How Do You Say Justice in Mixteco?

Erasto Vasquez was surprised to see a forklift appear one morning outside his trailer near the corner of East and Springfield, two small rural roads deep in the grapevines, ten miles southwest of Fresno. He and his neighbors pleaded with the driver, but to no avail. The machine uprooted the fence Vasquez had built around his home and left it smashed in the dirt. Then, the forklift’s metal tines lifted the side of one trailer high into the air. It groaned and tipped over, with a family’s possessions still inside. “We were scared,” Vasquez remembers. “I felt it shouldn’t be happening, that it showed a complete lack of respect. But who was there to speak for us?”

Eight farmworker families lived in this tiny “colonia,” or settlement, on the ranch of Marjorie Bowen. Their rented trailers weren’t in great shape. Cracks around the windows let in rain and constant dust, which carried with it all the fertilizer and chemicals used to kill insects on the nearby vines. Some trailers had holes in the floors. None had heat in the winter or air conditioning in the summer. “*

• Alexandra Limón is heading to Fresno to become nightside general assignment reporter for KGPE-47, the CBS affiliate. – leaves Telemundo in Tucson
• Graduating Hispanics earn Fresno State top ranking
• Evy Ramos has been hired at KGPE-47, the CBS affiliate in Fresno, as the station’s new morning anchor
• Hispanic students in focus – In Fresno visit, Obama aide Juan Sepúlveda aims to boost success.
• The Central California Hispanic Chamber of Commerce was the recipient of the 2009 Fresno County Board of Supervisors Partnership Award.
• Voice That Sounds Like Home Welcomes Mexico’s Outsiders – “La Hora Mixteca” (The Mixtec Hour), Mr. López’s show, which is aimed primarily at Mixtec (pronounced MEESE-teck) Indians but draws listeners from other groups in the United States and, via satellite link, in Oaxaca, too. – Fresno
• Fresno State Bulldog football to court Hispanic fans
• ZGS Communications announced today that Manuel Cervantes has been named General Manager of KNSO Telemundo Fresno.
• Hispanic students and parents in the Fresno Unified School District have lost a long-time advocate on the board with the defeat of Manuel Núñez in the November election, some community members say.
• KFSN Fresno GM Bob Hall Resigns After Court Comments About Hispanics – Made off-hand comment about Hispanics while under consideration for jury duty.
• News anchor Rich Rodriguez no longer works at Fresno’s KSEE-24
• High school has new prescription for teaching Spanish – Washington Union students prepare for language needs in the medical field. – Fresno area
• New health care services coming to the Mexican Consulate in Fresno
• Study looks at health of farmworkers – MICASA follows everything from aches to diabetes in laborers. – University of California at Davis
• From Chihuahua to screwdriver – Ex-Fresnan now finds his voice in Disney’s ‘Handy Manny.’ – Carlos Alazraqui
• SNL Kagan Publishes 2008 Updated Analysis of TV and Radio Market Revenues – Small-to-midsize markets and Hispanic metro areas show the greatest growth potential
• Spin Magazine Declares THE PINKER TONES “Hit Like A Spicier Daft Punk”; Tour Begins Next Week
• Breast cancer strikes Latina women hard
• Univision Launches Innovative DTV Grassroots Outreach Initiative “Escuadron Digital”
• Latino Voter Surge Propels Working Family Candidates – SOL’s Get-Out-The Vote Campaign Part of State Wide Push on Behalf of Candidates That Address Issues That Matter to Working Families