On Message: Using Strategic Communications to Advance Social Change in Black and Latino Communities

In cities and towns across the country, relationships between Blacks and Latinos have been fraught with fear, suspicion, and racism—but also nurtured by camaraderie, shared experiences, and mutual struggles. While the media, talk radio, and political commentators often take the opportunity to highlight and expose the divisions between Blacks and Latinos in the United States, they seldom give ample air time and ink to our mutual interests, projects, and joint efforts. This publication highlights the efforts involving Black- and Latino-serving nonprofit organizations that utilize strategic communications in their work, outlining common challenges and showcasing promising practices.

Tags: Featured, Race, Resource, Strategic communications

One Size Does Not Fit All: A Slippery Slope to Increased Juvenile Incarceration

A recent incident in Omaha, Nebraska brings urgency to an issue soon to be debated in Congress regarding the handling of youth offenders by juvenile and criminal justice systems. In this case, police shot a 15-year-old boy in the chest following a traffic stop. Investigators said the boy shot at police first. The case has led one local senator to call for an overhaul of Nebraska’s juvenile justice system that would identify “aggressive juvenile offenders.” This is a dangerous reaction to a singular incident. But it is not uncommon. Politicians often legislate by anecdote. When all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail.

Tags: Race, Racism, Youth

FCC ‘Net Neutrality’ Rules Would Keep the Web Free for Speech and Trade: Internet providers can and will cheat on service unless the government acts

If the federal government does nothing—that is, if it does not adopt network neutrality rules—it will be allowing telephone and cable companies to block, degrade, or slow down any content on the Internet for any reason.

Tags: Digital Inclusion, FCC, MAG-Net, Media Justice, Media Policy, Net Neutrality

Net Neutrality is a Must

For many of us, the diversity and abundance of information on the Internet has become part of our daily lives. We assume that we will always be able to view the websites of our choosing and even upload our own photos and videos onto the Internet.

Tags: Digital Divide, Digital Inclusion, FCC, MAG-Net, Media Justice, Media Policy, Net Neutrality

Precious, my Precious: Black Female Citizenship, Complexity, and the Politics of Unrelenting Survival

As I sit against the florescence of the television screen, watching the conservative Fox News pundit Glenn Beck drive political nails into progressive leaders using the fear of U.S. blacks and immigrants of color as his hammer, my memory harkens back to the year in which the book Push was set, 1987. During that time, [...]

Media Literacy Project: “Basta Dobbs, It’s Just the Beginning.”

Media Literacy Project celebrated a victory on November 11th when longtime CNN anchor Lou Dobbs announced his resignation.

Tags: Activism, Immigration, Lou Dobbs, Media Justice, Racism

Vitter Amendment defeated!

Thanks to everyone who joined the campaign at buildingpower.org, the US Senate voted down the Vitter Amendment—an effort to change Census forms, forcing people to answer questions about their citizenship, 60-39. Of course, this is only a first step. The pressure needs to stay on so that the 2010 Census policies are fair and just.

Tags: Activism, Census 2010, Immigration, Race, Victory

Lou Dobbs resigns!

For the past two months, Presente.org, together with more than 40 local and national partners, including the Center for Media Justice and several MAG-Net groups, has organized the Basta Dobbs campaign, demanding that CNN fire anti-immigrant and anti-Latino host Lou Dobbs. On the evening of Wednesday, November 11, Dobbs announced his resignation, effective immediately.

Tags: Activism, Lou Dobbs, Media Accountability, Racism, Victory