links for 2010-06-20

The letter appealing to President Obama was written in frustration in January, by a woman who saw her family reflected in his. She was a white United States citizen married to an African man…She described the impasse that confronted her husband, Hervé Fonkou Takoulo, a citizen of Cameroon with an outstanding deportation order from a failed bid for asylum…on June 3, when two immigration agents stopped Mr. Takoulo, 34, in front of the couple’s East Village apartment building. He says one agent asked him, “Did you write a letter to President Obama?”…he was handcuffed and sent to an immigration jail in New Jersey for deportation. But on Thursday night, Mr. Takoulo was just as suddenly released…Officials said they were investigating how the letter — one of thousands routinely referred to the agency by the White House to gather information for a reply — had been improperly used by the agency’s “fugitive operations” unit to find and arrest Mr. Takoulo…

All you need to do is click here to add the overlay and your avatar will be updated. This initiative is supported by The Disappearance of McKinley Nolan, a documentary feature film from director Henry Corra and executive producer Danny Glover. U.S. Private McKinley Nolan vanished 40 years ago in Vietnam, and he's one of the last foot soldiers still unaccounted for. Some say he was captured, some say he was a traitor, some even say he was an American operative, but with his files classified, his family had no way of knowing the truth. Since 1967, the Nolans have been been fighting to hear the whole story. This Juneteenth, we'll celebrate as they finally receive the recognition that they've been waiting for.