The Lonestar State has put another man to death, but this time, it violated the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations by failing to inform Jose Ernesto Medellin, a Mexican national, of his right to seek assistance from the Mexican Consulate.
In 1993, as an 18 year old young man, Jose Ernesto Medellin raped and murdered two girls, Elizabeth Peña and Jennifer Ertman with his gang member friends. No doubt that this crime was horrific and that Medellin deserved to be punished, but Mexico does not have the death penalty in its country. The Mexican government is arguing that its citizens on death row are being denied fair trials because they lack consular access. Moreover, Supreme Court Justice Breyer wrote that in going forward with this execution that the US is “irremediably in violation of international law and breaks our treaty promises.”
If the US cannot honor international law and our treaties, then how can we expect our own citizens living abroad to have just treatment and access to the American consulate should they encounter legal difficulties? I can’t believe that the state of Texas could be so short sighted in its need to kill Medellin that it would not wait for his attorneys to confer with the Mexican consulate and/or wait for the pending legislation in Congress to review similar cases of foreign-born inmates on death row.
I never wrote a blog tribute to Tim Russert of Meet the Press fame when he died back in June, and I actually liked his show. After the traditional media went over the top with tributes, funeral coverage, and tearful goodbyes, I figured that there was nothing more that I could add that hadn’t already been said. Yes, Tim Russert was respected, a good family man by all accounts, and was proud of his only son, Luke.
But today, I feel compelled to comment because little Luke or little Russ, not to be confused with Big Russ, was offered a job at NBC as a convention correspondent, meaning he will go to both the DNC and RNC conventions and report on youth oriented issues. Luke Russert is a 22 year old graduate of Boston University with a degree in history and communications and has some broadcast experience as a co-host of an XM satellite radio sports talk show. From what I can gather, he has never officially commented on political issues on television, written op/ed pieces, or even jumped into the blogsphere to cut his teeth on political issues with people other than his father and mother, magazine writer Maureen Orth. I am positive that I can find at least 50 or more qualified 20-34 year olds who can report from the political conventions for NBC who have more experience than Luke Russert has.
At the same time, I wonder how networks like NBC, CBS, and ABC will adapt to the growing Latino populations and if these traditional networks really care to diversify their ranks of reporters. By 2050, the non-Hispanic white population will be a minority comprising 47% of the population if current projects become a reality. In 2007, the Hispanic population had a median age of 27.6, while the population as a whole had a median age of 36.6. Over a third of the Hispanic population is under the age of 18. The black and Asian populations are also growing in America. Luke Russert’s face is not representative of what America is going to look like, yet with little real world experience, he is given the ultimate sympathy gift for his father’s death, a coveted correspondent job at NBC. If this isn’t white privilege, then I don’t know what is.
One of the most beautiful voices and activists to come out of the 1960s was a Latina named Joan Baez. Her father Albert Baez was born in Puebla, Mexico, and he became a physicist who refused to work on the Manhattan Project. Her father also refused to work in other defense industry projects, and his own resistence shaped Joan’s activism.
Here she’s singing “Oh, Freedom,” an old spiritual that would be very appropriate in current times with our brothers and sisters who are being held in detention centers and those who are working in poor conditions for meager wages. I bet if she were asked Joan Baez would sing at some rallies that our activists are organizing. Actually, I think that she would be honored to assist.
The Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund (MALDEF) is holding a community candlelight vigil today to honor the life of Luis Ramirez, father of three and fiancé to Crystal Dillman tonight at 6:00 PM eastern at Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Church in Shenandoah, PA.
As per an e-mailed invitation, MALDEF comes to bring healing and solidarity to the community of Shenandoah.
I’m glad to see that MALDEF has taken the initiative to hold this vigil, but the only press write up I could find was in El Diario. MALDEF did not post this information on its website, at least not in the obvious places that one would assume it to be in as under the press release section or on the event calendar.
Update 1: I just found this article stating that members from the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People are expected to attend the vigil as well.
Update 2: MALDEF did post a press release about the vigil today after it occurred. I hope that they post some footage from the vigil on their site as well, so bloggers and other activists can share it with others.
