Day eleven : When the Curtain falls : What I have learned

Through my blog .. i wanted to remind people that we should treat each other fairly, stop the discrimination,and remind people that immigrants are no more or no less than other people. This is a country full of Immigrants and we should discriminate them because of their heritage. This blogging experience has challenged by allowing me to explore and contribute my knowledge and experience with you guys. thanks and i hope i got my message across to ya'll.
xoxo

I leave you people with these words from Martin Luther King and his I Have a dream Speech because Immigrants have a dream too.. To be treated fairly, with respect,and be free!


By Martin Luther King Jr.. " I Have A Dream"

Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation.
...
... this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.”

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.
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I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

I have a dream today!
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... let freedom ring!

And if America is to be a great nation, this must become true. And so let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire. Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York.
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... when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God’s children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual: Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!

Check out this Video!

Day ten : Jorge's Immigrant Story

So after watching what courage campaign did this inspired me to interview someone on my own. I chose to challenge myself and came up with some questions and had the chance to interview Jorge Torres and learn a bit about his immigrant story. have a look!

Day nine : People's Immigrant Story

Well i was doing a bit of some research and i ran across this website called http://www.couragecampaign.org/ in which consist of an online organizing network empowering over grassroots and other activists to build a progressive country. In you tube this courage campaign provides the viewers with various people sharing a part of their immigrant stories so i decided to share it with you guys too. I encourage you to listen to them and put yourself in their shoes for a bit and realize that their just like all one of us trying to have dreams and fight for our rights!

Day eight : Hate Crimes Should Be Put To An End!

so i saw the news some days before... and i heard that an Ecuadorian immigrant was attacked just because he was walking home and holding hands with his brothers ..soo that gave the attackers the rights to judge them and call them gay and make anti -discrimantory comments... how unfair is that..imigrants are humans to you know they should have the same rights as other people! hate crimes should be put to a stop! here are some pictures of a rally that was formed in memory of Jose Sucuzhanay.

Day six : Economic Crisis Puts a Strain on Immigrants

Check out this website http://news21blog.org/2008/11/30/economic-crisis-puts-a-strain-on-immigrants/#more-1197
where they show a video.. on how this economic crisis is affecting immigrants and countries such as El Salvador that have relied on monastery transfers from immigrants in the United States!..
By Amy Crawford.

Day five: Immigrants hit hard by U.S. slowdown and subprime crisis

i was searching through the web and i found this interesting article that talks about how immigrants are in danger of losing their home cause of this economic crisis.. i can somehow relate to what they might be feeling right now since me and my family when through some hard economic times...lets hope things will get better for the people soon..

I posted the article below but here is the link just in case.. http://www.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUSN3019759720080130
hope you find it interesting!

Immigrants hit hard by U.S. slowdown and subprime crisis

By Adriana Garcia

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - As an economic slowdown and the subprime mortgage crisis deepen across the United States, Hispanic immigrants are increasingly in danger of losing their jobs and their homes.

Both legal and illegal immigrants joined Americans in buying homes they could barely afford when the market spiraled upward and many have been caught with mortgages higher than the value of their homes as prices have slumped in the past year.

Just as subprime mortgage payments rose and house prices fell, the economy's slowdown has hurt the construction sector, which employs large numbers of Hispanics and other immigrants.

Unemployment among Hispanics in the United States jumped to 6.3 percent in December, up from 5.7 percent the previous month and well above the national average of 5 percent, U.S. Department of Labor statistics show.

And almost half of the mortgage loans in the hands of Hispanics are subprime, making them especially vulnerable to the housing downturn.

"Economic conditions are deteriorating and many immigrants now can't work those extra hours or find that second job to keep up with their mortgage payments," said Aracely Panameno at the Center for Responsive Lending (CRL) research policy group.

Nelson, a 29-year-old legal immigrant and construction worker from El Salvador, had a miserable run of luck in November, when he lost his job and his subprime mortgage bills jumped $650 to about $2,650.He says he now has to sell the home he bought in Maryland in 2005. If he is unable to sell in the next four months, he will have to foreclose, meaning an even bigger financial loss and a damaging black mark on his credit record."I have to practically give it away," he said.Like many caught up in the crisis, the father of three said he had no idea his monthly payments would soar two years into the mortgage when he closed the adjustable-rate subprime deal."You have to sign a lot of things when you buy a house, so I didn't read, I just signed. I think it was the anxiety, the happiness of buying my house," he said. "I feel a bit betrayed."

RECESSION FEARS

U.S. President George W. Bush and Congressional leaders are working on an economic stimulus package worth almost $150 billion to fend off a possible recession, and Bush last month unveiled a plan to slow the wave of home loan foreclosures by freezing the rates on some subprime loans.

But experts say most of the immigrants in financial trouble are either not entitled to help under the rescue plan or are not taking advantage of it.There are around 43 million Hispanics in the United States, making them the country's largest minority, and Mexicans and Central Americans account for the vast majority of some 12 million illegal immigrants. Continued...

Day four : The Importance that Immigrants play in America Society

Hey guys soo i found awesome site where they show
the Importance that Immigrants play in America Society this is some of what the article read .. I provided you the link http://www.iwfr.org/facts.asp also:

Immigrants and the Economy
(From the National Immigration Forum)

Immigrants wear many hats in American society. They are family members, students, workers, business owners, investors, clergymen, and members of the armed services-to name just a few of their roles. According to the most comprehensive study ever done on immigrants, the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) found that in all their combined roles, immigrants make indispensable contributions to our economy. They compose an increasingly essential proportion of our workforce. Through their tax payments, they help finance the costs of schools, health care, roads, welfare payments, Social Security, and the nation’s defense. Of course, immigrants are also users and beneficiaries of these government programs.

Beyond Fiscal Calculations – Overall, immigrants are a fiscal bargain for American taxpayers. Of course, the value of immigrants is not primarily measured by the dollar calculation of their fiscal impact. Immigrants contribute to America in many ways other than the size of their tax payments and the amount they pump into our economy. Their enrichment of our culture and the overall vitality they bring to American society are immeasurable in fiscal terms. They are a vital benefit to all Americans.

Day three: Immigrant's Hard Journey to America

This is a 7 min. documentary that details some of the hardships that are faced by Mexican immigrants that do whatever they can to get into this country - not just Mexican, also people from South America as well. This is not a deception type documentary - it tells the truth about immigration crimes that are indeed committed by these people, but presented in a manner that tries to explain the desperation behind these acts. This documentary inspired me and I hope it also motivates you as well.Please watch with an open mind - you don't have to agree - just watch - it is an intersting documentary regarding "illegal" immigration.

By: Activist Robert Standford

http://www.youtube.com/v/pzvB2qDpD1A&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0

Day two: A Change Is Gonna Come

I was searching through http://www.flickr.com/
and i found these pictures of people protesting for equality and for human rights.. I think these picture motivates people to carry that hope that one day all this discrimination will stop.. I chose this song because I feel like i can relate too it in some way. In Ecuador , I grew up by a town near a river and had the opportunity to come to this country for a better life and i finally got it. However, some immigrants don't have the same luck that me and my family ..This song is inspiring because it encourages people to keep having some hope that Change is going to come soon..


A CHANGE IS GONNA COME lyrics SEAL

Day one : Allow me to reintroduce myself.

I came to this country at the age of 5. I was born and raised in Quevedo, Ecuador..

and migrated to this country since my father lived here and wanted me ,my sister, and mom to be with him.. to cut the story short... It has not been all that easy.. As immigrants in this new country I seen my parents struggle from trying to find a steady job to finding a home for me and my sister to live in . We faced difficult economic times but found support from other family members that had lived here. Now, that I live in better conditions then before I can't help but wonder that there are many immigrants out there struggling each day to be able to provide a better home to their families.. People don't realize the realize the hardships these people go through each day
they just think of them as "aliens" trying to take their job..Yet, their wrong, immigrants have rights too you know! through my blog, I want people to understand the importance the immigrants have in this nation and the importance it is to stop discrimination against immigrants.After all, the first settlers that ever reach America were immigrants.. They came here for freedom and a better life and that exactly what immigrants want too. After all America does stand for justice,liberty, and freedom for all.