See the update at the end of this post with a response and new, altered logo from Hermandad Mexicana Latinoamericana
When President Barack Obama (aka the Deporter-in-Chief) announced his Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) policy in June, it came as DREAM activists pressured the administration by courageously risking arrest and deportation as they staged sit-ins at Obama for America offices in numerous cities across the nation.
Now that the terms of eligibility have been laid out, DACA clinics and applications have become grounds for a flier war in SanTana with the Orange County DREAM Team issuing a public statement demanding that Hermandad Mexicana Latinoamericana remove their logo from distributed fliers soliciting applications at local offices.
]
See also:
Orange County Dream Team Plans 'Coming Out of the Shadows' Event Tomorrow
DREAM Activists Drop Pro-Immigrant Banners Along OC Freeway Overpasses
Local DREAM Activists Organize Forum Surrounding President Obama's Wannabe DREAM Act
Affirming that their logo, which ingeniously plays on the border crossing caution sign by showing students in caps and gowns instead, has gained recognition beyond local communities emblazoning t-shirts and giving identity to all they do, the organization was steadfast in its words.
“It has recently come to our attention that Hermandad Mexicana is using the OCDT logo, an important part of our organization, to promote Deferred Action services for which they charge,” the statement released yesterday reads. “It has also come to our attention that members of the community have seen our logo on Hermandad Mexicana's fliers and paid for their services thinking that OCDT had partnered with them.”
“We would like to clarify this: OCDT has never and will never work with Hermandad Mexicana or any other group that exploits the anxieties of the undocumented community to make a profit.”
Even before eligibility terms for DACA were clarified, the Orange County DREAM Team began to organize well attended and free informational clinics in cities like Anaheim, Garden Grove and elsewhere. The organization is claiming creative common license with their logo and says that they tried to respectfully engage the issue to no avail. Folks from Los Amigos of Orange County attempted to mediate with no results. The Weekly has requested a statement from
Together with Western State University College of Law as host, they will present another free DACA clinic at the facility in Fullerton, Saturday, November 10 from 1-5 p.m.
There's a flier circulating for the event. It has the OCDT logo featured prominently at the top twice and there's no pedo about it.
UPDATE, NOV. 2, 2:00 P.M.: Hermandad Mexicana Latinoamericana has provided to the Weekly a response to the OC DREAM Team's contention that it had lifted their recognizable logo for DACA application fliers without permission.
“Hermandad Mexicana Nacional and Latinoamericana were among the first founders of the local and national dream youth movement for visas and legalization, which ultimately succeeded in pushing President Obama to concede to the current Deferred Action Program, as defective and limited as this program may be,” the statement begins.
As for the immediate charge at hand? The organization goes on to say, “The last time we checked NO ONE has a copyright or trademark of the specific logo. Nevertheless, our leadership has decided to alter our version of the logo it uses in our DACA outreach to distinguish our efforts from OCDT and not create any impression that we are affiliated in any way.”
The new logo was a part of Assemblyman Gil Cedillo's DREAM Act campaign and Hermandad Mexicana says the organization is authorized to use it.
The original disagreement between the two organizations saw OCDT claiming Creative Commons License saying that it was used to advertise for pay services. To that Hermandad Mexicana replied that it “is a NOT FOR PROFIT private humanitarian foundation and currently accepts donations for the services provided to its members even lower than the fees charged by the Catholic Church to its congregants,” emphatically ending, “enough said on this matter.”
Follow OC Weekly on Twitter @ocweekly or on Facebook!
Gabriel San Román is from Anacrime. He’s a journalist, subversive historian and the tallest Mexican in OC. He also once stood falsely accused of writing articles on Turkish politics in exchange for free food from DönerG’s!