Overbrook student and columnist's late mother among donors

$400,000 loan from diocese keeps doors open, donations still needed

"More than a church ... a refuge"

"My friend goes to that church and I wanted her to be able to keep going there"

By TIM CHÁVEZ
for HispanicNashville.com

For 6-year-old Elizabeth, the answer to the question about giving to save Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Church in Nashville was simple:

I wanted to send money because I wanted to help the church. I had saved money from the tooth fairy and from cleaning out the car so I wanted to help the people at the church. I know God would appreciate that. My friend goes to that church and I wanted her to be able to keep going there.

For 81-year-old Vita Hernandez Chávez, the answer was a matter of honoring a central figure of her faith and culture.

Mary the Mother of God, in her only appearance in this hemisphere, blessed this world with her presence over four days in December 1531 to an Indian man, Juan Diego. He had been widowed from his wife, cared for his sick uncle and survived the Spanish Conquest that butchered tens of thousands of indigenous people. St. Juan Diego also survived the local Aztecs, who sacrificed hundreds of thousands of lives for years in worship of a serpent God.

Into this evil, Our Lady of Guadalupe with her dark skin appeared at a hilltop wasteland five miles north of Mexico City.

She promised to be a protectress. And as Pope John Paul II noted almost five centuries later, her appearance was meant to unite the European and indigenous people. The Spaniards came to Mexico and the New World at the direction of Spain's Queen Isabella. And Vita as a Mexican-American was descended from Juan Diego and the indigenous people.

So within weeks of one another, Elizabeth from Overbrook School gave all she had, $7, and Vita from her Oklahoma City nursing home bed gave $7,000 -- both sums to keep open Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Church in Nashville. One inspired the other. And Europe and Mexico were united by Our Lady of Guadalupe according to John Paul's vision.

For the past 45 days, raising funds to save Our Lady's has been difficult approaching a June 30 deadline to pay off the church's debt in an economic recession. But the miraculous acts of giving like those of Elizabeth and Vita have inspired advocates onward.

Sunday, Father Fernando Garcia and parishoners of Our Lady's hosted Nashville, opening their doors Sunday afternoon to give tours and cook food for more than 100 Anglo brothers and sisters united by a love for Our Lady of Guadalupe and her son, Jesus Christ. One set of people had given and one set had of people received, and they showed off the marvelous things they have done with this investment. With their own sweat, they've refurbished the former Baptist church and molded young minds in the faith of generations since St. Juan Diego. Incredible.

And to see the pride on these Hispanic faces was priceless and worth so much more to the heart than the despair in fearful faces being deported and harrassed.

Sadly, Nashville's Big Three TV news media weren't present, at least from what I could see, and from watching early evening newscasts. How sad and telling. If an undocumented worker been arrested, or immigration officials had conducted another raid of a worpklace, or some fool in Spring Hill was protesting his son's class singing a national hymn in Spanish as a class project, or some silly politician and his narrow-minded friends propose a ridiculous referendum about the obvious of speaking English but the unnecessary hate of a mandate or someone had complained about Electrolux in Springfield hiring undocumented workers, then the stories would have led the newscasts..

Ironically, NewsChannel 5's anchor on Sunday was reporter Scott Arnold, who used several days of airtime to chronicle the wrongs of Electrolux and undocumented workers and their families on the pitiful souls of native folks in Springfield. Yet Arnold apparently couldn't bother to drive only a few miles to Our Lady's and bring a camera for a few seconds of Hispanics in a positive light on Sunday evening's newscast.

Positive news about Hispanics and amazing stories of giving across ethnicities aren't considered newsworthy. Instead, we have to hear about a Titan player being arrested for DUI and people being killed on a railroad and a Goodlettsville man stabbing his roommates.

God help us. No wonder people are deserting the mainstream news media. Mr. Arnold, people want stories of hope, and you and your colleagues missed a big story of hope -- and achievement over adversity -- Sunday afternoon. Don't complain that you didn't know. If you didn't know, then you are either not trusted by the Hispanic community to be fair or you're not interested in being connected to a people who live just a few miles from your station.

It is your viewers' great loss, because Elizabeth inspired Vita and vice versa. Elizabeth's Spanish teacher told her students about the plight of Our Lady's and Hispanic families in Nashville from reading my column on John Lamb's provocative website, the Hispanic Nashville Notebook. The column included mention of Vita's initial gift of $3,000 to Our Lady in honor of her marriage to Natalio Chavez more than five decades ago at a church of the same name in a Topeka, KS, barrio.

So on the last day of school, Elizabeth brought $7 from her piggybank and gave it to her teacher. Elizabeth left a lot of adults on the Dominican Campus in tears with the purity of her gift. In honoring Our Lady, she also answered Pope Benedict's appeal to Americans to protect our immigrant brothers and sisters.

Our Lady's in Nashville is the largest Catholic church in the diocese and Tennessee, says the Rev. Joe Pat Breen, pastor of nearby St. Edward Catholic Church. The good people of Our Lady's have contributed to save their church -- almost $75,000 -- while still supporting daily operations, staff and services to the community.

Parishoners at nearby St. Edward keep giving $3,000 to $4,000 per week for a total of more than $300,000 over the past year.

The effort to create Our Lady's is the dream of Father Breen. It was made possible through the generosity of the late Rev. Paul Durham's family that offered the land and buildings for less a third of their appraised value. Breen and Durham were good friends. Finally, it took the generosity of three local Catholics who put up the $1.5 million a year ago to allow time for fundraising. They've also paid an additional $70,000 in interest costs over the past 12 months. Those three Catholics come from St. Henry's, The Cathedral and Christ the King. They're being repaid so they can spread their giving to others in need.

Our Lady's is more than a church, or a "temple" as to the Holy Mother's wishes almost five centuries ago. It is a place of refuge for a people beset by politics and demonization from the heinous 287(g) deportation program enacted by Davidson County Sheriff Daron Hall and supported by U.S. Rep. Jim Cooper, Rep. Marsha Blackburn and Sen. Lamar Alexander.

Within Our Lady's walls, no one is a stranger and love and compassion are unconditional. As the greatest American in our history -- the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. -- said: "Anyone who lives inside the United States can never be considered an outsider anywhere within its bounds."

I realize my African-American brothers and sisters in Nashville know what it is like to mistreated and persecuted and your good news ignored by the mainstream news media. Let us join in our suffering and support one another in pursuit of justice for all. Perhaps we can do it in the upcoming general election. We'll come to your churches or host you in ours; we're united by the same God and cause.

For Our Lady's, we're still $400,000 short of the goal of $1.5 million to pay off the church's debt by June 30. Just to get to this point, besides the giving of Elizabeth and Vita, we have been very blessed. A stunning $100,000 donation came from St. Philip Catholic Church in Franklin and the good Father Kirk. Holy Family Catholic Church and the good Father Alberts in Brentwood gave $25,000 despite being in the middle of their own building project. God bless both congregations.

How that's for crossing county and ethnic lines as Our Lady of Guadalupe promised?

The good sisters at the Dominican Campus in Nashville have given $500. And they are the ones who are educating Elizabeth, besides her fine parents.

In these last seven days, we will be saying more prayers and asking for more miracles of giving. And we will remember Our Lady's words, as taken from the website www.guadalupeshrine.org:

Am I not here, I who am your mother? Are you not in my shadow, under my protection? Am I not the fountain of your joy? Are you not in the fold of my mantle, in my crossed arms? Is there anything else you need?

Father Breen has successfully talked with the diocese to make a loan available to Our Lady's after June 30. Technically, Our Lady's is now saved. But it is not the best situation. The good people at Our Lady's really do not earn enough for the church to pay for its operations and social services -- and pay off a $400,000 loan each month. That's why we are praying over these last seven days for more gifts from $7 to $7,000 to make the loan payment more affordable.

Catholic Charities under the leadership of Nashville attorney Gregg Ramos will be opening an office at Our Lady's. That's positive news to start these last seven days. In the coming week, we must not fail extraordinary people of faith such as Elizabeth, 6, and Vita, 81.

In the early morning hours of June 7, on her mother's birthday, Vita Hernandez Chavez slipped away in her sleep under the watch of Our Lady to be reunited with her three sisters and Mama in heaven. Her devotion was rewarded.

She is missed desperately by those who adored her, including me, her son. She remains a marvelous mother and friend, who got me involved in political writing.

Her faith and devotion to Our Lady also remain alive in Elizabeth, who by God's grace and loving parents has many more decades of giving to inspire.

With Vita gone on to her eternal reward, Elizabeth now looks to us and how we will respond to their gifts from the heart. For these two marvelous souls from different cultures but one love of God, please consider giving to Our Lady's and build on the miracles of hope and faith for a better Nashville and world.

(Tim Chávez was a political columnist for 10 years with The Tennnessean newspaper in Nashville. For the past five years, he has been a regular contributor of political commentary to Hispanic Link News Service in Washington, D.C. and distributed over the Scripps-Howard News Service. He publishes a new political blog, Political Salsa, at politicalsalsa.com)

FOR OUR LADY's and ELIZABETH and VITA:

* Go to www.stedward.org. On the left side of the home page is a box labeled "Our Lady's". Click there and you can view a presentation about the church. Or you can go directly to a credit card form to donate.

* If you want to use mail, send your contributions to St. Edward Catholic Church, 188 Thompson Lane, Nashville, TN 37211. On a bottom corner of the envelope, write "For Our Lady's".

* Checks should be made out to St. Edward Catholic Church but put "Our Lady of Guadalupe" in the "memo" part of the check.

* If you would like someone to come to your organization or place of worship to speak about Our Lady's and answer questions, please e-mail me at timchavez787@yahoo.com. I'll be there at any time, day or place, for Catholics or non-Catholics, believers or non-believers. All are good people.

* If you can't give, you have our prayers that God will bless you in your difficult times. Remember, Our Lady of Guadalupe is there for you, too.

Photo of Virgin by Chris Short. Licensed under Creative Commons.

Photo of Elizabeth courtesy of her mother Carolyn and also of Overbrook School; Photo of Vita Chávez courtesy of Tim Chávez

Labels: 287g, faith, spanish, statistics

Committee of Latino Parents highlights achievements of 200 students

Graduation rate the lowest among five racial and ethnic groups

"Not everyone wants you to succeed because you're Hispanic"

Lipscomb announces grants up to $22,000 for entering freshmen

The Tennessean reported here on last Saturday's graduation celebration for Hispanic students in an event hosted by the Comité de Padres Latinos (COPLA), [Committee of Latino Parents], a parents group focusing on communication with MNPS Latino parents. According to Metro Nashville Public Schools, more than 200 Hispanic students who graduated from high school this year were honored, along with their parents. The event was held at the Allen Arena of Lipscomb University, which announced at the event that it will offer grants of "up to $22,000 per student over a four-year period to Latino students who meet the university’s admissions criteria."

According to the Tennessean, "[d]uring the 2006-07 school year, 57.7 percent of eligible Hispanic students in Metro graduated high school, the lowest percentage among five racial and ethnic groups, including African-Americans and whites, district figures show. The school system's overall graduation rate last year was 70 percent."

Also, according to the Tennessean, "[i]n the last five years, the number of Hispanic students attending Metro schools nearly doubled, from 7.8 percent in 2003 to 13.3 percent last year."

The Tennessean quoted Overton grad Juan Camarena about his record after living in the U.S. for only three years:

"I consider it to be an achievement to be Hispanic and graduate with a 3.98 GPA. I moved here three years ago," he said.

"It was hard, coming here with a struggle of leaving your country and getting adapted to a new culture. This is the land of dreams. I came here to find my interpretation of the American Dream."

Also quoted was Thriane "Triana" Lopez of Glencliff:

"Sometimes you feel like it's hard to graduate because not everyone wants you to succeed because you're Hispanic. I see it all the time."

For more stories on statistics or education, click on the "Stories About" links in the left-hand column of this page.

From Metro Nashville Public Schools:

The community stakeholders working with COPLA for this year’s event included the Nashville Area Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, Lipscomb University, Harding Place Family YMCA-Hispanic Achievers, Conexión Américas, Prevent Child Abuse of Middle Tennessee, Spanish-TV, Tennessee Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and other community organizations.

Guest speakers were Mayor Karl Dean, attorney Gregg Ramos, Pastor Tommy Vallejos and others.

A reception was held following the ceremony, with food provided by members of the Nashville Area Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and live entertainment by Son Latino and Maria Benham.

COPLA was organized two years ago to help build relationships with the parents of Hispanic students, who comprise more than 14% of the district’s student population. The organization meets monthly to share information and resources available to Spanish-speaking families, as well as develop ways to educate families on the important role of parental involvement in student success.

From Lipscomb University:

Lipscomb University will begin offering grants of up to $22,000 per student over a four-year period to Latino students who meet the university’s admissions criteria, Lipscomb President L. Randolph Lowry announced Saturday at the Comité de Padres Latinos (Committee of Latino Parents or COPLA) Hispanic Student Graduation Celebration held in Allen Arena.

“The Latino population in our region is growing daily and more than 26,000 Latino students are already enrolled in the Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools alone. Access to the best higher education opportunities is vital to the success of the Latino community and our region, and Lipscomb is pleased to take the lead in providing that access,” Lowry said.

The Hispanic Achievers University Grants program is the second initiative Lipscomb has established this year to reach out to Latino students. In the spring the university established the Saint Thomas Health Services Nursing Advantage Scholarships for Hispanic nursing students.

More than 14 percent of Nashville’s public school students are Latino, and according to the Nashville Chamber of Commerce’s 2008 Workforce Study, 83 percent of new Hispanic residents arriving in Nashville between 2000 and 2006 were either prime working age adults (25-44) or children under age 14.

So the city has a large population of strong, motivated Latino students and potential students who one day will become valuable employees and leaders in the community. But a great many of these students do not make it to college due to their financial situation and cultural upbringing. A survey of local colleges listed on www.collegeboard.com found only one local college with a Hispanic student population above 3 percent.

“Lipscomb University has established the new Hispanic Achievers grants to let these students know they are welcome at Lipscomb and we want to help them achieve their dream of a college education,” Lowry said.

Admissions criteria for Lipscomb freshman are a grade point average of 2.5 or better, an ACT score of 21 or higher (or equivalent on the SAT) and strong educational and personal references.

“We have honor roll students and National Honor Society students in our program who sit in our office crying because they can’t go to college,” said Jessie Garcia Van De Griek, director of the Hispanic Achievers program at the Harding Place Family YMCA. Hispanic Achievers helps middle and high school students to develop leadership skills and prepares them for college through school clubs, tutoring and one-on-one assistance in applying for college.

“For Lipscomb to come in and tell these students ‘We are going to join arms with you and make this dream happen’ gives us such a rush of happiness because we can now give our students something tangible to inspire hope. We can tell them that this grant can help make a future education possible.”

According to the Tennessee Higher Education Commission 2007-08 Fact Book, the Latino student population in Tennessee’s public colleges has increased by 1,599 students (or 74.2 percent) from 1997 to 2007. But Latinos still make up a very small percentage, less than 7 percent, of the student population at public universities.

Van De Griek says her program has about 40 students this year who have applied to local colleges including Lipscomb University.

“COPLA understands education is the key for our young people to succeed,” said Ernestina Gonzalez, chair of COPLA, a parents group focusing on communication between the Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools and Latino parents. “For this reason, we are extremely happy that prestigious universities such as Lipscomb support the talent of our Hispanic students. On behalf of the Hispanic community in Davidson County, COPLA is very grateful for this support.”

Low incomes and lack of knowledge about the college admissions process and available scholarships are the biggest obstacles to Latino students entering college, Van De Griek said. “We spend a lot of time researching scholarships across the country that our students are eligible for. Nationwide there is $30 million in scholarship funds designated for minority students, but much of it goes unclaimed because students don’t know it is available,” she said.

By announcing the new Hispanic Achievers grants at the COPLA event, Lipscomb hoped to boost awareness of this new opportunity among Nashville students and to change their mentality to a college-bound mindset, said Lipscomb’s Director of Admissions Ricky Holaway, who has worked with the YMCA’s Hispanic Achievers program to enroll students.

“This lack of awareness has been a major obstacle for many low-income families in the Latino population,” said Wendy Chavira, researcher and associate director of operations at the Tomás Rivera Policy Institute, which compiles a directory of scholarships for Latino students. “Students need the drive to apply for each scholarship opportunity, because there's not one form to fill out. Each scholarship has its own application. But the effort is well worth it.”

For those interested in applying for the Hispanic Achievers University Grants, contact the Lipscomb University Admissions Office at 615.966.1000 or log on to www.golipscomb.com.

Hat Tip: Fabian Bedne

Photo by Charline. Licensed under Creative Commons.

Labels: education, statistics

"Here without authority" once applied to "free Negroes" in Nashville

WKRN reported here that the U.S. Border Patrol is recruiting in Nashville this week and is particularly interested in African-Americans, acknowledging that only 1.5% of 16,000 agents are African-American, and of those, only eight are women.

At the Jefferson Street Missionary Baptist Church, the comment was rightly made that "because it's a federal agency it should represent the population as far as who they hire."

There is no mention, however, of the irony of Nashville African-Americans telling people to stay out, especially in light of

• the Nashville sit-ins, in which African-Americans were arrested for going where they were told it was illegal for them to be, with then-Mayor Ben West saying,

  As God is my helper, the law is going to be enforced in Nashville;

• this comment made in Nashville at the 1871 State Convention of the Colored Citizens of Tennessee:

  But we will gladly hail all voluntary free labor to elevate the laborer, whether from Europe, Asia, Africa or the West Indies, and extend a brother hand to secure him in his liberty the right to his toil and to uphold this government upon equality....;

• and this 1856 Davidson County resolution ordering magistrates and constables in each civil district to

  serve legal notice on all free Negroes within such district to leave the state, who are here without authority.

Photo by cobalt. Licensed under Creative Commons.

Labels: history, justice, statistics

Thirteen lose their lives behind CCA walls, some cases never previously made public

"Basic standards of decency and fairness... means lifting the veil"

If you have a loved one who was born outside the U.S. and is not yet a citizen here, please read the front-page Monday New York Times article about deaths in immigrant detention. If you live in Nashville, not only are your tax dollars paying to incarcerate non-criminals in some cases, but the name of your corporate neighbor Corrections Corporation of America is part of the story. And it's not the first time CCA's connection to the federal immigration bureaucracy enforcement is the subject of major media scrutiny. Just two months ago, the New Yorker put the spotlight on CCA for its former prison facilities which now house ordinary children and their families. And to my knowledge, this streak of bad press about a Nashville corporate citizen has still not been the subject of any investigative journalism in the Nashville papers, either in a story about CCA itself or in the context of the nomination of CCA in-house counsel Gus Puryear to the federal bench.

Put yourself or your loved one in the shoes of the detained immigrants and families featured in these stories.

Here are excerpts from Monday's front-page article:

Mr. Bah’s relatives never saw the internal records labeled “proprietary information — not for distribution” by the Corrections Corporation of America, which runs the New Jersey detention center for the federal government.
...
Four days after the fall, tipped off by a detainee who called Mr. Bah’s roommate in Brooklyn, relatives rushed to the detention center to ask Corrections Corporation employees where he was.

“They wouldn’t give us any information,” said Lamine Dieng, an American citizen who teaches physics at Bronx Community College and is married to Mr. Bah’s cousin Khadidiatou.
...
The Public Health Service did not respond to questions, and the Corrections Corporation said medical decisions were the responsibility of the Public Health Service.
...
Four sons in another family, in Sacramento, described trying for days to get medical care for their father, Maya Nand, a 56-year-old legal immigrant from Fiji, at a detention center run by the Corrections Corporation in Eloy, Ariz.

From an article focusing on the Nand family:

Mr. Nand, a legal immigrant from Fiji who was diabetic, had been calling his family with mounting desperation over a 10-day period, the sons said. Already ailing when he was abruptly taken into custody at the family’s home in Sacramento early in the morning of Jan. 13, 2005, he had deteriorated after a week at the Arizona detention center, which is run for the federal government by Corrections Corporation of America, a publicly traded prison company.
...
Asked about Mr. Nand’s treatment, Corrections Corporation officials said in a written statement that he had been medically screened when he arrived at the Eloy center, seen and treated “multiple times” by its medical staff, and taken to a hospital. According to a government list of deaths in immigration custody, Mr. Nand was one of five detainees to die at Eloy within a 26-month period; none of the deaths have previously been brought to public attention.

From another article in the series:

Privately run centers had 32 percent of the deaths, even though they housed only 19 percent of detainees over all, according to Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

There are more than 300 detention centers around the country, but one private operator, the Corrections Corporation of America, had 13 deaths in its centers...

From the New York Times editorial on the series:

The government urgently needs to bring the detention system up to basic standards of decency and fairness. That means lifting the veil on detention centers — particularly the private jails and the state prisons and county jails that take detainees under federal contracts — and holding them to the same enforceable standards that apply to prisons.

Labels: business, immigrants, justice, statistics

Tennessee was first state with seat belt law in 1978

72% of U.S. parents do not use car seats correctly

The Tennessean reports here that the Metro Nashville Police Department and St. Edwards Catholic Church are teaming up to provide car seat education to Hispanic members of the St. Edwards and Our Lady of Guadalupe congregations.

According to this article in the Murfreesboro Post, before 1978 there were no U.S. state laws requiring seat belt use, and Tennessee was the first state to pass one:

More than 30 years ago, Dr. Robert Sanders of Murfreesboro became a passionate advocate for child safety and led the effort to protect children while riding in automobiles. Senator Douglas Henry, the late Representative John Bragg and former Representative Mike Murphy sponsored legislation to make Tennessee the first state to require the use of safety seats for child passengers. The law became effective on January 1, 1978.

The Murfreesboro Post article also states that, nationwide, "72% of parents are not using car seats correctly."

Photo by Liam Ryan. Licensed under Creative Commons.

Labels: education, faith, statistics

Bear-trap bureaucracy sparks statewide outpouring of support

One hour of silence and prayer

"Sold to the public as a way to take dangerous criminals off the streets"

No criminal charges

The Tennessean reported here that women from the recent immigration raids in Chattanooga are being held in Nashville awaiting possible deportation. According to this web page produced by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the detained Chattanooga women are held and will be processed for deportation without being charged with a crime.


Source: U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement
Davidson County public defender Ivan Lopez was quoted in this front-page article in the Tennessean on Sunday as saying that a Nashville-ICE partnership program called 287(g) "was sold to the public as a way to take dangerous criminals off the street" but that "[i]n reality, what's happening is you are breaking up families." The 287(g) program and the Chattanooga raids have in common that ordinary people are being put through extraordinary suffering, primarily for regular work that has been made into an outlaw act.

The detentions are another example of how our immigration system isn't broken; it's a fully functioning bear trap for ordinary immigrants (see stories here and here).

A vigil for the detained women and their families will be held on Tuesday outside the Nashville detention center on Harding Place, in coordination with other vigils in Chattanooga and Memphis. Details about the vigils from the Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition (TIRRC):

VIGILS TO BE HELD ON TUESDAY, APRIL 29th in CHATTANOOGA, NASHVILLE, and MEMPHIS

Join us as we stand in solidarity with the workers affected by these inhumane acts.
Click here for more information

As many of you know, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) performed major raids across the country on April 16th, including one in Chattanooga, Tennessee. The raid in Tennessee—at a "Pilgrim's Pride" Poultry Processing plant—resulted in the arrest of 156 immigrants.

The raids have devastated Chattanooga's immigrant community, and have sent shock waves across the region.

Men in Georgia—women in Nashville. While it should be noted that 32 women who were identified as mothers were released on Thursday, families have still been torn apart and are struggling to reconnect. Immigrant rights groups across the region are attempting to assimilate a complete list of the workers detained. However, many workers are still missing and their locations remain unknown.

“The raids in the poultry processing plants in the southeast are disheartening and immoral. Even worse is the breaking up of families. We will pray for these women and their families."

Rev. Jeannie Hunter, Associate Pastor of the Second Presbyterian Church.

“All workers and their families deserve being treated with dignity. The workers who are detained are victims of the employers and the broken immigration system. It is the federal immigration system that needs to be held accountable. The workers need their rights protected. ”

Megan Macaraeg with Jobs with Justice

Vigil for Worker Rights and Dignity
"All labor that uplifts humanity has dignity." Martin Luther King, Jr.

Vigils will be held in Memphis, Chattanooga, and Nashville.

Click here for printable flier.

When: Tuesday, April 29--- 6:00-7:00pm

Where: Harding Detention Facility (5115 Harding Place, Nashville TN 37211) where five women from Chattanooga raids are being held.


Join us as we stand on the sidewalk in silence and in prayer for an an hour. Organizers will provide signs with the MLK quote.
All people deserve to be treated with dignity.

Information on the Chattanooga and Memphis vigils will be available shortly.

Vigils, Forums, and Organizing has been made possible thanks to the hard work of the following organizations and individuals:
THANK YOU

Justice for Our Neighbors

The Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund (MALDEF)—Elise Shore

La Paz de Dios—Sylvia Rangel and Stacy Johnson

St. Andrew's Center—Mike Feely

Coalicion de Lideres Latinos—America Gruner

ACLU of Tennessee—Tricia Herzfeld

The Steel Workers Union

Jobs with Justice

The many immigration attorneys throughout the state and beyond who have offered their advice and assistance throughout this emergency.

All the individuals who have given their time and energy towards helping the familes affected by the raids.

Labels: 287g, events, faith, immigrants, justice, statistics

287(g) program called a "clumsy tool," hurts integration

Dangerous criminal offenses are not the main cause for deportation under the Davidson County Sheriff's Office's year-old program to enforce immigration law - called "287(g)." Here is an excerpt from last year's interview with Davidson County Sheriff Daron Hall by the Hispanic Nashville Notebook:

HNN: Will there be any evaluation of whether 287(g) catches more dangerous criminals than ordinary immigrants, or vice versa? Would you be able to guess now what those statistics would look like?

Davidson County Sheriff Daron Hall: I won’t predict what any stats will look like, but we do plan to keep extensive, detailed statistics.

Here is the news from an article in the Tennessean today:

[A]ccording to statistics from the Davidson County Sheriff's Office, about 80 percent of those processed for deportation hearings were arrested on misdemeanor charges. Of those, about 40 percent were arrested on traffic offenses such as driving without a license.
...
Catalina Nieto, public awareness coordinator for the Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition, said that she commends any program that removes dangerous criminals from the streets but that the screening program is a "clumsy tool" to do that.

Although many bemoan the failure of certain immigrants to integrate, one of Nieto's colleagues pointed out in today's Nashville City Paper that 287(g) is one of the many citizen-led programs that has led to increased, not decreased, isolation of immigrants:

“This program has had a very chilling effect on the immigrant community and immigrant community members are much less willing to interact with the broader community,” said Stephen Fotopulos, policy director for the Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition.

Photo by Christine. Licensed under Creative Commons.

Labels: 287g, immigrants, justice, statistics

"hang [expletive] high"

2004: "We have drawn lines between 'our children' and 'their children'"

Williamson County's Poplar Grove Middle School, described in 2004 as the least diverse school in its district, is now the subject of community concern because of racist graffiti on a bathroom wall, according to this WSMV story. Before it was removed by school officials (some say too slowly), the graffiti depicted a noose next to these words:

hang [expletive] high

According to SchoolDigger.com, in 2006 Poplar Grove had 328 caucasian, 36 African-American, 21 Hispanic, 8 Asian, and 2 American Indian students.

From February 2004:

"Poplar Grove's diversity task force hit the ground running last week in an attempt to get minority families to apply to the open-zoned, year-round school beginning today."

"The Franklin Special School District Board of Education decided earlier this month not to zone the K-8 school as it rezoned the rest of its elementary schools to even out the percentage of students from minority and low-income backgrounds. The board also required that Poplar Grove recruit at least 50 minority students in the next two years to its kindergarten class or face possible zoning. That meant that the task force needed to work fast because today is the first day the school is accepting applications for next fall. The deadline for applications is March 5."

From March 2004:

"In recent weeks, it has become evident to us as a community that lines are drawn here too. There are lines between rich and poor and still others between white, black and Hispanic. We have drawn lines between 'our children' and 'their children.' At times, such as when the Franklin Special School District board expressed its commitment to equality, it seemed we would reach for the higher plane. Then at other times, the cry of 'my child' reached such deafening proportions we could no longer hear the cry of the child down the street, or the child across town."

"Moments of bitter disappointment followed those of shining hope. In the end, not much changed. Although a few neighborhoods have been rezoned, Liberty Elementary will begin next year with most of the overwhelming challenges they faced in this one. Poplar Grove remains untouched except for the monumental challenge to diversify in the next two years."

"While some parents breathed a sigh of relief, others breathed a sigh of discouragement. Perhaps the most marked difference is that now some of us realize with new awareness, and possibly for the first time, just how divided we are. As we gaze into that ugly reality, we wonder how we can possibly mend the divide."

From March 2004:

"Poplar Grove is the [Franklin Special School District]'s only open-zoned, year-round school. It is also the least diverse school in the system. Last month the board voted to rezone its other four elementary schools in an effort to spread out the diversity but left Poplar Grove open-zoned under the stipulation that it enroll at least 50 minority students in the kindergarten class over the next two years."

"If the school cannot attract that many minority students, board members have said they will zone it."

"Once [Principal Christi] Buell knows how many of her existing students are returning next year and how many of their siblings will enroll in kindergarten, she will begin admitting new students. The top consideration for admission after siblings is minority status."

From July 2004:

"The incoming kindergarten class at Poplar Grove - which registered for classes Friday - will be the most diverse in the history of the Franklin Special School District's only year-round school."

"This year, the kindergarten class has 28% minorities, said Principal Christi Buell. That is out of a class of 100 students. Eleven percent of those students are African American, 11% are Hispanic, 3% are Asian, 3% classify themselves as other types of minorities and 72% are white."

"Last year, instead of drawing up an attendance zone for the for-choice school to get it more in line with the rest of the district's minority numbers, the school board decided to give the school two years to recruit at least 25 minority students to kindergarten. This year's numbers show that goal has been reached ahead of the deadline."

Graffiti in gas station restroom on I-65

"Ignore this text" photo by Johnny Vulkan. Licensed under Creative Commons.

"What is an American" photo by John Lamb.

Labels: education, negativity, statistics

Same number as June 2006

English learners are 2.1% of public school students statewide

Language acquisition in Metro is twice as fast as in other districts

This article in the Tennessean reports that "a quarter of the entire state's non-English-speaking students are in Metro," which is the same number reported here by the Nashville City Paper in 2006. The latest figures reported on the Hispanic Nashville Notebook are that 2.1% of Tennesssee public school students are new to English. Hispanic students, not all of whom are immigrants or English-learners, make up 3.2% of the student body state-wide.

Middle Tennessee has had great success with its transitional English classes for students, with a graduation rate to mainstream classes that is double what is found in other school districts, according to this 2006 report in the Hispanic Nashville Notebook.

Photo by Judy Baxter. Licensed under Creative Commons.

Labels: education, english, statistics

Public schools educate all students regardless of visa or citizenship status

"We're still accountable for their test scores"

U.S. citizen children among the "vanished"

Students described as scared and distrustful

Unfinished gingerbread house

Enforcement of immigration law is encouraging citizen and immigrant absences from school, according to this article in the Tennessean. The resulting truancy problem among Hispanic children - regardless of visa or citizenship status - who may have remained in the area and may to return to school at a later date, has been identified by officials in Springfield, Robertson County.

The article quotes Joyce McAllister, a Spanish interpreter at Cheatham Park Elementary, who decribes her Hispanic students as "scared" and "distrustful." She also recounts the story of a child whisked away by her parents while she was building a gingerbread house. Excerpts from the article:

Nearly 11 percent of its Hispanic students have vanished since December, and school officials worry that if they don't return soon, they will be too far behind to succeed on upcoming achievement tests. The 10,500-student district is in under state watch for failing to educate pockets of children, including non-English speakers.

Of the district's 768 Hispanic students, about 60 have formally withdrawn since before winter break, and administrators can't account for an additional 25 to 30, school officials said.

"Thus far, I'm not aware of anyone who has left and re-enrolled," said Danny Weeks, assistant director of Robertson County schools. "We are very concerned about what would happen if these students were to stay away and, assuming they didn't have any education, come back. We're still accountable for their test scores."

Public schools are required by a U.S Supreme Court decision to educate all students regardless of their immigration status, and they don't report that status to law enforcement.

Springfield pastor Guadalupe Ramirez, who leads La Iglesia del Fuente de Redencion congregation (The Fountain of Redemption Church), said many of the children who moved are U.S. citizens because they were born here. He doesn't think they will be back anytime soon.

"If the parents have no work, they have no reason to stay," he said. "If they take these kids back to Mexico, they're going to grow up there, and when they're the right age to come back, they'll miss their whole education that America provides to all kids."

Maury County experienced a similar crackdown on illegal immigration last year that led to at least two dozen arrests, but school officials there say they haven't seen a dramatic drop among Hispanic students.

Classroom photo by Melinda Taber. Licensed under Creative Commons.

Labels: education, immigrants, statistics

Small group of vicious criminals brought down by racketeering charge

80-90% drop in activity

One percent of one percent of population

"The Latino community was very helpful"

The Nashville City Paper reported here that the arrest of fourteen MS-13 or Mara Salvatrucha gang members has nearly wiped out that group in Nashville, and that the impact of the arrests will be felt nationwide. According to this press release, the men were indicted by a federal grand jury on just one racketeering charge related to murder and other violent crimes in Nashville.

Jim Cavanaugh with the ATF (Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms) told NewsChannel5 here that the MS-13 gang is not representative of the Hispanic population:

MS 13 makes up one percent of one percent of the Latino community in Nashville.

Cavanaugh said in another Nashville City Paper story that cooperation from the Hispanic members of the Nashville community helped the ATF and the Nashville police with the investigation:

The Latino community was very helpful ... The gang members certainly weren’t helpful, but they are a very, very small percentage of the Latino community in this city. Now, those who stepped forward can see the results.

More from the City Paper:

Almost a year ago, 14 members of the brutally violent El Salvadorian gang La Mara Salvatrucha, or MS-13, were indicted on racketeering charges stemming from at least three murders, seven attempted murders and a rash of violence in Nashville.

Three of the 14 have been sentenced in the last two months, receiving 19- and 20-year sentences for their involvement in the attempted murders of rival gang members and a confidential informant.

Special Agent Jim Cavanaugh with the Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) said this is a significant step for Nashville, and more importantly, for the country.

“It’s significant that we got these long sentences for these violent gang members,” Cavanaugh said. “It’s very significant for Nashville and really for the country that we got these long sentences on these gangs members.”
...
This case in Nashville is only one of two cases nationally that’s slowed down the gang’s criminal activity.
...
One Metro Police gang expert said the indictment has curbed the criminal activity in Nashville among the Hispanic population, mainly because almost all members of the group here were included in the indictment.

“As far as the crime within the Hispanic gangs, it’s cut down, I’d say, 80 to 90 percent,” said Sgt. Gary Kemper of the Metro Police Gang unit.

The case is being prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney's office, with the Criminal Division’s Gang Squad of the Department of Justice. Assistance was provided by agents and prosecutors from the National Gang Targeting, Enforcement and Coordination Center (GangTECC). GangTECC is led by the Criminal Division, and is comprised of representatives from the ATF, Bureau of Prisons, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the FBI, the U.S. Marshals Service and ICE, among others.

Photo by Eylem Başak Ekinci. Licensed under Creative Commons.

Labels: el salvador, justice, statistics

From The Tennessean:

Charlotte Park Elementary — 11 percent Asian, 41 percent African-American, 25 percent Hispanic, 1 percent Native American and 22 percent white

Photo by Claude Covo-Farchi. Licensed under Creative Commons.

Labels: education, statistics

The Tennessean reported here that 8.9% of Metro suspensions last year were of Hispanic students.

For more on statistics or education, click on the links for education or statistics above.

Photo by Eduardo. Licensed under Creative Commons.

Labels: education, statistics

"Culturally sensitive, thoughtful continuous care on the front end can save a lot of money for the city of Nashville in the longterm."

WKRN reports here on Nashville's Siloam Family Health Center, which provides healthcare to refugees who have come to Nashville from over 100 countries:

Of the nation’s 100 largest metropolitan areas, Nashville, Tennessee ranks number one in the number of new immigrants.
...
The staff at the south Nashville clinic work hard to make sure Nashville’s newest residents feel welcome, but don't become a healthcare burden.
...
It is not an easy task, especially when you consider people from over 100 different countries come through their doors.
...
Dr. Wills said, "By keeping people as much as we can out of emergency rooms, out of operating rooms when that can be avoided. So, culturally sensitive, thoughtful continuous care on the front end can save a lot of money for the city of Nashville in the longterm."
...
Siloam is seen as a model for other cities in dealing with the healthcare of immigrant and refugee populations.

Labels: faith, health, statistics

Commissioner adds to "White House"/"Brown House" record of negative comments about Hispanics in general from local officials

"The argument has shifted from undocumented Latino immigrants to the general population of Latinos"

Maury County County Commissioner Bob Farmer is now on record with two negative comments about Hispanics in general, according to the Columbia Daily Herald:

At the February meeting when the [county immigration agent] resolution was introduced, Farmer told The Daily Herald he wasn’t concerned an enforcement officer would result in undue harassment of Hispanics.

“It’s just like Ivory soap — 99.99 percent of them are here illegally,” Farmer said.

Farmer's other comment denoting negativity toward Hispanics in general was the "White House-Brown House" quip caught earlier this year by The Tennessean, in the same context. These two comments are part of a growing list of negative remarks about Hispanics expressed by public servants across the state.

The assertion that almost all of Hispanics as "here illegally" recalls the sentiment published here earlier this week by Latina Lista, namely, that "unfounded stories making their way across the media illustrate how the argument has shifted from undocumented Latino immigrants to the general population of Latinos."

As reported earlier on the Hispanic Nashville Notebook, 46% of all Hispanics in Tennessee were born in the U.S. (story here). To get the total number of Hispanics who are here legally, you would have to add to that 46% the number of Hispanics who are not U.S. citizens but who have legal visas.

Photo by Anita Bezanson. Licensed under Creative Commons.

Labels: immigrants, justice, negativity, statistics

In this article about school zoning, the Tennessean reported that Hispanic students in Metro represent 14% of the total population:

Districtwide, African-American students make up 48 percent of the student enrollment, white students 34 percent and Hispanic students 14 percent of the district's 74,600 students.

Photo by Agur. Licensed under Creative Commons.

Labels: education, statistics

Vandy: 5.7% of undergrads

TSU: 1% of student body

UT-Knoxville: 1.7% of incoming class

update 11/25/07: Colby Sledge points out Austin Peay State University's on-campus Hispanic Cultural Center, "which offers help for Spanish majors and Hispanic students and organizes events like Spanish-language movie nights. " Austin Peay has 413 Hispanic students, which comes to 4.7% of the student body of 8,600.

The Tennessean published this article about the efforts of Tennessee universities to attract Hispanic college students, who are not flocking to the state in large numbers:

Universities across the state are beginning to recruit Hispanics in an attempt to diversify their student bodies. Hispanic college students in Tennessee consistently number fewer than their African-American classmates — and often Asian students, as well — even though Hispanics are the most numerous minority in the nation. ...

Vanderbilt saw its Hispanic undergraduate enrollment rise from 339 students last year to 362 this semester [out of a total of 6400 undergraduates].

Tennessee State University recruiter Jose Vazquez arrived at the school about a year ago partially to attract Hispanics, including adult nontraditional students.

Hispanics make up about 1 percent of students at the historically black university. Nearly twice as many Asian/ Pacific Islander students attend the school. ...

Belmont University officials also have increased recruitment efforts in the Nashville Hispanic community though hosting events with the YMCA's Hispanic Achievers program, as well as an annual Latin street festival on campus. ...

At the University of Tennessee-Knoxville, officials are planning recruitment programs targeting Hispanics, including campus visits geared exclusively to Hispanics, spokeswoman Amy Blakely said.

This year, UT's freshman class included 73 Hispanics, or 1.7 percent of the school's incoming class.

Photo by Paul Chenoweth

Labels: education, statistics

Somewhere between Barcelona and Omaha in magazine ranking

"There is energy generated by outsiders fitting in"

The Tennessean reports here that "Nashville is on the verge of joining cultural giants like Barcelona, Spain, and Miami, Fla., as a global culture center." The story analyzes Nashville's mention in the July issue of Fast Company magazine and its ranking of "fast" cities.

The Tennessean quotes the executive editor of Fast Company as saying that, "[a]s a culture center, you must have the ability to attract and retain a cultural energy, and there Nashville has real buzz." Hammond is also quoted as saying that Music City ranks 36th out of 330 U.S. cities for "tolerance":

The tolerance score also looked at Nashville's mix of gays, foreign-born residents and people in interracial marriages, along with how well other races and ethnicities are integrated into the city.

There is energy generated by outsiders fitting in, the magazine said.

The list of cities who nearly missed the top (where Omaha and Nashville appear side-by-side) is here, and the Fast Company "fastest cities" who made the cut are here.

Labels: statistics

941% jump tops all but three other states

U.S. Census shows 172,704 Hispanic residents of Tennessee in 2005; 39% increase since 2000

The Tennessean reports here that Hispanic Tennesseans, nearly half of whom are U.S. citizens (story here), have seen their income as a group increase nearly ten times over 1990 levels:

The state's 941 percent leap in disposable income among Hispanic residents since 1990 was the third-fastest growth rate among all 50 states for Latinos.... The percentage was three times higher than the U.S. average for Hispanics, the study said....

The study, called The Multicultural Economy, said gains in disposable income among Hispanics are linked hand-in-glove with population growth and fresh waves of immigration. In Tennessee, the Hispanic population was reported in U.S. Census data as 172,704 people in 2005, a gain of 39 percent when compared with five years earlier.

Photo by Brent Moore

Labels: immigrants, statistics

"Amnesty" is a red herring

Update 8:55 pm 5/24/07: a NYT/CBS News poll reveals the same sentiment: "Taking a pragmatic view on a divisive issue, a large majority of Americans want to change the immigration laws to allow illegal immigrants to gain legal status and to create a new guest worker program to meet future labor demand, the poll found."

From an op-ed in the Washington Post:

As usual, those yelling "amnesty" are the loudest voices. But they are increasingly out of sync with the public on immigration. Poll after poll in the past year shows 60 to 85 percent of voters in favor of an overhaul that would allow illegal immigrants to earn their way to citizenship by meeting certain requirements -- generally far less stringent requirements than those in the Senate compromise, which includes a $5,000 fine, at least a 13-year wait and a trip back to the immigrant's country of origin.

More striking still, even many voters who consider earned citizenship "amnesty" so badly want the immigration problem solved that they no longer care about the label. According to the Tarrance Group and Lake Research Partners, 33 percent of the public think earned citizenship is "the same as amnesty." But a full 62 percent of even these people support the program anyway, compared with 29 percent who oppose it. In other words, less than one-third of one-third of Americans -- just under 10 percent -- agree with the talk-radio hosts screaming "amnesty" to block an overhaul.

Photo by Gene Hunt

Labels: immigrants, justice, statistics

From the City Paper: Thirteen percent (13%) of new U.S. citizens in a September 2006 ceremony in Nashville were from Latin America. Almost half of Tennesseans with Latin American heritage are U.S. citizens (story here).

From the Edison Research country music survey: Garth Brooks is popular with thirteen percent (13%) of Hispanics age 12-49 (see page 19 of the Edison Media Research report).

Photo by Morgan Tepsic

Labels: arts, statistics

37,500

From The Tennessean:

"In 1990, there were fewer than 5,000 Hispanic people in the city, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. By 2005, the Hispanic population had increased more than seven times, hovering around 37,500 that year, Census numbers show."

Immigrants in Nashville, however, totalled 18,000 in 1990 and 84,000 today, according to last week's numbers roundup. The numbers for Hispanics and for immigrants are different because (1) not all immigrants are Hispanic, and (2) not all Hispanics are immigrants - almost half of all Hispanics in Tennessee were born in the U.S.

65,000 / 140,000 (again)

From the Financial Times:

"The US currently limits visas for skilled foreign workers to 65,000 a year, while the number of green cards, required for permanent resident status is limited to 140,000 a year."

The NYT gave that same 140,000 number for the number of employment-based visas available each year (see last week's numbers roundup) which is consistent with this State Department web site (note the requirements for the visas; not everyone can get one.) The 65,000 number appears to be the H-1B category cap (see this interview aboard Air Force One). There is also a country-specific cap: no single country is allowed more than 7 percent of the total visas (see Commerce Secretary Gutierrez' speech).

Not all of the available and applied-for employment visas are issued, however, according to this House report, which said that in 1999 the U.S. issued "less than 40,000 visas because of INS processing delays although demand was much greater."

Photo by Charles Wagner

Labels: statistics

33 / 66

From Meharry Medical College's Nathaniel C. Briggs, M.D.:

"[A]mong Mexican American Hispanics, seat belt use was 33 percent more prevalent than among non-Hispanic whites. And Central American-South American Hispanics were 66 percent more likely to use seat belts than non-Hispanic whites."

8 to 15

From Vanderbilt University's Joni Hersch

"[I]mmigrants with the lightest skin color earned, on average, 8 percent to 15 percent more than immigrants with the darkest skin tone."

84,000 / 8,700 / 80

from the Tennessean

"The Nashville area's immigrant population has grown from fewer than 18,000 people in 1990 to an estimated 84,000 today. Foreign-born people make up 7 percent of the metro area's population, up from 2 percent in 1990."

"Spanish-only households — in which no adult can easily communicate in English — jumped more than 15-fold, from fewer than 600 homes in 1990 to nearly 8,700 today."

"[T]he Nashville area remains 80 percent white and overwhelmingly English-speaking..."

140,000 / 5

From the New York Times:

There are "only 140,000 employment-based visas are available each year; skilled workers wait 5 years for one."

19.8 - 18.9 = 0.9

Elsewhere in the New York Times:

"[I]f statistics are any guide, Mrs. Lara has a long life ahead of her, longer than would be expected if she were black or a native-born white woman. It is called the Hispanic paradox, and it is one of the most puzzling discoveries in research on aging."

"For example, a recent analysis by Irma T. Elo, a demographer at the University of Pennsylvania, indicates that a 65-year-old white woman will live, on average, an additional 18.9 years. But a 65-year-old Hispanic woman who immigrated to the United States will live an additional 19.8 years, a significant difference."

"The longevity difference persists even though Hispanic immigrants tend to be like Mrs. Lara, poor and poorly educated and lacking health care. It persists even though, like Mrs. Lara, they get chronic diseases like arthritis and high blood pressure and are often overweight."

"Like Mrs. Lara, Mr. Leos had almost no education. He left school after the fourth grade and came to Texas from Mexico when he was 21, arriving with his wife and children, unable to speak English and afraid of what life would hold for him."

"Now at 78, he has his own custom tailor shop. It is just a few minutes from the modest brick-faced house where Mr. Leos and his wife raised their five children, and where their children and their nine grandchildren still come to celebrate birthdays and holidays."

"'I believe that when you don’t feel happy in your heart or yourself that’s what shortens the life of people,' Mr. Leos said."

"'I am not rich, but I have a full life for myself and my family,' he added. 'That makes me feel happy.'"

10 / 32

From HealthDay News:

"Hispanic women develop cardiac risk factors much earlier than white women, typically exhibiting the heart health of a white woman 10 years older, a new study finds."

"The research suggests that being Hispanic may be an independent risk factor for heart disease, and that these women need to be identified and treated earlier."

"The findings turn the so-called 'Hispanic Paradox' on its head. This medical notion has long held that Hispanics have less heart disease than whites do, despite having higher rates of risk factors."

"Hispanic women had a higher rate of pre-hypertension (32 percent) compared with white women (19 percent). Physical activity levels for Hispanic women were significantly lower and they had a slightly higher rate of metabolic syndrome, a cluster of risk factors that predispose a person towards cardiovascular disease."

"Teeters believes that the Hispanic Paradox may have resulted from incomplete data. 'Hispanic patients are less likely to come to care, so there's probably under-recognition of the degree of disease,' Teeters said. 'Many are immigrants and many go home when they become ill. There's also a higher degree of illegal alien status so there's probably underreporting.'"

Photo by rabinal

Labels: immigrants, mexico,