WASHINGTON, U.S.A. – America’s Wire released a commentary by Jenga Mwendo, a community activist in New Orleans, who strongly objects to a New York Times magazine article that was titled “Jungleland” and depicted the city’s Lower Ninth Ward as wilderness overrun by wildlife and weeds.

Ms. Mwendo writes that while the article cites the city government’s futile attempts to improve the neighborhood, it barely mentions the overall lack of government support before and after Hurricane Katrina and the hard work by committed citizens to improve the community. “Yes, many parts of the Lower Ninth are overgrown and neglected,” she writes, “but what the article missed is that many are not. Moreover, the untold story is how city, state and federal government abandoned this community.”

Further, she adds, “the Times probably had good intentions — document the bad situation so our community can get help. But while writing about broken people, vacant lots and weeds may be sexy journalism, the community needs the outside world to understand how implicit and unconscious bias caused by a history of racism pummeled us.”

Ms. Mwendo, an urban-agriculture, community organizer in the Lower Ninth Ward and founder of the Backyard Gardeners Network, writes that “after Katrina, millions of dollars flowed into New Orleans, and the Lower Ninth was declared the glaring example of what needed rehabilitation. Yet, nearly seven years later, the French Quarter and other areas of tourism and affluence are sparkling, while few improvements have been made in the Lower Ninth.”

This commentary, as well as news articles, are available for publication free of charge from America’s Wire.  Go to www.Americaswire.org  and click the “Download” button in the right column.

“This commentary demonstrates that some minority communities have not recovered from Katrina and residents are feeling abandoned,” said Michael K. Frisby, president of America’s Wire. “The New York Times article exposed the conditions in the Lower Ninth Ward. But the residents, such as Ms. Mwendo, are looking for more. They want the nation to know that they are battling structural bias every day as they fight to save their community.”

The article Criticism Over NY Times Article On New Orleans’ 9th Ward appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.

America’s Wire released a story about undocumented immigrant parents, usually Latinos, who are losing custody of their children.  It cites data from an alarming study by the Applied Research Center and details the case of Encarnacion Bail, an undocumented immigrant from Guatemala, who is in a prolonged fight to regain custody of her son, Carlos.

Award-winning reporter, Marjorie Valbrun, reports that more than 5,000 children of immigrants are languishing in state foster care nationwide because their parents were living in the United States illegally and were detained or deported by federal immigration authorities.

“These children can spend years in foster homes, and some are put up for adoption after termination of their parents’ custody rights,” she writes. “With neither state nor federal officials addressing the problem, thousands more are poised to enter the child welfare system every year.”

This story, as well as others, are available free of charge from America’s Wire.  The story is also available in Spanish.  Go to www.Americaswire.org  and click the “Download” button in the right column.

“Our story exemplifies what is wrong with America’s immigration policy,” said Michael K. Frisby, president of America’s Wire. “Ms. Valbrun details the impact on immigrant children and how parents who came to America in search of a better life are losing custody of their children. I urge media outlets and websites to publish this story to help the public better understand the consequences of our nation’s failed immigration policy.”

America’s Wire is an independent journalism outlet that provides newspapers, community papers, websites, ethnic publications and wire services with stories that report on structural inequalities, and the communities impacted by it. This week, we also highlight a story on the abysmal academic performance of Latino and African-American high school students.

They are performing at the same level as 30 years ago; on average, black and Latino high school seniors read and do math at the same level as 13-year old white students.  This story is also available free at www.americaswire.org.

Image Courtesy of   http://www.flickr.com/photos/longislandwins/

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