Another Brown Man Murder By Cop in Charlotte

Hispanic man call Police for help. They kill him standing on a porch with his hands up.

New bodycam footage shows Latino man had hands up when NC police fatally shot him

In early September, members of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department shot and killed a man named Rueben Galindo. Now, body camera footage shows that the man had his hands up when an officer took his fatal shot.

According to local alternative weekly Creative Loafing, CMPD claims Galindo called 911 on himself on September 6 to tell them (through a Spanish interpreter) that he had a gun, though he did not elaborate.

As they approached, officers told him in Spanish to raise his hands. He complied, and then two officers — Courtney Suggs and David Guerra — fired. It appears that Guerra’s shot was the one that killed Galindo.

Both Guerra and Suggs are on leave, according to local TV station WSOC-TV.

 

Hispanic Lawn Jockey Tries to Defend the Chumph

I guess Paris Dennard and the black Lawn Jockeys for Chumph needed some recuperation and healing time from the serial beatdowns the last two weeks. So while those clowns are laid up getting patched with a new layer of paint…Time to trot out the Hispanic Lawn Jockey…

The Lawn Jockey uses the usual right-wing racist rationale and deflection trying to characterize something out last real President Obama did as wrong, in pardoning people.Theren he tries the “but it’s the Democrats! deflection to not have to answer the direct questions…Ramo as usual was polite…Ana wasn’t having any of that.

Ana Navarro, as usual – wasn’t tlerating the bullshit

 

Hispanic Republican Ana Navarro Rips the Chumph – “Hes a flat out racist!”

Ow! This one is going to leave a mark…Looks like the Chumph has even lost the formerly Republican, Latino and Hispanic vote.

During a panel on CNN Tonight with Don Lemon, former Trump campaign adviser Michael Caputo said it was “outrageous” that Navarro would accuse Donald Trump of attacking Mexicans from the very first day of his campaign.

Navarro then pointed out that Trump not only accused the Mexican government of intentionally sending “rapists” into the United States, but he also said that Judge Gonzalo Curiel was unqualified to oversee the case against Trump University because of his “Mexican” heritage.

Caputo didn’t back down, however.

“Ana, for you to sit here and call Donald Trump a flat-out racist is outrageous,” he said.

“Well let me do it again, and let me do it in two languages,” she shot back. “Es un racista — he is a flat-out racist, and it’s what he’s played on for 16 months. He is a bigot, he is a racist, he is a misogynist. He has said horrible things about women. He has said horrible things about immigrants, about Hispanics. He has yet to say one good thing about immigrants, and for your to shake your head and tell me that I’m the outrageous one, that’s what outrages me.”

 

BLM and the Political Conventions

This article believes that BLM will be the driving counter-force at both conventions. I believe it is wrong…

I believe what we are going to see this election season, particularly at the Republican Convention is the emergence of Hispanics as a powerful demographic, and political voice.

And if Hispanics carry through with that threat, and actually get the sort of turnout that black folks have traditionally had – then the Chumph, and the Republican Party is going to learn just how bad it is to have pissed off both major minority groups in the US. Since Hispanic turnout is traditionally low (around 40%), up until now, using Hispanics as whipping boys for the right really hasn’t cost Republican anything. Arturo Vargas, executive director of the National Association of Elected and Appointed Officials, projects 13.1 million Hispanics will vote nationwide in 2016, compared to 11.2 million in 2012 and 9.7 million in 2008.

The Black Lives Matter Movement’s Political Moment

The party conventions provide an opportunity for protesters to reassert themselves on a national stage.

Political conventions have always attracted political protests, and the history of black organizers protesting at major party conventions stretches back decades. Mass protests led by the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party, then-Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee leader and current Representative John Lewis, and activist Fannie Lou Hamer at the 1964 Democratic Convention helped bring the Voting Rights Act of 1965 into existence and hasten the exit of white conservatives from the Democratic Party. The 1968 Democratic Convention was upended by mass protests and riots from a collection of counterculture and civil rights groups, including anti-war demonstrators, black nationalists, and the nonviolent remnants of Martin Luther King Jr.’s Poor People’s Campaign. The surveillance, protests, and a political plot at this convention captured the fraught racial climate of the United States in the wake of King’s death and the ensuing riots.

With the 2016 Democratic and Republican conventions approaching, America’s mood is perhaps not quite as tense as it was after the anti-black violence of the 1964 Freedom Summer or the fear and destruction of the 1968 King riots. But it is still characterized in part by anger from black activists. Donald Trump’s campaign has fomented protests from black organizers across the country, and his racist posturing has led to renewed calls for protests against the Republican National Convention in Cleveland. Black Lives Matter, a movement that dominated headlines last year in protests against police violence, has always been political, but the conventions provide much more direct avenue to electoral politics. Black activism could be a major force in shaping or disrupting the agendas of both parties.

Will the Democrats’ gathering in Philadelphia look anything like its 1964 or 1968 predecessors? Prominent activist and member of Campaign ZERO DeRay Mckesson stated that he expects organizing in Philadelphia to reflect young black disillusionment over Clinton’s candidacy and the Democratic platform, as well as the precedent set by a recent sit-in in Congress led by Lewis. Philadelphia activists affiliated with Black Lives Matter have confirmed their intent. Erica Mines of the Philadelphia Coalition for REAL Justice—known for challenging Bill Clinton about his crime bill at a rally in April—says her group and other black activists in the area will have a presence at the convention in late July. “We definitely plan on having a protest,” Mines told me…

…But will that same spirit of protest also spur black activists at the Republican Convention in Cleveland? The people planning it certainly think so. Planners in Cleveland have used much of the $50 million event grant from Congress on surveillance of black protesters and have purchased a Long Range Acoustic Device (LRAD) for use in crowd control. The original anti-protest rules for the Cleveland convention were so strict that liberal and conservative grassroots joined forces to defeat them in court. But Cleveland-area groups affiliated with Black Lives Matter would not go on the record about any specific plans.

Their reticence to go on record reflects a fear of surveillance among black organizers. After numerous protests in Cleveland in 2015, FBI officials intimatedthat they were closely surveilling the city’s activists. The Secret Service has also rolled out a muscular intelligence apparatus in Cleveland in advance of the convention. While most of their efforts are dedicated to addressing threats of terrorism, law-enforcement officials are also monitoring the social-media activity of Black Lives Matter activists.

Despite the increased security, black protesters will almost surely show up. Cleveland became a center of black organizing against police brutality after police killed Tamir Rice in 2014. The city has also been the target of a Justice Department probe into police brutality. The first major Black Lives Matter conference was held in Cleveland last year, marred by an incident in which a transit officer pepper-sprayed demonstrators.

Not all black protesters who show up in Cleveland or Philadelphia will be working for the same exact goals. Shanelle Matthews, the director of communications for the Black Lives Matter network, said the organization does not publicize direct action in advance, and the conventions do not have a blanket significance nationally. “Because we’re decentralized and all of the chapters work autonomously, to each of the chapters in their regions [conventions] mean something different,” Matthews said. Some chapters or affiliates that choose to protest might focus on police violence. Others may focus on economic justice. Still others may focus on environmental justice.

This is a critical summer for Black Lives Matter as an organization and a broader movement—as Matthews notes, it is “still in its infancy.” Local activists are seeking to build their advocacy networks and figure out what causes and methods make sense for them. Both conventions will provide opportunities for black activists to make their mark on electoral politics, if they are so inclined. “I think this is a time for us as black and brown people in this country to really understand what it means to be part of the democratic process,” Mines told me. “It is a pivotal time for us especially for the DNC and Philadelphia historically. Understanding this is the birthplace of democracy and this is a once in a lifetime thing, we have to get our issues addressed.”

While these activists will undoubtedly draw from the legacies of 1964 and 1968, the thoroughly decentralized, intersectional Black Lives Matter movement may well add something new to the history of protests and conventions. After months of being overshadowed by the election, black protesters will likely make headlines again in July.

 

 

Trump Rally Spawns Violence in California

Looks like the Drumph is going to be in for a rough time in California….

Massive melee erupts outside Donald Trump’s first campaign rally in California

Violence returns as Trump’s campaign hits California’s biggest Republican stronghold — Orange County

Chaos broke out outside of a massive Donald Trump rally in Orange County, California, Thursday night.

The unrest erupted outside the Pacific amphitheater where Trump staged his first campaign rally in America’s most populous state at the Orange County Fair & Event Center in Costa Mesa.

ccording to ABC News, closer to 18,000 Trump supporters gathered inside as the Republican frontrunner gave the Golden State a tailored spin on his controversial campaign of xenophobia, parading a host of California families whose loved ones had been killed by undocumented immigrant in California and reaffirmed his pledge to build a giant border wall only miles away from the U.S.-Mexico border.

“Trump is here to save us all,” said Jamiel Shaw, Sr., whose 17-year-old son Jamiel Shaw, Jr., was killed by an undocumented immigrant in 2008.

Outside, thousands more flooded the streets in protest of Trump and things quickly turned violent in the heart of the state’s biggest Republican stronghold, as the Associated Press reported:

Dozens of cars—including those of Trump supporters trying to leave—were stuck in the street as several hundred demonstrators blocked the road, waved Mexican flags and posed for selfies. Police in riot gear and on horseback pushed the crowd back and away from the venue. … The crowd began dispersing about three hours after the speech ended. …

Earlier in the evening, a half-dozen anti-Trump protesters taunted those waiting to get into the venue. Trump supporters surrounded one man who waved a Mexican flag and shouted “Build that wall! Build that wall!”—a reference to Trump’s call to create a barrier between the United States and Mexico to stop illegal border crossings.

 

Latino Citizenship Applications Flood In…So They Can Vote Against Trump

Hispanics and Latinos are flooding the Immigration offices to register to become American Citizens, a process which takes about 5 months currently for folks meeting all the requirements. Until this election cycle it has been pretty safe for politicians to ignore the Latino vote – because they have historically had a low voter participation rate –

With the vile comments by Donald Trump about Latinos…That may be about to change.

More Latinos Seek Citizenship to Vote Against Trump

Donald J. Trump’s harsh campaign rhetoric against Mexican immigrants has helped him win a substantial delegate lead in the Republican primary, but it is also mobilizing a different set of likely voters — six of them alone in the family of Hortensia Villegas.

A legal immigrant from Mexico, Ms. Villegas is a mother of two who has been living in the United States for nearly a decade but never felt compelled to become a citizen. But as Mr. Trump has surged toward the Republican nomination, Ms. Villegas — along with her sister, her parents and her husband’s parents — has joined a rush by many Latino immigrants to naturalize in time to vote in November.

“I want to vote so Donald Trump won’t win,” said Ms. Villegas, 32, one of several hundred legal residents, mostly Mexicans, who crowded one recent Saturday into a Denver union hall. Volunteers helped them fill out applications for citizenship, which this year are taking about five months for federal officials to approve. “He doesn’t like us,” she said.

Over all, naturalization applications increased by 11 percent in the 2015 fiscal year over the year before, and jumped 14 percent during the six months ending in January, according to federal figures. The pace is picking up by the week, advocates say, and they estimate applications could approach 1 million in 2016, about 200,000 more than the average in recent years.

While naturalizations generally rise during presidential election years, Mr. Trump provided an extra boost this year. He kicked off his campaign in June describing Mexicans as drug-traffickers and rapists. His pledge to build a border wall and make Mexico pay for it has been a regular applause line. He has vowed to create a deportation force to expel the estimated 11 million immigrants here illegally, evoking mass roundups of the 1950s.

Among 8.8 million legal residents eligible to naturalize, about 2.7 million are Mexicans, the largest national group, federal figures show. But after decades of low naturalization rates, only 36 percent of eligible Mexicans have become citizens, while 68 percent of all other immigrants have done so, according to the Pew Research Center.

“A lot of people are opening their eyes because of all the negative stuff Donald Trump has brought,” said Ms. Villegas’s husband, Miguel Garfío, 30, who was born and raised in Colorado and came to the workshop here to help his wife and other family members become citizens this year. His parents came from Mexico in the 1980s and worked hard all their lives, he said, helping him create a construction company in Denver that now employs 18 people. Contrary to Mr. Trump’s depiction, he said, none of his relatives have criminal records.

This year immigrants seeking to become citizens can find extra help from nonprofit groups and even from the White House. Last September, President Obama launched a national campaign to galvanize legal residents to take the step. They can now pay the fee, $680, with a credit card, and practice the civics test online. They can get applications at “citizenship corners” in public libraries in many states.

The White House recruited Fernando Valenzuela, the legendary Mexican-born pitcher who naturalized only last year, and José Andrés, the Spanish-American chef, to make encouraging advertisements and to turn up at swearing-in ceremonies. On Presidents’ Day, administration officials swore in more than 20,000 new citizens. On Wednesday the administration announced $10 million in grants to groups guiding immigrants through the process.

The majority of Latinos are Democrats, and some Republicans accuse the White House of leading a thinly veiled effort to expand the ranks of the president’s party. But administration officials argue the campaign is nonpartisan, noting that immigrants who become citizens improve their incomes and chances for homeownership.

“I certainly don’t care what party they register with, I just want them to become citizens,” said Leon Rodriguez, director of United States Citizenship and Immigration Services, the federal agency in charge of naturalizations.

Aside from Colorado, naturalization drives are taking place in Nevada and Florida, states likely to be fiercely contested in November where Latino voters could provide a crucial margin. One nonprofit group, the New Americans Campaign, plans to complete 1,500 applications at a session in Marlins Park baseball stadium in Miami on March 19….Read More Here…

…in a poll of Latino voters on Feb. 25 by the Washington Post and Univision, the Spanish language television network, 80 percent had an unfavorable view of Mr. Trump, including 72 percent with a very unfavorable view, far more than for other Republican candidates. In the poll, 74 percent of the voters said Mr. Trump’s views on immigration were “offensive.”

 

Gay/Bi Black Men and HIV

This one is stunning from the standpoint that HIV rates are falling for the rest of the population.  The article doesn’t go in causality. More than likely is is at least partly due to the War on Drugs/Black people genocide incarceration.

CDC: Half of Gay Black Men Will Get HIV

For the first time ever, federal officials estimated how likely blacks and Hispanics are likely to be diagnosed with the virus that causes AIDS.

Half of gay and bisexual black men and a quarter of gay and bisexual Hispanic men will be diagnosed with HIV in their lifetimes, the Centers for Disease Control announced in a first-of-its-kind study on Tuesday.

While the lifetime risk of a positive HIV diagnosis has fallen from 1 in 78 Americans overall in 2005 to 1 in 99 today, the decline has not been distributed equally among the U.S. population. For the foreseeable future, the CDC estimates that gay, bisexual, black and Hispanic people will continue to bear the brunt of the HIV epidemic. The new study is the first time that the CDC has estimated lifetime HIV risk based on race.

Overall, the CDC projected that one in 64 men and one in 227 women in the United States will be diagnosed with HIV at current rates. For black and Hispanic people, however, that risk increases dramatically.

Regardless of sexual orientation, one in 20 black men and one in 48 black women will be diagnosed with the virus that causes AIDS in their lifetimes, according to the CDC. For Hispanic men and women, the risks are one in 48 and one in 227, respectively.

White people have the lowest chance of an HIV diagnosis, with an overall lifetime risk of less than one percent. Gay and bisexual white men still have a lifetime risk of one in 11, though.

The CDC’s projections are based on data about HIV diagnoses and death rates collected from 2009 to 2013, and they assume that rates of new diagnoses remain constant. If that’s the case, one in six men who have sex with other men will be diagnosed with HIV in their lifetimes.

“These estimates are a sobering reminder that gay and bisexual men face an unacceptably high risk for HIV—and of the urgent need for action,” said Dr. Eugene McCray, director of the CDC’s Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention. “If we work to ensure that every American has access to the prevention tools we know work, we can avoid the outcomes projected in this study.”

For Hispanic people living in the United States, the CDC has already outlined an array of factors behind the alarming rate of new infections: a high prevalence of HIV, poverty and lack of health insurance coverage, “machismo” that can encourage men to engage in risky sexual behavior as a show of strength, and reluctance to access prevention services for fear of revealing one’s immigration status.

In South Florida, for example, an already high prevalence of HIV has combined with low awareness of the virus and social stigma to produce the highest rate of new infections in the U.S., driven largely by new infections among young Hispanic men.

For black people, CDC resources show, prevention challenges are similar: poverty, stigma, barriers to health care access, and too few people knowing their status. Risk in black communities is especially high, the CDC notes, because “African Americans tend to have sex with partners of the same race/ethnicity mean[ing] that [they] face a greater risk of HIV infection with each new sexual encounter.”

According to the CDC’s new projections, all of the states with the highest lifetime risk for HIV are in the South, with the exceptions of New York, New Jersey, Delaware, and the District of Columbia. All of these states and the South tend to have large black and Hispanic populations, higher rates of poverty, and less health-insurance coverage.

The CDC estimates that HIV risk is highest in Maryland, Georgia, Louisiana, and Florida, with about 2 percent of these states’ populations believed to test HIV positive eventually.

No single area may be worst-hit than Washington, D.C., which is nearly 50 percent black and 10 percent Latino. According to the CDC’s projections, a staggering one in 13 D.C. residents will be diagnosed with HIV in their lifetimes.

But the CDC doesn’t want its projections to be interpreted as a death sentence.

“As alarming as these lifetime risk estimates are, they are not a foregone conclusion. They are a call to action,” said Dr. Jonathan Mermin, director of the CDC’s National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and Tuberculosis Prevention.

If the U.S. can reduce new infections, those lifetime risk numbers will go down, too. The CDC’s current prevention approach emphasizes HIV testing, condom use, treatment for those who have already been diagnosed, and pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), a daily medication that has been shown to reduce risk by more than 90 percent when used correctly.

 

The New Drug Epidemic…Why No Criminalization?

Back in the late 80’s and early 90’s politicians rushed to write and approve punitive laws for users of “crack” cocaine…Because the majority of users of that form of cocaine were black. Never mind that powder cocaine, and crack are the same drug.

Now America has a new “drug epidemic”…And the same politicians want to look the other way, because in vast majority the victims are white.

The racial driven decision to hide this problem under the guise of “just white people acting out” has devastated rural and suburban communities, and promulgated this problem to the point the numbers are big enough to impact Mortality Rates. To move the dime on the death rates of 250 million people in this country…

“Houston…We got a problem”.

Drug Overdoses Propel Rise in Mortality Rates of Young Whites

Drug overdoses are driving up the death rate of young white adults in the United States to levels not seen since the end of the AIDS epidemic more than two decades ago — a turn of fortune that stands in sharp contrast to falling death rates for young blacks, a New York Times analysis of death certificates has found.

The rising death rates for those young white adults, ages 25 to 34, make them the first generation since the Vietnam War years of the mid-1960s to experience higher death rates in early adulthood than the generation that preceded it.

The Times analyzed nearly 60 million death certificates collected by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention from 1990 to 2014. It found death rates for non-Hispanic whites either rising or flattening for all the adult age groups under 65 — a trend that was particularly pronounced in women — even as medical advances sharply reduce deaths from traditional killers like heart disease. Death rates for blacks and most Hispanic groups continued to fall.

The analysis shows that the rise in white mortality extends well beyond the 45- to 54-year-old age group documented by a pair of Princeton economists in a research paper that startled policy makers and politicians two months ago.

While the death rate among young whites rose for every age group over the five years before 2014, it rose faster by any measure for the less educated, by 23 percent for those without a high school education, compared with only 4 percent for those with a college degree or more.

The drug overdose numbers were stark. In 2014, the overdose death rate for whites ages 25 to 34 was five times its level in 1999, and the rate for 35- to 44-year-old whites tripled during that period. The numbers cover both illegal and prescription drugs.

“That is startling,” said Dr. Wilson Compton, the deputy director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse. “Those are tremendous increases.”

Rising rates of overdose deaths and suicide appear to have erased the benefits from advances in medical treatment for most age groups of whites. Death rates for drug overdoses and suicides “are running counter to those of chronic diseases,” like heart disease, said Ian Rockett, an epidemiologist at West Virginia University…Read the rest here…

 

Latin Grammys – “Don’t Vote for Racists”

Lat two elections, about 73% of Hispanics voted for Obama…With the latest round of “We hate brown folks” by the right…That ought to be up to 95% next election.

2015 Latin Grammys Get Political As Artists Urge Latinos: ‘Don’t Vote For Racists’

Natalia Lafourcade was the big winner Thursday at the Latin Grammy Awards, making good on four of her five nominations for her album “Hasta la Raiz.” But the Mexican singer-songwriter lost out on the top prize, album of the year, which went to Dominican bachata artist Juan Luis Guerra for “Todo Tiene su Hora.”

Lafourcade still claimed two of the night’s most prestigious awards, song of the year and record of the year for the title track of “Hasta la Raiz.”

“My friend, how amazing that we made this disc together,” Lafourcade said to her friend and collaborator Leonel Garcia, with whom she shared three nominations as cowriters of the album’s title track.

The biggest night in Latin music was presented in Spanish and English and featured a mix of rhythms, from alternative to mariachi.

Colorful performance mash-ups underscored the mix: Jamaican artist Omi shared the stage with reggaeton singer Nicky Jam, and Will Smith returned to his rap roots, performing “Fiesta” with Colombian trop-rockers Bomba Estereo.

The Latin Grammy Awards were broadcast live on Univision from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. For the first time, the telecast also reached viewers in China. Actresses Jacqueline Bracamontes and Roselyn Sanchez hosted the three-hour ceremony…

Rita Moreno delighted the audience when she busted out some reggaeton dance moves, belying her 84 years.

Things also got political, thanks to rockers Mana and Los Tigres del Norte, who urged fellow Hispanics to get out the vote.

“This is how we can use our power,” said Mana vocalist Fher as the group accepted their award for pop/rock album. “We have to exercise our right to vote, and vote for those who will give more quality (of life) to Latinos, to the candidates. Use your strength, Latinos!”

Los Tigres del Norte went further, hoisting a banner at the end of their performance that read, “Latinos united, don’t vote for the racists.”

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump drew ire from Hispanics and others when he said Mexican immigrants are rapists who bring drugs into the United States. Univision was among the companies that cut ties with Trump after the remarks.

 

Texas Cops Create “Honorary White People” To Avoid Racial Profiling

A small sample of “honorary white folks” ticketed by Texas cops. Misidentified in an effort to evade evidence of racial profiling in traffic stops.

If you picked Contestant #12…See your Optometrist…Soonest!

I got news for the station who found this…It isn’t just Hispanics.

Texas troopers ticketing Hispanic drivers as white

Senator says DPS ‘playing games’ with racial profiling data

DPS troopers are inaccurately recording the race of large numbers of minority drivers, mostly Hispanic, as white, according to a KXAN investigation. The agency’s traffic stop data reveals racial profiling reports are likely flawed, according to experts.

Sergio Raul Mejia got a traffic citation for having his license plate on the dash of his truck in Georgetown last May. The Texas Department of Public Safety trooper who pulled Mejia over put his race as white on the ticket.

“That’s bad,” said Mejia. “I’m Hispanic. He was not supposed to put white people,” Mejia continued, speaking in broken English. “You don’t think you look white?” asked KXAN Investigator Brian Collister. “No, Hispanic,” replied Mejia.

A Texas law aimed at preventing racial profiling requires peace officers determine and document the race of every driver to whom they issue a written warning, traffic citation or arrest during a traffic stop. The statute says officers must report: “the person’s race or ethnicity, as stated by the person or, if the person does not state the person’s race or ethnicity, as determined by the officer to the best of the officer’s ability.” White and Hispanic are just two categories listed in the law, which treats race and ethnicity the same for purposes of gathering the statistics.

The Texas Racial Profiling statute requires race and ethnicity be treated the same for purposes of gathering the statistics: “Race or ethnicity” means of a particular descent, including Caucasian, African, Hispanic, Asian, Native American, or Middle Eastern descent.

But a KXAN investigation discovered DPS troopers across the state are inaccurately reporting the race of minority drivers who are African American, Asian, but mostly Hispanic, as white. KXAN uncovered the discrepancies while reviewing more than 16 million DPS traffic citation records dating back to 2010.

Richard Kai-Tzung Chang got a traffic ticket in Austin from a DPS Trooper last April. Chang is from Taiwan and says he believes its obvious he is Asian. But the trooper documented him as white on the citation.

“I was shocked,” Chang told KXAN. “It’s almost incomprehensible that I could be mistaken for a white male because I don’t look anything like a white male,” Chang continued.

Dominique Deshaun McGrew was arrested last April during a traffic stop near Victoria. In the dashcam video it’s clear that McGrew is African American.  But instead of recording him as black, the trooper recorded him as white.

Pastor Gonzalez Sosa was pulled over for speeding earlier this year in Caldwell County. In the dashcam video obtained by KXAN through an open records request, Sosa speaks Spanish to the trooper and tells him he is from Mexico. But the Hispanic trooper, who also speaks Spanish, documented Sosa’s race as white on the citation…

Lawmakers and media have scrutinized the race of drivers stopped by state troopers since the controversial arrest of Sandra Bland. A DPS trooper arrested Bland, who is African American, in Waller County this summer for a minor traffic violation. She later committed suicide in jail, according to the county coroner. The increasing number of Hispanic drivers reported in DPS racial profiling data has also been the focus of those legislative hearings and news reports. A KXAN analysis of the DPS traffic stop data confirms the number of drivers stopped by troopers and recorded as Hispanic has gone up annually since 2010, while the number of drivers recorded as white has gone down.

But a racial-profiling expert says what we uncovered reveals DPS statistics used to create its annual reports on traffic stops do not add up.

“The under-representation of Hispanics and over-representation of Caucasians on the contact data counts has a significant impact on the analysis of racial profiling trends,” said Dr. Alex Del Carmen, executive director of the School of Criminology and Criminal Justice and Strategic Studies at Tarleton State University in Fort Worth. “It is imperative that the citation count is accurately recorded and reported by all police officers that interact with the public. This is the only manner in which we can ensure an accurate representation of motor vehicle stops and trends.”… Read More on This Here…

 

Conceding the Hispanic Vote

Looks like the next group voting 96% Democratic…or at least 96% anti-Republican bigot is going to be Hispanics…

Now, if efforts to improve Hispanic voter turnout bear fruit…

Geez..I wonder what these Rethuglys were afraid of?

Every Republican 2016 Candidate Turns Down Invitation From Latino Conference

Except Donald Trump, who wasn’t even invited.

When hundreds of Latinos gather next week for a candidate forum at the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute conference, they won’t hear from any Republicans, though not for a lack of trying on the part of the organizers. 

CHCI spokesman Irving Burbano said the group contacted every presidential campaign except that of GOP candidate Donald Trump about the Oct. 7 candidate session, but only two Democratic candidates are scheduled to attend: Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley. Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton won’t be at that session, but is speaking at the conference the following day.

The nonpartisan, nonprofit Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute hosts a public policy conference in Washington every year with Latino leaders and officials, as well as an appearance from President Barack Obama. Organizers expect more than 1,000 people this year for the conference and more than 500 at the candidate forum specifically.

Candidates often have busy schedules. But at a time when they are competing for Latino votes, very few are seizing the chance to speak to this ready-made audience.

HuffPost reached out to all of the campaigns invited to the session. Spokespeople for GOP candidates Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee cited scheduling conflicts. A spokeswoman for Democratic candidate and former Rhode Island Gov. Lincoln Chafee said he is unable to attend. Other campaigns did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Other Republicans to decline the invitation, according to Burbano, were U.S. Sens. Lindsey Graham (S.C.), Rand Paul (Ky.) and Ted Cruz (Texas); Govs. Bobby Jindal of Louisiana and Chris Christie of New Jersey; and former Gov. George Pataki of New York.

Democratic candidate and former U.S. Sen. Jim Webb (Va.) did not respond to the invitation, Burbano said, nor did three Republican candidates: former Virginia Gov. Jim Gilmore, former U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum (Pa.) and retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson. (The group did not contact Larry Lessig, who is also running for president as a Democrat.)

As to that Trump non-invite…

 

Hey Trump! Feel the Love! Not from Hispanics

Donald Trump announces he will “win Latino vote”….

 

Latest poll…

 

Whoooops…There it is!

 

There Goes the Hispanic Vote…Dump Trump!

Geez – I imagine that the Republican strategist types are having nightmares right now. It is beginning to look like Republicans are going to have to settle for getting about as much of the Hispanic vote, as they get of the Black vote. Which isn’t much.

 

 

Poll finds Hispanic disapproval of Trump rhetoric on illegal immigrants

…The Univision News Poll, conducted by the independent research firm Bendixen & Amandi International with the Tarrance Group, shows that 7 in 10 Hispanic registered voters say they have an unfavorable impression of the New York businessman. Nine in 10 Hispanics say they have heard about Trump’s comments and, when read specific remarks, nearly 8 in 10 say they find them offensive…

Trump’s low ratings in the Univision poll closely reflect results from a recent Washington Post-ABC News poll, which found 81 percent of Hispanics giving an unfavorable rating…

Hispanics remain an overwhelmingly Democratic voting bloc, according to the new survey by Univision. Asked to identify themselves by party, just 16 percent of Hispanic voters describe themselves as Republicans, compared with 58 percent who say they are Democrats and 26 percent who say they are independent. Roughly 2 in 3 Hispanics say they have a favorable impression of the Democratic Party while a slight majority say they have an unfavorable impression of the Republican Party…

Six in 10 Hispanics say the Democratic Party’s overall position on immigration is in line with their own, while only 20 percent cite the GOP. The issue of the path to citizenship could provide motivation for some Hispanic voters in 2016. A slight majority (54 percent) say they are more likely to back a candidate who supports a path to citizenship or legal status.

Hispanic voters are also more aligned with Obama’s overture to Cuba and the effort to normalize relations than with widespread Republican opposition to the moves. Overall, 46 percent of Hispanics say the Cuba issue will not factor into their voting decision in 2016. But by a 2-1 margin, the others say they are more likely to support a candidate who favors normalization of relations.

The Univision poll was conducted June 12 to 25 among 1,400 Hispanic voters interviewed on conventional and cellular telephones.

The following is from PEW Research and describes the battleground before Trump. If the Hispanic vote moves from 73% in 2014 for Obama to 85% for the next Democrat candidate…

It’s all over but the whining.

 

Confederate Named Schools are Majority Minority!

Fun factoid. Next time a con mentions a street named after MLK…

Thousands Of Black Students Attend Schools Honoring Racist Leaders

All across the country, young African-American students attend schools that pay homage to those who fought to keep their people enslaved.

Following last month’s racially charged shooting at a historically black church in Charleston, South Carolina, there have been renewed calls to limit the display of the Confederate flag and rename public spaces named for Confederate leaders. At least 189 public schools around the country have names that memorialize Confederate soldiers, leaders or politicians, according to a Huffington Post analysis of National Center for Education Statistics data from the 2012-13 and 2013-14 school years….

We also looked at the demographics of the over 118,000 students in these schools, which includes a disproportionately high number of nonwhite students. More than half of students who attend schools named after Confederate leaders are black or Hispanic. About 22 percent of students who attend these schools are black and 29 percent are Hispanic.

Get the full story here…

 

Obama’s Secret Weapon – The Latino Vote

The one demographic which hasn’t traditionally turned out in large numbers is Hispanic voters. 2008 was an exception with Hispanic voters helping power Obama’s win. As such, looking at hstorical data – most of the national polls like Gallup undercount the number of Hispanic voters utilizing the “likely voter” model. Creating the situation – should there be a major turnout of Hispanic voters – most of the national polls will be wrong by 4 to possibly 12% if Pollster Nate Silver  of Five-Thirty-Eight is right.

Recent polling of Hispanic voters indicates that this may just be the case…

Even more interesting may be what this means in the down-ticket races. There is a possibility of some unexpected upsets of Republicans.

If you are Hispanic, and thinking about voting Republican…I have one word for you – Arizona. A vote for Romney empowers the Republicans in places like Arizona to take their campaign of ethnic hatred and domestic terrorism nationwide.  It is your children who are the losers in that.

Latino Excitement at Record Levels in US Election

Just over a week before the United States votes in a highly anticipated and historically tight presidential election, a new poll released Monday finds that interest by Latino voters has strengthened significantly over the past two months, and that turnout among Hispanics could be higher than the records set in 2008.

According to the latest impreMedia-Latino Decisions poll of registered Hispanic voters, 45 percent say they are more excited about the current election than they were for the 2008 election, when Barack Obama was elected. That number has gone up by eight percent over the past 10 weeks, when the poll was first taken.

Further, a full 87 percent of respondents say they would most likely be voting when national polling sites open on Nov. 6, with eight percent having already taken advantage of the early voting options made available in certain states. During the last presidential election, 84 percent of registered Latino voters cast ballots – far higher than the U.S. national turnout, of 57 percent, that same year.

The high levels of interest mean that Latinos will further cement the community’s importance in the current and, particularly, future election. Hispanics make up one of the single fastest-growing sectors of the U.S. population, with around 50,000 Latino youths currently becoming eligible to vote every month.

To date, they have tended to vote overwhelmingly for the Democratic Party. The prospect has reportedly led to existential debates within the Republican Party, which has seen its voter base – which skews older and whiter than the Democratic base – continue to shrink as a percentage of the overall voting public.

“The polls show that this year we can anticipate record participation among Latino voters,” Monica Lozano, the head of impreMedia, said Monday in a statement. “It looks like the ‘sleeping giant’ has woken up.”

The new numbers will receive particular scrutiny given the general lack of Spanish-language polling that has taken place during the campaign season, despite a massive amount of polling figures coming out on a daily basis.

In mid-October, the widely watched pollster Nate Silver suggested that the relative lack of Spanish-language respondents could increase Barack Obama’s figures by around a dozen percentage points, including in some of the most strongly contested “swing” states, such as Florida and Colorado, that will eventually decide the election.

Indeed, the strong new numbers will be particularly welcomed by Obama’s campaign, which has made the Latino vote a central pillar of its strategy. In an initially off-the-record interview released last week, Obama stated, “Since this is off the record, I will just be very blunt. Should I win a second term, a big reason … is because the Republican nominee and the Republican Party have so alienated the fastest-growing demographic group in the country, the Latino community.”

The president also noted that this “alienation” of Latinos by Republicans is a “relatively new phenomenon”. This is seen as referring to a host of new and pending laws enforcing voter identification requirements that many have suggested would impact particularly on Latino and other minority voters – typically strongholds for the Democratic Party.

According to a new report released last week by the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials (NALEO), “More than 100 years of virtually unchecked discrimination at the polls against Latino U.S. citizens” is now being compounded by a “significant added obstruction in the form of restrictive state voting laws … (that) will have a worse effect on the Latino electorate than on all voters.”

NALEO suggests that these new policies could negatively impact on around 219,000 Latino voters across the country this election, a number it calls a “conservative estimate”. Indeed, after the U.S. courts recently halted proceedings in several states planning to institute new voter ID laws, the report suggests that number would have been closer to 835,000.

Notably, a Republican state official has been caught on tape stating that such legislation was being enacted specifically in order to help the Republican challenger Mitt Romney’s chances of election.