Meet The New American Sweatshop

Don't turn a blind eye to the abuse and exploitation!

Carwash workers across the country are routinely abused, intimidated and exploited. Carwash workers are routinely subjected to health and safety hazards and often end up with severe kidney damage respiratory problems and nerve deterioration. You can stop this.

Here's what YOU can do:

1. Share this video and recruit 5 others by posting it on your Facebook wall or your friends' wall.
2. Inform your friends and family by emailing this video to them.
3. Have you witnessed similar abusive conditions at your local carwash? Share your story below!

Gay siblings, Samantha and Guillermo, sit down with their mother and let us in on their honest conversation. The intricacies of a gay family member has an important impact on the whole family; being gay is a family affair. The Moreno family presents a framework that does not hold Latino family culture and homosexuality mutually exclusive. Challenging yet hopeful, the Moreno family is an example of how an honest conversation changes the family dynamic, for the better.

‘An Honest Conversation’ is a sober, honest, and often painful collection of stories from our LGBTQ Latino youth, their friends, families, and the community in general. From bullying to abuse, struggle to triumph, this ground-breaking series aims to break taboos within the Latino community while changing paradigms within our fast-shifting demographic. With these powerful, direct stories Cuéntame is starting a provocative and honest nationwide conversation that we hope will begin with your own discussions at the Holiday or Sunday dinner table and into the lives of many Latinos in America.

When we first started filming this series we knew we were going to meet some amazing people, but we had no idea the power, the strength, and the openness they would bring with them. These amazing people now share their lives with you—their darkest moments, difficult and sometimes painful realities about their families, and secrets they’ve never shared before—in the hope that you will not only watch them, but also learn from them and share them with others. Share these stories with your family and friends, and with the people you know need to see them most. Remember that these are the stories of real people who are baring themselves to make a difference – and JOIN US IN THIS HONEST CONVERSATION BY COMMENTING BELOW OR SUBMITTING YOUR OWN STORY OR VIDEO: cuentame(at)bravenewfoundation.org

JORGE:

BIANCA:

GISELLE:

RONNIE:

 

Why is it that for-profit prisons get some holiday cheer (and break) while everyday, working class Americans cannot? What is wrong with this picture–and why is it that Congress has approved more funding in 2012 for an industry that reaps the profits out of human misery? -Iliana

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Two victories against voter ID laws today. One coming from Texas and another coming in Wisconsin. Wisconsin has had a backlash against Republicans ever since the Governor’s office tried to do away with collective bargaining for public employees and some expect the state to go overwhelmingly to Obama. Is the voter ID law an effort to stop Obama voters?

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Pilar Marrero, from La Opinion once again delivers a powerful story that highlights precisely the complexity and dangers of our current immigration system. Many women like María Bolaños face a detrimental crossroad – live under domestic violence and abuse or get deported to a life in poverty, misery and in some cases danger.  — Axel

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The mounting student debt crisis–which will soon pass the $1 trillion mark–isn’t just about the economy. How important do you think this issue will be in the 2012 election?

Via US News

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Jules Nurrish, writer and director of the new short film, Kiss Me, wrote an exclusive blog for Cuentame on her important and controversial film that provides a refreshing perspective of what it means to be gay, Latino and a boxer.

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In the orphanage in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, the boy didn’t have a name or a history. He had been separated from his family by the death of his mother during the long civil war in El Salvador. Nobody claimed him. Eventually, he was adopted by a couple in Boston. This is the story of Nelson De Witt, born Roberto Coto, removed as a 2-year-old child from his roots, his family and his native country.

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Celebrating its 10th anniversary, Los Angeles’ Latino Theater Company, puts on a very special and timely performance – a tribute to the the story of Juan Diego and the four apparitions of the Virgen of Guadalupe. Every year the LATC presents this holiday pageant as a gift to the community.

Director: Jose Luis Valenzuela
Adapted from “Nican Mopohua” by: Evelina Fernández

Via LATC

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The company in reference to the Latino characters in the story had decided to use the names, Juan Huevos and Jose Frijoles. The names have since changed after complaints by Latino audiences. The company is also accused of biased casting. What do YOU think? Is this enough or too far?

Via The Washington Post

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Did you get a chance to tune into CBS’ new ¡Rob! show? What did you think? Do you think that its overdrive on Mexican stereotypes is valid? Why or why not? Share your thoughts with us!

Via Time.com

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Undocumented Law School Grad Fights To Become Lawyer In California
Posted by · September 04, 2013 12:21 PM

The average student loan debt for the class of 2011 is too damn high!
Posted by · August 29, 2013 5:38 PM

Rep. Steve King Asserts His Racist 'Drug Mule' Comments About DREAMers
Posted by Luis Moreno · July 24, 2013 11:20 AM · 1 reaction

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The fact that the United Methodist Church divested from for-profit prisons (CCA and GEO) after realizing that they owned nearly one million dollars in stock in both companies, demonstrates that grassroots efforts to expose the abuses of these corporations is an integral way of creating consciousness in the general public and the first step to challenge the way they operate and profit from human misery.

Via ACLU Blog

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Take a stand against the private prison racket: http://immigrantsforsale.org
Discuss @ facebook.com/cuentame

Guillermo Gomez-Sanchez is a 50 year old legal resident with a mental disability. In 2004 Gomez was detained because of a dispute at a grocery store over a bag of tomatoes.

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By Amanda Peterson Beadle, Marie Diamond and Ian Millhiser

A week after announcing he would veto the DREAM ACT, Mitt Romney ups the anti-immigrant ante and gains endorsement from Krish Kobach, mastermind and author behind various anti-immigrant state laws.

via thinkprogress.org

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Members of Congress urge investigation into sexual abuse in immigrant detention centers. Read below for the latest.

Via PBS

Citing our October film Lost in Detention, 30 members of Congress are pressing the Government Accountability Office to look into the issue of sexual abuse at immigration detention centers:

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