Dirty Work: Hispanic Immigrants Clean the Gulf
A multimedia package produced by Annie Correal for El Diario/La Prensa features an in-depth look at Hispanic immigrants working to clean-up the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
Tag: New Orleans
Hard, Dirty, Work: Latinos Clean Up The Gulf of Mexico
The massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico has drawn clean up workers from near and far. Many of these workers are Latinos, so-called “disaster migrants” who go from catastrophe to catastrophe and aid in the repair efforts. Fi2W’s Annie Correal documented their lives in a radio piece for Latino USA.
The Life of Hispanic Immigrant Cleanup Workers in the Gulf
Cleaning up oil in the Gulf of Mexico is grueling, sometimes dangerous work. In Louisiana, these jobs are drawing immigrant workers to small communities. And they’re not always getting a warm welcome.
Slipping Away: Livelihood and Way-of-Life Fade for Immigrant Fishermen in the Gulf
“It ain’t no more about commercial fishermen, it’s about becoming an oil company man,” says a local fisherman with Spanish roots who is feeling the impact of the BP oil spill and the clean-up effort.
Labor Secretary Outlines Policy Toward Immigrant Workers in the Gulf
On a visit to Louisiana, U.S. Labor Secretary Hilda Solis said the federal government plans to protect workers’ rights during the oil spill cleanup – regardless of their immigration status.
First-Ever Vietnamese-American Congressman Is Republicans’ New Ethnic Hope
Cao celebrates - Photo: The Times-Picayune
If you were surprised when the first-ever Vietnamese American was elected to Congress a few days ago, you’re not alone.
Many Vietnamese immigrants across the U.S. were also unaware of Republican Anh “Joseph” Cao until his victory this Saturday in a special election in New Orleans. Cao defeated the tainted nine-term Democratic incumbent, William Jefferson, an African American from an overwhelmingly black congressional district.
Not even his fellow Republicans knew that much about Cao, an immigration lawyer from East New Orleans. According to The Washington Post, D.C. party aides had to look up his ads on YouTube to learn how to pronounce his last name. [Here’s one of the ads; the pronunciation is close to “gow.”]
Unknown or not, Cao’s victory seems to have earned him the right to carry the hopes and expectations of both Vietnamese-Americans and Republicans on his shoulders.
Audio
La Ruta del Voto Latino: Hispanics Find a Voice in New Orleans
Journalist Diego Graglia has been documenting the lives of Latinos during this presidential election year. He recently traveled from New York City to Mexico City, stopping along the way to talk to Latinos in small towns and big cities about the issues that matter to them. For more on La Ruta del Voto Latino/The Road to the Latino Vote visit www.newyorktomexico.com.
In a previous post, Diego Graglia wrote about his visit to New Orleans, where Hispanic Americans had long assimilated into the local mainstream culture, which in effect, made them “invisible.”
While in New Orleans, he interviewed Diane Schnell, news and marketing director of the local Telemundo station, KGLA-TV 42, which has recently launched the city’s first-ever Spanish-language newscast.
In this podcast, Diane talks about how the Latino community is no longer an invisible market in New Orleans, and which presidential candidate is doing more to reach out to New Orleans’ Latinos.
[audio:http://www.jocelyngonzales.net/FI2W/fi2w_laruta_diane.mp3]