Twenty-two years ago, Fredd’s family fled their native Guatemala in the face of death threats and persecution. Needless to say, they haven’t been back since. Despite the clear danger they faced back in Guatemala, an immigration judge denied their bid for asylum in 2000.

Fredd worked hard and earned his Associates Degree from Davidson County Community College and transferred to Guilford Tech to continue his education. As a result, he is eligible for the federal DREAM Act, which would give undocumented youth like him a pathway to citizenship, expected to come up for a vote in the House and Senate before the end of this year. Fredd aspires to utilize his acting and singing skills to become a professional actor and renowned singer, and he’s quite good (see video below). He is neither a criminal nor a threat to this country, and completely undeserving of detention, let alone deportation from the only country he calls his home.

Like others who have faced the injustice of our immigration system and the Stewart Facility, Fredd has an approved green card awaiting him on the other side of the walls that now deprive him of his freedom. The only thing stopping him from being at home with his family during Thanksgiving is a stubborn refusal to open his case.

No family should be ripped apart due to the failure of Congress to pass immigration reform or the DREAM Act in due time. Don’t deprive a family of their son this holiday season. Take action now to bring Fredd home for Thanksgiving.

Photo and Video Credit: Support Fredd Reyes Facebook Group / stanleyreysa21

Student Locked Up for Spending 22 Years in the United States

The idea of a female-headed household is hardly implausible. In many South American countries women have organized to gain independence in their male-dominated clans. In Sri Lanka, what’s impressive is the speed with which these households grow (some 40,000 in the north, according to the Center for Women and Development).

What forced these women to fend for their families is necessity. A fierce civil war that began in the 1970s claimed the lives of thousands of citizens. Many males died, disappeared or are still in the custody of authorities. What might have been an effective strategy to dismantle the opposition has left homes without their traditional breadwinners.

Enter war widows. They tend to their homes, feed the children and work in hard labor jobs by day. The numbers are increasing: 89,000 of them in the east and north according to official figures.

Because of meager salaries from employers, these women require additional help sustaining their families. This is where the aid world can help. At first, the UN World Food Program (WFP) gave out food packages, but it plans to shift its strategy to more sustainable methods. One of the approaches will be a program where food is exchanged for work or skills training. (Sri Lanka’s government already began a similar program for the general population last August.)

Initiatives by other organizations include a $100 grant to help women open small businesses or find farmland for women farmers.

As women climb up the social ladder, the Sri Lankan government must also look out for women’s well being. Employers are reportedly discriminating against women or paying an unfair salary (about half as much as men’s for the same work). The Association for War Affected Women (AWAW) is one of those organizations protecting Sri Lankan women’s rights.  Their work to create awareness is crucial. These women, broken but not defeated after this long civil war, might be the ones carrying the country to economic stability for many years to come.

Photo Credit: World Bank Photo Collection

War Widows: Sri Lankan Women Take Charge

The filth and vile that that column brings me everyday, when it doesn’t defeat me, cuts my work out for me. It’s unbelievable how callous we are as a society when our ills are shown so continuously in our faces. We steel ourselves — out of necessity — just to get through the day. It kills our compassion, slowly but surely.

I remember once being down and out in Paris, as it were, and having to beg for money. I was in Paris backpacking, trying to “find myself,” or something. My being broke was the result of bad planning and the beer halls of Germany. I needed to get money for food and an internet connection to find out where my friends were and maybe get some money wired from my parents.

So there I sat, on top of my backpack, outside the entrance to the Gare de Norde train station on the north side of Paris, hat in my hand, upturned and offered empty to passersby. And that was honestly one of the most humiliating, uncomfortable experiences of my adult life. For 30 minutes I held the hat timidly and refused to look up at anyone who might give me change. After a while I began to glance up, with a look somewhere between puppy-dog and feigned-dignity. After some time, head again bowed in humility, some man of the cloth breezed by quickly and dropped a ten or twenty, some ungodly amount at the time, into my hat.

And so it is with this anecdote that I would like to publicly call out a tweet I just read:

When did homeless ppl get so lazy? I just had a homeless man ask for a dollar, no eye contact or nothin… i mean make me believe u want it

The humiliation of being forced to beg aside, what is it that was lazy, that was making his suffering incredulous? The implicit attitude is that this man needs to act, to play tactfully on your sympathies. Which approach is more believable?

To members of our community, please do not reply to this person with hate or vitriol; let us call this a learning moment.

To that Twitter user, I don’t imagine you are a bad person. In fact, I imagine you are a very good person, sensitivities dulled by everyday realities. All I’m saying is take a minute to think about what you are saying, or tweeting.

For more positive coverage of the homeless, try reading what Twitter powerhouses @invisiblepeople, @ntl_homeless and @naehomelessness have to say. Please also add your favorites in the comments.

Photo credit: playerx

Do Yourself a Favor; Don’t Search "Homeless" on Twitter

This event, which takes place in Alberta, is expected to draw over one million visitors, including Canadian prime minister Stephen Harper. What are these people flocking to watch? According to Calvary Stampede spokesperson Doug Fraser, 25,000 come to specifically watch calf roping. Calf roping is accurately described by SHowing Animals Respect and Kindness (SHARK) as “the most cowardly rodeo event.” This faux sport consists of macho cowboys roping baby cows that are usually about three or four months old. As the folks at SHARK explain, “the calf is roped so violently she becomes airborne before slamming into the ground. This process can break the calf’s neck, back or legs.”

Other intellectually stimulating highlights include steer wrestling and bronc riding. No word as to whether or not electric prods will be used for the latter event. There’s also chuckwagon racing, which has the dubious honor of being the Stampede’s deadliest event. According to the Vancouver Humane Society, nearly 50 chuckwagon horses have been killed at the Calgary Stampede since 1986, mainly due to crashes and the stress of the 10 day extravaganza.

Not surprisingly, there are those who take exception to the Alberta Abuse-a-thon. Jeremy Thomas has been protesting the rodeo for years. “Every year, animals are hurt, killed and scared out of their minds for the sake of entertainment. That’s what we want to see end.” More than 50 members of Parliament in Britain, where rodeos have been banned since 1934, signed a motion condemning rodeos, specifically calling on the Canadian government to take steps to stop the “immense cruelty” of events like the Calgary Stampede. Other opponents of rodeos include the Canadian Federation of Humane Societies,  the Humane Society of Canada, the ASPCA, PETA, the HSUS, the Royal New Zealand SPCA, and the Australian SPCA. Basically, anyone involved with the animal welfare movement is against rodeos.

Why still have events like the Calgary Stampede? One argument is economic: Lots of tourists means lots of money. Sadly, that’s no doubt true, and we all know concerns over cash trump concerns over cruelty every time. And, of course, there are those who will make fallacious arguments based on “culture” and “tradition.” Been there, heard that.

Really, I think the citizens of Calgary can crawl out of the 19th century and find new traditions and new ways to milk tourists for money. Maybe they can start by letting the oh-so-macho cowboys rope and wrestle each other for a change.

Hey, it’s a start.

Photo Credit: PETA

A Stampede of Animal Abuse in Calgary

Oh, wait. I’m sorry, was that not funny? Maybe because Spirit Airlines’ promotion wasn’t funny either. Of course, that didn’t stop them.

Spirit emailed this ad to its subscribers on Tuesday at 1:21 p.m. I know this because I was one such subscriber. It’s no coincidence that the bottles of tanning oil just happen to be green and yellow; BPs colors. As you can see, the bottles are labeled “Best Protection,” with the “B” and the “P” highlighted in bold. In addition to the subject line of the email, the first sentence of the ad asked subscribers to “Check out the oil on our beaches. You won’t be disappointed.”

When outrage at the callous ad erupted in the blogosphere, Spirit didn’t even have the good sense to issue an apology. Nope; instead, they responded by saying we just didn’t get it: “It is unfortunate that some have misunderstood our intention with today’s beach promotion. We are merely addressing the false perception that we have oil on our beaches, and we are encouraging customers to support Florida and our other beach destinations by continuing to travel to these vacation hot spots … Although misunderstood by some, today’s promotion was clearly appreciated by others.”

Oh really, Spirit Airlines? They quote one of the emails they received from a “customer,” thanking them for stimulating travel to the state of Florida, but even that email fails to thank them for their poor taste in tactics.

Also, as you can see, the ad highlights travel to Atlantic City, Ft. Lauderdale, Cancun and San Juan, Puerto Rico — destinations that have, thus far, been untouched by the spill. If Spirit wanted to promote tourism to the Gulf Coast, it could have. But instead, Spirit thought that it would be ok to poke fun at sea turtles being burned alive. Spirit thought that massive die-offs resulting from fish, dolphins, and sharks getting trapped close to shore were amusing. Spirit thought that the dogs and cats facing euthanasia, due to their owners having lost their livelihoods because of the oil spill, are an appropriate subject for humor.

They are wrong. And you can help demonstrate just how wrong they are by participating in Saturday’s global protest to prevent future oil spills. Because these pictures aren’t funny.

Spirit Airlines Mocks Oil on Beaches