What follows is what  might have been said or referred to if this writer had had the presence of mind many wish for when a signature moment beckons them to rise to the occasion:  From the Center for Constitutional Rights regarding a panel discussion, September 12: The 9/11 Decade and the Decline of U.S. Democracy.

In response to the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, George W. Bush shredded the U.S. Constitution, trampled on the Bill of Rights, discarded the Geneva Conventions, and heaped scorn on the domestic torture statute and the U.N. Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.

As we mark the 10th anniversary of the terrible events of September 11, 2001, none of us has any desire to play down the horrors of that day, but two wrongs do not make a right, and, in response to the attacks, the Bush administration engineered and presided over the most sustained period of constitutional decay in our history.

Moreover, although George W. Bush entered the first decade of the 21st century by dismantling the rights that are fundamental to the identity of the United States and the security of its people, Barack Obama ended the decade by failing to fully reinstate those rights. Through his own indecision, or through ferocious opposition in Congress, he has been unable to close the infamous prison at Guantanamo Bay, as promised, and has also refused to even contemplate holding anyone in the Bush administration accountable for their crimes.

 

A live streaming broadcast has also been planned.

Editor’s Note: New America Media correspondent Yoichi Shimatsu was asked to write a comprehensive guide to covering Japan’s triple tragedy—earthquake, tsunami and nuclear meltdown danger—by the Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma [http://bit.ly/hTt3ZG] at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. A veteran environmental issues writer and editor, Shimatsu filed this illuminating article. More than a professional “Tip Sheet,” it includes insights about the concerns and dangers triggered by the disasters in Japan.

Read entire article here.

It was invited – the only faculty-supervised student publication to be invited – to that big soiree: 2009 National Ethnic Media Awards & Expo. Sponsored by New America Media.

How about an amen?

Dear J-School and Media Educator Colleagues,

On behalf of Sandy and all of us at NAM, we would like to follow-up on our invitation for you and your staff for our upcoming 40th Anniversary celebration on Nov. 12. More details in the invite below. It will be an intimate and memorable evening with our alumni and long-time supporters and partners, including you and your universities/organizations.

Over 60 million adults access ethnic media. Their voices should be heard by lawmakers considering this important piece of immigration legislation. Let your voices ring out.

Read more here:
— The WORD
— Harry Potter is a DREAM Act Kid

It was one year ago that this week that President Obama signed the $787 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, better known as the stimulus package. It’s the biggest investment in our country since the Great Depression, but in this commentary I show how for most of us, a year of stimulus is not enough.

It’s been a year since President Barack Obama signed the $787 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, better known as the stimulus package. The largest public investment in America’s infrastructure since the Great Depression, Obama called it “the most sweeping economic recovery bill in our history.”

But a year later, many Americans are still hurting. And while the Labor Department reports the unemployment rate for whites has begun to fall (to 8.4 percent in January), it continues to rise for ethnic minorities. For African Americans, it is 16.5 percent and for Latinos unemployment is 12.6 percent.

And the reasons for these disparities lie at least in part in the unfair and unjust way the stimulus package has been implemented.

Read rest here.

[The WORD is a member of the NAM Ethnic Media Association]

Read more here.

File Photo: On assignment for a story.

For her journalistic work with New York Times Reporter Kirk Semple for “Suicides Soar Among New York Koreans,” Jang, who speaks and writes fluent Korean, and interns for New America Media, earned a Contributing Tag at the end of the story.

NYT news lead for the double suicide of Yongho and Soonhee Kim, February 25, 2008:

They had navigated the move from South Korea and opened a nail salon on Long Island, but by last winter, Yongho and Soonhee Kim were in debt and deeply unhappy. They were fighting a lawsuit over nonpayment of rent on the Long Beach salon and were months behind on rent payments for their apartment in Oakland Gardens, Queens. The bank had repossessed their car.

Courtesy The Korean Times

Soonhee, left, and Yongho Kim.

At dawn on Feb. 25, the couple left a note for their 20-year-old daughter outside their apartment door, doused themselves with gasoline and set themselves on fire, the police said. The blaze killed them and destroyed their home.

“They 100 percent lost hope,” said Mr. Kim’s brother-in-law, Chi Kun Park.

An earlier story was published/broadcast by NAM in July. NAM’s Odette Keely interviewed Jang about a piece that the Korean Times in NYC wrote about Korean suicides in America.