New documentary film depicts lack of agricultural child labor protections in America

I recently received a call from Susan MacLaury, executive director and co-founder of Shine Global, a non-profit film production company dedicated to ending the abuse and exploitation of children through films. She and I had a great conversation about her upcoming documentary about agricultural child labor in America. I agreed to help Susan promote the film and raise awareness of the issue.

The Harvest (La Cosecha) tells the stories of children (between the ages of 5 and 16) who work 10-plus hours a day, in poor working conditions, in the hot sun and without the protection of child labor laws. This film depicts the lives of more than 400,000 children farm worker who pick America's produce instead of going to school to receive an education.

 

The Harvest (La Cosecha), produced by Shine Global



The goal of the film is to raise awareness and get the U.S. Congress to pass the Fair Labor Standards Act, which address the gap in child labor protections that all other American children enjoy. Somehow, the U.S. Congress has granted the farming industry this loophole.  

The documentary is produced by Shine Global and is expected to be released in early 2011. To learn more about the film, visit Shine Global's Website.



Arizona anti-immigrant extremist Russell Pearce is at it again

The author of Arizona’s anti-immigrant, discriminatory and unconstitutional law (SB1070) is now after U.S.-born children and also bilingual educators who happen to speak English with a heavy accent.

Russell Pearce, de-facto leader of the immigrant-bashing nativists and Republican state senator, is convinced the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution is wrong to grant children born in this country the right to citizenship. Pearce claims our Founding Fathers (and Mothers) never intended for Latino children born in this country to be granted birthright citizenship.

The newly elected president of the Arizona state senate has pledged to introduce a bill this next legislative session requiring the State of Arizona to deny birth certificates to children born in the U.S. and whose parents are undocumented. Mr. Pearce, in case English is not your first language, here is what the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution says:

"All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside."

Russell Pearce

If this was not bad enough, the anti-immigrant extremists in Arizona also want to fire bilingual teachers who happen to speak English with an accent. Pearce intends to introduce yet another anti-Latino bill. Instead of addressing - I don't know - real school reform or fix the economy or create jobs, the newly elected Republican leader wants to waste time on his personal, nativist agenda.

These political attacks on American children, students and educators are simply unacceptable. The GOP should stay away from this guy and his tactics. The Grand Old Party, if it continues to associate with and support these "Tancrazy" ideals, will be left vulnerable in future elections. Common-sense Americans and Latinos will not tolerate these extreme views and political attacks on families, children and our freedoms.

EDUCA Radio Show Makes "The 5 Smartest Policies Enacted by American Cities in 2010" List

Alex Sanchez in the studio during a live show

I am very excited! I just got word that our EDUCA radio show made the Drum Major Institute for Public Policy’s list of the best policies of 2010.

The Drum Major Institute for Public Policy, based in New York City, is a non-partisan, non-profit think tank generating the ideas that fuel the progressive movement. Every year, the Institute releases a short list of the “best” and “worst” policies enacted by American cities.

Below is what they said about our integration and parent engagement strategy in this year’s “Five Smartest Policies Enacted by American Cities” list:

“The experts agree: parental involvement has strong positive effects on students' achievement in school. When parents are engaged with their child's education, attendance improves, grades and test scores go up, and graduation rates rise. But how can school districts involve parents who don't speak English? In Denver, where three in five students are Latino and many have parents with poor English skills, the school system has taken to the radio waves. Through an hour-long weekly program called "Educa" (educate) the Denver Public Schools connect with Spanish-speaking parents about school policies, events, and issues in public education. Parents can also call in with questions about their children's school and the education system. The first-of-its-kind program broadcasts on three popular Spanish-language radio stations and has more than doubled its audience -- to 54,200 unique listeners -- over just a few months. For engaging immigrant parents in a format that speaks to them, the Denver schools' multicultural outreach efforts come in loud in clear on our list of the best policies of 2010 (http://www.dmiblog.com/archives/2010/12/ten_best_and_worst_city_polici.html).”

I want to thank and congratulate everyone who has contributed to the success of this linguistically and culturally effective project – my radio team, members of the EDUCA advisory committee, all of our guest speakers and our community partners and sponsors.  A special shout-out also goes to Tom Boasberg, Amy Friedman and Michael Vaughn for their support and willingness to venture outside-the-box with innovative strategies.

Happy New Year!

The repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell marks the beginning of change in this country

The U.S. Senate approved the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell and President Obama signed the bill. American soldiers honorably serving in the military will not be fired in the future for simply being gay or lesbian. We are moving in the right direction as a country. But, this is just the beginning. America still has a lot of work to do before all men and women are created equal.

It began when African Americans were allowed to serve in the Union's army during the civil war. Years later women were able to join the military. Black and white soldiers were later integrated to create an even stronger military. Starting today, gay and lesbian soldiers can now serve openly in the most powerful military in the world. This is the kind of "change and hope" I voted for in 2008.
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I am very proud of all of the Dreamers and everyone who supports them. The work continues. We will not give up. Justice is on our side. The U.S. Senate today showed lack of vision when they failed to enact good public policies aimed at supporting and empowering today's youth. The history books will show no mercy to the political actors responsible for keeping youth in the shadows of American society.

Every 30 seconds a Latino turns 18 years old in America (source: NPR). Can you see change coming to American politics? It's just a matter of time.

Puerto Vallarta: Lady of Guadalupe pilgrimage of the faithful

In Puerto Vallarta today. I forgot about it, but this weekend is the holiest in Mexico: It's Lady of Guadalupe's birthday. People in every town and city have midnight mass with mariachi. It so happens that PV's saint or patron is also The Lady of Guadalupe - so instead of just one day of mariachi...it's nine days!

Group after group march to Puerto Vallarta to give praise to the Virgin of Guadalupe. Puerto Vallarta's town center is literally closed as the nine-day, 100,000 people pilgrimage comes to an end today.

Pilgrimage of the faithful in Puerto Vallarta. Day nine of nine. 0ver 100,000 people will participate by the time the event is over.

 

A false American Dream

Exclusive interview from Puerto Vallarta this next Tuesday on EDUCA con Alex Sanchez radio show. "Eva," now in her early twenties, was taken to the U.S. when she was two years old. She graduated from a Colorado high school with honors and received a full-ride scholarship to go to a Colorado college. While in her first year of college Eva tried to follow the right process to correct her immigration status, but authorities deported her to Mexico instead. She is now in a country she does not know, away from her entire family, without her friends but still hopeful one day she will have a chance to come back home to her American dream.