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)
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 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.
