Earlier today I had a knee-jerk reaction to this tweet from America's Voice:

americasvoice: Napolitano doesn't answer directly question about Sheriff Joe Arpaio, says "secure communities" programs should be available nationwide (about 2 hours ago from web)

Napolitano was speaking at a Center For American Progress conference on Immigration and was answering a question by the audience. I couldn't believe what I was reading and so twittered back:

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A couple of weeks ago I was invited to be part of a panel that would preview and comment Soledad Bravo's effort, "Latino In America" #LIA. What you see here in the product of my appearance.

As I was sitting in an empty camera room, watching the video, I actually was amused, outraged, annoyed and moved to tears by what I was watching. To me that means that Soledad and her team did an awfully good job at trying to stir people's emotions and minds about the subject in question.

No, I wouldn't give them an A or even A- for their work. Even though their effort is certainly extraordinary --like the very quiet shout out they give to afroLatinos with the Garcia family with the 2 teenage boys-- CNN needed to give the topic at least 8 if not 12 hours in order to just cover the basics. I find it a failure on their part to dedicate less than a couple of minutes to Puerto Rico's colonial/commonwealth status.

That said, I think it is a good start.
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Maegan puts it brilliantly over at her blog, Luis Ramirez and Every Mother's Sons and Daughters : Seeking Justice by All Means Necessary :: VivirLatino:

Speaking Spanish can get you beaten.

And most recently, Luis Ramirez was beaten and killed and those accused got away with murder.

I could go through recent and not so recent history and clearly see a pattern and practice of hate that has been growing. A pattern and practice of racism, nativism, fueled by the media and government, eaten up by the mainstream public.

People in Shenandoah celebrated, went out into the streets and rejoiced after an all-white jury found Brandon J. Piekarsky, 17, and Derrick M. Donchak, 19, guilty of lesser charges and acquitted them of criminal homicide and aggravated assault.

And then people have the nerve to ask why are more Latinos not more active in the fight for immigration change?

This is not just about laws, this about lives.

As she correctly states, the petition will not bring back the dead. Hopefully will bring justice to this one case and make it an example for other juries who think they can use their prejudices to protect "their kind" instead of all citizens equally.

Sign the petition. The fill text of the letter is after the jump.
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