for Chicano college grads:american dream turning into american nightmare

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Recession’s toll: Most recent college grads working low-skill jobs
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/economy/story/70788.html

 

WASHINGTON — The tough economy and tight labor market have tarnished the luster of a bachelor’s degree for young college graduates seeking employment.

New monthly survey data from the Center for Labor Market Studies at Northeastern University in Boston finds that during the first four months of 2009, less than half of the nation’s 4 million college graduates age 25 and under were working in jobs that required a college degree. That’s down from 54 percent for same period last year.

”I’ve never seen it this low and we’ve been analyzing this stuff for over 20 years,” said center director Andrew Sum.

The problem is most acute in the 25-and-under age group among Asian female graduates and black and Hispanic male graduates.

The survey, of 60,000 households, found less than 30 percent of Asian female grads, 32 percent of Hispanic male grads and just over 35 percent of young black male grads working in jobs that require a bachelor’s degree.

Research has shown that college graduates who take jobs below their education level not only earn less, but also can take years to match the earnings of graduates who land career-track employment upon graduation.

These so called “mal-employed” workers also compound the unemployment problem by taking jobs that non-college graduates and even high school students are often qualified to hold.

The problem of “mal-employment” — working outside one’s field of education, training and choice — has increased sharply for young college grads since the recession began and all signs suggest the trend will continue for the foreseeable future.

Employers expect to hire 22 percent fewer graduating seniors for entry-level positions this year than in 2008, according to a recent survey by the National Association of Colleges and Employers. And 17 percent of surveyed firms said they’d trim college hiring even more this fall.

That’s bad news for people like James Dillon, a political science major who will graduate from Western Michigan University later this year. With the economy in tatters, Dillon is putting his career search on hold and will return home to Adrian, Mich., to seek a job at a local bank where he once worked.

It doesn’t have to be a career-track job, Dillon said. General office work, some teller and light finance duties would be just fine. He just wants a steady paycheck to help his family following the recent deaths of his father and grandfather. Michigan has the nation’s highest unemployment rate, at more than 14 percent.

“I realize jobs are kind of tough to come by, especially in Michigan, but I really can’t relocate for a job so I’m taking what I can get,” Dillon said. “I’m not too particular. Just having a job is more important to me than having one that’s tailored specifically for me.”

Dillon’s not alone in his job angst.

Sixty-four percent of college seniors surveyed by the association of colleges and employers worry about finding a job. Yet 52 percent think they’ll find work within three months of graduation, said Edwin Koc, director of strategic and foundation research at NACE.

In fact, survey data found that only 45 percent of responding seniors who were offered jobs this year actually accepted them, Koc said.

“That tells me they haven’t quite realized the extent of the market and that they’re still waiting for the offer that matches their expectations,” Koc said. “They know it’s a bad economy, but they think, ‘I’ve gone through college. I’ve gotten a degree.’ They feel they’ve done well and that they should have a job.”

The survey found that Asian males, at 58 percent, and white females, at 55 percent, had the highest employment rates for 25-and-under graduates working in jobs that require a bachelor’s degree.

Sum of Northeastern University said college grads who begin their careers in lower-paying jobs below their education level often take seven to nine years to catch the earnings of fellow grads who start out at jobs that require a college degree.

“It’s a long lag before you recover. It does not go away,” Sum said. “The older you get, the bigger the losses become. It haunts you dramatically.”

Lisa Kahn, a labor economist at the Yale School of Management, confirmed those disparate outcomes in an updated 2008 study of white male college graduates that suggests, “the labor market consequences of graduating from college in a bad economy are large, negative and persistent.”

When coupled with heavy student loan obligations, it’s no wonder that 40 percent of seniors surveyed by NACE said they expect to need financial help from their parents after college.

Arianna Davis, 21, a recent Penn State University journalism graduate, said her parents are already helping with her living expenses during her summer internship at the New York Daily News. They may help with student loan obligations also if she can’t land a job or another internship by the end of summer. That may be a tough task, as newspapers, magazines and television news outlets continue to trim their ranks during the recession.

“I know, realistically, the industry isn’t in best state right now, so there a little doubt and uncertainty there, but I’m hoping with my education and experience I’ll be able to find something,” said Davis, of Ellicott City, Md.

Unlike many graduates who are pursuing post-graduate degrees while the job market is cold, Davis said she’d rather take a job outside journalism to help pay down her student loans.

To help unemployed 2008 graduates find work, the University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown, Pa., began an intensive 100-day effort in April to assist alumni with their job search. Career counselors are providing resume critiques, mock interview exercises, and sending resumes to employers in the graduates’ chosen fields.

“This initiative has really opened the eyes of students. If they’re job searching and working so hard, they might as well have an advocate working for them as well. Especially when those services are of no cost to them at all,” said UPJ career counselor Angela Boyd.

Of 273 graduates from the class of 2008 who submitted information for the effort, 79 have found jobs.

Chicanos could learn some lessons from their enemies..news with my commentary below

good warriors are  intelligent enough to appreciate their enemies strengths..and if they are effective and useful even adapt them for their own use..

Study: More German teens drawn to neo-Nazi groups
By Reuters

Roughly one in twenty 15-year-old German males is a member of a neo-Nazi group, a higher proportion than are involved in mainstream politics, according to a study released on Tuesday.

Many politicians fear a resurgence of right-wing extremism as unemployment creeps higher in Germany, which is facing its deepest recession since World War Two. Government figures have shown anti-Semitic crimes rose at the end of last year.

“It is shocking that right-wing groups have more success recruiting male youths than the established political parties,” said Christian Pfeiffer, author of the report issued by Lower Saxony’s criminal research institute.
Pfeiffer said fewer than 2 percent of young men were active in mainstream politics, compared to the 5 percent involved in far-right groups.

The study, conducted in 2007 and 2008, also revealed that neo Nazi-symbols – in either rock music, stickers or special clothing – were used by one in 10 of the youths surveyed. The swastika and other Nazi symbols are banned in Germany.

The highest proportion of neo-Nazis was in former communist eastern Germany, where almost one in eight youths were in such groups. More than 14 percent of those questioned were described as racist, and anti-Semitism was rife.

More than 14 percent of those asked were inclined to brush off the Holocaust as “not awful” while a similar number tended to believe that Jews, through their behavior, were not entirely blameless for their persecution.

Wolfgang Schaeuble, Germany’s interior minister, said at the presentation of the state-sponsored report he would push for the creation of more sports clubs in regions with social problems.

Late last year, a violent attack on Bavarian police chief Alois Mannichl, who had taken a stand against far-right supporters, stoked a debate over the rise of neo-Nazis.

Earlier this month, an EU agency reported that peaks in anti-Semitism in Europe tracked tensions in the Middle East.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1071727.html

Who lied to Chicano lawmakers?

Hispanic Caucus: ‘You Lie!’ Outburst to Blame for Senate Health Bill Provision on Illegal Immigrants
Nov. 20, 2009

Hispanic lawmakers in Washington are blaming the political fallout over a Republican Congressman’s infamous outburst in September for the provision in the newly proposed Senate health care bill seeking to block participation of illegal immigrants.

Members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus say the Obama administration has become overly cautious since Rep. Joe Wilson of North Carolina shouted “you lie!” during Obama’s Sept. 10 address on healthcare reform, according to Politico. Obama had just mentioned that contrary to what some are saying, health care reform would not provide insurance for illegal immigrants.

Although the decorum-defying utterance led to a formal rebuke of Wilson by the House, some say it also has caused the White House to toughen its stance on illegal immigration.

At issue is not whether to allow illegal immigrants to receive federal subsides for health insurance — most lawmakers of all stripes agree that that is off the table.

Instead, members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus are upset that the proposed Senate bill would prevent illegal immigrants from buying insurance from an exchange that would be created for people who don’t receive health insurance from their employers.

The House’s version of the health bill, passed in late October, contains no such prohibition.

“Why create a situation where someone cannot spend their own money?” an aide to a member of the CHC told HispanicBusiness.com, speaking on condition of anonymity. “Isn’t that sort of anti-capitalist?”

A health care exchange is essentially a large pool of people that contracts with insurers to lower risk and therefore reduce the premiums of the customers.

Hispanic lawmakers are also singling out Obama’s Chief of Staff, Rahm Emanuel, as another roadblock to access for illegal immigrants, telling Politico that he believes immigration reform is a threat to Democrats.

Caucus members say the provision will actually be worse for taxpayers in the end, because it will do nothing to stem the tide of uninsured illegal immigrants who seek medical care through the emergency room. By law, hospitals cannot turn emergency-room patients away.

Source: HispanicBusiness.com (c) 2009

Rahm rams Chicanos on immigration and health care reform

Rahm blamed for immigrant ban

Hispanic lawmakers say an old adversary, White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel, has his fingerprints all over a push to prohibit illegal immigrants from buying health insurance plans in a new market for people who don’t get insurance through their employers.

“A forensic study would show it all leads back to Rahm Emanuel and the White House,” said Illinois Democratic Rep. Luis Gutierrez, a member of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus who worked with Emanuel when the president’s top aide was in the House.

“This analysis is inaccurate,” said a White House aide who had been shown the comments made by Hispanic lawmakers.

The health care bill passed by the House earlier this month would prevent illegal immigrants from getting subsidies to buy insurance, but they would be permitted to buy plans from the exchange with their own money. The Senate bill would cut off that option.

Whether or not the CHC members are pointing their frustration in the right direction, the perception that Emanuel is pushing policies that they see as harmful to their communities for the political advantage of the president or moderate Democrats in Congress could cause the White House problems with the CHC in future negotiations.

Members of the CHC trace what they say is a harder White House line on immigrants to the night of South Carolina Republican Rep. Joe Wilson’s outburst during President Barack Obama’s address to a joint session of Congress in September.

“There are also those who claim that our reform effort will insure illegal immigrants,” Obama said. “This, too, is false — the reforms I’m proposing would not apply to those who are here illegally.

” That prompted Wilson’s now-famous interjection. CHC members say that’s when the White House toughened its stance against illegal immigrants having any access to the system. “They made it up at the White House,” Gutierrez said.

Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) had hoped to get the House, White House and Senate on the same page on the issue before the House moved forward with its legislation, to spare moderate House Democrats from having to vote on two versions of the provision. At the time, House leaders were debating whether to include a provision like the Senate’s in the House bill to help moderates avoid a tough vote on it or to side with Hispanic members by keeping the looser restriction. Van Hollen met with the CHC before the House vote — to clarify his position — and encouraged members to see if they could get the White House to agree to back their position.

CHC Chairwoman Nydia Velazquez of New York and California Democratic Reps. Xavier Becerra and Lucille Roybal-Allard were rebuffed when they met with Obama at the White House, according to Velazquez. Emanuel was not present.

But Hispanic lawmakers say there is little doubt in their mind where the president’s increasingly tough stance on undocumented workers and their families originates.

“He still thinks immigration will defeat Democrats,” said a CHC member who spoke on the condition of anonymity. Emanuel has long had a strained relationship with the CHC because, as chairman of the House Democrats’ political committee and later of their caucus, he sided with vulnerable Democrats who voted for Republican measures cracking down on immigrants — some of which were seen by Hispanic members as driven by bigotry.

He also came under fire from House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers (D-Mich.) on Thursday for an approach to the health care bill that Conyers said amounts to “give us anything, and we will declare victory.” Gutierrez said CHC opposition to the approach favored by the Senate and the president is “even deeper-rooted and deeper-cemented” than it was on the night the House passed its bill.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said Thursday she will “stand by” the provision in the House bill during House-Senate negotiations. Van Hollen has also expressed his support for the House version to the White House. Democratic leaders were surprised that Republican House members did not offer a procedural motion to amend the House bill with language similar to the Senate’s. Several lawmakers and aides familiar with vote counts say such a motion would most likely have been adopted by the House and put the final passage of the bill in jeopardy. Members of the CHC continue to hint that they may vote against a final health care bill if the Senate’s provision comes back to them in a health care bill.

“We’ll cross that bridge when we do,” said Rep. Charles Gonzalez (D-Texas). Gonzalez said he didn’t know whether Emanuel is involved, but he said the policy is misdirected because it would result in taxpayers funding more expensive emergency health care for illegal immigrants who are unable to purchase health insurance. “The only reason you ever pursue bad policy is when you think there’s some sort of political advantage,” Gonzalez said.

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1109/29748.html

Chicanos sinking deeper into poverty and hunger

New Report: More Than 2 Million Hispanic Households With Children Face Hunger – Hispanic households with children experiencing very low food security up almost 50%

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Economic Research Service (USDA) reported yesterday that almost one in four children living in the United States are food insecure. According to the 2009 report on Household Food Insecurity in the United States, there is a striking disparity in the prevalence of food insecurity among Hispanic children. More than two million Hispanic households with children were food insecure at least some time during the year, an increase of 37 percent over 2007, compared with non-Hispanic whites’ households with children. The study also revealed that 177,000 non-white Hispanic households with children – an almost 50 percent increase over 2007 — experienced very low food security, meaning that the food intake of one or more of the household children was reduced and their eating patterns were disrupted at times during the year because the household lacked money.

This marks the largest increase in food insecurity rates among non-white Hispanic households with children since the USDA has been collecting data. Very low food insecurity for non-Hispanic whites rose 35 percent during the same period. “Importantly, these numbers reflect the state of the nation one year ago, in 2008. Since then, the economy has significantly weakened, and there are likely many more children of varying ethnicity struggling with hunger than this report states,” said Vicki Escarra, president and CEO of Feeding America, the nation’s largest hunger-relief organization. “It is an outrage that one in four children in this nation lives on the brink of hunger and doesn’t have access to adequate amounts of nutritious food.” The new data reinforces recent findings from a research study (feedingamerica.org/newsroom/local-impact-study.aspx) conducted by Feeding America reflecting a dramatic increase in requests for emergency food assistance from food banks across the country.

Conducted in September, the Feeding America study shows that more than half of its network food banks reported seeing more children as clients. “This study reinforces the fact that there are likely millions of Hispanic families in need of food assistance who are not turning to our system for help. We believe this is due to a lack of awareness of emergency feeding programs and perhaps the stigma associated with asking for help,” said Escarra. “We will continue to reach out to Hispanic communities to ensure families in need know they can turn to us in times of crisis. “Feeding America’s 200 food banks continue to work on the front lines feeding more than 25 million people each year, through our country’s food pantries, soup kitchens, and emergency feeding centers – more than 63,000 agencies in total,” continued Escarra. “These establishments, many of which are grass root and faith based centers operated solely by volunteers, serve as an oasis for the more than 4 million people who seek relief weekly to help feed themselves and their families.

Emergency food assistance is a critical link in the nation’s response chain to help people through times of crisis.” Escarra observes, “Our network food banks are calling us every day, telling us that demand for emergency food is higher than it has ever been in our history. Feeding America will continue to work closely with our partners at USDA to ensure that the public and charitable sectors are keeping pace – as best we can – with the dramatically increasing needs for food assistance.”

About Feeding America Feeding America provides low-income individuals and families with the fuel to survive and even thrive. As the nation’s leading domestic hunger-relief charity, our network members supply food to more than 25 million Americans each year, including 9 million children and 3 million seniors. Serving the entire United States, more than 200 member food banks support 63,000 agencies that address hunger in all of its forms. Feeding America is based in Chicago.

For more information on how you can fight hunger in your community and across the country, visit www.feedingamerica.org. Find us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/FeedingAmerica or follow our news on Twitter at twitter.com/Feedingamerica. “

Chicanos and gangs

Arnold Schwarzenegger visits Iraq – and aims to transfer military tactics to California

Troops stationed in Iraq didn’t let Mr Schwarzenegger forget about his bodybuilding, action movie past…

The governor of California trots out his most famous one-liner wherever he goes but, at the Victory military base in Baghdad today, he apparently meant it.

“I’ll be back,” Arnold Schwarzenegger growled after working out with a group of American soldiers on active duty in Iraq, all with necks and trunks as thick as his.

The muscleman who rose to Hollywood fame as The Terminator came to the site of America’s bloodiest war in a generation to cheer up troops, but also because there are important lessons to be learnt here.

Mr Schwarzenegger said he wants to study counter-insurgency strategies developed by the US military when Iraq was on the brink of civil war, and bring them back to the mean streets of California, where criminal gangs rule entire neighbourhoods, especially in large cities.

Already, police officers in some parts of the state are attempting to copy the hard-won lessons that helped to calm down the western Iraqi city of Falluja and the Triangle of Death south of Baghdad, where insurgents once reigned openly.

The governor did not actually go to these places, now relatively peaceful, to see soldiers on patrol. Instead he heard about their work in the safe environs of one of the largest US bases in Iraq and shook hands with them afterwards. He also held meetings with senior commanders.

The transfer of counter-insurgency tactics from the military to the police is being pioneered in the central Californian town of Salinas. Combat veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan are already advising the local authorities on how to conduct their own “surge,” as the US counter-insurgency campaign of President Bush is known.

Rather than hunting down gang leaders and arresting them, the police is told to build trust in the community that supports the gangs. Only by patiently “draining the swamp” can the leaders be eliminated.

There are apparently striking similarities between Iraq and California. Many gang members and supporters see police officers as an “occupying force” similar to a foreign military presence. Like in Baghdad, there are also language problems. Officers speak English and locals often Spanish, making cooperation in criminal investigations difficult, even when citizens are willing.

Combat veterans in Salinas say they think of Sunni Iraqis when they listen to the grievances of some Latino Californians. One of them, Major James M. Few, wrote on a blog, “The frightening realisation is that I’ve walked this dog before.”

Of course, some gang leaders will still be arrested. But the focus now is on social programmes and economic growth to create jobs.

The “surge” tactics are a surprising legacy for the last US President, who began the war in Iraq with a “shock and awe” campaign before switching course later on.

Mr Schwarzenegger is no stranger to uniformed life, having spent a year opf national service in the Austrian Army, where he drove tanks and temporarily disappeared during basic training to attend a body-building competition. He spent a week in a military jail as a result, something nobody mentioned publicly today. On a previous occasion though, the governor said, “Participating in the competition meant so much to me that I didn’t carefully think through the consequences.”

Like his film persona, Mr Schwarzengger is a man who prefers firing bigs guns to winning hearts and minds, or at least tries to combine the two.

One of his most treasured possessions is a vintage Austrian tank, which he had shipped to America and then gave to a museum in Ohio nine years ago. But last year he asked for it back and had it brought to California – in order to give rides to children visiting his office.

In Iraq, tanks have gone out fashion.since they’re no good for fighting suicide bombers on bicycles. The American warrior culture has undergone a fundamental change since the 2003 invasion. Commanders now talk about sectarian reconciliation rather than “kill ratios”.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/iraq/article6919262.ece

Every Chicano soldier in Afghanistan a millionaire

High Costs Weigh on Troop Debate for Afghan War: $1 Million Per Soldier
Published on 11-16-2009

Source: NY Times

While President Obama’s decision about sending more troops to Afghanistan is primarily a military one, it also has substantial budget implications that are adding pressure to limit the commitment, senior administration officials say.

The latest internal government estimates place the cost of adding 40,000 American troops and sharply expanding the Afghan security forces, as favored by Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, the top American and allied commander in Afghanistan, at $40 billion to $54 billion a year, the officials said.

Even if fewer troops are sent, or their mission is modified, the rough formula used by the White House, of about $1 million per soldier a year, appears almost constant.

85% of Chicano Fourth Graders Reading below Grade Level

American Fourth Graders Reading at or Above Grade Level in 2005
· Asian American or Pacific Islander – 40 percent
· White – 39 percent
· American Indian – 19 percent
· Latino – 15 percent
· Black – 12 percent
“This is an American tragedy. By the Fourth Grade, more than half of White and Asian American children cannot read at grade level,” said Ruby Takanishi, President of the Foundation for Child Development. “For Latino, Black and American Indian children, the numbers are even worse – – more than 80 percent cannot read at grade level by Fourth Grade.”
Children’s success must be built on a foundation of seamless learning during their earliest PreKindergarten to Third Grade (PreK-3rd) school years. Yet currently, most children experience a wide range of experiences that fail to align and connect learning successfully from year to year.
“Our children are not failing to learn. Our schools are failing to teach them effectively,” said Takanishi. “It is time for Americans to take responsibility for guaranteeing a high-quality PreK-3rd education to this and future generations. Our children deserve better, and America’s future demands better.”
“America’s democratic traditions and economic power in an increasingly competitive global marketplace demand the transformation of public education to promote the lifelong learning of America’s future generations. Our country can no longer afford an educational system that leaves behind the majority of its students by Fourth Grade.” said Takanishi.
FCD’s analysis of children’s reading levels is based on U.S. Census data and the U.S. Department of Education’s National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP) scores.
The Foundation for Child Development is a national, private philanthropy dedicated to the principle that all families should have the social and material resources to raise their children to be healthy, educated and productive members of their communities.
www.fcd-us.org

LAPD special unit harassing MECHA students at CSUN

LAPD confirms presence of special unit on campus

CSUN police arrive at the student organization Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlan’s (MEChA) first meeting on Sept. 2 after an incident with LAPD officers. The incident, which MEChA members said was profiling and harrassment by LAPD officers, is being investigated. A top Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) official confirmed that officers were conducting a training exercise at CSUN that involved members of Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlan (MEChA) earlier this semester. LAPD is now investigating the incident. Members of MEChA said they were targeted and profiled by LAPD officers during their first meeting on Sept. 2. Members said they were followed, harassed and intimidated by “undercover police officers” during a ceremony to welcome first-time freshmen to their organization.

“We are investigating how the incident started, specific activities of our officers and any interactions that occurred. It is unfortunate that there was any interaction or conflict,” said Deputy Chief Michel Moore, who oversees the San Fernando Valley and is a finalist for the position of L.A.’s police chief, recently vacated by William Bratton. “I do not think that there will be any more training by LAPD on CSUN’s campus.” Chicano/a studies professor Dr. Jorge Garcia, who was present during the confrontation, said he is pleased to learn that LAPD officers would not be returning to CSUN for training. “I think it’s excellent. I do not think this is an appropriate place to conduct training,” Garcia said. It creates a climate where students are afraid to exercise their constitutional rights to freedom of assembly, of free speech and of the press.” Moore said the officers, from the protective security task force, Archangel section of the Emergency Services division, were receiving training experience in monitoring gatherings, crowds or individuals in public spaces and that they were outside his “chain of command.” They were receiving training from a third party. “I was unaware that they were on CSUN’s campus. I wasn’t made aware until after the incident. These officers didn’t feel it was necessary to notify the area chain of command that they would be on (CSUN’s) campus,” Moore said. “Subordinates within LAPD who were running this training didn’t give full disclosure to LAPD command staff and didn’t give full disclosure to us,” said CSUN Police Department Chief Anne Glavin. “We learned after the fact that they had an outside contractor running the training. We thought that this was internal training involving LAPD supervisors and LAPD officers,” Glavin said.

Responding to reports of a private third party’s involvement in the incident, Moore said that private companies are sometimes used to conduct training for LAPD to “ensure that all practices are state of the art and contemporary.” Glavin said that if the CSUN police department had been aware that there would be a third party involved in the training exercise, they would not have been inclined to grant permission to LAPD to come on campus. Glavin said Moore assured her that MEChA was not targeted or that there wasn’t any profiling involved. She stressed that there was no intention to involve the members of the organization in the training exercise but that LAPD was “wrong and had no business doing what they were doing.” “It was an amazing irony that these officers wandered into territory where MEChA happened to be meeting. These officers had no clue who they were dealing with,” she said. “Needless to say, they do now. I’m sure they are highly embarrassed and thus the apology from the LAPD, a very sincere apology.” Garcia said he was still skeptical that there was no profiling involved. “So a group of Mexicans just so happened to be there while they are training and there was no profiling, and they just happen to practice on this group,” Garcia said. “That’s an absurdity, on its face!”

Glavin and Moore have described the incident as an “aberration” and an “isolated event.” “This is highly unusual and I want to stress this. This was not at all normal business,” Glavin said. “It was completely something that went sideways. Neither myself nor Deputy Chief Moore approve of what occurred.” Garcia disagreed that the incident was an isolated event. “This hasn’t happened here while she (Glavin) was here but it has in the past, there were paid police officers sitting in Chicano Studies classes and things like that,” Garcia said. “It’s very nice of her to say this hasn’t happened before but she has very limited knowledge and history of what has taken place here. I’m sorry but the chief is speaking out of ignorance, and by ignorance, I mean the lack of knowledge.” Garcia said that in the 1970s, the organization and the Chicano/a studies department was the target of surveillance and infiltration at the hands of law enforcement agencies.

Moore expressed the department’s regrets for the disturbance and conflict and has issued an apology for the incident during a meeting with Glavin and Dean of Humanities Elizabeth Say. Say has relayed the apology to members in the Chicano/a department and said that a request for an official written apology is up to the department to decide. MEChA president Abraham Ramirez, who said the organization has always been a target of law enforcement agencies because they are a progressive organization, said the organization will meet with Moore soon, but that an apology is not enough. “We deserve more than an apology. We deserve respect, the same as anyone else. There should be more consequences,” Ramirez said. “We are going to get to the bottom of this and find out everything that happened.” Garcia said the department is looking for outside assistance to pursue the matter through legal channels out of concern for this event reoccurring in the future.

http://sundial.csun.edu/2009/11/lapd-confirms-presence-of-special-unit-on-campus/

Chicano men sink- 50% loss of good jobs 1979-2008

Men, especially Hispanics, hard hit by loss of good jobs

Economic Policy Institute

“Good job” pays 60 percent of the median household income, plus health care and retirement benefits.

Good jobs with benefits and an hourly wage capable of supporting a family have been a casualty of this recession, according to an analysis by the liberal Economic Policy Institute (EPI).

EPI defines a good job as one that pays at least 60 percent of the median household income and also provides health care and retirement benefits. It says the wage threshold for a “good job” in 2008 was $14.51 per hour, or $30,180 a year. EPI analyst Algernon Austin writes:

By that measure, American men are losing ground . . . the share of male workers employed in good jobs dropped from 46.5 percent in 1979 to 31.3 percent in 2008 . . . Hispanic men experienced the largest percentage-point decline . . . In 1979, 30.8 percent of Hispanic men were employed in a good job. By 2008, only 15.3 percent were in good jobs . . . Without a national agenda to create good jobs, more fulltime workers will struggle to pay for basic necessities.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/gettowork/detail?&entry_id=51403