Building Secure Communities Together

DC Mayor Vincent Gray signed last week an Executive Order prohibiting local law enforcement authorities from questioning people they encounter about their immigration status. This Order is a good step in responding to the misguided efforts of states like Alabama and Arizona that seek to have their authorities become immigration officers, a duty that has always been carried out by the federal government.

Requiring local officers to enforce immigration law has led to a dramatic erosion of the community-policing law enforcement model, which encourages police to build trust with members of the community. Developing trust is even more important for police when they work with immigrants, who often come to the United States fleeing persecution from authorities and thus arrive with a great fear of them. Laws such as Arizona's SB 1070 only increase fear and crime, as these deter immigrants from calling police. When crimes go unreported, criminals are able to roam with impunity because they know that their deeds will go unpunished and as a result, communities become less safe.

At Ayuda, we see the fears immigrants must overcome to report a crime. We see cases like Teresa's, an immigrant from El Salvador who suffered for 10 years from severe beatings and verbal abuse at the hands of her spouse. When Teresa came to our office, she confessed to being physically abused for many years by her husband, telling our team that he constantly threatened to report her to immigration authorities if she ever denounced him. It was not until he stabbed and nearly killed her that police got involved. However, fear ensured that Teresa would not even be the person who called the police; it was a neighbor who did. After surviving, Ayuda's staff helped Teresa secure a Civil Protection Order and assisted her as she cooperated in the criminal investigation against her abuser. Together, we were able to hold Teresa's abuser accountable. Because of this, Teresa now has the opportunity to lead a violence-free life.

Ayuda's committed and excellent legal and social service staff meets people like Teresa on a daily basis. We hear their cries for help and safety and their fears of authority. Ayuda helps Teresa and others like her by holding their perpetrators accountable and aiding them in securing safe places to live, medical care for their injuries, food, clothing, legal custody for their children and attain legal status in the US. We believe that all persons in our country, regardless of immigration status, deserve justice and protection from harm.

Your investment in Ayuda today could be the difference between life or death for those that suffer from abuse and desperately need an advocate that will stand with them as they seek justice, peace and safety. Your support will ensure that together, we can stand with them and build truly secure communities.

With much thanks and gratefulness,


Jaime Farrant
Executive Director

P.S. I will be speaking this coming Wednesday in a panel about current immigration issues at the Dialogue on Diversity 2011 Colloquium, which will take place from 11:00 am-4 pm at the US Capitol Visitors Center, Congressional Meeting Room North (CVC 268). This event is free and open to the public. If you are interested in attending this important discussion, register at www.dialogueondiversity.org. I look forward to seeing you there!

Source: Auda

Maurice Ashley

Rickey McCombs

Maurice Ashley became a national master in 1986 and an International Master in 1993. He earned his International Grandmaster title in 1999.

Picture Source: http://www.chessbase.com

Gash Abera Mola - Ethiopian Kirar Music

Water

"All water is recycled. All the water we have now is all the water we've every had, every drop of water has gone through some animal's kidney, or thousands of animals."

Irvine Ranch

Source: http://journalism.berkeley.edu/projects/greenla/irvine.html

Picture Source: http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=201259753234088&set=pu.157337864292944&type=1&theater

Hilton Kelley

Hilton Kelley has won the prestigious Goldman Environmental Award for his work confronting refineries on pollution in the town of Port Arthur.

Chester Higgins Jr., Photographer

An outdoor series of 13 large-scale portraits from Ethiopia displayed at the NYU/Kimmel Center Windows Gallery at LaGuardia Place and West 3 rd Street. An exhibition curated by Lydie Diakhaté and organized by the Institute of African
American Affairs at New York University.

THE EXHIBITION: Portraying contemporaneity

Chester Higgins Jr. came back with remarkable images from his visits to Ethiopia (2007-2010). With his portable photo studio he traveled to different villages in the
northern and southern regions, enabling him to create intimate portraits of Dassenech, Mursi, Amhara, Tigrai, Gnangaton, Hamer, Afar people and many others.

With his very singular gaze and spiritual insights, Higgins introduces us to people of Ethiopia we are not used to seeing in the usual representation of the emblematic country. Each person portrayed becomes an icon.

The work of the photographer is highlighted by a collaboration based on a steady confidence with his subjects. In terms of aesthetics, the photos reach an exceptional level of quality, featuring tradition into a contemporary lens. But capturing beauty is not the only focus for the photographer; Higgins has a long-standing commitment within Ethiopia and its people that he is dedicated to share with the viewers.
Displayed at the Kimmel Center Windows Gallery, this series of Ethiopian portraits will engage an exceptional daily conversation with the numerous citizens and visitors of New York City within the most popular neighborhood, the West Village, in Manhattan. Thus, each portrait establishes a powerful dialogue with the viewer. Far away from her/his geographical location but closer thanks to the display, each person posing with her/his attributes questions the relationship engaged with the viewer. Showcased with delicacy and elegance, each one is a unique character. They express themselves fully echoing their direct cultural environment that will resonate with the vibrancy of New York City. Instead of being destabilized, the viewer will share a surprising complicity with the characters. Here, the difference comes to be the vehicle for awareness and enrichment.

— Lydie Diakhaté, Curator

With my camera, I challenge people to see the full breadth of our humanity. I look for dignity in the human condition. And because I believe everything exists at the pleasure of the universal spirit, I search beyond the obvious for the signature of
the spirit in all things.

— Chester Higgins Jr., Photographer

www.chesterhiggins.com

Copyrighted ® Photographs by Chester Higgins Jr. All Rights Reserved



















The work of the photographer is highlighted by a collaboration
based on a steady confidence with his subjects. In terms of
aesthetics, the photos reach an exceptional level of quality,
featuring tradition into a contemporary lens. But capturing
beauty is not the only focus for the photographer; Higgins has a
long-standing commitment within Ethiopia and its people that he
is dedicated to share with the viewers.
Displayed at the Kimmel Center Windows Gallery, this
series of Ethiopian portraits will engage an exceptional daily
conversation with the numerous citizens and visitors of New
York City within the most popular neighborhood, the West
Village, in Manhattan. Thus, each portrait establishes a powerful
dialogue with the viewer. Far away from her/his geographical
location but closer thanks to the display, each person posing
with her/his attributes questions the relationship engaged with
the viewer. Showcased with delicacy and elegance, each one
is a unique character. They express themselves fully echoing
their direct cultural environment that will resonate with the
vibrancy of New York City. Instead of being destabilized, the
viewer will share a surprising complicity with the characters.
Here, the difference comes to be the vehicle for awareness and
enrichment. — Lydie Diakhaté, Curator

With my camera, I challenge people to see the full breadth
of our humanity. I look for dignity in the human condition.
And because I believe everything exists at the pleasure of the
universal spirit, I search beyond the obvious for the signature of
the spirit in all things. — Chester Higgins Jr., Photographer
www.chesterhiggins.com
Copyrighted ® Photographs by Chester Higgins Jr. All Rights Reserved

Breath Fresh Air

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) found that “most Americans spend about 90 percent of their time indoors, where pollutant levels may be 2-5 times higher, and occasionally 100 times higher, than outdoors.

The Agency defines indoor air pollution as chemical, physical or biological contaminants in the breathable air inside a habitable structure or conveyance, such as in homes, schools, offices, and vehicles. Sources of indoor air pollution include natural sources, building materials, products, and occupant activities.

Health effects from indoor air pollution range from immediate to long-term, and treatable to severely debilitating or fatal. Children are especially vulnerable to these pollutants. Children eat more, drink more, and breathe more than adults in proportion to their body weight, increasing their exposure to contaminants that may be in air, water, soil or food.”

The best way to improve indoor are quality is to take the following steps:

• open windows
• have plants in your house
• reduce the use of chemicals such as pesticides, bleach, detergent, spray
• use aroma therapy by boiling herbs such as cinnamon, cardamom or clove, and
• take a walk.

Picture source:

http://www.dailycognition.com/

Map of Ethiopia 1705

Source: http://alabamamaps.ua.edu/historicalmaps/africa/

Main Author: de Fer, N. (info)
Title/Description: Afrique
Publication Info: Paris: 1705-1746; from Jacques Robbe's Methode Pour Apprendre Facilement Geographie
Date: 1705
Scale: 1:88,700,000
Original Source: Antique Atlas

Hallelujah

I've heard there was a secret chord
That David played, and it pleased the Lord
But you don't really care for music, do you?
It goes like this
The fourth, the fifth
The minor fall, the major lift
The baffled king composing Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah

Your faith was strong but you needed proof
You saw her bathing on the roof
Her beauty
in the moonlight
overthrew you
She tied you
To a kitchen chair
She broke your throne,
she cut your hair
And from your lips she drew the Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah

Maybe I've been here before
I know this room, I've walked this floor
I used to live alone before I knew you
I've seen your flag on the marble arch
love is not a victory march
It's a cold and it's a broken hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah

There was a time you'd let me know
What's real and going on below
But now you never show it to me do you?
Remember when I moved in you?
The holy dark was moving too
And every breath we drew was hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah

Maybe there's a God above
And all I ever learned from love
Was how to shoot at someone who outdrew you
It's not a cry you can hear at night
It's not somebody who's seen the light
It's a cold and it's a broken hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah

http://www.stlyrics.com/lyrics/shrek/hallelujah.htm
Copyright � 1985 Leonard Cohen and Sony/ATV Music Publishing Canada Company.