Helping Doesn't Have a Season

Helping Doesn't Have a Season

By: Shannon Mouton

From Thanksgiving to Christmas, the downtrodden, the less fortunate and the those generally in need find themselves the beneficiaries of kindness, care and generosity. They receive traditional Thanksgiving and Christmas meals; they receive gifts and their children receive toys. Many people give during the holiday season. This is when they make their annual donation, when they give or do extra and for some, it spurs them to giving for the first time.

This is wonderful! America is giving country and her citizens a giving people, with a spirit for helping those in need. America is blessed beyond measure and it is only right that those with more help those with less. Americans should be proud of themselves...for 31 out of 365 days, you take time to see what you daily ignore. Bravo! Yes, you are reading sarcasm.

What about the rest of the year, the other 334 days?

What will they eat?

Where will they sleep?

What will their children play with?

This is not an indictment of what Americans don't do, rather it is a clarion call to keep it up throughout the year. Let this season be the beginning of a life of giving, sharing and caring for your neighbors, not just a one time event.



Rolling Out The Welcome Mat

Rolling Out The Welcome Mat

By Shannon Mouton

Wow, this is a big world with 193 countries and 7 billion people speaking 6,500 languages. Think of it, immigrants from the around the world come here, the United States of America. We should be humbled, with our widely known and often discussed history of slavery, discrimination, intolerance and injustice, they still want to come here. They want to live with us; they want to be our neighbors and they want to call America home.

They come here singing "America! America! God shed his grace on thee..."
They come here thinking we are "the land of the free and the home of the brave..."
They come here accepting Lady Liberty's invitation, "Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses..."
They come here knowing with hard work and perseverance, they too can achieve the American Dream.
They come here believing in democracy, "with liberty and justice for all."
To put it quite simply, they think we are all of that and a bag of chips.
Are we? Is America living up to the hype?

I'm not so sure anymore:

Most of us are aware of the Arizona law, SB 1070, which encourages racial profiling because it requires "law enforcement officers attempt to determine an individual's immigration status during a 'lawful stop, detention or arrest' when there is reasonable suspicion that the individual is an illegal immigrant..."

In June Alabama passed HB 56, which "requires public schools to check students’ immigration status, criminalizes giving an undocumented immigrant a ride, and instructs police to check the immigration status of anyone they stop if they suspect the person of being an undocumented immigrant."

Not to mention redlining, LGBTQ discrimination, sexual harassment and pay inequities, voter fraud elimination schemes and the rise of hate crimes.

Yep, I can see why immigrants would want to come here. We're so open to people not like us.

The original 99 percent

By Shannon Mouton

The 99% are frustrated, fed-up and downright angry.

They are angry for several reasons,

We are the 99 percent. We are getting kicked out of our homes. We are forced to choose between groceries and rent. We are denied quality medical care. We are suffering from environmental pollution. We are working long hours for little pay and no rights, if we're working at all. We are getting nothing while the other 1 percent is getting everything. We are the 99 percent. [from We Are The 99 Percent]

And while they are entitled to their feelings, many people of color, especially Blacks and Latinos, have had these feelings for decades or longer. People of color are the original 99 percent. For the majority of the 20th century, we were locked out, kicked out, held down, beat down, pushed aside, put asunder and so on, while a majority of the American majority prospered under the guise of the American Dream.

It isn't that people of color don't agree with the movement or support its principles, we're wondering what took you so long to join the fight? So when people wonder and speculate why the #OccupyWallStreet movement isn't more the diverse, for many of us the answer is simple..."It's your turn, I'm taking a break."

To The Left (Social Justice): Know History... Know Labor!

Know History... Know Labor!

On this Labor Day, as some people assault the American worker’s right to organize, protest and collectively bargain, it is appropriate to take a few minutes to remember -- and learn -- on whose shoulders we toil.

Workers fighting for their rights is as American as apple pie. Strikes, protests and walk-outs have been part of this country from its earliest beginnings.

●    First recorded prosecution against strikers occurs in New York City (1677)

●    Artisans and laborers in the Sons of Liberty protest against oppressive British taxes (1765)

●    Philadelphia printers conduct first successful strike for increased wages (1786)

●    Philadelphia carpenters strike for and win a 10-hour work day (1791)

Many lost their lives in service to their fellow workers.

●    Ten Molly Maguires, Irish coal miners, were hanged in Pennsylvania (1877)

●    Triangle Shirtwaist factory fire in New York kills nearly 150 workers (1911)

●    Ludlow Massacre of 13 women and children and seven men in Colorado coal miners’ strike (1914)

The strides made garnered by tradesmen and laborers have not only helped them, they have helped us all.

●    Department of Labor is created (1912)

●    Fair Labor Standards Act established the first minimum wage and 40-hour work week (1938)

●    César Chavez formed AFL-CIO United Farm Workers Organizing Committee (1965)

●    Occupational Safety and Health Act passed (1970)

Submitted by Shannon Mouton

Diversity: Educating the Future, a Majority of Minorities

Diversity: Educating the Future, a Majority of Minorities

Latino employment and education seem to be hot topics in the blogosphere nowadays, especially with the ongoing, heated immigration debates. Regardless of what your stance on the latter issue, one thing is certain: the Latino population is booming in the U.S. By 2050 it is expected they will make up 29 percent of the American population.

But Latino representation in higher education is still lagging. “Almost one in four school-aged American children is Latino, but a report released earlier this year by the White House showed those children achieve ‘the lowest education attainment levels’ in the country.”

Even while “college and career readiness among 2011 Hispanic high school graduates … shows slow but steady improvement, particularly in the areas of math and science,” youth of color are still suffering from historic “disinvestment in public education, social services and youth development.”

The good news is that some institutions, including Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) recognize the dilemma and are increasing recruitment at mostly Hispanic high schools and community colleges.

Of course as Latino enrollment in post-secondary education programs grows, students will most likely face the counter-productive criticism of race-based acceptance, but let’s deal with that when we get there.

McKPR Salutes the Freedom Riders at 50 Years Today

 McKPR Salutes the Freedom Riders at 50 Years Today

Today marks the 50^th anniversary since a group of Americans united to fight for the right of all African Americans to use the same seats, bathrooms and water fountains on public transportation systems that whites could use. The stakes were high in 1961—a time when opposition toward civil rights activists had reached its deadliest point, but this diverse group of young people never lost sight of the prize. Ultimately, their efforts and those of others involved in the Civil Rights Movement led President John F. Kennedy to ban segregation along bus and train lines. Join us as we salute these brave leaders who risked their lives on behalf of our future.

Read more here "Freedom Riders Mark 50 Years," USA Today

New Study Reports Veterans Homeless in Record Numbers

New Study Reports Veterans Homeless in Record Numbers



Although “Operation New Dawn” signaled a reduction in US troops in Iraq, many returning veterans have no home when they return and end up homeless. A new study, released by the Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Department of Veteran Affairs, found that more than 100,000 veterans spent at least one night in a homeless shelter in 2009. Compounding that sad reality is the admission by key mortgage lenders at a Congressional hearing earlier this week that they have mistakenly foreclosed and overcharged thousands of veterans deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan. Chase admits it erred in foreclosing on troops - Army News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Army Times (http://www.armytimes.com/news/2011/02/ap-chase-admits-erred-in-foreclosing-on-troops-020911/?sms_ss=email&at_xt=4d542fb009985739%2C0).

The mortgage finance industry is killing the American Dream.

Highlighted Clip for Thursday, February 10, 2011:

"Veterans more likely to be homeless, study says"

By: William M. Welch

Military veterans are much more likely to be homeless than other Americans, according to the government's first in-depth study of homelessness among former servicemembers.