Fight Back News Service is circulating an important commentary written by veteran Chicano activist Carlos Montes in 2010. Montes is a regular contributor to Fight Back!

Saint Paul, MN – More than 75 people came together to say “Pemex is not for sale!” at a protest outside the Mexican consulate here on Aug. 24. They denounced Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto’s scheme to privatize the Mexican state-owned oil company, Pemex (Petróleos Mexicanos).

Jenni Rivera was truly a CHICANA Mexican regional music star (even sang it out loud in a song) representing the LBC (Long Beach City), homies, single-moms and homegirls from across Cali, the Southwest and the Americas.

Los Angeles, CA – Alex Sanchez won a major victory against government repression, Dec. 17, when the U.S. Attorney main office dropped the outrageous conspiracy to murder and other charges.

Minneapolis, MN – More than 50 people, mostly Latino, marched through the Latino community today to encourage people to vote no on the Voter ID amendment and the anti-gay marriage amendment. The two proposed amendments to the state constitution will be on the Minnesota ballot Nov. 6. They are proposed and promoted by the right wing. Polls are very close for both amendments, so mobilizing people to turn out to vote against them is at a fevered pitch.

In its original format, Alabama’s Beason-Hammon Act granted school resource officers the right to badger fifth-graders on the basis of their immigration status. The state of Alabama, which passed the Beason-Hammon Act (or HB 56) in June of 2011, was the only state in the country requiring public school administrators to verify immigration data for new K-12 students. However, just two months ago in August of this year, the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals struck down the student provision of HB 56, declaring it unconstitutional and a legal breach of Plyer vs. Doe, which mandates that states provide an education to all children, regardless of their immigration status. The 11th Circuit also struck down Georgia’s HB 87, a state proposal to criminalize the “transporting and harboring of illegal immigrants,” a statute with anti-Latino written all over it, a proposal with no parallel within the U.S. system of federal law.

Anaheim, CA – Hundreds marched on the Anaheim Police Headquarters, July 29, to protest police killings of young Chicano men. The protesters confronted the police with chants, shouts and banners denouncing these brutal and racist killings. The Anaheim Police Department (APD) has carried out a rash of killings this year, far more than previous years. Two people have been killed in the past week.

San José, CA – On June 25 the U.S. Supreme Court ruled against most of the parts of Arizona’s SB1070, which had ignited nationwide protests against the anti-immigrant law. But at the same time the court upheld part of the law that would allow for expanding federal and local joint efforts to deport more undocumented people.

Lakeland, FL – After a six day fast, members of the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW) broke bread with 1000 supporters to protest the Publix food corporation un-fair treatment of its workers, March 10. The CIW is a group of Latin American and Haitian farm workers and tomato-pickers fighting against modern day slavery and for living wages. Presently, the Immokalee Workers are putting pressure on Publix Supermarket for not paying a penny more per pound of tomatoes. Publix is mainly located in Florida but also has stores in Tennessee, South Carolina, Georgia and Alabama.