Professor Sandra K. Soto Gets Jeered at University of Arizona Graduation

Queer Chicana Professor (and all-around awesome academic) Sandra K. Soto got booed at the University of Arizona's Social and Behavioral Sciences commencement.  Professor Soto was attempting to discuss the ways that the anti-im/migrant measures known as SB1070 would marginalize Latinos/as.  Before she could get a sentence out the crowd jeered her. Twitter drama ensued.  Most people said it was inappropriate for Professor Soto to use the event as a "political soap box" further highlighting the success of the conservative right in advancing the idea that Universities and institutions of higher education should be depoliticized places where one goes to learn objective truths.  Meanwhile, if you ask me, it's pretty inappropriate for an audience of presumably educated adults to boo a woman of letters.  

Of course, what happened to Professor Soto is just another example of what so often occurs to queers, women, and people of color (or people who inhabit all of those identities) within the academy, they get shouted down and told that they're advancing a narrow agenda or only telling half the story.  The events that transpired were truly shameful, but unfortunately are becoming more common than not on college campuses.  I applaud the stand that Soto and other educators in Arizona are taking despite the attempts to silence them.  As Professor Soto urges us...we must fight for public education.

Palante, Siempre Palante! 

*tip of the fitted to: The Arizona Daily Star

Los Republicanos: part duex

Okay, so I've had some time to think about this whole Daddy Yankee endorsing John McCain fiasco and my take is McCain might have just shot himself in the foot and here is why...

McCain is obviously trying to appeal to the Latino/a vote by appearing with El Cangri and accepting his endorsement, but chances are DY's endorsement will actually turn off some Latino/a voters, particularly the kind of Latino/a voter McCain wants to reach

Reggaeton is an extremely contested genre within the Latino/a community. More than any other musical genre, reggaeton truly highlights the the complexities of nationality, race, class, gender and generational division within the Latino/a community. Reggaeton is very often seen as something that is either strictly Puerto Rican, or more broadly Caribbean. Already there has been push back to having DY be the supposed voice of the Latino/a community because he is seen as representing Puerto Rican interests. Many people have also pointed out that DY can't even vote for McCain so his endorsement is irrelevant (which is true but it's bogus that people aren't talking about the fact that that's because Puerto Rico is a colony).

The reason why DY's endorsement might really hurt McCain is because of people's perceptions of El Cangri and reggaeton. Although claims over reggaeton's ownership are now fought over, during the 1990's reggaeton sparked a culture war in Puerto Rico over issues of race, sex, taste, and class. Reggaeton was seen as cafre, a term which is highly racialized and classed and denotes low culture. Reggaeton was seen as too Black and too American because of its close association to hip-hop, and therefore inauthentically Latino/a. It was seen as music that was devoid of culture and little more than a copycat of hip-hop when it first came out. It was also highly sexualized and suggestive with its visible trademarks being aggressive lyrics and perreo dancing. Not to mention, reggaeton was born out of the caserios (projects) and was initially funded by the drug game, which only added to the moral outcry against the genre. Reggaeton culture was immediately and vehemently denounced by the conservative and Christian segments of Puerto Rican society as crass and indecent. Although, it is extremely popular and much more sanitized today, reggaeton still maintains its association (real and imagined) to money, drugs, violence, and sex in the minds of many Latinos/as and Americans alike. It is that association that many Latinos/as, particularly those who tend to vote republican, are trying to distance themselves from. That is where McCain's plan backfires.

Daddy Yankee does not represent a performance of Latinidad, that many conservative Latinos/as feel comfortable with. I think the unease around Daddy Yankee's endorsement has to do with the fact that he actively and aggressively markets himself as de la calle and as a gangsta. Reggaeton and Daddy Yankee represent a version of Latinidad which is raced and classed that some Latinos/as want to distance themselves from. Rather than addressing the social realties that reggaeton speaks to and represents, it remains easier for certain segments of the Latino/a community to dismiss reggaeton and the culture around it as an abberation of Latinidad. It's crazy because in a way this whole Daddy Yankee - McCain thing made me think about the way's in which Latinos/as are climbing over each other for a piece of that Americano Dream. At whose cost are Latinos/as representing themselves as idealized American citizens?

Crazy as it may sound McCain is right Daddy Yankee is "an American success story" (ugh), but he may not represent "an American success story" that conservative Latino/a voters are ready to embrace. Guess McCain should have studied Leslie Sanchez's cringe-inducing Los Republicanos: Why Hispanics and Republicans Need Each Other a little closer because now he has a "Reggaeton Problem".

Why Puerto Ricans Need to Support Obama

I am pro Puerto Rican independence. A number of family members still live on the island, including my father and my brother and sister, and as a Nuyorican I am keenly aware of the way that policy here affect the lives of those on the island. All Puerto Ricans on the island and in the diaspora are living under the effects of a neo-colonial system, and we need to deploy a variety of strategies to ensure that boricuas are able to fight for self-determination (however differently we might define that term). While we will always need los independistas and los macheteros, we also need to support Barack Obama as contradictory as that sounds.

While I have no illusions that a vote for Barack Obama is a vote for Puerto Rican independence, I feel that it is important for Puerto Ricans to vote for Obama to ensure that we are able to move forward and not backwards. Recently, the Puerto Rican community has suffered under the Bush administration’s “terrorist” witch-hunts. Anyone who speaks up against the inhumane conditions in Puerto Rico or in the Puerto Rican community in the states is branded a terrorist. The Bush Administration is trying to breed fear in our community and prevent us from mobilizing. The grand jury hearings this past year were reminiscent of the 1950s on the island, a time when even speaking about Puerto Rican independence would land you in jail, a time when the very notion of Puerto Rican pride was treasonous.

We need a change. We need Puerto Ricans to stop dying in Iraq (actually we need everyone to stop dying in Iraq). We need better conditions in barrios in the U.S. and on the island. We need the surveillance and COUNTERINTELPRO shit to stop. While Obama is no political savior (and I think we all need to recognize that he has steadily become more centrist in his rhetoric) he can provide the Puerto Rican community and People of Color more broadly with the political climate necessary to organize and mobilize our communities. McCain represents more of the same: war, repression, cronyism, and a disregard for queer communities and communities of color.

I recently came across this YouTube clip of Miguel Luciano endorsing Barack Obama in the primaries and I think he does a excellent job talking about the political contractions that U.S.-based Puerto Ricans face in this election.



We can’t afford to throw away this election. Please register to vote at Voto Latino

Latino HIV/AIDS Rate on the Rise

The rate of Latinas/os and Latino/a immigrants infected with HIV and AIDS is on the rise. The results of a survey conducted by the Kaiser Family Foundation reveal that Latinas/os in Washington DC have the highest rate of new AIDS cases in the country. According to federal officials, although Latinas/os only make up 14% of the nations population, they represented 22% of new HIV and AIDS diagnoses in 2006. Another startling statistic says that in major U.S. cities, as many as 1 in 4 gay Latino men has HIV, a rate on par with sub-Saharan Africa.

The effects of the HIV/AIDS crisis are especially dramatics among the Latino/a im/migrant population. Economic pressures, language barriers, cultural dissonance, and legal status have created a unique convergence of factors that affect the Latino/a immigrant population and put them at high risk for infection or late testing. Many undocumented im/migrants often do not get tested or delay testing for fear of arrest and deportation. This late testing not only means earlier death but it can also mean increased spread of the virus.

According to Oscar De La O, president of Bienestar, Latinas/os are “at the center of the storm.” "Hispanics are overrepresented in this epidemic, and we need to target our efforts to them," Center for Disease Control epidemiologist Kenneth Dominguez said in an interview. Currently there is little being done by government agencies to address the epidemic among Latinas/os, but hopefully that will soon change with the release of these new statistics and increased mobilization from the Latino/a community.

Please check out The Washington Post article for more information. It was a very interesting report, and while it has its flaws it discussed a lot of issues that other news outlets tend to shy away from. Check out the part where they talk about the oppression that many Latino gay men face in the mainstream white gay scene and they way that that places them at higher risk:

Many are "objectified" by white men who view them as exotic. They play subservient roles to partners with citizenship or money. The "triple oppressive experiences of poverty, racism and homophobia" lead many to risky behavior, Diaz [Rafael Diaz, a pioneer in examining the impact of the AIDS epidemic on Latino gay men and professor at San Francisco State University] said. "People are looking for respite and relief from a sense of isolation, economic deprivation and low self-esteem. Sometimes sex is the place where men find that."

This information came out a few days before Phill Wilson, CEO of the Black AIDS Institute and one of the authors of the report, "Left Behind! Black America: A Neglected Priority in the Global AIDS Epidemic," decalred that “Nothing short of a mass Black mobilization will be sufficient to turn around the AIDS epidemic in Black America.” I hope that people of color will organize around Wilson’s rallying call and build coalitions to bring attention to the ways in which our communities are under attack.

For more information on Latino/a AIDS Prevention and Support Services please check out...

The Latino Commission on AIDS

Hispanic AIDS Forum

Bienestar