Defending Latina/o Immigrant Communities

The Xenophobic Era of Trump and Beyond

Alvaro Huerta

• Publisher: Hamilton Books
• Year: 2019
• Edition: 1
• eBook ISBN:
  9780761871286
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Social Science Biographies
• Index: Social Sciences

A collection of short essays and stories, Defending Latina/o Immigrant Communities: The Xenophobic Era of Trump and Beyond focuses on one of the most vilified, demonized, and scapegoated groups in the United States: Latina/o immigrants. Using his rigorous academic training, public policy knowledge, and community activist background, as well as his personal and familial experiences as the son of Mexican immigrants, Alvaro Huerta defends and humanizes los de abajo / those on the bottom. He skillfully re-frames how Latina/o immigrants should be viewed as productive and important members in this country, debunking the xenophobic tropes, lies, and myths about Latina/o immigrants as criminals, social burdens, and national security threats. Accompanied by the brilliant art of an internationally acclaimed artist, Salomon Huerta, and powerful photos of two established photographers, this book also investigates intersectional issues related to race, class, place, and state violence.

Table of contents

• Title Page
• List of Figures
• Foreword
• Introduction
• Brief History Notes on Mexican Immigration to the U.S.
• La Realidad
• Immigration Should be a Basic Human Right
• The Day I Learned I was Poor and Mexican
• Once Ashamed of My Mexican Parents, but not Anymore
• A Chicana/o Manifesto on Community Organizing
• “Just Say No” to the Senate’s “Gang of Eight” Immigration Bill
• No White Christmas for Brown Immigrants
• Lessons on Community Organizing in Chicana/o Communities
• Socioeconomic Inequality Impacting Marginalized Communities Must Change
• Republican Leaders Will Regret Attacking Latina/o Immigrants
• Scaremongering Over Child Refugees is Deplorable
• Without Hope, Blacks and Latinas/os Will Take to the Streets
• El Robo
• La Pistola
• Lessons My Mexican Father Taught Me
• The Day My Mexican Father Met Cesar Chavez
• A Chicana/o Love Story
• Trump’s Racist Comments Help Democrats in the Future
• New Republican Xenophobic Policies Will Inevitably Backfire
• Trump Exemplifies True Colors of GOP
• Trump’s Mass Deportation Plan Symbolizes White Privilege
• City of Los Angeles Should Regulate Street Vendors
• Saturday Night Live Must Dump GOP Candidate Donald J. Trump
• U.S. Courts Maintain Undocumented Immigrants in the Shadows
• The Shameful Case of Latino Republican Leaders
• Republican Policies and Christian Values
• An Open Letter to Clinton on Candidate Trouncing Trump in the General Election
• Urban Planners of the World Unite Against Trump
• The Hustler
• An Open Letter to President Donald J. Trump
• The Hustler 2.0
• An Open Letter to Gov. Jerry Brown on California Becoming a Sanctuary State
• The “War on Immigrants”
• On the Chicana/o Moratorium of 1970 and the Case of Ruben Salazar
• Advocating for the Immigrant Domestic Workforce
• President Barack Obama Should’ve Halted Mass Deportations
• Demanding a Clean DACA Bill, Now!
• No Deal on “Sh*thole” Border Wall!
• Viva the Scholar-Activist!
• In Memory of My Beloved Brother
• Trump Epitomizes America’s History of Anti-Mexicanism
• A Call for Urban Planning Latina/o Faculty
• I Am Not Your “Wetback”
• Conclusion
• Works Cited
• Index
• About the Author
• About the Contributors