurrence. The bill is currently awaiting Governor Brown’s signature. Once it passes, its effects may be felt quickly, so take this opportunity to make sure your house is in order.

If this bill became law, then farmworkers would no longer be at the mercy of those employers who have made a profit off their cheap labor. Finally, farm workers could be treated like any other worker in America — but it will take the signature of the Governor.

In one last big show of solidarity that they want this bill passed, farmworkers started on a 200-mile,13-day march through the Central Valley to California’s State Capitol, Sacramento. The march will end on Sept. 4, Labor Day Weekend on the steps of Gov. Brown’s office.

The United Farm Workers are asking people from across the nation to help support the farm workers in convincing Gov. Brown to sign the bill by signing an online petition.

In Governor Brown’s veto of the “Fair Treatment for Farm Workers Act,” he says he is “not yet convinced.” For farm workers, “not yet” means farm workers don’t get water and shade. “Not yet” means farm workers continue to die of heat illness. “Not yet” means farm workers do not have basic justice implemented by the Agricultural Labor Relations Act. “Not yet” means hundreds of farm workers who last year voted for union representation have waited more than a year for the Agricultural Labor Relations Board to take the simple act of certifying the elections.

Enough with “not yet.” The time is now.