2009 2nd Quarter Newsletter
In May my wife and I
joined a 10 day
delegation to Colombia, organized by Witness for Peace. While
I’ve
studied and worked in several Central and South American countries I
had
never had the opportunity to get so well acquainted with the
kind of conditions evidenced in Colombia.
We
kept a packed schedule, splitting our time between Bogota and the
conflict-torn region of Cauca, meeting with 14 different
groups
including: indigenous councils, campensino cooperatives, human rights
defenders, labor leaders, victims of terror and displacement, the
Colombian military, and the US Embassy.
We
met with Aida Quilcue, leader of the Association of Indigenous
Councils
of Northern Cauca (ACIN) and wife of Edwin Legarda. Edwin was
assassinated by the
Colombia military in December, 2008. Several weeks before we
met with Aida, an attempt had been made on her daughter.
(Photo: Associated Press) |
The
situation in Colombia, a region in intense conflict for nearly 50
years, is complex and one can’t do justice to it
in a few short paragraphs. Human
rights defenders, community leaders and labor leaders are all
under grave threat in Colombia. Those speaking against the
state
are frequently labeled terrorists and guerrillas- killed and
disappeared. The government is proven to be involved in the
phenomena of “false positives”, assassinating and then dressing
innocent victims as FARC guerrilla. Right-wing paramilitary groups
with ties to government officials and transnational
corporations,
such as Chiquita, have caused such terror and death that Colombia is
now the country with the highest number of internally displaced people
in the world.
The timing for developing an awareness of
today’s Colombia is important, with the Obama
administration considering Colombian Free Trade despite
the shocking human rights record of the Colombian government
and
current Uribe administration. There are many great Latin-American news
services, like the high quality LADB University of New Mexico news
digests we provide to Resource Center Members, and I also like
to stay on top of NACLA
(journalistic) and Upside
Down World (more grassroots).
A Franciscan
working with the Campesino Movement of Cajibio (MCC) sets out photos of
those killed in
several massacres around a chalk drawing of the region of Cauca.
(Photo: Jason Stone
) |
Colombia is
certainly not the only hot spot right now. In Peru, indigenous
groups protesting the intrusion of transational mining corporations in
their territory have been violently oppressed. In Honduras, democracy
itself is under attack, with a right-wing coup d’etat and weak U.S. response.
Of course, here at home things
are less
than perfect. Latinos face systemic discrimination fueled by
anti-immigrant sentiment born from ignorance of the global economy that
uproots jobs in Latin-America. We are destroying families in
the U.S. because of our collective inability to fix a broken
immigration system.
Wow! As you can see,
we’ve got a lot of work to do!
In Colombia we spent many hours hearing the testimony of displaced
families, victims of torture, and sons and daughters of assassinated
community leaders. Rather than leaving me depressed, my time in
Colombia renewed my sense of duty and power to make a
difference.
Here at the Resource
Center we believe we have a role as a change agent both locally and
internationally. We have to be smart
about not taking on too much at once, and I hope you see method to our
new beginnings.
The first step was to get our Language and
Cross-Cultural Education programming up and running, and that has been
very successful. The second step was the development of the Latino
Voices program, as a form of pro-immigrant advocacy. With about 250
people each week now passing through the Resource Center for
various classes or events, we’re strategizing on next steps in program
development.
If you’re not already a
member or contributor, I hope you will consider becoming one. We are
doing very important work today, but the potential for us to help
connect the local with the global is huge.
Approximately
30% of our event participants are Resource Center
members. If you’re
already a member or donor, thank you! If you’re not, know
that as little as $5/month will help maintain the Resource
Center as a vital community asset! And when you support the Resource
Center, you are also supporting our partner, Witness for Peace, to whom
we provide free office space.
Enjoy
the organizational news updates below and please call with any
questions or feedback you may have!
Best
wishes,
Jason Stone
Executive
Director
612-276-0788
x3
INDEX
1.
Success
by the Numbers
2. Expanding
the Language and Cultural Education Program
3. Latino
Voices: Examining Immigration in OUR Community
4. Organizing
for Immigrant Rights
5. La
Historia de Nuestras Vidas
6. Board of
Directors Updates
7. Formation
of an Advisory Board
8. Instructor
Updates
9. Renewing
Old Partnerships, Building New Ones
10.
Featured Board Member: Mark Anderson
11. Get
Involved!!
12. Thank
You Volunteers and Interns
Resource Center
Events Sponsors
Glaciers
Cafe
Glaciers,
upstairs from the Resource Center, is
a casual
dining restaurant known for Award Winning Frozen Custard, with a full
menu of
healthy and delicious fast food including sandwiches, salads, soups and
chilies.
Inside or patio dining available.
Northern
Sun
An independent, locally-owned national mail-order business and retail
store
providing “products for progressives” since 1979.
1. SUCCESS BY THE
NUMBERS
We’re
seeing outstanding community participation in Resource Center
events and programs. Here are some quick numbers representing the
success and
growth of various programs:
- Between Classes
and Events each week we have over
200 people passing through the Resource Center.
- We held 5 movie
nights with 114 attendees
- We held 20
Intercambios with 224 attendees.
- We have
introduced 3 new Classes and are hiring 4
new teachers
- We are
investing over $5,000 to enhance our custom
Spanish Language curriculum
- We’ve
held 16 Coffee Hours with over 275 attendees
highlighting topics ranging from a one-person theatrical performance,
“The
Deportees Wife,” to recent foreign policy perspective on
Obama and
Latin-America from Octavio Ruiz
- Over
100 people attended the Don Irish “Harmony Beyond Boundaries
spring concert event,
raising about $1500 in Free will contributions going to support the
work of the
Resource Center, Friends School of Minnesota, and Friends for a
Non-Violent
World
- The Board of
Directors is up to 13 members (from 9
in mid-2008) and is 40% Latino
- Memberships are
up from 160 at the end of 2008 to
about 230 members today
- On
our website we receive about 1700 visits/month
- This year we
have hosted 5 Interns and dozens of
volunteers
2. EXPANDING THE LANGUAGE AND
CROSS-CULTURAL
EDUCATION PROGRAM
We are
making important strides in our educational programming:
- Diversifying the course catalog
to include a wider variety of Spanish
Language learning opportunities for people of all ages. New language
classes starting toward the end of summer include Spanish for
Preschoolers (starts July 25th) and Parents and
Spanish Conversation through Literature and the Arts (starts July 28th).
- Broadening class topics to
include exploration of important cultural
and hemispheric topics. Future classes may touch on issues such as
human rights, trade, agriculture, extractive industries, indigenous and
other social movements, and more. Our new Service Learning course
combines classroom learning, visits to Latino organizations, and
short-term volunteer placement in organizations serving Latinos.
- This fall we’ll expand Spanish
classes to St. Paul’s Wilder
Center,
near University and Lexington. We
are also considering other areas as possible expansion points (maybe
even the suburbs).
Fall
Classes
Start
September 14th. View our course catalog online
at:
http://www.americas.org/language-and-cross-cultural-education
3. LATINO VOICES: EXAMINING
IMMIGRATION IN OUR
COMMUNITY
Latino
Voices is the Resource Center’s
most exciting
new program. Aimed at educating the public about the contributions and
impacts
that immigrants have in our community, we travel to metro faith
communities to
tell the human story of immigration.
The Latino
Voices panel has travelled to three area churches since February and
has
presented to over 100 participants. We are looking forward to a second
presentation at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church on
July 30 and
this summer we are working on outreach in order to increase our
presentations
to two per month. In
addition, we are
researching the possibility of holding panel presentations in Greater
Minnesota. Currently, we are in conversation with eight faith
communities for
future panel presentations.
If you are
interested
in bringing Latino Voices to your community or want more information on
the
program, please contact Stephanie at 612-276-0788 ext. 1.
4. ORGANIZING FOR
IMMIGRANT RIGHTS
Student Day at
the
Capitol
Tuesday,
April 21, Resource
Center
staff and four
volunteers joined the Minnesota Immigrant Freedom Network in a march to
the
Capitol, helping students to meet, and talk with, their legislators.
We
helped
over 1,000 mostly high school students march to the Capitol and joined
them in
conversation with legislators. The positive effects of this campaign go
well
beyond that day. By helping students learn the legislative process and
communicate with their elected representatives, we created an
opportunity for
students to develop effective advocacy skills.
May 1st
March
The
Resource
Center,
in solidarity with the Minnesota
Immigrant Rights Action Coalition (MIRAc), assisted with the organizing
of the
May 1st March for Immigrant Rights. We donated
materials, attended planning meetings and
assisted with
the logistics for the march, created art and signs, helped to provide
security
for the marchers, and the Resource Center had
a presence of
about 10 people in the march!
Please
contact
us if
you’re interested in helping advocate for immigrant rights.
Most of our
advocacy is focused through the Latino Voices program, described above,
and
periodic participation in other grassroots activities.
5. LA HISTORIA DE NUESTRAS
VIDAS
Join
the Resource
Center,
Interfaith Coalition on
Immigration, and MIRAc for a powerful play about our broken immigration
system
and the hopes and dreams of those caught up in it. La Historia de
Nuestras Vida
is a play written and performed by a group of men affected by the
Postville
Raid of last year, La Historia powerfully explores the difficult
conditions
that force people to migrate while providing a tender–sometimes quite
funny–perspective on the dreams we all share as humans.
La Historia de Nuestras Vidas
July 10th 6pm Dinner 7:30 Performance
Holy Trinity Lutheran Church
2730
E 31st St Minneapolis
**The play is presented in Spanish. The audience is invited
follow along
with the play bill in English.
A tamale dinner will be served at 6pm and the performance will follow
at 7:30pm
Tickets are $20 and proceeds go to help those affected by the Postville
Raid. Tickets can be purchased on-line at www.americas.org
or in our
office. Donations will be taken at the door, and no one will be turned
away for
lack of funds.
6. BOARD OF DIRECTORS UPDATES
Resource Center Board and
Staff extend our deepest
sympathy to the friends and family of colleague and Board Member, Lori
Hanson. Lori served on the Board of Directors of
the Resource
Center
of the Americas
for a year and a half before her sudden death May 18, 2009. Her service
to RCTA
was motivated by a great love of the Spanish language and Latino
culture and
history. She participated in the resurgence of the RCTA and the process
of
setting its current direction and scope. Her vibrant character and deep
contributions will be truly missed.
We
welcome
three
new Board Members that join the organization with new insight,
experience and
energy:
Erika
Busse is a PhD
candidate in the Department
of Sociology at the University of Minnesota.
She
obtained her B.A. in Sociology and Gender Studies in Peru
and her master’s degree from the Institute
of Development Studies
at the University
of Sussex.
She recently published,
“Institutional Vulnerability and Opportunity: Immigration and America’s
‘War
on Terror.” She
is active with Catholic
Charities, serving Latin American Immigrants.
Márco
Davila was born in
Mexico
City,
and came to the U.S at age 16. After graduating high school, Marco
became
involved with the Minnesota Immigrant Rights Action Coalition (MIRAc)
and
organizes for a fair immigration policy. As a student at Minneapolis
Community
and Technical
College,
Marco was active in
Chicanos/Latinos Unidos and mentored young Latino students. Currently,
Marco
actively organizes in the local committee for Frente Farabundo
Martí para la
Liberación Nacional (FMLN), a progressive Salvadorian
political party. Marco is
committed to mobilizing Salvadorans and other immigrant groups to
impact
elections and positively affect public policy.
Eduardo Jurado is an
English/Spanish translator with Allina Hospitals
and Clinics. He
is active with Jane Adams School
for Democracy, Lake Area Group Organizing in Solidarity with The People
of
Guatemala (LAGOS), and the American Red Cross - Volunteer Disaster
Action Team.
7. FORMATION OF AN ADVISORY
BOARD
We
are developing an Advisory Board to supplement the Board of Directors.
Advisory Board
members will provide informal strategic guidance to the organization,
based on their varied expertise. They may be leaders from labor or
faith
organizations, academia, allied non-profits, government or the private
sector. Advisory
Board members have no fiduciary responsibility to the organization.
The
responsibilities of the Advisory Board are:
- Provide
guidance and advice through
ad hoc consultation on issues related to the Mission
and Programs of the Resource Center
- Monitor Resource
Center communications
and updates to be familiar with
changes and provide unsolicited individual feedback
- Participate in
at least one major
event or program each year
- Lend name,
support and contacts to
spark organizational and community partnerships, volunteer and intern
support,
and financial support
- Refer and
recommend the Resource Center to
colleagues, students, and
friends
We are
pleased to announce our first two Advisory Board members:
Barb Frey is the
Director of the Human Rights
Program in the University of Minnesota’s
Institute
for Global Studies. She has been an international human rights advocate
for
more than two decades, serving in a variety of positions in
non-governmental
organizations and academic institutions. Barb served from 2000-2003 as
an
alternate member of the U.N. Sub-Commission on the Promotion and
Protection of
Human Rights, a body of independent experts who advise the United
Nations on
human rights policy. Since 2002, she has served as Special Rapporteur
to the
Sub-Commission on the issue of preventing human rights abuses committed
with
small arms and light weapons. From 1985 through 1996 Barb was Executive
Director of Minnesota Advocates for Human Rights. She is the
co-convener of the
Midwest Coalition for Human rights and serves on the Board of Directors
of
Minnesota Advocates for Human Rights. She is the immediate past Chair
of the
St. Paul-Minneapolis Committee on Foreign Relations.
Abigail
Gadea works for the
Community-University
Health Care Center of the University of Minnesota
as an adult
rehabilitative mental health practitioner for the Latino community. She
has a
Masters degree in Social work with an emphasis in community organizing
and
advocacy, and a Masters degree in Public Policy with a focus on human
rights
advocacy. Her extensive work and volunteer experience has included
program
design and evaluation, surveying and interviewing, community
organizing, and
case management.
8. INSTRUCTOR UDPATES
David Fernandez
will
teach core
Spanish beginning this fall. David has taught Spanish to
children and adults since 2006 and his diverse background includes work
as an
Attorney and Dean of Faculty of Law in Barranquilla, Colombia.
Kathleen
Ganley joins us to
develop and teach our
new Service Learning class. Kathleen has been teaching courses on
Latino
immigration and service-learning at the University of MN
for 13 years. She has worked with many local organizations,
placing
nearly 2000 students in community service positions during that
time. Kathleen has lived in Spain,
Peru
and Mexico
and has been involved in the Latino
immigrant community in Minnesota
for 24 years.
Marcela
Garcés joins us to
develop and teach a
conversation-through-literature course for intermediate Spanish
speakers. Marcela
is a Ph.D. candidate in Hispanic Literature and Culture with a Minor in
Museum
Studies at the University of Minnesota,
and a M.A.
in Hispanic Studies (2005). She has taught 16 semesters of Spanish
including
Beginning and Intermediate levels, as well as Advanced Language Courses
including history, literature, composition, and film. Learn more about
Marcela .
Jose Luis
Mendez Lopez
has
a
Bachelor’s Degree in Elementary Education and is certified to
teach in Guatemala.
Jose
Luis is experienced in teaching both English and Spanish as a Second
Language,
with 6 years of experience teaching Spanish to Adults. He formerly
taught for Common
Hope in
Antigua,
Guatemala.
Ellen
Wilkinson
joins
the
organization as an Intercambio facilitator. She
is a U of M graduate in Spanish and Political Science, with experience
developing curriculum and teaching both Spanish and English as second
languages. Ellen spent time in Spain as a language and culture
assistant and joined an immersion delegation to Mexico to enhance her
understanding of immigration issues. She is currently working
on a
certificate in Interpretation and Medical Translation.
Amanda Forero teaching with
us for the last year,
has decided to move on. On behalf of all of us here, we want to thank
Amanda
for her hard work and great integrity in creating a positive learning
experience for her students!
9. RENEWING OLD PARTNERSHIPS,
BUILDING NEW ONES
Stephanie
and I have found a tremendous amount of support and appreciation for
the role
of the Resource
Center
within our community both past
and present. We wouldn’t be as successful as we have been
without the sweat
equity invested by the staff, board and volunteers of the Resource
Center
over its 25+ year history.
To
give you
an idea how hard we’re working to restore our community
connections, here’s a
partial list of the organizations we’ve connected with in one
way or another
over the last few months:
Access
Philanthropy, Advent Lutheran, AFFIRM, Aronson and Associates
Immigration Law
Firm Endowment Fund, Bremer, Chicano Latino Advisory Council, Community
Shares,
Consulate of Mexico, Gethsemene Lutheran Hopkins, First Universalist,
HACER, Holy
Trinity Church, IATP, Interfaith Immigration Coalition, International
Institute,
LAGOS, Macalester College Civic Engagement Office, Minneapolis
Foundation, Minnesota
SOL (Strengthening Our Lives), MIRAc, MN Alliance of Peacemakers, MN
Council of
Non-Profits, MN Cuba Committee, MN Immigrant Freedom Network, Mujeres
en
Liderazgo, Oak Grove Lutheran, Prospect Park United Methodist, St. Joan
of Arc
and St. Joan of Arc Sister Parish, St. Luke’s, St. Paul
Foundation, Peace
Coffee, Immigrant Law Center, Our Saviors Lutheran Church-Circle Pines,
Unity
Unitarian, University of Minnesota Human Rights Program, Upside Down
World, Waite
House, Witness for Peace, Workers’ Interfaith Network
10. FEATURED BOARD MEMBER:
MARK
ANDERSON
Some
may
remember Don Miguel, the Spanish teacher on public TV, then
known as
educational TV, back in the 1960s. It was
an introduction to
the language but not much stuck. My dad traveled yearly to Venezuela, stops in Haiti,
Panama,
Mexico in
his work as an
electrical engineer for a flour milling company that had
arepa mix and
masa harina plants and other mills in these spots.
Back then he did
slide shows with photos from his trips, without the benefit of
PowerPoint, in
the living room. So that was my first personal
connection to Latin America.
I
was
active as a teenager in the civil rights movement and the movement
against the
war in Vietnam.
I was a foreign exchange student in Koeln,
Germany
during the year of the Soviet invasion
of Czechoslovakia,
the
student strike in Paris
and I attended anti-war
events in Germany.
I met Latin American students studying there, made friends in East Berlin, at a time when that
city was ground zero for the cold war,
and I was introduced to the horrors of the Nazi era in
conversations with
many who had lived through it. Learning a language, living in
another
culture that saw history through a different lens, seeing how the world
viewed
the US
and our politics and culture made me an internationalist.
When
I
moved to California for
college I met a group of Chilean exiles from
the US backed coup
of the democratically elected government of Salvador
Allende. We
studied together, put on events and published a little
newspaper, the Chile
Newsletter, as NICH, Non-Intervention in Chile. Then
I spent a
summer in a work camp in a remote mountain community
in Sonora, Mexico
sponsored by American Friends Service Committee, attended by
20 students,
half from the US,
half from Mexico.
That was my first real introduction to Mexican history, culture, food,
music,
and hospitality in a very poor rural ejido.
After
college I spent a few years working with a large
union local where a
third of the members were Mexican immigrants, mostly from
Jalisco and Durango.
We
developed a strong multinational/multiracial coalition and
worked together
on a variety of reform efforts. When I moved back to Minnesota I
very much missed the
Mexican and Central and South American cultures that were so prominent
in the
Bay Area. But then in the 1990s the community came to us with
a wave of
immigration.
I
worked on the staff of US Senator Paul
Wellstone on immigration,
human rights, local economic development issues and made many friends
in the
community. Some of them urged me to serve on the
board of the Resource Center,
and I have been a member for 6
years now.
It
is my
hope that the Resource Center can
continue to
provide opportunities for us to build strong relationships across the
barriers
of language, culture and history. Inter-cultural dialogue,
based in
mutual respect, can help us form principled relationships as
individuals, foster understanding and create a foundation for
joint
efforts on sustainable local community and economic development across
our
continent. Providing these inter-cultural door opening
experiences will
enable more of us, from all our communities, to play a strong role as
citizens
of the world in shaping a just and peaceful future for us all.
11. GET INVOLVED !!
- Bring
Latino Voices to your Community! Latino
Voices offers a compelling view of the vibrancy and contributions
immigrants
make in our community. Contact
Stephanie
at 612-276-0788 ext 1 to schedule a presentation.
- Join
the Latino Voices Organizing Committee or the Community Organizing
Committee
- Attend
an Intercambio, each Saturday from 12-1:30pm
- Don’t
forget to read our weekly event blast and check our website frequently. We are always adding new
events!
- Indicate
your interest now in joining a Resource Center Human Rights delegation
to
Colombia (through our partner, Witness for Peace)
Contact us at rcta-info@americas.org
or 612-276-0788
x1
12. THANK YOU VOLUNTEERS AND
INTERNS
We
want to
thank recent interns for their energy and commitment: Sarah Moskowitz
from Macalester
College
and Emily Oaks, Brandon Springer, and Kristi Ward from the University
of Minnesota.
We
also
recognize the many volunteers who have helped greatly over the last
several
months (and apologize for those we may have missed): Nikki Duxbury,
Kelly Evans,
Kathleen Ganley, Jesse Gomez, Maria Cisneros, Margarita Luna, Jovita
Francisco,
Laure Schwartz, Christina Jennings, Karen Kistler, Franciso Segovia,
Andrew
Thompson, and last but not least the Minnesota SOL crew- Karen, Diego,
Monica,
and Martin..
