¿Qué Pasa, Midwest?

Esta temporada queríamos ver if Latinos knew their rights and how their rights could be violated due to language barriers. Esperábamos que entendieras tus derechos, what your rights are regardless of your status, y la importancia of equal representation. And for this episode, that’s exactly what we’re going to do with the help of Dr. Nick LaRowe, Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of Southern Indiana. Te contamos más acerca de tus derechos. Resources: Find Your Representative Indiana Legal Services - Immigrants & Language Rights Center La Constitución de los Estados Unidos en Español

En este episodio, collaborator Angela Gervasi takes a look at how well the rights of Latinos are observed in health care, with an emphasis en los cambios por la pandemia. Ella explora language access en el cuidado de la salud and the negative outcomes if it is denied.

For this episode we hear from a new collaborator, April Alonso, a multimedia journalist from Cicero, Illinois and co-founder of Cicero Independiente, a hyper local news organization. Cicero Independiente publica in print both in Spanish and English para asegurarse que su trabajo is accessible to all Cicero and Berwyn, IL residents. En este episodio we talk about the first amendment and how communities of color in the formerly sundown towns of Cicero and Berwyn se estan organizando dentro y fuera de sus local governments. Se puede leer la historia completa en español aquí. | Read the full story in English here.

En este episodio, contributor Jon Orbach explores the challenges Latinos face in getting an equal education in Schuyler, Nebraska. 

En este episodio, we hear la historia de cómo la inmigración de Latinos ha afectado a los pueblos del medio oeste. Collaborator Jon Orbach visits the majority Latino immigrant community of Schuyler, Nebraska. Schuyler is representative de los desafíos y la discriminación faced by Latinos que están buscando sus lugares en los Estados Unidos. Through extensive interviews with both Whites and Latinos in Schuyler, Jon aprende que mientras hayan problemas, Latinos are assuming their rightful place in Schuyler. However, it is only because of a unique set of circunstancias que son difíciles de duplicar elsewhere. Jon habla de Victor Lopez y Guadalupe Marino Ramirez who are living through los cambios.

This season hablamos de how informed Latinos are about their rights and how they can be violated. Hablamos del Bill of Rights and la Constitución - with collaborators reporting desde el medio oeste, from the heartland. By the end of this season esperamos que entiendas tus derechos, what your rights are regardless of your status, y la importancia of equal representation.

Hola. Bienvenidos a nuestro último episodio of season 6. For this episode, we recap algunas de las historias we told and update you on other ones. Pero primero queremos decir, a big thank you to all of you who listen to our podcast. Gracias por su apoyo and don’t forget to follow us on Facebook and Twitter - at que pasa midwest. Ahora, empecemos con nuestro primer episodio. En este, we talked to Amy about finding adequate healthcare during the pandemic - while she was pregnant and unemployed - something many had to do en esta crisis. Amy had her baby and they’re doing great.  For our second episode, we heard the story about the first double-lung transplant patient - Mayra Ramirez. This story was en colaboracion con Christine Herman with Side Effects Public Media. We reached out to Christine para ver como sigue Mayra pero according to her, Mayra had been recovering from being in the ICU again, because of another infection after the surgery. En el episodio tres we talked to Kassandra. She told us the story from a student’s perspective and how it was so mentally draining to study online and how the sense of community was lost among amigos that usually gathered at the multicultural center. She said she was eager to go back to in-person classes and to socialize with more of her peers. To her, this is what recovery is about. Being able to grow together and mingle sin preocupaciones. Nuestros ultimos episodios - Episode six and seven - were focused on learning more about why Latinos were not getting vaccinated. Descubrimos que, la comunidad Latina no tenía la información necesaria to make an informed decision and consent to receiving the COVID-19 vaccine. En estos episodios, hablamos con las personas que hicieron de esto algo más fácil. People who not only translated the state’s department of health intake form to Spanish - but who also put together a vaccine clinic at the local Holy Rosary church. Más de cien feligreses se pusieron la vacuna luego de la misa. And recently, they all had the chance to get their second vaccine. A step forward in the right direction - para que las personas se sientan más cómodas y seguras.

In this episode we’re going to tell you a story about local Latinos addressing the deficiencies in the US healthcare system magnified by the pandemic. Hablamos de como los Latinos are bridging the language gap - like they always do - this time translating crucial information about the pandemic. Information that has meant the difference between life and death. In fact, it’s been reported that people have died because of the lack of information made available in Spanish. Un artículo del Chicago Tribune reporta el caso de Maria Isabel Alfaro, a 50-year-old who didn’t speak English and who died after contracting COVID-19. Maria’s husband, Rodolfo Reyes told the Chicago Tribune que antes de morir Maria “expressed the anguish and desperation she felt because she wasn’t able to understand or communicate with the medical staff.” There’s no way to really count cuántas personas han muerto esta pandemia porque no tuvieron la información necesaria - en su lengua - to understand the ins and outs of this virus.  Pero algo que si podemos claramente ver es la falta de informacion that is not available in Spanish or has just been made available recently. Like for example; no hace poco, our que pasa midwest team learned that in Indiana the vaccine consent form y otra información acerca de la vacuna was not available in Spanish until April of this year - 2021.

En este episodio hablamos con Barbara Anguiano. Ella nos habla acerca de su experiencia y la de otros descubriendo la falta de información en Español acerca del COVID-19 para las comunidades hispanas en el medio oeste.  De hecho, a recent poll conducted by Voto Latino and Media Matters For America found that almost 4 in 10 Latinos respondents report having seen material or information that makes them think the COVID-19 vaccines are not safe or effective. En adición 6 en 10 Latinos conocen a alguien en su hogar o comunidad que no está dispuesto a ponerse la vacuna porque creen que es peligrosa. Barbara y su familia no son los únicos en esta posición. Y muchos hispanos ya se están vacunando pero even after more information is being made available for hispanohablantes, muchos aún no confían en que esta vacuna es segura y otros no saben dónde registrarse o los documentos que tienen que proveer para vacunarse.  In the next episodios, we chat with the people who made the vaccine information available in Español and visit a vaccine clinic at the Holy Rosary church la cual tiene servicios en Español.  Y tú y tu familia, ¿se han vacunado o planean vacunarse? Let us know, tweet us @quepasamidwest. 

En este episodio, we visit the vaccine clinic at a church we talked about in our previous episode - and talk more about the importance of getting everyone informed acerca del virus y los cambios que continúan ocurriendo con la vacuna. Y tu, ¿Ya te pusiste la vacuna?  Would you be comfortable at a doctor’s office if no one understood your culture or spoke your language? Let us know your thoughts, tweet us!

En este episodio Dana Cronin and Christine Herman talk to a group of farmworkers about getting the vaccine. A solo tres días de haber llegado desde Oaxaca, México Sergio Chavez  recibió la vacuna. He’s been coming to the United States for years to work in the farms and says this pandemic affected farmworkers greatly.  He says he didn’t expect the vaccine to go as smoothly as it did. Purdue University estimates that more than 480,000 agricultural workers have tested positive for COVID-19 nationwide and at least 9,000 have died from it. This figure likely underestimates the number greatly since it excludes contracted and temporary labor. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention, o CDC por sus siglas en Espanol, says farmworkers are at risk because farmworkers often have close contact to one another both in the fields and indoors like shared housing, cooking and eating areas, bathrooms, and laundry facilities.  The farming industry depends largely on migrant workers, according to the Department of Agriculture. The USDA says the number of worker visas, or H-2A, requested and approved has increased fivefold, from just over 48,000 positions certified in 2005 to nearly 258,000 in 2019.  There are 2.4 million farmworkers in the U.S. — at least half of whom are undocumented, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and all of whom should be prioritized for COVID-19 vaccines, according to the CDC. The CDC also recommends that vaccinations for farmworkers be offered near their worksites or in their communities.  This story was produced by Harvest Public Media and Side Effects Public Media in collaboration with the Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting. Dana and Christine are reporters with Illinois Newsroom. Follow them on Twitter:@DanaHCronin and @CTHerman.

En este episodio we talk about education. Since the pandemic, a lot of things have changed the education landscape. Por ejemplo, in 2021, Undergraduate Latino enrollment decreased by more than 5 percent, de acuerdo al National Student Clearinghouse Research Center.   We talk to a student about her experience during the pandemic. We also talk to a student advisor about how for multicultural students the pandemic meant more than just leaving campus and lower grades. Kassandra and Cesar tell their stories about como sus notas bajaron y como les hace falta la vida en campus a los estudiantes. As the vaccine becomes available to more populations, some universities are starting to plan for clases en persona this Fall - like the University of Southern Indiana - something both, Kassandra and Cesar are looking forward to - cuando la universidad planea abrir su campus otra vez and college life will be more like it was. This past year, educators and parents have suspected that online learning would bring challenges. But now, we can actually see the data that indicates students are falling behind.  Uno de los estudios de Northwestern Evaluation Association analyzed test results of about 4 million students in 3rd to 8th grade, comparing test results from 2019 to this past fall. The results indicated that students scored 5 to 10 percentile points lower on math tests than last year. Latino and Black students also did worse on reading tests than in previous years.

En este episodio, I want you to meet Mayra Ramirez. Mayra contracted the virus and ended up in the ICU on life support. She was 28.  The virus had severely damaged her lungs and doctors concluded she would not survive without a double-lung transplant.  Y en Junio, Mayra became the first U.S. COVID-19 patient to undergo the life-saving procedure. En los primeros meses de la pandemia del COVID-19, she spoke with Christine Herman una reportera from Side Effects Public Media about what she’s been through in the past year. This episode was developed with the help of Side Effects Public Media, a public radio collaboration reporting on healthcare in the Midwest. You can follow Christine on Twitter: @CTHerman.

In season 6 we explore how Latinx in the Midwest are recovering from Covid-19 - en varias areas - like economic recovery, physical health, salud mental, education and unemployment. This will resonate with many parents caught up in the need to work while also caring for their children forced out of school by the pandemic. En este episodio, I want you to meet Amy Gastelum. You may have heard her en otro de nuestros episodios contando cómo su abuelo nunca le dijo que tenía ascendencia Mexicana and how she was learning about her identity.  In this episode, Amy nos cuenta, how she navigated health care while pregnant and unemployed, while being a mom to a six-year-old and still caring for some of her patients.  Amy es enfermera. Some of Amy’s patients are undocumented o con problemas financieros so she tells us how after quitting her job she had to enlist in Medicaid - something that some of her patients are not eligible for.  So in this episode we talk about how the pandemic highlighted the need for better healthcare options for pregnant women de recursos escasos.

It’s a windy day in Chicago. The sun shines down on a large mural that sits at Carpenter and 18th Streets in Pilsen, a neighborhood on Chicago’s southwest side. The mural is hard to miss and attracts everyone who passes because of its colorful homage spotlighting three of the community’s own. Pilsen is a community that has overcome hardship long before the COVID-19 pandemic hit, a community whose hope is as essential as its workers. An indigenous serape pattern serves as the colorful backsplash for Javier, a U.S. Postal worker, Rosalinda, a clerk at Los Jasmines, the corner store where the mural is located, and Juan, a butcher shop worker, all pictured in their work uniforms and masks. The pattern is intentional and pays respect to the culture and history each proudly carries.

Host Judith Ruiz-Branch, contributor Karli Goldenberg, and producer Mareea Thomas reflect on the season and the year so far. Tienen una conversación not as journalists but as people, human beings who have been affected in every way by the current state of our country. Esperamos que las historias from this season have given you some hope during this difficult time and maybe even inspired you to find ways to be a helper en su comunidad. The song para este episodio es "Color Esperanza 2020" by various artists.  

En este episodio conversamos con la activista Kim Wasserman, residente de la Villita Antonia Quiñones Peña y el abogado John Hazinski about the implosion and continued demolition en la Villita, environmental justice and what community members would like to see moving forward. That’s not a disparity, a disparity is a difference, it’s an inequity. And the difference between a disparity and an inequity is that an inequity is inherently unjust. So, inequality is an affliction all by itself. It’s the epidemic of inequality that COVID exposes. — Dr. David A. Ansell Resources:  Piece about Little Village’s fight for change after the implosion co-authored by Maria Cecilia Quiñones Peña Recursos Compilados para abordar el impacto del COVID-19 en La Villita Hilco statement ProPublica Investigation Harvard Public Health Study into power plant emissions effects on Illinois communities Nuestra canción para este episodio es “Sana Sana” by Alejandro y Maria Laura, a song that reimagines the healing song of Sana Sana and applies it to the environment’s natural resources.

En este episodio contributor Karli Goldenberg talks to Chef Benoit Angulo via Zoom about how COVID-19 has brought La Cocinita Restaurant back to its food truck roots and allowed for them to donate over 7,000 meals to date across Chicagoland. Rachel and Benoit Angulo, owners of La Cocinita Restaurant and food trucks, have teamed up to donate meals a los más afectados por el coronavirus. We had this humongous change, like this monumental change on everything that we were doing, and I like how although stressful, and I lost a lot of sleep over it, I like how we were able to get together and figure out a way to make stuff happen. That will be like the thing that I will look back on. -Benoit Angulo

En este episodio our contributor Karli Goldenberg explores collective care, o el cuidado colectivo. Before the U.S. declared a national emergency and Illinois issued a “Stay-at-Home Order,” Karli attended a community conversation about wellness hosted by Northwestern University’s Multicultural Student Affairs. Dr. Asif Wilson, Associate Dean of Instruction at Harold Washington College in Chicago, talked about collective care for people of color.

En este episodio, host Judith Ruiz-Branch habló con Shammrie Brown, Senior Outreach Director of New Life Covenant Church Southeast, via the Tape A Call app. Hablaron sobre cómo los miembros de la iglesia continue to help la comunidad despite the coronavirus and unrest following the murder of George Floyd. In addition to supporting local catering companies by purchasing comida para los trabajadores esenciales and those in need, la iglesia also provides pruebas de COVID-19 gratis and other services to the community. La canción para este episodio es, “No Estas Solo”, a collaboration from Carlos Vives and Ruben Blades, dedicado a todos los afectados por the coronavirus pandemic. Proceeds from the song will benefit two separate charities in Panama and Colombia. Photos courtesy of New Life Covenant Church Southeast