After a 40-year teaching career, interim Superintendent Gwen Chan symbolically passes the thorch onto new SFUSD new Superintendent Carlos García on June 13.
A new era for the SFUSD?
Carlos García is the new SF Superintendent of schools
by Juliana Birnbaum Fox
After a 40-year teaching career, interim Superintendent Gwen Chan symbolically passes the thorch onto new SFUSD new Superintendent Carlos García on June 13.
Left-right: Looking at the initiation of Carlos García, Julio Soto, Gwen Chan, Mark Sánchez, Aaron Peskin, Eric Mar, Norman Yee, Jill Wynns, Jane Kim, Bevan Dufty, Hydra Mendoza, and Kim-Shree Waufas.
Carlos García was chosen as the next superintendent of San Francisco Unified School District on June 12, in a 6 -1 vote by the Board of Education.
“We chose Mr. García because of his past experience with San Francisco, his strong track record as a superintendent and his understanding of the challenges that our district faces,” said Board President Mark Sanchez.
At a press conference on June 13, ten officials welcomed García, including Mayor Gavin Newsom, seven board members and two supervisors. Board member Eric Mar called him a “street fighter,” someone who will challenge students and fight inequity.
Board member Jane Kim recalled what someone from his former district in Las Vegas said about him: “If you don’t want change, you don’t want Carlos.”
Teacher Julio Soto, who was a student at Horace Mann when García was principal, welcomed him back to the Mission. García has said that he feels he is “coming home,” and is excited to work in such a progressive district.
García emphasized that he will seek the advice of parents, students, and teachers when addressing challenges rather than try to solve problems alone. He said people are likely to see him in the Mission District, in Chinatown and in Hunters Point talking to people.
“I want you to know,” he said in a voice fierce with emotion, “I don’t work for adults, I work for the children, and the children will be first when it comes to make decisions.”
Living up to his reputation for speaking his mind on controversial topics, García said he strongly supports bringing race back as a factor in the student assignment system.
The position that race can help integrate schools is shared by the majority of the school board’s seven members, though a ruling on the legality of using race to assign schools is pending in the federal Supreme Court.
“I believe our schools should be good for every student, not only for some,” he stated. San Francisco faces declining enrollment in its schools for a number of reasons, but an estimated 30 percent of children go to private schools, compared with the national average of 10 percent. García wants to attract more of these students to quality public schools.
García was born in Chicago, but his family returned to Mexico soon afterwards. Five years later, they moved to California, he started kindergarten as an English learner. He began his career in education in 1975 and has served as both a teacher and principal in Californian cities including San Francisco, Watsonville, Ontario, and La Puente. He was principal of Horace Mann Middle School from 1988 to 1991 and is largely credited for its later success. He served as Superintendent at Sanger Unified School District from 1994 to 1997, in Fresno from 1997 to 2000, and in Las Vegas from 2000 – 2005. During the last two years, he served as vice-president of McGraw-Hill Publishers, a controversial position due to the fact that the corporate educational publishing house has a reputation for putting profits first.
García’s employment contract as San Francisco’s superintendent includes a $255,000 salary and host of other benefits, though his return to public education from corporate leadership will probably cost him a pay cut. The Board hopes that willingness to take on the challenging role is a reflection of his passion and commitment. In fact, there are a number of incentives in the contract to lure him to stay on in the position—the national average tenure for a superintendent is only 3.1 years. García will officially start work on July 16.
Cuban buries the ‘machismo – Leninism’
Project is so advanced, that accepts marriages between gays and lesbians and up to right to the adoption
by Mauricio Vicent
Havana – The Cuban machismo – Leninism, which had his epoch of splendor in the gray and homophobic 70s, is in crisis and on the verge of being buried. They are already not only the apologies and public knowledge realized in the last years to artists and intellectuals who were alienated by their sexual orientation.
Today, the Cuban authorities study a project of legal reform to recognize the civil and heriditary rights of homosexual partners, included the juridical formalization of unions between gays and lesbians, and the right of adoption, something revolutionary in a country that for years chased public ostentation of homosexuality.
The proposal, which one already finds in phase of analysis in the Political Bureau of the Communist Party, is not impelled by anyone. The soul and principal advocate of the project of reform of the Family code is a Mariela Castro Espín, director of the governmental National Center of Sexual Education (Cenesex) and daughter of the temporary president of Cuba, Raúl Castro, who for years fights to open spaces for travestís and transsexuals and defends the rights of these groups.
If the initiative is approved, the partners of gays or lesbians will enjoy so much the personal, patrimonial and hereditary rights, and those inherent in the housing and in adoption, as heterosexuals.
(This report was first published by El País).
Transcendental decision for partners of the same sex in the UNO
The State of Colombia violated the right to equality invoked in the Agreement of civil and political rights, by having denied retirement substitution of the partner of a same sex person, as was determined by the United Nations Committee of Human Rights, the body that watches the fulfillment of this agreement.
The historical decision of the United Nations Human rights Committee requests the State of Colombian to recognize retirement substitution, and to adopt measurements so that partners of the same sex are not discriminated against in the access to this right.
“The Committee concludes that the State has violated Article 26 of the Agreement, by denying the author the right to the pension of his permanent partner, on the base of his sexual orientation.”
What a big party the NCLR ALMA Awards
by Tracie Morales
Carlos Reygadas
PARTYTIME: Latinos are known for throwing great fi estas. The 2007 NCLR ALMA AWARDS, airing June 5 on ABC, is no exception. Actress Eva Longoria heats up the hottest night on television as host of the event honoring Hispanics in music, movies and TV.
There will be performances by Los Lonely Boys, Beyoncé Knowles and Calle 13. And Hollywood’s loveliest Latinas, including Jessica Alba and Eva Mendes, loin tinsel town’s legendary pillars Andy García and Héctor Elizondo. Completing the packed cast are funnymen Carlos Mencia and Alex Reymundo.
For more details visit www.almsawards.com.
jQUE RICO! Ingrid Hoffmann debuts her spicy cooking skills on the new program Simply Delicioso, airing July 14 on Food Network. This Colombia-born comida queen adds a “twist of Latin fl avor with dashes of limón and pico de gallo to turn traditional meals into fl avorful fare. Hoffmann contributes a monthly column to the lifestyle magazine PARTY-TIME:
LATINOS AND TV: Entertainment industry advocates are urging Nielsen Media Research to revise its sampling method of Latino television consumers, arguing it misrepresents Hispanic tastes.
The organization Change the Sample launched an online petition with nearly 5,000 signatures pressing Nielsen to use methods that resemble Census demographics. Nielsen ratings among Hispanics are measured using fi ve categories: Spanish only, mostly Spanish, Spanish and English equally, mostly English and English only.
Change the Sample argues that these determinants are subjective and overlook the 60 percent of U.S.-born Hispanics who identify with English programming. Critics say these methods result in a disproportionate amount of Hispanics on English television and contribute to stereotypical roles depicting AnniversaryHispanics as maids, gang members and construction workers.
For more information visit www.changethesample.com or www.nielsenmedia.com.
CONGRATS: Three Latin American directors received awards during the 2007 Cannes Film Festival, held May 16-27. Mexico-native Carlos Reygadas won the Jury Prize for Stellet Light (Silent Night). Mexico director Elisa Miller joined the ranks of recipients for Palme d’Or in the short film category for Ver Llover. Argentinean
filmmaker Gonzalo Tobal grabbed first prize from the Cinefondation awards for his film Ahora todos parecen contentos.
Hispanic Link.
Ortega condems Washington for inciting Chávez protest
El reportero news services
CARACAS, Venezuela: Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega accused Washington of
fomenting student-led protests against Venezuela for not renewing the
license of an opposition-aligned television station.
Flanked by Chávez during a speech that all of Venezuela’s TV channels were
forced to broadcast, Ortega said his government supported his host’s
decision not to renew Radio Caracas Television’s (RCTV) broadcast
license and warned against “Yankee intervention” in Venezuela’s affairs.
“I see youngsters on the news marching and protesting, it’s really sad.
They’ve been injected with hate,” said Ortega, referring to a series of
recent street demonstrations by thousands of students who accuse Chávez
of restricting freedom of expression.
“In Nicaragua, the Yankees took control of the people and filled them with hate” during
the 1980s amid a civil war pitting US-backed Contra rebels against the
Sandinista government, Ortega said.
RCTV, was forced off the air on May 27 after
Chávez refused to renew its license, citing the channel’s conduct
during a failed coup in 2002 and alleged violations of broadcast laws.
Rice’s call for OAS action on RCTV fails
On 4 June the U.S. Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, called for the
Organization of American States (OAS) to investigate Venezuela for a
possible breach of the OAS charter. Significance: The confrontation
between the U.S. and Venezuela over the cancellation of RCTV’s
broadcast license dominated proceedings at the OAS annual meeting in
Panama which should have been focused on energy issues. No other OAS
member followed the U.S.’s lead.
Mexico City’s mayor wants to sweep away vendors
Street vendor Jessica Alvarez hawks Christmas lights made in China at her
stall in downtown Mexico City. Street vendor Jessica Alvarez hawks
Christmas lights made in China at her stall in downtown Mexico City.
Aztec warriors spotted an eagle holding a serpent in its mouth and, struck by
the omen, founded the canal city of Tenochtitlan, precursor to the
Mexican capital.
Seven hundred years later, the momentous location is hidden at the edge of a huge sea of street vendors. Tarps
crowd sidewalks, techno music blares and customers squeeze through
narrow openings in the chaos.
It’s not just Mexico City’s creation story that’s swamped. Street sellers obscure a great swath of
Mexico City’s colonial history and finest baroque architecture —
centuries-old churches, armories and museums.
But that may be about to change
Six months into his term, Mexico City Mayor Marcelo Ebrard is embarking on
an ambitious plan to rid downtown Mexico City of its legion of street
vendors. The plan would tidy up the streets, and what some consider the
most visible symptom of Mexico’s dysfunctional economy. Cox News
Service contributed to this report.
The other drug war
by José de la Isla
MEXICO CITY — Not everyone knows but perhaps they should. The New World people conquered Europe beginning in the 16th century with their fresh fruits, vegetables, condiments and confections. Sugar was one of them.
The other thing that most of us don’t think about too much is that sugar became as addictive as heroin. It went from a luxury to a necessity to a mind- and body-altering food. Over the last five centuries, sugar consumption has come to be virtually measured in terms of mountains instead of teaspoons.
The evolutionary consequences of all that is now showing up in the North American human body.
After only the United States, for instance, Mexico is second in soft drink consumption in the world. It represents a total 300 million cases annually. The value of the Mexican market is around $15.5 billion, according to a report by México Alimentaria.
Another related finding by the same group is that Mexico also occupies second place in childhood obesity.
One in four children between five and 11 years are overweight.
About 71 percent of women and 67 percent of men over 20 years old are overweight, also.
These have become health and economics isissues for Mexico and other countries throughout all of North America.
Mexico’s 700,000 corner stores are the economic mainstay for many families. They have been severely impacted by the proliferation of supermarkets and warehouse stores. This is not unlike the United States, where neighborhood stores, except in megacities, have become a thing of the past.
Mexican corner-store sales declined during the past four years. In March, they were down 5.2 percent over the year before. Meanwhile, large organized commerce grew 8.2 percent.
But the bigger problem might be the products the “tienditas” dispense. In many cases they are soft drinks and cigarettes. Both products in some way pose major Mexican health hazards.
The Annie E. Casey Foundation released a report, “Growing Up in North America,” in May. It shows that Canada, the U.S. and Mexico together report obesity rates 26 to 30 percent among their 120 million children. Obesity rates in the U.S. and Canada a soaring.
Now here’s the paradox: growing numbers of obese children are malnourished and suffer anemia to a significant degree.
Is it any wonder, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation committed $500 million in May to tackle childhood obesity over the next five years. The focus will be on affordable healthy foods and physical activity.
Another approach — whether a godsend or not — is the partnership between Coca-Cola Co. and Cargil Inc., partnering to commercialize a natural sweeteners.
Rebiana, the new product without calories, believed to sweeten a product naturally.
It may pose a challenge to the soft-drink market dominated by cane sugar, corn syrup and synthetic sweeteners. Sounds good, but there’s a rub to this technical fix. Rebiana could have some toxic effects.
This takes us back to our drug analogy.
While Rebiana is natural herb in South America, it is prohibited in the United States and Europe. In 1985, it was found to be associated with hepatic — meaning liver — concerns.
Rebiana’s roll-out as a food additive will occur where it is not prohibited: Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and other South American countries.
Social evolution may have reached a point in North America where foods that previously nourished humans are now used to feed the economy. And along the way, we overlook their long-term consequences.
Now we should hope that those political fanatics who like scaring people into Latinamericaphobia and a “reconquista” are right. If the reconquista is like the original one, it will revive eating fresh fruits and vegetables. Maybe our survival will depend on it.
(José de la Isla writes a weekly commentary for Hispanic Link News Service. He is author of The Rise of Hispanic Political Power (Archer Books). E-mail joseisla3@yahoo.com.) © 2007
The media is not providing complete information on the Caracas TV issue
by Marvin J Ramirez
From The Editor Marvin J. Ramirez
We could easily end up living under a dictatorship in the U.S. if we continue to let current forces in the extremely conservative right use religion continue putting faith over logic and using fear of terrorism as an attempt to bring down our civil liberties in the United States.
We already don’t have complete access to news.
People now sit in front of their TV, and get information that is designed to shape people’s perspectives and thoughts about what they should see, while deciding what they shouldn’t see. I think if we were shown the other side of the enchilada, we would have a revolution in this country because of the true is hiding.
Regarding the issue in Venezuela, where the government of Hugo Chávez denied the renewal of the license to Radio Caracas Television, Spanish and English-language stations in the U.S. are not showing the complete picture.
While they are making a big deal about Caracas TV, they don’t tell you that this practice is done every year in the most democratic countries in the world, and nobody makes noise about it.
An article released by a Chilean journalist shows that the International Unión de Telecomunicaciones (UIT) recognizes “in all its largeness the sovereign right of every State to regulate its telecommunications, bearing in mind the increasing importance of the telecommunications for the safe-conduct of peace and economic and social development of the States …”
Chilean journalist Ernesto Carmona shows a list of other TV licenses that were canceled or expired in the world:
- Peru, in April 2007, arranged the closing of 2 television and 3 radio stationsfor breaking the Law of Radio and Television, expired licenses and use of unauthorized equipment.
- In Uruguay, December 2006, the licenses of radio stations 94.5 FM and Concert FM of Montevideo were revoked, as well as a resolution extending signal coverage of cable Multichannel belonging to group Clarion of Argentina.
- In El Salvador, July 2003, the concession of Salvador Network was revoked.
- In Canada, June 1999, the concession to Country music, Music Televisión – CMT, was revoked.
- to Yanks Trinity to WLNS-T was revoked in April 1999; in April 1998, the FCC revokedIn the United States, the Federal Administration of Communications (FCC, its acronym in English), revoked the license of WLBT-TV in July 1969; the license the license of DAILY DIGEST (Radio). Between 1934 and 1987, 141 U.S. stations lost their licenses – among them, 102 for not renewing. In 40 cases the license was revoked without waiting for the current one to expire. During 1980s, there were 10 cases in which licenses were not renewed.
- In Europe, Spain revoked the authorization of TV Laciana (channel for local cable) in July 2004, and in April 2005 it closed the radio and TV stations of open signal in Madrid; additionally, in July of the same year, they closed Catholic TV.
- France revoked the license of TV& in February 1987; in December 2004 the authorization of Al Manar was revoked; and in December 2005 it revoked the license of TF1 for investigating the real existence of the holocaust.
- In England, the government of Margaret Thatcher cancelled the authorization of one of the biggest television stations of England, simply for having spread unpleasant news, although absolutely true. It argued that “if they had already had the station for 30 years: why did they have to have a monopoly?”
- Also in the United Kingdom, the authority arranged in the temporary closing of MED-TV-canal 22 March 1999; in August 2006, TV revoked the licenseto ONE; in January 2007, the license of Look 4 Love 2, in November 2006, StarDate TV 24; and in December 2006, it revoked to the channel of telesales AUCTIONWORD.
Carnaval 2007 exceeds expectations
Viva Carnaval SF 2007
After going through a real ordeal raising money to make it possible to have a Carnaval float for the Nicaraguan community, Dominga Gómez, and members of her Sacuanjoche Nicaraguan folklore dance school, proudly paraded along Mission Street as part of dozen other nationalities who showcased their country’s culture. Carnaval SF 2007 was one of the largest of its kind of the annual event’s history, with more floats and booths than in previous years. Carnaval SF is sponsored by the San Francisco Neighborhood Centers.
“Peruvian Pocahontas” in Quito to pressure oil giante
by the El Reportero’s news services
Judgment nears in landmark $6-billion-environmental trial
Quito – Chevron’s three decades of devastating toxic dumping in the Ecuadorian rainforest will be in the spotlight this week as the actress and environmentalist Daryl Hannah, tours communities ravaged by cancer and other diseases related to the contamination.
Meanwhile the Crude Reflections photo exhibit, which graphically illustrates the human toll of the disaster, will go on display in Ecuador for the first time, at Quito’s prestigious Guayasamin Museum. The opening, on Wednesday, will be attended by Ms. Hannah and Q’orianka Kilcher, who starred as Pocahontas, opposite Colin Farrell, in “The New World”. Ms. Kilcher is of mixed Peruvian indigenous descent and is Amazon Watch’s Youth Ambassador. Last year she visited Achuar communities poisoned by toxic dumping in the northern Peruvian Amazon.
The developments come as a landmark class-action lawsuit against Texaco (now Chevron), which has dragged on for years, is finally due to reach a conclusion in early 2008. The presence of Ms. Hannah and Ms. Kilcher are expected to generate huge public interest in Ecuador where Texaco operated from the 1960s to the 1990s, making billions of dollars of profit.
During that period Texaco dumped 18.5 billion gallons of formation waters, a toxic byproduct of the drilling process, directly into a vast inhabited area of the northern Ecuadorian Amazon in contravention of industry standards of the time. The 30,000 plaintiffs are demanding an environmental remediation that has been provisionally priced at $6 billion.
Uribe hopes to wrongfoot opponents with sudden prisoner release
COLOMBIA – With the parapolitical scandal threatening to turn Colombia into an international “pariah”, in the words of President Alvaro Uribe himself, the government has attempted to take the initiative by offering to release hundreds of imprisoned guerrillas. The idea has two purposes: to distract attention away from the revelations about the government’s links with paramilitary organisations and to persuade the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia to release some of its high-profile hostages, including the former presidential candidate, Ingrid Betancourt.
Kirchnerista Filmus second in Buenos Aires
ARGENTINA – The rightwing businessman Mauricio Macri won 3 June’s election for the Buenos Aires mayoralty with a convincing 45.6 percent of votes, but will have to face a runoff with President Néstor Kirchner’s favoured candidate, Education Minister Daniel Filmus, who got 24 percent. The polls had all predicted that Macri would win, although not by such a wide margin. The real race was for second place and between the incumbent mayor Jorge Telerman and Filmus. The Kirchner camp loudly celebrated Filmus’s second-place performance; this election was a test of the president’s own popularity and had Filmus failed to even make the runoffs it would have boded ill for the incumbent administration in October’s general elections. The turnout was surprisingly high at over 75 percent.
Hispanic advocates press for improvements to immigration reform bill
El debate sigue tras el receso
by Alex Meneses Miyashita
Cecilia Muñoz
Hispanic advocates are coming out against the bipartisan compromise immigration bill introduced in the U.S. Senate May 17 and promise they will keep pressing to improve it.
The Senate resumes debate on the bill when it returns from its Memorial Day recess June 4.
The Border Security | and Immigration Re- | form Act of 2007 includes enhanced border security and workplace measures required to be implemented to trigger a temporary worker program and a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants.
Latino and pro-immigrant organizations have listed as their main concerns in the bill cutbacks to family immigration under a proposed system based on points and a guest worker program that does not offer participants a path to citizenship.
At the same time, they view the ongoing debate as a critical opportunity to ensure a pathway to legalization for millions of undocumented residents in the country.
“Failing to act is not an option here,” said National Council of La Raza vice president Cecilia Munoz. Brent Wilkes, Washington director of the League of United Latin American citizens,said, “We are willing to compromise, but it has to be for the right reasons.”
Groups which officially declared their opposition to the bill included LULAC, the Labor Council for Latin American Advancement, the Hispanic Federation, the National Alliance of Latin American and Caribbean Communities, the National Day Laborer Association and the William C. Velázquez Institute.
Other organizations, such as La Raza, Latino and civil rights groups claim the law would harm undocumented immigrants. While several of the bills listed by the NCSL in its preliminary analysis would include certain benefits to undocumented immigrants, the great majority of the legislative proposals would penalize them.
The state bills most commonly range from restricting services for undocumented immigrants, penalizing employers for hiring them, allowing state and local police to enter a federal program to enforce immigration law and requiring proof of citizenship to vote, among others.
Legislation extending benefits to undocumented immigrants commonly range from granting them driving certificates and in-state school tuition and funding English-language learning programs.
Oklahoma, Missouri, South Carolina and Tennessee have introduced comprehensive proposals as defi ned by the NCSL. These address several elements and target undocumented immigrants and employers who hire them.
Most recently, the Oklahoma state Senate passed 41-6 legislation which has been reported as one of the country’s most restrictive bills against undocumented immigrants.
It penalizes employers hiring them, criminalizes harboring or sheltering them, strips public benefi ts away from them and allows local police to enter a federal program to enforce immigration law.
Sen. James William-son, the author of the bill, stated it was “a fair, even-handed approach to problems Oklahoma is facing as a result of illegal immigration.”
Opponents offer an alternative view. They call it mean in spirit.
Additional preliminary fi ndings of the NOSL report are available at www.ncsl.org. Hispanic Link.