The following originally aired on KQED-FM.

By: Sayre Quevedo

Sitting in class, a friend tapped me on the shoulder and I ignored her, hoping she'd take the time to read the plaque hanging around my neck: Please understand my reason for not speaking today. I am participating in Day of Silence, a national “student protest” against the silence faced by the LGBTQ community and their allies.

About a hundred kids at my school managed to stay silent the whole time while others simply wore the cards in support. I have been a part of Day of Silence for 6 years and while I've stayed true to the nature of the event, a part of me wasn't totally invested.

I barely uttered a word all day, but after school I left to attend a rally in the Mission district where I yelled and chanted for transgender rights. The event was held outside the 16th Street BART station, where weeks earlier, a transgender woman named Mia Tu Mutch, was punched and kicked to the ground.

The climate at the rally was electric. People held signs and chanted, but when I looked around I didn't see any of the kids who had been wearing the plaques at my school.

By Denise Tejada and Robyn Gee

In a surprise move this week, the Oakland Education Association in Oakland, California announced their opposition to a proposed gang injunction. This new law would restrict 40 members of the Norteño gang in the Fruitvale neighborhood of Oakland from associating with one another within the 450 square block radius known as "the safety zone." The injunction would only apply to those on the list whose gang-affiliation and criminal record are proven in court.

The teacher's union announcement is good news for Oakland’s City Attorney’s Office, which has struggled to assure community members that the law won’t target young people.

The proposed injunction has divided the city’s residents for months, as well as the city’s leadership.  Oakland Mayor Jean Quan and City Attorney John Russo are are locked in disagreement over the issue and Russo is considering leaving his Oakland post, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.

There is no one under the age of 18 on the injunction list.  Russo said in an interview with Youth Radio, “If you’re under 18 years old you’ll never be subject to the injunction. If you are over 18 years old and you’re not a member of a gang, you have nothing to worry about from the injunction.”

Cesar Cruz, Director of Homies Empowerment, an organization that helps rival gang members resolve their differences, is worried that young people will be targeted sooner or later. He said the youth at Homies Empowerment are afraid of being targeted by accident, and points to specific language in the injunction about their online activity. “If you’re on MySpace or Facebook and you are proud of your neighborhood and you call it the murder dubs or the thirties, somehow now that’s gang symbols and gang affiliation,” said Cruz.

Once that digital fingerprint is there, it's hard to tell how law enforcement might use that information later.

By Victor Torres 

On Tuesday, November 16, 2010, I was invited to join the KUNM Youth Radio Project at the Future of the Internet Town Hall in Albuquerque, NM. The Future of the Future of the Internet Town Hall was sponsored by the Media Literacy Project, Center of Media justice, and Free Press, and was hosted by the National Hispanic Cultural Center. The town hall was formed to create a platform for people to have the opportunity to speak about the future of Internet freedom. At the town hall was FCC Commissioner Michael Copps, who was there to hear people’s thoughts on Internet freedom.

On October 10, 2010 the National Hispanic Cultural Center (NHCC) celebrated its ten-year anniversary in Albuquerque, NM with a community open house. Read more...

On October 10, 2010 the National Hispanic Cultural Center (NHCC) celebrated its ten-year anniversary in Albuquerque, NM with a community open house. Read more...

On October 10, 2010 the National Hispanic Cultural Center (NHCC) celebrated its ten-year anniversary in Albuquerque, NM with a community open house. Read more...

By Kyra Ellis-Moore

After 26 hours spent on planes and in the airports and on the runways of Washington DC, Brussels, Belgium, and Dakar, Senegal, and the five hours spent in a taxi, SUV racing along island highways, parked on a packed-to-the-gills ocean ferry, and stuck in a perpetual traffic jam on the streets of the city -- my mother and I finally arrived at our hotel in Freetown, Sierra Leone at 11 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 8, 2010. We went to bed by 1:30 a.m., but, being six hours ahead of New Mexico time, it only seemed to be around 7:30 p.m.  After stubbornly willing the very slow internet connection to work for half an hour, we were able to send out a couple of emails to friends and family to reassure them of our safe arrival, and then we went to bed.

The next morning, after very cold and short (but appreciated!) bucket showers, my mother and I went down to breakfast and ate bananas, toast, and African omelets, as we drank copious amounts of tea and coffee.  The open windows of the restaurant let in a breeze partly relieving the unbelievable humidity.  The Hill Valley Hotel, although located rather out of the way as we would find, had an incredible view of the Atlantic Coast, which we could see from where we were eating.

By Kyra Ellis-Moore

After 26 hours spent on planes and in the airports and on the runways of Washington DC, Brussels, Belgium, and Dakar, Senegal, and the five hours spent in a taxi, SUV racing along island highways, parked on a packed-to-the-gills ocean ferry, and stuck in a perpetual traffic jam on the streets of the city -- my mother and I finally arrived at our hotel in Freetown, Sierra Leone at 11 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 8, 2010. We went to bed by 1:30 a.m., but, being six hours ahead of New Mexico time, it only seemed to be around 7:30 p.m.  After stubbornly willing the very slow internet connection to work for half an hour, we were able to send out a couple of emails to friends and family to reassure them of our safe arrival, and then we went to bed.

The next morning, after very cold and short (but appreciated!) bucket showers, my mother and I went down to breakfast and ate bananas, toast, and African omelets, as we drank copious amounts of tea and coffee. The open windows of the restaurant let in a breeze partly relieving the unbelievable humidity.  The Hill Valley Hotel, although located rather out of the way as we would find, had an incredible view of the Atlantic Coast, which we could see from where we were eating.