Showing posts with label #jsa. Show all posts
Showing posts with label #jsa. Show all posts

Friday, August 10, 2012

JUICEBLENDER: Marriage Equality Opponents Outed, Dream Activists Protest Tea Party Film, Frederick Mayor's Race & More!

Here's a random blend of political tidbits from recent news, starting with a few fascinating stories related to the upcoming marriage equality and Dream Act referenda:

JUICE #1: LGBT RESIDENTS FIND FAMILY MEMBERS' NAMES ON PETITION TO OVERTURN MARRIAGE EQUALITY - The local LGBT publication The Washington Blade recently publicly posted a list that outed all the Maryland residents who signed the petition to overturn marriage equality. The news site created a searchable database of the civil rights opponents, which we also provide at the bottom of this post. Already, local LGBT residents and activists are discovering that some of their neighbors and even family members signed the petition against civil rights. See one reaction that appeared in the Washington Blade (excerpt below):
WASHINGTON BLADE: Bernard Bundy Jr. had a bad feeling in his stomach the morning of July 25. Bundy, who lives in Alexandria but was raised in Maryland, was looking at a just-posted list of names of people who had signed a petition to force the recently passed Civil Marriage Protection Act, granting marriage equality to same-sex couples in Maryland, onto the state ballot for a November referendum....

To Bundy's disappointment, he found his mother's name on the petition....

In addition to his mother, Bundy also found an aunt and uncle, his godparents. Even more galling to Bundy, those godparents have an out gay son – Bundy's cousin – who has had a partner for more than 10 years....

''It was a rough day,'' he says. ''I didn't work much that day. I was there physically, but not mentally, just thinking how much it hurt to see that. I even told my boss, 'I'm losing faith in humanity.'...''

Kevin Nix, spokesman for the Marylanders for Marriage Equality coalition, distanced the campaign from the Blade's decision to publish the names, saying the campaign has been focused on winning in November....

JUICE #2: MOCO "DREAM ACT" SUPPORTERS PROTEST MARYLAND SCREENINGS OF ANTI-IMMIGRANT FILM - Tea Party and nativist activists around the nation are hosting screenings of an anti-immigrant film called They Come to America. So far, they have held two viewings, one in Westminster and one in Rockville, and both screenings have attracted protests from Dream Act supporters. See video footage and news coverage of the controversy below. The Potomac Tea Party Report announced the screenings last month and described the film as follows:
POTOMAC TEA PARTY REPORT: A documentary film on illegal immigration will be shown in Maryland next month!   Tell everyone you know!  Meet the filmmaker!

Dennis Lynch, director of They Come to America is traveling across the country showing his film that has been banned by Hollywood. Why?

This film shows the devastating effect illegal immigration has on the United States of America. And since our illustrious president and governor are doing their level best to get as many illegal immigrants into this country and state as possible AND we have a big vote in November on in-state tuition for illegal immigrants, it’s our duty to get the word out on this.

The Dream Act students involved with the #JSA Movement organized a protest against the screenings, including a Rockville showing of They Come to America earlier this week:


The Gazette's Alex Ruoff and Jeremy Arias covered the protest at the Rockville film screening:
GAZETTE: The kick-off rally by two groups opposing the Maryland Dream Act was met with protest from a group of Hispanic students in Rockville on Wednesday....

More than a dozen people showed up at the rally with orange tape covering their mouths to protest the airing of the film “They Come to America,” a documentary on illegal immigration by Dennis M. Lynch. About 70 people packed the room to see the film and attend the rally.

“A lot of films like this don’t give a voice to those who are featured in them,” said Paola Ramirez, 22, of Germantown. “We’re here to provide that voice.”

The groups Help Save Maryland and the Maryland Society of Patriots, organizations that worked to take the Dream act to referendum, are hoping to drum up support for the November vote to bring it down....

See video footage shot by protesters at the Westminster, Maryland screening of the film:



JUICE #3: DREAM ACT & MARRIAGE EQUALITY ACTIVISTS JOIN FORCES - While the mainstream media has been fixated on supposed racial divisions on the marriage equality issue, civil rights proponents are quietly joining forces to promote both the Dream Act & marriage equality campaigns this November. Last month, CASA de Maryland and Equality Maryland announced the united effort:
CASA/EQUALITY MARYLAND: Equality Maryland, the state’s LGBT civil rights organization, and CASA de Maryland, the state’s largest Latino and immigrant organization, have launched an exciting partnership to educate our communities about the importance of immigrant education and marriage equality in an exciting year when these issues will be front and center in our state.  We are seeking your help in recruiting volunteers!

CASA is recruiting Latino and Spanish-speaking LGBT families to speak out in the Latino community about their lives and the importance of family unity in the press, at festivals, and more.

Equality Maryland is recruiting LGBT DREAMers to help educate Maryland’s LGBT communities about the importance of immigrant education.

We need your help to recommend committed, excited volunteers to join the cause!

 The Washington Blade published the following coverage of the effort (excerpt below):
WASHINGTON BLADE: Three Latino and LGBT advocacy groups have teamed up to garner additional support for Maryland’s same-sex marriage law and in-state college tuition for undocumented immigrants....

“We have a lot of gays and lesbians in our community,” Gustavo Torres, executive director of CASA de Maryland, told the Blade as he spoke in support of nuptials for gays and lesbians. “We believe and it’s very clear that this is an essential civil rights issue and that’s why CASA is 100 percent behind [same-sex marriage.]”

An Arcus Foundation-funded survey that the National Council of La Raza and Social Science Research Solutions released in April shows that 54 percent of Latinos support marriage rights for same-sex couples.
This new alliance has caught the attention of Maryland Tea Partiers, who published the following alert (excerpt below):
POTOMAC TEA PARTY REPORT: Gay political groups are joining forces with illegal alien students who want their college tuition partially paid by taxpayers in hopes of defeating two of the initiatives conservatives and Tea Partiers successfully petitioned for inclusion on the Maryland ballot in November.

JUICE #4: 2013 FREDERICK MAYORAL CANDIDATES EMERGING - Gazette columnist Joe Volz has a roundup of potential candidates for Mayor of Frederick. The office is available for a new four-year term in 2013 (Primary Election - 9/10/13 & General Election - 11/5/13). See Volz's hypothetical line-up of candidates below (compilation courtesy of Juice), but note that some of these are dark horses. You'll have to read his full thoughts to see which of these candidates are more likely than others to run for Mayor:
POTENTIAL DEMOCRATS:
  • Karen Young (Board of Aldermen)
  • Jennifer Dougherty (former Mayor)

POTENTIAL REPUBLICANS:
  • Randy McClement (incumbent Mayor)
  • Shelley Aloi (Board of Aldermen)
  • Jeff Holtzinger (former Mayor)

JUICE #5: WHO SIGNED THE PETITION AGAINST MARRIAGE EQUALITY? - Below, you can see The Washington Blade's published list of Maryland residents who signed the anti-LGBT petition. You can also search the document online.
Civil Marriage Petition Signers July 12 2012

Sunday, July 22, 2012

Montgomery County Minorities Begin 2014 Political Organizing // Photos & Quotes: Numerous Elected Officials Seek Change

Karen Britto on Democratic candidate recruitment in 2014 and beyond: "We are stamping out the succession line."

BACKGROUND: Yesterday I had the opportunity to participate in a "People of Color" summit organized by former Montgomery County Democratic Central Committee Chair Karen Britto. This was the second such event Britto organized in recent months, and the gathering drew participation from a large chunk of MoCo's minority elected officials and political activists. As Britto stated in front of the audience of over one-hundred activists and officials, a broad outreach effort is needed for Montgomery County's minority communities. She noted that many are unaware that "the Democratic primary is the only game in Montgomery County. That is practically the whole election." Last March, we printed a press release describing the broad goals of the new electoral coalition (excerpt below):

Wednesday, July 11, 2012

CD6: Dream Act Activists Host Town Hall with John Delaney // MONDAY: Congressional Candidate Fields Questions from #JSA

Next Monday, a group of student activists and Dream Act advocates are hosting a Town Hall meeting with 6th Congressional District Democratic nominee John Delaney. You are invited to attend this event and find out more about where Mr. Delaney stands on key issues (details below).

Town Hall with Congressional Candidate John Delaney
Monday, July 16, 2012 at 7:00 - 9:00 pm

Montgomery College Rockville Campus
Room Number: Technical Center 136


Tuesday, July 3, 2012

VIDEO: Undocumented Students Go Public for MD's Dream Act

One side-effect of President Obama's recent decision to halt the deportation of undocumented youths, is that many students who previously lived double-lives are able to speak out about their plight. Even before Obama's decision, some students boldly stepped forward to defend themselves, such as those in the JSA Movement.

Today, Educating Maryland Kids released a new video with statements from a number of undocumented students who are stepping forward to urge Marylanders to support the Dream Act this November. The video message comes with a sign-up form for residents to pledge to "vote for" the Dream Act.

"I AM A DREAMER"




ACT NOW: PLEDGE TO "VOTE FOR" THE DREAM ACT IN NOVEMBER

Monday, March 26, 2012

VIDEO TRIBUTE: One Month of #JSA Student Organizing // Plus, Anthony Muse No-Show at Town Hall with Sen. Ben Cardin

BACKGROUND: Maryland Juice has produced a special video chronicling what one short month of organizing by the #JSA activists looks like. What started as a campaign to stop the deportation of Jorge Steven Acuna, an area student, has morphed into a vigorous youth-driven campaign to defend the Dream Act and draw attention to the problem of Secure Communities deportations. But more importantly, we are witnessing the political coming-of-age of the children of immigrants around the region. Many thanks to the Tea Party and the Maryland GOP for the assist -- they get a large chunk of the credit here!

BEN CARDIN & ANTHONY MUSE TOWN HALL: The video below takes you through a 2-minute summary of #JSA's recent efforts, including rallies, civic association meetings, candlelight vigils, marches, town hall meetings, voter registration drives, and more. The piece also includes shots from #JSA's town hall meet & greet with U.S. Senator Ben Cardin this weekend. #JSA organizers tell Maryland Juice that State Senator Anthony Muse had confirmed attendance at the event but stood them up without explanation. I guess he didn't want to explain to them why he voted against the Dream Act:


Saturday, March 24, 2012

#JSA Gets Political: Letter from Jorge Steven Acuna Re: Today's Meeting With U.S. Senator Ben Cardin & MD Sen. Anthony Muse

UPDATE: Apparently, State Senator Anthony Muse stood up the #JSA students and was a no-show at their meet-and-greet today. Organizers indicate that Muse had confirmed attendance at the event. One student commented: "Didn't even have the courtesy to let anyone know he wasn't coming. I feel like it might be a good representation of what will happen if he is elected to the US Senate: he'll promise things and never show up to the immigrant community." OUCH!

BACKGROUND:Maryland Juice has been covering the inspiring story of the student activists involved in the #JSA movement. As apolitical MoCo youths, they "got political" after Homeland Security tried to deport one of their friends, Jorge Steven Acuna (aka JSA). JSA and his family were jailed and being readied for deportation after their application for asylum from Colombia was denied. The student activists called on Rep. Chris Van Hollen to intervene -- and in just a few days -- they amassed a 12,500 member Twitter following and several thousand petition signatures. Their efforts got the attention of Rep. Chris Van Hollen, and the Acuna family was promptly released and granted a one-year-stay on their deportation.

NEXT STEPS FOR #JSA: Yesterday we reported that today the #JSA students were hosting town hall style meet and greets between their members and U.S. Senator Ben Cardin and State Senator Anthony Muse. Both men are vying for the Democratic nomination to the U.S. Senate. When I asked for more information on their plans, organizers stated that students around the nation wanted to join their effort. #JSA now announces that high school and college chapters are in progress around the nation -- in places ranging from Virginia to Florida (ie: key swing states). They are now rebranding their efforts as Justice for Students in America and are an explicitly multiracial progressive movement.

After their foray into the U.S. Senate race, organizers tell Maryland Juice they are launching a voter registration drive and will move into the 6th Congressional District race next. They call CD6 the epicenter of their membership, due to the Jorge Steven Acuna case. In fact, the Acuna family appears to be among those households moved from CD8 to CD6. On a side note, we also hear the #JSA students have been in touch with MoCo's anti-curfew organizers to build synergy. Rock on!

Below we print a letter from the newly freed Jorge Steven Acuna. He discusses his detention and highlights how the #JSA activists are getting political:
"Some say tragedies are hard to get over, but sometimes that tragedy means it's over."

To a certain extent that is how it feels. You see, it all happened growing up, through my teenage years, I felt it coming, i felt the fear that one day the tragedy would arrive. The morning my father woke me up telling me it was over, i realized that my fear had finally come to an end. It's rather ironic to think that you grow up with a certain fear for years and years, and then one day, your biggest fear happens. So what happens? What did i truly feel? Nothing. Everyone that visited me came out of the jail inspired by my optimism, when those who visited saw me most would go into tears, and what would i try to manage? A smile. It's a sick thing what happened to me, i had to see some of the closest people in my life cry in front of my eyes, even harder thing was that i had to make sure I was strong. It turned out to be a huge injustice, and I say this not as someone who is an immigrant but rather as a human being.

But then, it happened, perhaps our lives are limited to few or none miracles, for me this was it. My miracle, and when it happened i was free. My story is not to target any feelings in your heart but rather to let everyone now that I do not plan on letting this miracle only be mine. It's crazy how my life has changed in the past two weeks, mostly because now i feel like i have a voice, and i don't feel that fear i grew for all those years.

Today JSA gives you the opportunity to meet our Maryland Senator, and a State Senator running against him. I urge you to come out and see it for yourself, because together we all have a voice, and together we can make a difference.


U.S. Senator Ben Cardin &
 State Senator Anthony Muse
Saturday March 24, 2012 at 12:30 p. m. on the
Montgomery College Rockville Campusm TC room 136

Let's make our voice be heard so that no one ever lives through what i lived through. Furthermore, let's do this for those who suffer countless of other injustices, because we are all human, and we all have the right to be treated as some.

Sincerely,

Jorge Steven Acuña

Maryland Juice will report back on the results of the U.S. Senate Primary candidate meetings, as well as on future plans for JSA soon!

Friday, March 23, 2012

SATURDAY: Students Behind #JSA Campaign Host Townhall Meetings w/ Senate Candidates Ben Cardin & Anthony Muse

UPDATE: The JSA organizers are clarifying that the event is a town hall style meet and greet with their members and two Democratic U.S. Senate candidates. However, Senator Cardin and State Senator Anthony Muse will not be sharing a stage to debate.  See the updated press release with scheduling details below. 

In short: Maryland Senator Anthony Muse will attend from 1:15-1:45pm and U.S. Senator Ben Cardin will attend from 1:45-2:15 pm. The event will be on Saturday, March 24 at 12:30 pm on the Montgomery College Rockville Campus, TC building, room 136.

Maryland Juice just received the press release below from the student activists behind the campaign to free Jorge Steven Acuna (aka #JSA). We recently wrote about their efforts to aid their friend and classmate after he and his family were arrested by Homeland Security and ready to be deported when their application for asylum was denied.

The students petitioned Rep. Chris Van Hollen to help the Acuna family, given that they are currently 8th Congressional District residents. They succeeded in getting the family released, with a one-year stay on their deportation. But their efforts have not stopped there. They are now pressing forward with efforts to make sure their issues are not ignored in the future. Amazingly, they are now hosting a town hall meeting with two U.S. Senate Democratic candidates, Ben Cardin and Anthony Muse. Their press release is below:

PRESS RELEASE

JSA Movement to Host Town Hall Meetings with
U.S. Senator Ben Cardin and State Senator Anthony Muse


Saturday March 24, 2012 at 12:30 p. m. on the
Montgomery College Rockville Campus

Youth will have the opportunity to ask questions directly to the Senators

Rockville MD, March 23, 2012 – The Justice for Students in America (JSA) movement will host a town hall–style meeting with Maryland Senator Anthony Muse from 1:15-1:45pm and U.S. Senator Ben Cardin from 1:45-2:15 pm, on Saturday, March 24 at 12:30 pm on the Montgomery College Rockville Campus, TC building, room 136. Press conference will be held at 12:00 pm. JSA members and other youth will have the opportunity to ask questions directly to the Senators on issues that most affect them from the DREAM ACT, jobs, the economy, to comprehensive immigration reform and other topics.

All Montgomery College students and other youth and their families are welcome to attend. There will be an opportunity to register to vote for all of those who are eligible.

The JSA movement is a student- and youth-led, grassroots, empowering group with the mission to give all students and youth in America a voice. JSA promotes and encourages its youth members to become a positive force of civically-active members of society, and seek a high quality of live and equal opportunities for themselves, their families and all Americans through education.

Visit the JSA Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/groups/300409916692389

Follow us on Twitter @TheJSAMovement

##

Thursday, March 15, 2012

VIDEO: #JSA SPEAKS // Jorge Steven Acuna Details Detention by Homeland Security at Rockville Rally: "Forever Thankful"

For those of you following the #JSA movement triggered by the detention and planned deportation of Jorge Steven Acuna and his family, we have a video link to his rally speech. Below you can listen to JSA speaking at a gathering in Rockville Town Center yesterday:




Tuesday, March 13, 2012

BREAKING: Rep. Chris Van Hollen Reports Jorge Steven Acuna & Family Have Been Released // One Year Stay for Deportation

UPDATE: Casa de Maryland is still planning on hosting the rally in Rockville today at 3:30. The event will be in Rockville Town Square, and is designed to highlight the problem of deportations more generally. They hope to draw attention to the situation of others in a similar position to Jorge Steven Acuna.

Maryland Juice just received the following breaking news from Rep. Chris Van Hollen's office. Jorge Steven Acuna (aka #JSA) and his family have been released!
"I'm pleased that ICE reviewed the facts of the case and decided to release Jorge and the Acuna family and stayed their removal for a year. In light of the circumstances in this situation, it was the fair and humane decision." -- Congressman Chris Van Hollen

Thanks to the politicians who are stepping up in this fight. Let's keep the momentum going!

Rep. Chris Van Hollen & Montgomery County Councilmembers Respond to Planned Deportation of Jorge Steven Acuna #JSA

Yesterday, Maryland Juice reported on a sudden and new movement for immigrant justice in the Free State. The campaign emerged due to the planned deportation of Jorge Steven Acuna -- a Dream Act student at Montgomery College. Casa de Maryland earlier today provided details on his case (read here). Essentially, Jorge and his family have been detained by ICE after their application for asylum status was rejected. They came here over a decade ago due to political violence in Colombia. The quality of their prior representation is in question, given that their attorney was later disbarred.

The issue has rallied the community in Montgomery County and beyond, as young people have launched a social media-driven awareness campaign to save their friend. Their initial target for their communications was Rep. Chris Van Hollen, since Jorge and his family are residents of Van Hollen's 8th Congressional District. Their efforts are getting noticed. Below we print a message from Rep. Van Hollen's office on the matter, along with a statement of support from all nine members of the Montgomery County Council:
CVH: "Congressman Van Hollen is deeply concerned about Jorge and the Acuna family.  He has shared his concerns with ICE and has spoken personally to the Maryland Field Office Director to urge him to issue a deferment of removal proceedings against this family." -- Bridgett Frey, spokesperson for Congressman Chris Van Hollen.

PRESS RELEASE

Montgomery County Council Statement on 
Pending Deportation of Acuña Family

ROCKVILLE, Md., March 12, 2012—All nine members of the Montgomery County Council today signed a statement expressing their concern about the Department of Homeland Security’s detention and pending deportation of Germantown resident Jorge Steven Acuña (age 19), his mother, Blanca, and his father, Jorge.

“We urge the White House and the Department of Homeland Security to intervene in this terrible situation,” the statement reads. “We also call on Congress to pass comprehensive immigration reform to finally fix this broken system.”

The complete Montgomery County Council statement on the detention and pending deportation of the Acuña Family:

We are deeply concerned by the Department of Homeland Security’s detention and pending deportation of Germantown resident Jorge Steven Acuña (age 19) and his mother, Blanca Susana Acuña and father, Jorge Acuña.

This issue was brought to our attention because of the incredible outpouring of support and activism by students at Montgomery College. More than 4,000 people have signed a petition and joined a Facebook group in an effort to stop this unjust action by the federal government.

Jorge’s parents brought him to the United States from Colombia when he was 8 years old. He grew up in Montgomery County, was an honor student at Northwest High School, and is only a semester away from graduating from Montgomery College. His parents, in an effort to do the right thing and seek legal asylum status, were caught up in our nation’s broken immigration system and now face the prospect of deportation. The entire family is currently being held in an ICE facility on the Eastern Shore.

In a similar situation earlier this month in Florida, ICE used its prosecutorial discretion and decided to defer deportation of an 18-year-old high school valedictorian who was born in Colombia and came to the United States at 4 years old. We encourage ICE to use the same good judgment again, this time in the case of the Acuña Family.

We stand committed to working with Congressman Chris Van Hollen and Senators Ben Cardin and Barbara Mikulski to help the Acuña Family avoid deportation. The Acuña Family’s attorney has prepared an emergency stay application and the Montgomery County Council is strongly supportive of this request.

We urge the White House and the Department of Homeland Security to intervene in this terrible situation. We also call on Congress to pass comprehensive immigration reform to finally fix this broken system.

For additional information:
                                                                                # # # #

Monday, March 12, 2012

MoCo Residents Fight Back Against Politicians' War on Immigrants // Students Fight Deportation of Their Friend #JSA

UPDATE: Rep. Chris Van Hollen, all nine members of the Montgomery County Council, and Casa de Maryland have published responses to the case of Jorge Steven Acuna.

Jorge Steven Acuna = #JSA

BACKGROUND: In the course of the last few years, Maryland Juice has been evangelizing the power of the Internet and peer-to-peer information sharing to advance social causes and political candidates. Over the weekend, numerous readers have flagged the latest experiment in social change, driven by otherwise ordinary individuals. Rather than tackling a global issue -- like the now famous Kony 2012 effort -- young people in Montgomery County are trying to make a difference in their own community. Their efforts center around a young man named Jorge Steven Acuna.

A reader who has been helping this cause provides information about Jorge: "There is a young Germantown kid – Jorge Steven Acuña – who was picked up with his parents by ICE to be deported after their multi-year application for asylum was denied.  It is a very typical story.  What is different here is that the community has exploded around it. Jorge is a resident of the 8th Congressional District and a Montgomery College student (future surgeon as his YouTube bio says). All of his supporters started out as apolitical young people who grew up in Montgomery County but have become totally politicized by the case."

LAME MARYLAND DEMOCRATS: Members of the Maryland Congressional delegation, along with state and county leaders, are completely LAME on immigrant justice. For the last two years, I have watched Democrats in other states fight back against rampant and careless deportations, reject the ridiculous "Secure Communities" program, and file private bills for DREAM Act students. But none of that happens in Maryland (aka "The Free State"). Once again, this Democratic complacency has led to youths taking matters into their own hands.

A NEW CAMPAIGN IS BORN: Friends of Jorge Steven Acuna have launched a multi-faceted campaign to raise awareness of his cause and have launched a viral YouTube video, Facebook effort, Twitter hashtag (#JSA), and change.org petition. Their request is simple: They want Rep. Chris Van Hollen to intervene, and they are doing everything they can to make sure he gets their message. See their kick-off video and numerous examples of guerilla marketing below:







CONCLUSION: Indeed, Maryland Juice has wondered why there has been deafening silence from Maryland Democrats (who are high-ranking officials in the Party) about Barack Obama's record-setting deportations of (mostly Latino) immigrants, and their seeming lack of interest in doing anything about Secure Communities. I was just in Dublin, Ireland last week and learned a great deal about the flood of immigrants to the United States during the great famine in Ireland. I am planning to write about my trip soon, but in the meantime, I have to point out that the parallels between the Irish immigrants of the last century and the immigrants of today are obvious. The biggest difference is that today's immigrants have a different skin color and speak a different language. The fact that this difference allows for such a massively lame response today is sickening.

Our political system stinks, and we're getting sick of this. 
Young people, I think it is time for a political rumble. 
We need to dislodge the oldsters if things don't start changing.