‘I’m a Third Culture Kid’ – Stories of Four New Yorkers
Finding their own identity having been raised in a culture different from their parents.
Tag: the New School
Apply Now for a Fi2W Journalism Internship
New School students can apply now for internships focused on New York City immigrants and ethnic media.
Immigrant Restaurant Workers Learn English, Write Haiku in Unique ESL Program
Restaurant workers are the main audience for English classes offered by The New School’s Food Studies department in collaboration with the university’s Master’s program in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages.
Seeking a Wider Dialogue on Queer Migrations
A recent conference at The New School focused on immigration issues in the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer (LGBTQ) community.
Immigrant Women Marching in Place
FI2W’s Valeria Fernandez acted as moderator for the Third Annual Bill Green Forum on low-income working women and economic inequality.
Stories
Anger Management: Outraged Immigrant Voters Could Make a Difference on November 4
If the presidential primaries are any indication, voter turnout on November 4 will be very heavy. Some electoral analysts believe this will be especially true in key ethnic communities, including among Latinos, who appear set to turn out in record numbers. At a recent Feet in Two Worlds town hall forum on “Deconstructing the Immigrant Vote,” political organizers and ethnic media journalists agreed that anger is among the most important factors motivating immigrant voters this year.
Journalist Pilar Marrero speaks at the forum on Deconstructing the Immigrant Vote at the New School. Josh Hoyt, Executive Director, Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights and journalist Aswini Anburajan were also on the panel.
“When an electorate gets angry they go out and vote,” said Feet in Two Worlds journalist Aswini Anburajan. “And it’s starting to mobilize people.”
According to Arturo Vargas, Executive Director of the National Association of Latino Elected Officials (NALEO), anti-immigrant laws and rhetoric have been “the driving force” pushing a growing number of Latino immigrants to become naturalized citizens. “It’s out of anger, it’s out of fear, and it’s out of the sense that if they become a citizen and vote it’s an act of self defense,” he said.
Arturo Vargas, Executive Director of NALEO responds to a story by Pilar Marrero on Latino ‘s who are becoming citizens so they can vote in this year’s election.
Speaking to an audience at The New School, where the forum was held, Vargas said Congress’ failure to pass comprehensive immigration reform is also motivating Latino voters. “We saw it in 2006 when millions of people took to the streets of America demanding … immigration reform.” Vargas noted that many of the protesters in ’06 were teenagers who have since reached voting age. “We have now a new generation of Latino youth who have reached the age of 18 in a very politicized environment where their consciousness has been raised,” Vargas said. “They told us two years ago, ‘Today we march, tomorrow we vote.’ Well, tomorrow has arrived.”
It’s not just Hispanics who may vote out of anger. Asian American outrage over a racially charged remark by U.S. Senator George Allen of Virginia played a key role in his razor-thin loss to Democrat Jim Webb in 2006. Webb’s victory gave the Democrats control of the Senate for the first time since 1994. (more…)