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Developers compete for contract to develop Oakland Army Base

by the El Reportero’s staff

OAKLAND — Thirteen developers from across the nation are now competing for the opportunity to develop a 108-acre site within the former Oakland Army Base. On March 10, the City of Oakland concluded a two month “Request for Qualifications” (RFQ) process to identify potential developers for the Army Base. The city received responses from 13 development teams.

“We are extremely pleased by the strong response,” said Mayor Ron Dellums. “This is a tremendous vote of confi dence for Oakland’s economy. It also shows what a unique opportunity we have to revitalize the area, taking advantage of the central Bay Area location, prominent waterfront, and direct visibility and access from the freeways. With its large, open areas of land, the site can attract large-scale developments that can provide signifi cant high-quality jobs, support and enhance Port activities, provide a place for new industries, create new access to open space along the Waterfront, and generate other community benefi ts for Oakland.”

The city has provided a special section on its Web site to provide information to the public on the planning and redevelopment of the Oakland Army Base site, which is available at: http://www.business2oakland.com/main/redevelopment.htm.

Marine Recruiting Center leaving Berkeley agreement

The protest group CODEPINK was delighted to hear the news. “While we still don’t know the details, we are have happy to hear that the Marines will be closing their doors and respecting the anti-war values of the residents of Berkeley,” said CODEPINK co-founder Medea Benjamin.

“The situation was becoming untenable,” says Mr. Shamszad. “The presence of the Marines sparking daily protests have had a negative impact on local businesses.

The city has been forced to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in police overtime. And some groups have been calling for a national boycott of our city. So I sat down with representatives of the Marines and we worked out a solution.”

“We just came out with a national productivity study by offi ce, and the Recruiting Center in Berkeley was in the bottom ten percentile,” says Michael Applegate, Director of the Marine Manpower Plans and Policy Division. “It’s a three-person office in a high-rent district bringing in an average of only 1.4 recruits per month. This is just not a good use of taxpayer money. So we were happy to work out an agreement with Mr. Shamszad. For us, this has nothing to do with protests outside the station, but is simply an issue of strategic redeployment.”

A note from Michel Moore

Friends,

Michael MooreMichael Moore

It would have to happen on Easter Sunday, wouldn’t it, that the 4,000th American soldier would die in Iraq. Play me that crazy preacher again, will you, about how maybe God, in all his infinite wisdom, may not exactly be blessing America these days. Is anyone surprised?

4,000 dead. Unofficial estimates are that there may be up to 100,000 wounded, injured, or mentally ruined by this war. And there could be up to a million Iraqi dead. We will pay the consequences of this for a long, long time. God will keep blessing America.

And where is Darth Vader in all this? A reporter from ABC News this week told Dick Cheney, in regards to Iraq, “two-thirds of Americans say it’s not worth fighting.”

Cheney cut her off with a one word answer: “So?”

“So?” As in, “So what?” As in, “F*** you. I could care less.”

I would like every American to see Cheney flip the virtual bird at the them, the American people. Click here and pass it around. Then ask yourself why we haven’t risen up and thrown him and his puppet out of the White House.

The Democrats have had the power to literally pull the plug on this war for the past 15 months — and they have refused to do so. What are we to do about that? Continue to sink into our despair? Or get creative? Real creative. I know there are many of you reading this who have the chutzpah and ingenuity to confront your local congressperson. Will you? For me?

Cheney spent Wednesday, the 5th anniversary of the war, not mourning the dead he killed, but fishing off the Sultan of Oman’s royal yacht. So? Ask your favorite Republican what they think of that.

The Founding Fathers would never have uttered the presumptuous words, “God Bless America.” That, to them, sounded like a command instead of a request, and one doesn’t command God, even if they are America. In fact, they were worried God would punish America. During the Revolutionary War, George Washington feared that God would react unfavorably against his soldiers for the way they were behaving. John Adams wondered if God might punish America and cause it to lose the war, just to prove His point that America was not worthy. They and the others believed it would be arrogant on their part to assume that God would single out America for a blessing. What a long road we have traveled since then.

I see that Frontline on PBS this week has a documentary called “Bush’s War.” That’s what I’ve been calling it for a long time. It’s not the “Iraq War.” Iraq did nothing. Iraq didn’t plan 9/11. It didn’t have weapons of mass destruction. It DID have movie theaters and bars and women wearing what they wanted and a significant Christian population and one of the few Arab capitals with an open synagogue.

But that’s all gone now. Show a movie and you’ll be shot in the head. Over a hundred women have been randomly executed for not wearing a scarf. I’m happy, as a blessed American, that I had a hand in all this. I just paid my taxes, so that means I helped to pay for this freedom we’ve brought to Baghdad. So? Will God bless me?

God bless all of you in this Easter Week as we begin the 6th year of Bush’s War. God help America. Please.

Michael Moore Monday, March 24th, 2008 MMFlint@aol.com, MichaelMoore.com.

You might not owe anything in your mortgage

by marvin J. Ramirez

Marvin J. RamirezMarvin J. Ramirez

A Senator and a Mayor are urging passage of a legislation for brokers and lenders, since according them, to fix the real estate crisis that is putting and threatening millions of people to lose their homes and be evicted out on the street. But I don’t understand what got to do the behavior of the brokers and lenders with the real situation that is causing the eviction of millions of people by the banking industry. Although the situation is a lot more complicated to explain in this short article, I will try by best to give you an idea.

Just recently, U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa called for Congress to pass legislation to create national licensing and oversight standards for mortgage brokers and lenders.

“The subprime mortgage brokerage and lending business is like peeling the skin of an onion,” Senator Feinstein said. “As you peel it back, you find that there are fraudulent and unethical practices.

“You find that often an individual’s financial qualifications to own a home are not verified. People are given mortgages they cannot afford. They are not informed about rate resets…”

However, what these two politicians are ignoring is that unless they hit on the real target: the banking fraud, nothing is going to be fixed.

According to an article on banking, when a person enters into a contract with a bank to borrow money to pay for a home, you don’t really get a loan.

This happens when the “borrower” signs a promissory note, let’s say for $400,000. The bank deposits the note into its books in the amount of the note, and this is transformed into the $400,000 that supposedly it lent you. Which means, that every person who has bought a house until now, the house has been paid. So nobody really owes any money for their mortgage. Believe it or not, this is the truth.

According to an anonymous author, the secret involves two kinds of money. Legal tender- cash- money and non legal tender-money like checks and credit cards. The bank’s own publication claims that money does not have to be issued by the government or be in any special form. According to the bank’s manual, money is anything that can be sold for cash and that the banks accept as money.

The loan agreement you sign is sold to investors wanting interest. If you do not pay the interest, they foreclose and collect the money. The loan agreement can be sold for cash and the bankers use the loan like non-legal tender money. In about 99 percent of the time, the bank almost never has the original note that you fi rst signed to obtain “the loan.” And to prove this case – if you haven’t refinanced your loan – go to your bank and tell them you want to pay your entire loan off, and demand fi rst that they return your promissory note. They will tell you that they can’t give it to you. And this is because they already sold it; therefore, if they don’t produce the original promissory note, you don’t have to pay a penny to the bank, and you don’t owe them a cent.

This is what Dianne Feinstein and Mayor Villaraigoza, either don’t know or don’t want to tell you because exposing the fraud will hurt them politically.

If you want to receive a copy of the article, The Great Banking Deception, to learn more about this subject and help you fight foreclosure, please send us an email with your name at: marvinrami@aol.com.

Poll: All countries should prevent race-based bias

by Christopher “Montigua” Storke

Unwelcome President Saca: A group critical of the Salvadorian goverment of Antonio Saca protest his visit with the Mayor of SF Gavin Newsom. They accuse the president of selling the country to transnational corporations. (Photo by Marvin J. Ramirez)Unwelcome President Saca A group critical of the Salvadorian goverment of Antonio Saca protest his visit with the Mayor of SF Gavin Newsom. They accuse the president of selling the country to transnational corporations. (Photo by Marvin J. Ramirez)

Mexico ranked next to the top and the United States slightly above the middle in a worldwide poll asking residents of 16 countries whether they felt their government should involve itself in preventing discrimination based on race or ethnicity.

On average, nearly eight out of 10 (79 percent) favored the concept. At 96 percent, residents of South Korean endorsed it most strongly, followed closely by Mexicans (94 percent) and Chinese and Nigerians, both at 90 percent. U.S. respondents agreed at 83 percent; Iranians at 76 percent.

Least receptive, at 46 percent, were those polled in India.

Nearly 15,000 people in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Asia and Africa were surveyed by WorldPublicOpinion.org. Residents’ views in no countries in the Western Hemisphere other than the United States and Mexico were measured.

International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination is observed on March 21 around the world, the report noted, pointing out that this year marks the 60th anniversary of the U. N. General Assembly’s adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

The report did not indicate how many nations have any anti-discrimination regulations in place at present.

Manuel Reyes: Photo Courtesy UCLAManuel Reyes: Photo Courtesy UCLA

When questioned as to whether an employer should be allowed to refuse to hire a qualifi ed person because of that person’s race or ethnicity, a number of respondents defended their right to do so; among them, 24 percent in Mexico and 13 percent in the United States. The collaborative research project was managed by the Program on International Policy Attitudes (PIPA) at the University of Maryland. More information at www.WorldPublicOpinion.org.

Infamous Sleepy Lagoon trial victim dies at age 82 Manuel Reyes, one of the 12 young Mexican Americans unjustly convicted of murder in the infamous Sleepy Lagoon trial of 1942, has died in Los Angeles. He was 82.

Reyes and the others served two years in San Quentin State Prison until an appellate court over turned the convictions. The court found there was insuffi cient evidence to show they had beaten and stabbed a young farm worker who was found near a reservoir known as the Sleepy Lagoon. The 22 defendants were tried in one of the largest mass trials in U.S. history and for a month were denied haircuts or a change of clothes.

It was a racist trial,” Alice Greenfi eld McGrath, a member of the Sleepy Lagoon Defense Committee, told the Los Angeles Times after Reyes’ death. Reyes, who was 17 when arrested, was among nine defendants convicted of second-degree murder by the all-white jury. The jury convicted three of first-degree murder and five of assault. Five were acquitted.

McGrath recalled Reyes as “one of the quieter ones,adding that he ‘was never in any kind of trouble before or after” the trial. The former owner of a taco stand, Reyes died of cancer Feb. 5. Another defendant in the case, Henry Ynostroza, died in Pasadena in 2006. He also was 82.

­Hispanic Link.

­

International capitalism florishes in Bolivia Hispanic

by the El Reportero’s news services

The financial crisis in the US and the rescue of a US investment bank, Bear Stearns, has prompted a raft of commentary about a crisis in international capitalism. This sits oddly with what is happening in Latin America, the scene of so many financial and economic crises, where financial markets, entrepreneurship and market solutions to economic problems, are all in rude health. The most telling symptom of this glowing health is the first ever public debt issue on the domestic Bolivian capital market.

Colombia offers to free guerrillas

On 27 March the peace commissioner, Luis Carlos Restrepo, announced that the government will suspend the sentences of all imprisoned members of the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (Farc) if the Farc frees its hostages. The proposal will delight the international community, in particular Presidents Hugo Chávez of Venezuela and Nicolas Sarkozy of France. Sarkozy will be especially pleased by Restrepo’s repeated assertion that the government’s top priority is to ‘save the life’ of Ingrid Betancourt, whose health is thought to have deteriorated rapidly.

Bush uses Andean dispute as springboard for fierce attack on Chávez

US President George W Bush has launched two strongly worded attacks on his Venezuelan peer Hugo Chávez, or rather his “regime”, in recent weeks. Both were designed to persuade the US Congress that Venezuela is a genuine threat to stability in Latin America and to exert pressure on congressmen to approve an FTA with Colombia as a matter of national security. This, Bush argues, would be a just reward for an ally which serves as a geopolitical counterweight to Venezuela in the Andean region. Quite apart from the fact that the FTA should be judged on its own merits, there is a very real concern that the conflation of trade and national security issues could set a dangerous precedent.

Education is the key in Latin America

by Marifeli Perez-Stablemps_opinion@comcast.net

Latin America is doing better but still not good enough. One reason lies in the quality of its labor force and its schools.

A good education lies at the heart of a virtuous circle: rising skills, promoting growth and reducing poverty. Governments, the private sector and civil society need to act faster than has been the case to bolster the region’s educational systems.

  • Latin America no longer offers low-cost labor to attract investors. Elsewhere, middle-income countries — the range where most in the region fall — provide other incentives such as a growing pool of highly skilled workers, which Latin America lacks.
  • Without quality improvements, the region’s expanding school enrollments won’t attract the investments to grow faster and compete. Studies show that quality — especially in student achievements in math and science — is at least as important, if not more, than enrolling and keeping children in school.
  • Inferior educational systems aggravate Latin America’s income inequality, already the worst in the world. For the most part, only the children of the rich and the middle class complete secondary and higher education, which reinforces inequality while keeping most workers from living up to their potential. No wonder growth and social stability suffer.

Between 1960 and 2000, the average schooling of Latin America’s labor force doubled, albeit from the low base of three years. In a world rapidly moving to technologically advanced production and higher valued-added products, Latin America is still producing workers best suited for labor-intensive and raw-materials industries.

Inadequate systems Secondary education presents the toughest climb. Latin America lags 19 percentage points behind the expected secondary-education performance for its income levels, while East Asian countries register almost 18 percentage points above theirs. (The Miami Herald).

The Latino divide on Iraq war patriotism, traditions, frustrations clash

by Emily C. Ruíz

Jess QuinteroJess Quintero

As eventually happened with Vietnam, U.S. military involvement in Iraq is pulling Hispanics in two directions. Maybe three.

Numbers tell some of the story. The latest Pew BoliviaHispanic Center poll found less than a quarter of Latinos (24 percent) support U.S. troop participation. That’s down from 31 percent in 2006 and 39 percent in 2004.

U.S. Department of Defense figures show that Hispanics comprise 10.9 percent enlisted in the armed forces, well below their percentage in the eligible age group in the three decades of the volunteer army.

There are those like Jess Quintero, who served two tours—one in the U.S. Army and one in the Air Force—toward the end of the Korean War and leading up to Vietnam.

Quintero, president of the Hispanic War Veterans of America, talks proudly of the Hispanic contributions in defending the world’s democratic ideals from the Revolutionary War forward.

He recites the names of family members, from generations past to grandchildren, who with no hesitation answered the call.

Then there is Pablo Paredes, more recently a Petty Officer third class and weapon-control technician in the U.S. Navy. Declaring his opposition to the invasion of Iraq, he refused to board the USS Bonhomme Richard as it deployed to the Persian Gulf, in December 2004 as part of the Operation Iraqi Freedom. He received an administrative discharge after serving three months at hard labor without confinement and a demotion in rank. He now works as a peace educator with the American Friends Service Committee.

Then there’s the third and largest element, reflective perhaps of the broader community’s attitude. This group is neither rallying friends or families to ‘save democracy, nor actively protesting the U.S. commitment.

Few Hispanics were visible in the basically white anti-war protests across the country this month. Nor have they formed visible anti-war groups of their own, such as those which sprouted up in the Vietnam era.

Most memorable was the 1970 national Chicano Moratorium march in East Los Angeles, in which a county sheriff’s deputy killed KMEX-TV news director Rub´En Salazar with an armor-piercing tear-gas missile. On the East Coast, the mostly Puerto Rican Young Lords staged similar demonstrations.

Today’s older anti-war Latinos often have a background in Vietnam-era activism, while a smaller number are parents of soldiers who’ve died in more recent Middle East conflicts, says Jorge Mariscal, professor of Chicano/Latino Studies at the University of California, San Diego.

“Younger Latinos are involved because they see the impact of the war on their friends and the militarism in their schools with recruitment,” he said, adding that the reason more aren’t involved is because of the lack of outreach from mainstream anti-war groups to attract members of color.
­Hispanic Link.

Berkeley Library Invites all-levels knitters

by Rigo Hernandez

Danilo Maccarao y Marina Junqueira Rey y Reina de SF Carnava 2007 entregarán la corona el sábado 29 de marzo.: (file photo Marvin J. Ramirez)Danilo Maccarao Marina Junqueira Carnaval King Queen 2007 will hand in the crown on March 27. (file photo Marvin J. Ramirez)

Experienced or beginner teen knitters are welcomed to the teen knitting circle at the central library in Berkeley.

There will be individual instructions and experienced teen knitter may be able to earn community service hours by helping beginning knitters the library’s other knitting programs. No registration is required. The meetings are on Saturday march 15 and 29, April 19, may 3 and 24 from 3:00 to 4:30 p.m. in the 4th fl oor of the central library. For more information call (510) 981-6107 or go to www.berkeleypubliclibrary.org.

SF carnaval crowning ceremony to be held

As the 30th annual San Francisco carnival is approaching to its Memorial Day weekend parade in May, come join and be a part of carnival’s king and queen election ceremony.

They celebration will include live entertainment representing of various Latino cultures, and special judges including radio DJ host from 98.1 KISS FM Radio, Tony Sandoval and bay area TV host and producer of NBC TV 11’ Bay Area Vista Show, Janice Edwards. The live entertainment will feature a Brazilian Fusion Sounds, BATMAKUMBA.

Attendees will be able to be photographed with the kings and queens, participate in big-prize raffl e, and will be able to dance to Caribbean, salsa, samba and more.

The event will be on Saturday, March 29, at the All Live at Club at 1050 Folsom Street in San Francisco starting at 7:00 p.m. Tickets are $15 dollars in advance and $20 dollars at the door. For more information go to www.carnavalsf.com.

City College and SFSU host events to create awareness of disappearing women

The City College of San Francisco in conjoint with San Francisco State University will host free events for three days to create awareness of the disappeared women in Mexico, Guatemala, and Canada.

The fi rst event on Thursday April 3, will begin with a showing of the film, Senorita Extraviada which depicts the disappearances of women in the state of Chihuahua in Mexico. The fi lm is scheduled to show at the city college. The event will be followed by a candlelight vigil at the Rosenbger Library and a keynote by Chicano studies chair at Stanford University Yvonne Yarbro-Bejarano. The showing will be on Thursday April 3, at the City College from 12:30 to 2:00 p.m.

You, and your family and friends are invited to a special seminar on the law by Zeke

You will learn about the legal process and how to defend yourselves and your families from the corrupt judicial system.

Excerpt from Zeke’s Website à http://www.powerpolitics.com/about.php

“In 1997 we started this site in an effort to help people learn about the legal process so they could help themselves solve the problems they were running into in the Courts.

“We found that most people don’t care and of those who do, very few are willing to put in the time and energy to understand how to wield the Judicial Power of the Constitution as envisioned by some of the forefathers of this great nation.

“So, if you want to put forth the effort, get technical, read a lot, study, and learn to assert and defend your rights, then you can begin your journey to Sovereignty by learning about the three Powers that were established and delegated by the Constitution.

“This concept is new to the 21st century legal theories and is an exercise of power by the individual, which has been unheard of for over 100 years.”

Saturday 1710 South Amphlett Blvd. Conference Room No. 126, San Mateo, CA 94402. Doors open at 8:30 a.m. for Registration. For more info visit: http://www.powerpolitics.com/

Latinos increase visibility on reality TV

by Antonio Mejías-Rentas

Christian de la FuenteChristian de la Fuente

‘REAL’LATINOS: Hispanic performers fi gure prominently on several reality TV shows, including the fi rst Spanish-speaker on Dancing With the Stars.

Chilean actor Cristian de la Fuente makes his dancing debut this week on the popular ABC contest that has a live, two-part premiere for its sixth season on March 17 and 18. The 34-year-old actor, a pilot with the Chilean air force reserve, is set to break the stereotype of Latinos being naturally-gifted dancers. He told La Opinion last week he has had to train four to fi ve hours a day with partner Cheryl Burke for the competition.

De la Fuente is a rare crossover success. He appears frequently on Spanish-language TV (most recently on the Univision mini series Cómo ama una mujer) as well as English language shows (Ugly Betty on ABC).

Two seasons ago, Mexican-American actor Mario López became the fi rst Latino to compete on Dancing With the Stars. A dancer since childhood, he made it all the way to the finals.

Four Latino singers were among the 12 finalists on TV’s most popular reality competition, American Idol on Fox, including an ex stripper who became the first eliminated from the show last week.

Ex Miss Universe Lupita JonesEx Miss Universe Lupita Jones

Just as the Idol finalists were being selected, a gay bar owner in Phoenix revealed that competitor David Hernandez stripped at the establishment for three years. The 24-year-old from Glendale, Ariz., went on to become the fi rst fi nalist eliminated during a broadcast this week.

Among the remaining 11: David Archuleta, 17, from Murray, Utah; Syesha Mercado, 21, Sarasota, Fla.; and Jason Castro, 20, Rockwall, Texas.

IN OTHER REALITY TV NEWS:

Julio Iglesias Jr. was named the winner of the Nashville-based Gone Country competition. The lesser-known son of Spanish crooner Julio Iglesias and older brother of pop top star Enrique Iglesias is now set to record a country album. He won the CMT reality show with The Way I Want You, a song he wrote himself.

A second season of the Univision beauty contest reality show, Nuestra Belleza Latina, began airing this week with former Mexican Miss Universe Lupita Jones as one of the judges. Twelve Latina beauties compete for the title while housed in a Miami mansion. Hispanic Link.

Mayor asks for second look at pest contros

by Rigo Hernandez

San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom will introduce legislation on next Tuesday’s Board of Supervisors that will explore medical concerns of the aerial spraying of California to eliminate the light brown apple moth.

Last week the mayor sent a letter that urges Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to rethink the spraying and support state legislation that would further explore the health risk of the spraying.

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection, the pest has been discovered in the alameda and Contra Costa counties.

The moth, native to New Zealand, The United Kingdom, and Hawaii destroys stunts or deforms young seedlings; spoils the appearance of ornamental plants; and injures fruit-tree crops, citrus and grapes.

Cancer Association urges Latino’s to get tested for colon cancer

In Commemoration of the National Colon Cancer Awareness Month in March, the National Cancer Association urges Latino men and women over 50 to get tested.

According to the NCA, “early detection of colon cancer equals 90-percent survival rate.” The state of California 14,000 people will be diagnosed with colon cancer and more than 5,000 will die in 2008. For more information on how to get tested call 1-800-acs-2345 or visit www.cancer.org.

Subsidies for Oakland schools

Oakland middle and high schools will receive a 3 millions dollar grant from Kaiser Permanente under a proposal by mayor Ron Dellums and executive vice president Bernanrd J. Tyson that will provide clinical and social services to children in the city.

The goal of the school ­based health centers is to give these services while developing primary prevention programming that is based on practices of public health, youth development and academic enrichment. the three-year proposal will encourage the creation of clinics on one middle school and four high schools.

Executive Director of STAND! Against Domestic Violence, Gloria J. Sandoval has been awarder the 2008 Lois Haigh Award of Excellence and Innovation for her work in trying to end domestic violence and helping its victims.

Sandoval has in several non-profi ts throughout the bay area for the past 30 years. She has also help create, “Zero Tolerance for Domestic Violence.” This was the first initiative in California that brought police, health professionals, government agencies, and community groups to help reduce domestic violence.

A personal note from Bill Richardson

by José de la Isla

José de la IslaJosé de la Isla

HOUSTON – On Friday, March 21, at two in the morning, Governor Bill Richardson sent an e-mail to his former supporters. The address window said, “A personal note.”

In the third sentence, Richardson told them, “I wanted to tell you that, after careful and thoughtful deliberation, I have made a decision to endorse Barack Obama for President.”

In the fourth line, he acknowledged “My affection and admiration for Hillary Clinton and President Bill Clinton.” Then he turned to what was the heart of his message.

Referring to Barack Obama’s Philadelphia speech earlier in the week, “He asked us to rise above our racially divided past, and to seize the opportunity to carry forward the work of many patriots of all races, who struggled and died to bring us together.”

Who could have guessed — given how political commentators have carried on about black-and-white complaints and grievances — that a new paradigm could so swiftly and definitively come about.

Perhaps that is because so many commentariat have made their reputations observing social friction instead of commenting about its consequences to the political system and our national life.

But the U.S. people got it, judging from the opinion polls measuring public reaction to the speech. Nonetheless, the incendiary white-resentment- black-rage quandary, as chatter, would have continued had Bill Richardson not weighed in.

In a realistic appraisal about this moment in history, we ought to be conscious that in those crucial hours following Obama’s historic speech, the nation lapsed back into a 1970s mental regression. Virtually all of the talk was again about black and white, like an LP with its needle playing over and over the same old tune.

That nation doesn’t exist anymore. The new nation is colorized. It has many people from many places speaking many tongues. Many of them are Hispanics.

The “one-size-fits-all minority” label is out of fashion, inappropriate and out of sync. Bringing up Jeremiah Wright’s 2001 incendiary sermon recalled old wounds and hurts all over again — maybe ones without solution–but that only serve to injure Obama’s candidacy with an implied guilt by association. What happened instead was that Obama did what armies of media commentators are paid to do.

Obama’s Philadelphia speech March 18 explained and challenged the public to rise above the words and to set a new high standard for tolerance, behavior, and responsibility. Not knowing better, the media consignetti likened it to MLK’s “I have a dream.” But it wasn’t that. It was not a vision quest. It was a political speech setting a new high political standard. That’s where Bill Richardson weighed in.

Bill Richardson in Portland said Obama “spoke to us like adults.”

He added, “He asked us to ponder the weight of our racially-divided past, to rise above it, and to seize the opportunity to carry forward the work of many patriots of all races, who struggled and died to bring us together.”

For Obama, said Richardson, “cynicism is not realism, and hope is not folly.”

What makes Richardson’s words remarkable is how he brought out an elemental truth — “As a Hispanic, I was particularly touched by his words.” He connected that to what we all know. “I have been troubled by the demonization of immigrants” and the rising rate of hate crimes against Hispanics. Richardson, like Obama, consigned divisive economic policies as the real demon.

Richardson said Obama “has started a discussion” that rejects the politics of pitting race against race.” Interpreted, this means a halt to the national backward movement and a new map with high standards of conduct. Why? Because this is not a black-and-white nation anymore. If you don’t see it or don’t get it, you’re out of it.

Obama opened a pathway to a new standard, and Richardson quickly stepped through it, for others to follow.

There’s an adage that says you understand people by their words which you cannot translate. “Este es un hombre que nos entiende y nos va a respetar,” Richardson said endorsing Obama. There’s a tone, a feeling there you just can’t translate.

[José de la Isla is the author of “The Rise of Hispanic Political Power.” (Archer Books, 2003). He writes a weekly commentary for Hispanic Link News Service. E-mail: Joseisla3@yahoo.com]. ©2008

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