Blog Voices This Week

Over at Latino Politico (Man Eegee's blog) a few years ago Nanette started a tradition of a Sunday Blog Tour that James now carries on when he has the time. I thought it might be fun to start that tradition here and see how it goes. I'll try it this morning and if I have time on subsequent weekends, I might make it a regular effort. There is lots of amazing writing going on at smaller blogs, especially those addressing international issues and those focused on specific communities of color.

So, lets start out the tour with a look at a great piece at Latino Politico about the news that the materials being used to build the Great Wall of Amercia were actually made in China. Man Eegee gives us the "low down" on how this whole fiasco is wrecking havoc, not only on the human beings in the area, but on ancestral graves and the environment.

Nezua, over at "The Unapologetic Mexican" tells us more about the growing prison/industrial complex and a march that will be going on next weekend to protest one of the most egregious of these places in Texas, the Hutto Prison Residential Center near Austin.

If you'd like to learn more about this expanding prison/industrial complex, Xicano Power has a great diary from back in March about Privatized Prisons for Immigrants. Here's a quote to give you some idea of the scope and the "players."

By the fall of 2007, the administration expects that about 27,500 immigrants will be in detention each night, a gain of 6,700 over the current number in custody, according to a 2006 New York Times article. Who is going to cash in on this, and who is ultimately going to pay the price? Under the push of Bushes social Darwinism, with its "toughness" on "illegals" as its battle cry, the war profiteers in this home front is the Corrections Corporation of America (CCA), the Geo Group (formerly the Wackenhut Corrections Corporation) - the two biggest prison operators - and now Kellogg, Brown and Root, a subsidiary of Halliburton (the makers of Guantanamo Bay Detention Center) are enjoying the spoils of war. Analysts state, profit margins are higher at detention centers than prisons.

Back to the Unapologetic Mexian for a minute, I'd suggest you also check out an amazing diary Nezua wrote this week about Death in the Passing Lane. In it, he bares his soul about his journey growing up caught between his white and brown heritage.

Carmen D has a great diary over at "All About Race" addressing the growing proliferation of nooses and a rise in the regurgitation of racial hatred.

Jill, over at "Jack and Jill Politics," takes on a big story in the African American community this week, the one about Dr. James Watson, Nobel scientist, saying he was:

inherently gloomy about the prospect of Africa because all our social policies are based on the fact that their intelligence is the same as ours -- whereas all the testing says not really.

Go check out the new digs for Citizen Orange designed by Nezua. You'll have fun just checking out all the cool stuff on the site. His focus is on Guatemala and immigrant issues.

Finally, just because I've run out of time, I'd suggest you take a look at a blog I recently found called Intercontinental Cry. It covers stories from around the globe about the struggles and rights of indigenous people. Fascintating place!!