Fue así como lo que prometía ser una jornada de protesta en contra de la ley de Arizona y de reafirmación humanista a favor de los inmigrantes indocumentados, se convirtió en fiesta de la sociedad civil.

Alrededor de 200 personas se reunieron frente al nuevo edificio de la Corte Federal para celebrar la suspensión parcial de la ley SB1070. (Juan Torres/Borderzine.com)

De esta manera más de 200 personas, integrantes de diversas generaciones de inmigrantes, se congregaron frente al nuevo edificio de la Corte Federal del juez Albert Armendáriz, en la confluencia de las calles San Antonio y Campbell, en el Downtown de El Paso.

¿Por qué festejo?

Después de 103 días consecutivos de protestas en Arizona, Bolton vetó lo que autorizaba lo no autorizable: permitir a las autoridades criminalizar a los inmigrantes indocumentados por su apariencia física.

“Ha sido una victoria, la ley en sí es racista, xenofóbica y discriminatoria, este aplazamiento de las partes más recias alivia la situación”, dijo, el coordinador de la Red Fronteriza por los Derechos Humanos (RFDH), Fernando García.

Con este sentir coincidió Edith Espinoza, quien llegó desde Anthony, Nuevo México: “Estamos agradecidos con la juez Susan Bolton, por lo que hizo por nosotros los hispanos. Es algo incomparablemente bueno”. Y complementó: “Hoy estamos de fiesta”.

Desde su inocencia, el niño Brian Roque, de 8 años, dijo estar alegre porque “ahora estoy junto con mis papas”. Y comentó emocionado “no quiero que regresen a México. Yo quiero la reforma migratoria”.

Para el abuelo Benjamín Riverio, de 73 años y residente en los Estados Unidos desde 1953, el corazón no alcanza para festejar. “Estoy contento porque la juez Bolton logró contener a esa vieja loca de Jan Brewer”, sentenció, para luego alegar: “Todos mis hijos nacieron allá (México) pero vinimos por una mejor vida y hemos hecho grande a este país”.

Los asistentes a la “fiesta-protesta” no solo eran de la ciudad de El Paso y sus inmediaciones. Muchos llegaron desde Anthony, Las Cruces y otros pueblitos del Sur de Nuevo México. Se les veían de todas las edades, razas, religiones y sexo. Entre los asistentes, no faltaron lo que como Rosa Rodríguez, dieran gracias a Dios “por ablandar el corazón de Bolton, por darle capacidad suficiente para impartir justicia”.

“Realmente esta es una celebración importantísima para todos los hispanos de la frontera por las partes de la ley que quedaron congeladas”, comentó, la portavoz de la RFDH, Louie Gilot.

Acotó: “al mismo tiempo es una protesta porque no hemos logrado el objetivo final. Muchas cosas pueden pasar en las semanas próximas. Tenemos que ser vigilantes”.

¿Por qué protesta?

Justicia, fue el reclamo unánime de los participantes de la manisfetación de Julio 29 frente a la Corte Federal. (Juan Torres/Borderzine.com)

“Protestamos porque la gobernadora de Arizona Jan Brewer, los promotores de la SB 1070, grupos extremistas, supremacistas blancos, nazistas y antiinmigrantes están apelando la decisión de la juez Bolton”, respondió Gilot.

Para luego acotar: “Protestamos para que se nos oiga, son más los afectados por lo tanto tienen que escucharnos. Seguiremos la lucha hasta que la juez federal determine que es inconstitucional la SB 1070”.

La madre de familia, Elena Sánchez, llegó desde Chaparral, Nuevo México para recordar que la reforma migratoria fue una promesa de campaña del presidente Barack Obama. “Por eso votaron los hispanos y no está cumpliendo con esas promesas”, dijo.

Y añadió: “Al revés, ha tomado ciertas iniciativas que son malas como mandar a la Guardia Nacional a la frontera (mil 200 soldados)”.

Sánchez, enumeró otros factores: “En esta administración, durante los dos primeros años, se ha deportado más inmigrantes que en la época de George Bush”.

Según el líder de la RFDH, Fernando García “también estamos refrendando el hecho de que la solución general no es que esta ley se implemente o no, la solución es que haya una reforma migratoria”.

Insistió en que se reconozca a los trabajadores inmigrantes indocumentados, “que trabajan duro en este país, que ya son parte de la sociedad y que sean reconocidos legalmente”.

Algunas reflexiones en torno a la ley SB 1070.

“Quienes son extranjeros realmente son ellos, los creadores de la SB 1070, han venido a promover su xenofobia y su racismo, algo que arrastran por los siglos de los siglos”, apuntó, el coordinador de la Asociación de Trabajadores Fronterizos, Guillermo Glenn.

Y reflexionó: “No olviden que hay hispanos que hemos vivido aquí desde siempre, por generaciones. Lo peor que han hecho es separarnos y nos siguen dividiendo de nuestra madre patria (México)”.

Según Glenn, es un insulto el arribo de la Guardia Nacional a la frontera “¿Para qué los necesitamos?… ¡Para acentuar las diferencias, para separarnos aún más!

El abogado, de migración, Carlos Spector, explicó: “Estamos aquí para apoyar a la comunidad hispana en su lucha por la justicia”.  Y agregó una arista interesante del problema, no vista por muchos, hasta ahora: “Es importante reconocer que las cortes y el brazo judicial sí responden a la presión política”.

Los manifestantes agradecieron el fallo de la jueza de Phoenix, Susan Bolton, a través del cual se suspendieron las secciones más racistas de la ley SB1070. (Juan Torres/Borderzine.com)

De acuerdo al jurista, esas entidades deben ser neutrales, “pero creo que a través de marchas y protestas de esta calidad por todo el país ha llegado el momento donde empiezan las cortes a escuchar las demandas de la gente reconociendo el gran peligro que representa la ley de Arizona”.

Otro abogado, Christ Benoit, del proyecto Derechos Civiles Paso del Norte insistió: “Apoyamos la protesta porque el amparo temporal es un “bump in the road” como dijo la gobernadora Jan Brewer”.

Y advirtió: “Ella apeló los artículos bloqueados, por lo que siguen y seguirán los esfuerzos de Arizona para implementar esta ley”.

Benoit destacó que “falta mucho por hacer”. Y es que en materia legal la palabra “temporal” indica que si SB 1070 entra en vigor en su totalidad hará demasiados daños.

“La juez está buscando una tregua para demostrar si es constitucional o no. Al declarar suspension temporal, indica que hay posibilidades de que la ley sea inconstitucional. Solo está estudiando el caso, por lo que sigue en pie todavía”, fundamentó el abogado.

México y la SB 1070

La Secretaría de Relaciones Exteriores de México, por intermedio de su canciller Patricia Espinosa Cantellano, dio a conocer, el miércoles 28 de julio, luego de saberse de la suspensión temporal que éste “es un primer paso por la dirección correcta”.

El Gobierno de México ha establecido diversos mecanismos de respuesta rápida, en los cinco consulados de Arizona, para garantizar que se brinde asesoría legal efectiva donde se presenten estas violaciones de los derechos de sus nacionales.

“Nuestro consulado también se acoge a las declaraciones de nuestra canciller”, comentó, al ser entrevistado, el agregado de prensa de la sede consular en El Paso, Luís Adrián Sosa Morales.

El portavoz, reiteró que “el Gobierno de México expresa su reconocimiento a la determinación mostrada por el Gobierno Federal de Estados Unidos y las acciones de las organizaciones civiles que entablaron demandas contra la Ley SB1070”.

Asimismo, resaltó que su país agradece a los gobiernos de Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Paraguay y Perú que se sumaron a la moción de “Amigo de la Corte” presentada por México.

Se estima que de los cinco millones y medios de habitantes que tiene el estado de Arizona, más de un millón 800 mil son mexicanos. Si la ley antiinmigrante surte efecto, como esperan sus patrocinadores, algo más 530 mil inmigrantes ilegales en ese estado tendrían que retornar a sus lugares de origen.

Según los defensores de los indocumentados la situación pudiera empeorarse ya que, al menos, cinco estados han introducido legislaciones semejantes a la SB 1070, y otros veinte han considerado acciones similares.

Comienzan a caer…

Mientras tanto, medios nacionales y a nivel mundial, informaron durante la noche del 29 de julio, que “en Washington, el Departamento de Justicia estudia la posibilidad de implementar cargos en contra el Sheriff de Maricopa, Joe Arpaio”.

Las declaraciones advirtieron que “podría ser consignado por estar violando los derechos constitucionales de las personas con perfiles raciales”.

EL PASO, Texas – Journalism in July is a one-week summer workshop that brought high school students and future journalists from El Paso and Ciudad Juarez to the UTEP campus to learn how to be multimedia journalists.

The workshop, which began July 9, and ended a week later, is in its eighth year and has evolved from a print media program into a multimedia program. In this transition, it has emulated what has happened in the real world of media where journalists had to develop multimedia skills to keep their work modern and more available to readers. A total of 21 students attended the workshop sponsored by UTEP and the Dow Jones Newspaper Fund. They came from the border region and included two students from Preparatoria El Chamizal in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. Local schools included Coronado, Franklin, Hanks, Horizon, and Tornillo high schools, all of which had at least one participant in the program.

School and district rivalries were not evident in the program as students got along great from the start. “From the beginning we all clicked. We all had the same things in common and everyone was nice,” Mauricio Casillas of Franklin said.

Journalism in July participants share the set with KVIA anchor, Rick Cabrera. (Omar Perez/Borderzine.com)

The future journalists attended workshops delivered by local journalists and instructors every day during the week. They also had the opportunity of working with KTEP radio producers and KVIA-TV. “I have always wanted to be a sports anchor, and being there at Channel 7 felt great,” Casillas added.

Besides field trips and daily workshops, Journalism in July participants also worked on their own multimedia projects.  Each project included a print story and either a video project or an audio slideshow package with still photos. Their final project was published as an online magazine, called Border Media.

Their stories ranged from the development of current local theater productions to controversial topics such as sexting, and the drug war violence in Juarez. Students were not afraid to talk about those touchy subjects, because they also had a goal in mind. “My story is about dating violence and how big of a serious issue it is becoming and I want to inform people about it and make them aware,” Vianni Paquian said.

The intense workshop allowed students to feel the tough aspects of journalism. Having to deal with deadlines and technical difficulties that interfered with their progress, they all had to overcome obstacles. “With this it showed me how hard and how intense the job would be, and it makes me just want to learn more,” Paquian said.

When asked if she would recommend this workshop to other students, Paquian added, “Of course I would, it is a great learning experience, hard, but in the end its worth it, and getting to show my website in my college resume.”

With struggles like losing a finished story or having to redo a slide show, students kept working hard to finish what they began. “I learned that the students are bright, funny, extremely hard working, and willing to go the extra mile to get things done; their parents should be really proud of them,” Director Nick Miller said.

Journalism in July participants, Andy Martinez, Stephanie Avalos and Sarah Skirmont surround KVIA anchor, Estela Casas. (Omar Perez/Borderzine.com)

After those minor difficulties and some stressful periods, students compensated with some fun. After working all day, students would go back to their dorms at Miner Village, to relax and interact with their fellow students. “At the dorms its fun; everyone goes to hang out; like one night we had scary stories,” Paquian said.

Journalism in July also brought two students from Juarez, giving schools other than those on this side of the border the opportunity to practice and learn multimedia journalism.

One of those students, Genaro Cruz, who is bilingual, said he is glad to have participated in the program because this type of training is not available in his school. “In my school we don’t have any journalism programs or radio station or broadcasting like here; we just have a simple communications class,” he said.

The other “Chami” student, Paola Anaya, had a much more difficult time adapting to the program because of a language barrier. She needed translations from people around her, but in the end she learned a lot, including what she calls free English classes from her peers and instructors. “Definitivamente fueron las mejores clases de ingles de mi vida y lo que he aprendido en la computadora siempre me va a servir,” she said.

Cruz’s story focused on Juarez’ soccer team, “Los Indios” and how Juarenses had found some form of entertainment and escape after the violence took over their city. Paola opted to do a story about a UTEP production of Romeo and Juliet.

After a long and hard-working week, students were encouraged to keep in touch and continue working on their website once they left Journalism in July.

“We are all talking about continuing the online magazine and writing more stories for it and hopefully keep in touch,” Amanda Ekery said.

As I walked I saw and heard the protestors’ chants and demands making it clear to me that  on May 29th, 2010, new political reality awoke in Arizona.

A small portion of the enormous crowd on May 29th. (George Thomson/Borderzine.com

The Arizona legislature continued its perceived attempt to preserve Anglo cultural dominance as it passed two more laws in addition to the questions of racial profiling caused by SB1070.

Other laws passed in the last month diminish the preservation of Hispanic culture through public education and another ends the negative influence of teachers with accents.

These three laws show the Arizona legislative commitment to preserve Arizona’s Anglo hegemony through legislation.

“Obama, escucha… estamos en la lucha!”

There is fundamental political realignment taking place in Arizona, in the United States now. The Hispanic near majority is demanding, through political assembly and political speech, that laws that diminish one’s ethnicity, based on racial profiling, or ethnic separatism, have got to end.

With thousands chanting, “Obama escucha …” the evidence is overwhelming of a new majorities fight against SB1070. To Obama, the first mixed-race President, the point is that Hispanics are demanding that he bring the law to the United States Supreme Court.

The Marchers walked the five miles from Central Phoenix to the state capitol in about 3 hours. In speeches at the capitol the Rev. Warren Stewart of the First Institutional Baptist Church in Phoenix said to Obama, “God put you in the White House. You are a person of color. Stand with us.”

At the Arizona Capitol rally, Richard Trumka, president of the AFL-CIO spoke about the ethnic separatism caused by the law. He said,  ”Immigrants are not the cause of America’s problems, and Senate Bill 1070 is not the answer.”

Walking with the marchers I heard drums beating, chants and response, musicians playing and even a George Bush look alike.

“Arpaio… racista… eres terrroista”

Sheriff Joe's Sensitivity Training Program (George Thomson/Borderzine.com)

Maricopa Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio states he is doing the work that the federal immigration authorities have failed to do. Arpaio said in a recent appearance with Al Sharpton on CNN’s Larry King that it is not about race but about the law. Arpaio said that the sheriff’s office is the only force “tough” enough to address Arizona’s immigration problems and that many, if not most of the criminals in the Maricopa County jail, are in the United States illegally.

Sheriff Joe is known for tactics such as raiding quinceañeras, baptisms and Home Depot parking lots.

Ban Einstein

Teachers with heavy foreign accents are another problem addressed, symbolically, by the Arizona legislature. The problem of heavily accented teachers in Arizona schools is minimal yet with the legislature’s legal manipulation of the issue, Arizona again appears to be legislating against ethnicity.

I teach on the border in Nogales Public Schools. Nogales schools routinely recruit some of its best teachers from schools or other professionals in Mexico. These teachers, with proper work permits, then fill our deep need for math and science teachers. All have accents, some “thicker” than others. All adjust, nearly all stay in Nogales schools and our schools have gained valued professionals.

In a win-win, our school has a good teacher, with an accent, and the teacher has an American job that could not be filled by an American. In addition to the excellent Mexican teachers being recruited for math and science positions, several teachers from India also teach math and science in Nogales schools. These teachers are often able English speakers, know their content yet lack the cultural adaption the Mexican teachers possess.

In 2000, Arizona voters approved an initiative that required all classes be taught in English. Now, as an outgrowth of that law, teachers who speak with an accent have been banned. Superintendent of Public Instruction, Tom Horne, said of the law, “As you expect science teachers to know science, math teachers to know math, you expect a teacher who is teaching the kids English to know English.” (Fox News)

“¿Qué queremos? Justicia. ¿Cuándo?… ¡Ahora!”

Kids in protest. (George Thomson/Borderzine.com)

The teacher/accent law is not intended to be directed at any particular ethnic group yet the reality is that in Arizona schools, as is across the United States, teachers with advanced math and science schools are being recruited form outside the United States, particularity from Mexico and India. Teaching is about communication of knowledge and we expect teachers to be understood or for a compromise to be made that is understood by the teacher that one’s superior ability should give way to a universal language like math. This law would exclude a person like Albert Einstein from teaching in Arizona Schools.

The reality is that heavily accented is not a problem in Arizona schools, not one that needs a specific law. If it is a problem, individual schools can deal with the teacher’s assignment, students could choose to take that teacher’s class or not.

Forced Educational Assimilation: “Ethnic studies” curriculum in any Arizona schools.

In Tucson Unified School District Mexican-American studies were a voluntary component of the District’s curriculum for more than 25 years. In Nogales schools, we are immersed in Mexican culture and heritage, living on the border gives us that advantage. Tucson schools while close to the border and with a large Mexican-American population see a need for such curriculum. Even knowing that one’s ethnic history makes us better Americans the law passed in Arizona this legislative session. The law, HB2281 sates that curriculum that to, “promote the overthrow of the U.S. government, promote resentment of a particular race or class of people, are designed primarily for students of a particular ethnic group or advocate ethnic solidarity instead of the treatment of pupils as individuals.” (AZ 49^th Legislature, Second Session, HB2281)

“Se ve, se siente, el pueblo esta presente”

Incredibly, given the important even essential contributions of Mexicans to American culture, Superintendent Horne calls the ethnic studies classes, “ethnic chauvinism” and equates the ethnic studies to “treason.” (Huffington Post).

The Legislature ensures assimilation is now legally mandated through it micro management of a schools curriculum.

The 100,000 protesters against institutionalized ethnic division, laws that ban ethnic awareness or acento del maestro, bring a new political awareness to Arizona as First Amendment rights allow mass peaceable assembly and extensive media attention to the institutionalized, legal racism that attempts to preserve the Anglo near minority hegemony.

The following video, audio and slideshow presentations were produced by the following participants in of the Dow Jones Multimedia Training Academy held recently at the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP): Jessica Retis, Bradford Owen, Mark Albertson and instructor Doug Mitchell.

Downtown El Paso Merchants Tell Their Story

A view of Downtown El Paso (Borderzine.com)

Dow Jones Multimedia Training Academy students, Elio Leturia, Elizabeth Marsh and John Freeman and instructor Lourdes Cueva Chacón, thank Mr. Roberto Rodríguez Hernández, Cónsul General of México in El Paso, the consulate staff, Dr. Kate Bonansinga, Director of the Stanlee and Gerald Rubin Center for the Visual Arts, and the citizens of El Paso and Ciudad Juárez who shared their voices.

Voices from El Paso

El Pasoans share their opinions on the celebration of the 100th anniversary of the Mexican Revolution. Here a view of a flee martket at Downtown El Paso. (Elizabeth Marsh/Borderzine.com)

United States Bowling Congress Women's Championships 2010, El Paso, Texas --Photo by Robert Muillenberg

EL PASO, Texas — The United States Bowling Congress will wrap up its women’s international bowling championship on July 3 following a four-month-long tournament at the El Paso Convention and Performing Arts Center.

More than 30,000 women bowlers in nearly 6,000 teams from around the world will have competed in continuous play from March 27 to July 3.

A year-long conversion of the convention center for the 100-day event created 48 bowling lanes and 20,000 feet of exhibit space.

The USBC allowed members of the Dow Jones Multimedia Training Academy at the University of Texas at El Paso to interview, photograph and videotape participants and events of the tournament during the week of June 7.

The following video, audio and slideshow presentations are productions of the students of the academy, Kirk Notarianni, Robert Muilenberg, and Gina Germani and instructor Kate Gannon.

Video:

Audio:

Bowlers enjoy full amenities at El Paso Convention Center

Slideshow:

Border Patrol officer, Ralph Gomez, talks to reporter Seok Kang at the international border. (Christopher Karadjov/Borderzine.com)

Contrary to what non-border residents may think, the boundary between the United States and Mexico is not a straight line or a simple division between the two places. The border bisects desert, mountains and urban areas. Each type of terrain calls for simple fencing in desert areas, tall steel mesh in more populated areas and plain rocks markers in mountainous areas or open desert, for example.

The El Paso sector is the original office of the Border Patrol, established in 1924. Its coverage area spans more than 125,000 square miles and includes all of New Mexico and the two westernmost counties in Texas.

Overall, 17,000 border patrol agents monitor the nearly 2,000-mile long border between the two countries. Our stories, told through video, audio and photo are but a snapshot of the border law enforcement.

An Audio Story about a Day with Two Border Patrol Agents