North America

Phoenix: 5,000 march against Sheriff Joe Arpaio

Thousands of demonstrators took to the streets in Phoenix this weekend to protest Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio and policies that critics charge violate immigrants’ basic human rights.

North America

Homeland Security to review Bellingham ICE raid

US Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano has called for a review of an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) workplace immigration raid that occurred in Bellingham, WA.

North America

Arizona: trial begins against vigilante rancher

A trial started in federal court in Tucson against vigilante rancher Roger Barnett and Cochise County Sheriff Larry Dever for conspiracy to violate the rights of undocumented immigrants.

North America
fire4

FIRE4

Isamu (Art) Shibayama, a rights advocate for Latin Americans of Japanese descent who were detained in prison camps in the United States during World War II, died July 31 at his home in San Jose, Calif. Born in Lima, Peru, in 1930, Shibayama was 13 when his family was detained and forcibly shipped to the United States. They were among some 2,000 Japanese-Peruvians who were rounded up and turned over to the US military for detention after the Pearl Harbor attack. Upon their arrival in New Orleans, the family was transported to the "internment camp" for Japanese-Americans at Crystal City, Texas. The family would remain in detention until 1946. Shibayama eventually won US citizenship, but was denied restitution for his wartime detention on the basis that he had not at the time been a US citizen or legal resident. He was still seeking justice from the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights at the time of his death. (Photo via the New York Times)

North America

Eco-militant gets 21 years; violent racists half that

Eco-activist and mom Marie Mason got 21 years for an arson attack on a biotech lab—in which nobody was injured. Four men who carried out violent racist attacks the night of Obama's election got ten to 12.

North America

Obama and Lincoln: our readers write

In the inevitable Lincoln-Obama analogy, it is largely forgotten that Lincoln was only pushed to emancipation by the Civil War. Will Obama similarly be radicalized in office by historical circumstance?