I am too angry to even write about how WRONG this is on so many levels. This is an Illegal Alien Green Card Holding Costume that was sold at Target’s website and is currently available from Toys’r Us, Walgreen and for $27.99 by FOrum Novelties on Amazon and $26.97 by FGFK Halloween Costumes on Amazon also. FGFK calls it a “funny” costume.

It’s one thing to for Americans to be totally ignorant of how inter-dependent we are with Mexico’s migrant population and how millions of migrants from Mexico work their asses off so that Americans can afford their lifestyle - but it’s a whole other thing to MOCK Mexicans for their labor.

Target has taken it off its website - please write to AMazon, TOys R’ Us and Walgreens and sign the UNited Farm Workers call to action.

” offensive “illegal alien” costume is being sold at Walgreens and Amazon.com as well as other stores. (*Update: 10/17/09 - It appears that Target and Toys R Us have pulled the costume from their websites sometime last night.)

According to these websites, you can now dress up as an “illegal alien” for Halloween. These stores are selling the costume made up of an orange jumpsuit with the words “illegal alien” written across the chest. The costume even comes with a mask of a space invader with big eyes, and a green card.

The extra terrestrial creature perpetuates racism and discrimination in an already hostile environment and during a period of time when the debate on immigration reform is increasingly hateful and divisive.

Please send an e-mail today to Walgreens and Amazon.com and let these corporations know that this is not funny. They used poor judgement in selling this offensive product and should pull it immediately.” From United Farm Workers

Yang Jie is from Guizhou - from a small ethnic minority group - she had to leave her home to make $ so she came to Beijing. I met Yang Jie while I was walking around in Wudaokou. We’ve been talking over the past few days and slowly we’ve become friends as I stop by each day to talk to her.

She sells textiles from her home village - where the women hand-weave beautiful cloth items. Here is a pic of some of the stuff that I have bought from Yang Jie.

Today I saw the local security guard trying to tell Yang Jie to leave the grounds - he said it was illegal for her to be selling in the parking lot. I watched him push one of the other girls down on the ground. As I watched this unfold, she said to the security guard

“you must have compassion for us migrants - for us ethnic minorities - we have no way to make money back home - just let us sell our stuff - we all have to eat - you have to eat - please just understand our plight.”

When I bought my stuff from her I told her that she was brave - she said that she wasn’t doing anything wrong - that she is also trying to make a living like the rest of us. When we talked more she told me about all the changes that were happening in the rural areas - the positive changes - like health care and improved schooling. But not all of these changes had reached her village yet so she has come to Beijing to make money. When i asked her how she deals with these local cops that just harass people like her - she essentially was saying that they are not reflective of the central’s government’s policies.

I am amazed by people like Yang Jie - who are very aware of the government’s process of improving the countryside. She knows how to place these bottom-tired local cops, like the one she dealt with today - and she can articulate that these local cops do not reflect upon the policies of the central government.

With all the migrants that I have spoken to - none have complained about the government’s policies in rural areas. All of them have been very happy with the recent changes. They will quickly list all of the changes that still need to be made - but they always say - we need more time - China is BIG. In many ways - they are more understanding than urban people of how government policies are implemented.

Yang Jie also has a son who is 3 years old now. She already has 20 years old daugher, and at 40 years old she gave birth to her son. When I took the photo he was going poop on the sidewalk so I didn’t want to disturb his process. I was amazed that the 3 year old child could just squat in the middle of the busiest sidewalk in Wudaokou and just go poop without any problems! People were walking past him and some almost stepped on him! He did it right in the middle of the sidewalk - he didn’t even step-off ot the side! Kids in America take forever to learn how to poop on their own - we take care of their pooping process with books and special toilet seats and raised steppers.

Children of street working migrant families in China cannot afford diapers or any of those excrement aiding materials. They just use the streets.

After I took the photo, the father scooped up in poop and put it in the garbage can. No one stepped on it.

(writing from internet cafe, must write quick - lots of cig smoke)

I’m in Wuhan, China. Wuhan is the capital of Hubei Province. It is not an internationally known city like Shanghai or Beijing or even Shengzhen - but it is a city on the rise - a mega-city in the making.

If you were to go to a port city in China - you would hear lots of stories about how exports have totally fallen - shipment containers are empty - the whole world economy has slowed down. But if you come to the middle of China - you would hear a slightly different story. Industries are now moving inland, away from port cities. Inland cities in Wuhan are part of China’s transition away from being a primarily export country. There is a strong sense here the Chinese people are producing for the Chinese.

Wuhan is crass - Wuhan is noisy - Wuhan is changing - VERY quickly.

right now the entire city is under construction. A new subway system will be running by the end of 2009. China’s subway construction teams are world famous for their expertise in building entire subway systems in 2 weeks :) In Wuhan - the sidewalks are ripped up with food vendors selling boiled eggs and stinky tofu with twirling pink ribbons to keep the flies away (stinky tofu is the official name of the tofu because the smell is unbearable). Workers old and young, from government firms to rural village are working away 24 hours a day remaking the city.

Wuhan i’m in love with you!

culturalbytes:

I am so excited to find out that I have received a National Science Foundation (NSF) grant! I will be going this summer to work with in China with the China Internet Network Information Center 中国互联网络信息中心 (CNNIC), the government agency that manages all of China’s internet affairs (equivalent to the FCC in the US). I met with CNNIC last summer in Beijing. We agreed upon a summer project in which I would analyze how youths and migrants are using ICTs to manage their inter-personal communication networks, with a special interest in online gaming networks.

It’s pretty exciting that these next 3 months at CNNIC will be the start of my dissertation fieldwork. I will be in Beijing for two months this summer! Here’s the title and description of my project below. If you or anyone you know is working on anything related to China and the internet - I would love to talk to you or them! And let’s talk if you are you going to be in Beijing this summer!

Title: China’s Internet Policy and Digital Network Architecture: Information Communication Technology (ICT) Practices among Youths and Migrant

Project Summary: This project asks how China’s internet policies and digital architectures influence the communication practices of two important and growing populations of new users—youths and migrants. I investigate how the inter-personal communication patterns of youths and migrants are affected by two factors: (1) recent internet usage policies set by the Chinese administration and (2) cellphone and internet digital architecture—an infrastructural comparison that is a central feature of this study.

The availability of popular ICTs to all citizens in countries such as China, renders problematic any theoretically dichotomous notions of the “Digital Divide” that are based on ICT “haves and have-nots”—where the “haves” have more technology and are consequently more empowered than the “have-nots.” A central contribution of this study is that it has the potential to transform current concepts of technology access and of ICT usage by accounting for important and specific technological differences in digital architectures and communication policies in the practices of new ICT users in China.

Thank you to Christena Turner, Richard Madsen, Eric Cech, Shannon Spanhake, Kenyatta Cheese, leah muse-orlinoff, stephanie little, Bill Blanpied and Bill Chang for all your help!