June 2012

By Jose Cardenas. On May 16, I was taken to jail in Montgomery, Ala., along with six others after we sat outside the Alabama legislative chambers and refused to move as bigots inside were ramming through their revisions to the shameful HB 56.

While in handcuffs, I couldn’t help but recall the terror I once felt when I was a child who felt his future was in doubt. 

striking guestworks at sam's clubFor most people in Louisiana, cracking the shell off a crawfish, sucking the head, and swallowing the tail meat is a joyous part of what it means to call this place home. But peeling crawfish is not so fun for guestworkers from Mexico, who allege that they are facing slave-like conditions in a Louisiana plant.

Scott Walker’s recall election survival in Wisconsin this week was tough to swallow mainly because of his stance against workers rights. Hopefully it’s not a sign of things to come for workers rights, especially in the Deep South where organized labor has rarely ever been welcome, leaving the door wide open for exploitation, especially for immigrants seeking opportunity in the U.S. 

sharon hanshaw at rio+20Last week, Sharon Hanshaw represented Biloxi, Mississippi and women across the Gulf Coast in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil at the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development. Sharon spoke about how her experience after Hurricane Katrina led her to advocacy and to addressing climate change on a local and global scale.