Happy belated 4th of July to everyone!

In the spirit of Independence Day, I wanted to share with you an article that was forwarded to me from the SURGE mailing list. It’s a great read and discusses xenophobia in the US and how North Carolina’s latest trend to bar undocumented residents from its community colleges falls in line with the trend. The author is Dan Pollitt, a professor emeritus at the UNC Chapel-Hill School of Law.

The Texas court case to which Pollitt is refers in his column is Plyler v. Doe (1982). At the time, Texas had established a statute which withheld “from local school districts any state funds for the education of children who were not ‘legally admitted’ into the United States, and which authorize(d) local school districts to deny enrollment to such children.” However, the Supreme Court found the statute to be unconstitutional as it violated the 14th Amendment and its Equal Protection Clause.

As Dan Pollitt writes, “(t)here are dozens of cases in which the court has ruled in favor of immigrants’ rights—legal or undocumented. The theme of these decisions, as one justice wrote, is that ‘Resident aliens, like citizens, pay taxes, support the economy, serve in the Armed Forces, and contribute in myriad other ways to our society’ and cannot be denied an equal opportunity to engage in the normal ways to earn a livelihood.”

Every person deserves a chance to be reap the benefits of living in the United States, and I’ll leave you with the Equal Protection Clause for your post-Independence Day reflection:

“No State shall…deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.”

Happy 4th, y’all, and let the discussion commence.

Mumia Abu-Jamal is a political prisoner who has been imprisoned for over 20 years. He has been imprisoned for the murder of Daniel Faulkner, a Philadelphia police officer. The trial was pitted against Mumia after he was given a court appointed lawyer against his will. Mumia is a civil rights activist and a very outspoken critic of the corrupt and racist system, particularly in Philadelphia where he resides. The trial was another example of racism in our judicial system and how a many who is fighting for freedom can be silenced so easily. The evidence that was used in his trial is now being rebuked by new testimony and photos. To this day he is still on death row for a crime he did not commit. Here is a link to the free Mumia site. This can give much more information then I can.

http://www.freemumia.com/

http://wonkette.com/385648/fox-news-morans-think-lincoln-debated-emancipated-slave

This is the kind of idiocy and carelessness that comes from the #1 cable news network in the US. Just goes to show you how little emphasis FOX News places on fact checking.

(Yes, “morans”. I’m not sure if it was intentional or not, but whatever.)

Laura Strickland, Campaign Coordinator and President for FACE AIDS here at UNC Charlotte, wanted me to pass along this information!

THIS SATURDAY (May 3rd)!

Charlotte AIDS Walk!

**Registration begins at 8a.m.
**Location: Gateway Village
800 West Trade Street
Charlotte, NC

To sign up, please visit http://www.aidswalkcharlotte.org/faf/home/waiver.asp?ievent=256747&lis=1&kntae256747=53A2E802FB8C4FCABD33FCAB88CCDABC.

Also, Laura can get t-shirts ranging in sizes L – XXL in order to represent UNC Charlotte! You can contact her at lmstrick@uncc.edu.

You are personally invited to
Takeover! Hillary Clinton Rally
for the LGBT Community and Straight Allies

Thursday, May 1st
Doors open at 6pm until 9pm
FREE FREE FREE FREE

The Forum
300 North College Street
Parking deck is located adjacent to facility
between 6th and 7th Streets

Special Entertainment:

Broadway star Ellen Greene (Little Shop of Horrors)

Singer/songwriter Sophie B Hawkins (“Damn, I Wish I Was Your Lover”)

And appearance by

Daniel J. O’Donnell (Rosie O’Donnell’s brother)

NY Assemblyman & sponsor of the New York Assembly Marriage bill

Additional information at Takeover:  http://www.takeoverfriday.com/main.htm

Welcome to Progressive UNC-Charlotte, a new blog related to all things progressive at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. If you’d like to be a contributor, email johnavery237@gmail.com.

Let’s move forward!