Oscar López Rivera's Chicago Homecoming - A Photo Essay

Oscar López Rivera's Chicago Homecoming - A Photo Essay

On Thursday, May 18th, 2017, Oscar López Rivera returns to Chicago's Humboldt Park for the first time since he was pardoned by President Obama after serving 35 years out of his 70 year prison sentence as a political prisoner. Oscar López Rivera received a warm welcome from the locals in the neighborhood where he was honored by a march down Divison Street that began at La Casita de Don Pedro and continued down to Luis Munoz Marin where a street sign was unveiled in his honor. The celebration proceeded to continue down to the Humboldt Park Boathouse where a program of speakers addressed the crowd.

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La Verdad Podcast Turns 1!!

La Verdad Podcast Turns 1!!

Familia, the past year has been full of ups and downs. We initially started La Verdad Podcast as a way to share interesting stories and better connect with our audience. The result after one year has been much more than what we could have imagined. Episodes were released with our friends as the only audience and then a lot of you started finding us on your own. Some through word of mouth. Others through recommendations from listeners. The main point is that our community started growing.

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Halloween Racism and Harassment at Michigan State University

Halloween Racism and Harassment at Michigan State University

Black and Brown students across the nation deal with passive and overt discrimination by their classmates or professors year after year. Halloween tends to be one of those occasions where it comes to the forefront and 2016 is no different. Angel Treviño, a student liaison to Michigan State University's Board of Trustees and a leader of Latino-based fraternity Phi Iota Alpha, is no stranger to challenges faced by students. Unfortunately, the Mexican-American student had to confront this in person on the first night of 2016's Halloween weekend.

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Black Lives Matter: A Boricua Mother's Perspective

Black Lives Matter: A Boricua Mother's Perspective

#BlackLivesMatter #BlueLivesMatter #AllLivesMatter

These three hashtags have flooded my social media feeds over this past week. Do any of these hashtags mean more than the other? To be honest, I don’t think so. I think they are all valid and have real meaning behind them. But, with recent incidents the last few years, the focus IS and SHOULD be Black Lives Matter. Hell, nobody was shouting or tagging ‘all lives matter’ and ‘blue lives matter’ until the Black Lives Matter movement began.

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