[Peace-discuss] Fwd: Fw: Articles on Freedom Rides (NYT &Wash Post )

[Alfred Kagan]

>Reply-To: "David Roediger" <droedige at uiuc.edu>
>From: "David Roediger" <droedige at uiuc.edu>
>To: "Alfred Kagan" <akagan at uiuc.edu>
>Subject: Fw: Articles on Freedom Rides (NYT &Wash Post )
>Date: Sun, 21 Sep 2003 21:33:06 -0500
>Organization: University of Illinois
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>This and the next describe the Freedom Ride. Please forward to any lists
>possible. I hope UPE can endorse/send a rep to the rally and or the Sept. 30
>lunch at the Center on Democracy in a Multiracial Society at 1108 W.
>Stoughton. Hope AWARE folks will be able to be at the rally too. peace, dr
>----- Original Message -----
>From: "lianalan" <lianalan at students.uiuc.edu>
>To: "David Roediger" <droedige at uiuc.edu>
>Sent: Sunday, September 21, 2003 9:20 PM
>Subject: Articles on Freedom Rides (NYT &Wash Post )
>
>
>>  http://www.nytimes.com/2003/09/17/national/17IMMI.html
>>
>>  Riding Across America for Immigrant Workers
>>  By STEVEN GREENHOUSE
>>
>>
>>  Borrowing a page from the civil rights movement, immigrants rights groups
>>  announced yesterday that they would stage an updated version of the 1960's
>>  Freedom Rides by sending 18 buses across the nation to draw attention to
>the
>>  plight of many immigrants.
>>
>>  In organizing this "Immigrant Workers Freedom Ride," the groups, with
>labor
>>  unions and civil rights organizations, hope to persuade Congress and the
>>  public to back legislation to give legal status to millions of illegal
>>  immigrants.
>>
>>  The buses will begin heading east from Los Angeles, San Francisco and
>Seattle
>>  next week. The riders will stop in dozens of cities for rallies and will
>meet
>>  other riders in Washington for a rally and lobbying effort. As a finale,
>>  sponsors are hoping to attract more than 100,000 supporters to an Oct. 4
>rally
>>  in Flushing Meadows in New York.
>>
>>  "We are tired of seeing the abuses that immigrants face every day," said
>Maria
>>  Elena Durazo, a union official who is chairwoman of the effort. "The
>Immigrant
>>  Workers Freedom Ride follows the tradition of the civil rights movement
>that
>>  no group of people be excluded from the basic rights they deserve."
>>
>>  All told, organizers say, 18 buses carrying 800 immigrants will leave from
>10
>>  cities and will stop in more than 100 communities in 42 states so the
>riders
>>  can hold rallies and news conferences, meet with political leaders and
>seek
>>  public support.
>>
>>  The immigration riders will stop in Anniston, Ala., where a Freedom Riders
>bus
>>  was forced off the road and firebombed in 1961. The riders will also hold
>a
>>  ceremony in Tucson to commemorate the deaths of illegal immigrants in the
>>  desert.
>>
>>  The effort, organizers say, will cost over $1 million; labor unions,
>>  foundations, churches and civil rights groups have contributed.
>>
>>  "This is a continuation of some of the fighting we did 40 years ago," the
>Rev.
>>  James Orange, an associate of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, said
>yesterday
>>  at a Washington news conference.
>>
>>  In 1961, scores of blacks and their white supporters boarded buses with
>the
>>  aim of integrating buses, waiting rooms and terminals in the South, which
>were
>>  often kept segregated despite a Supreme Court ruling that it was illegal
>to
>>  keep interstate carriers segregated. At each stop, the riders led rallies
>at
>>  colleges and churches. Their efforts often met with violence.
>>
>>  The immigrants' ride sponsors are not seeking specific legislation but are
>>  pushing for several goals, among them letting immigrants who work in the
>>  United States legalize their status, and providing full labor protections
>to
>>  and respecting the civil rights of all immigrant workers, even illegal
>ones.
>>
>>  "This is an unprecedented mobilization to support immigrants in this
>country,"
>>  said Frank Sharry, executive director of the National Immigration Forum,
>an
>>  advocacy group for immigrants. "It's based on the premise that the current
>>  immigration system is broken. It leaves 8 to 10 million people outside the
>  > law."
>>
>>  Mr. Sharry said the immigration system was badly in need of change because
>>  illegal immigrants were often exploited, because it was often hard for
>>  immigrants to reunite with their families and because hundreds of illegal
>>  immigrants have died in the desert from heat and thirst. Organizers of the
>>  rides are calling for expanding the number of family reunification visas,
>>  which give priority to relatives of legal immigrants.
>>
>>  "We should reward work and grant legal status to hard-working people," Mr.
>>  Sharry said. "We should reunite families in a timely fashion."
>>
>>  Another concern, especially since the Sept. 11 attacks, is that some
>>  immigrants are imprisoned indefinitely pending rulings on their status,
>and
>>  the legal rights of others have been reduced.
>>
>>  "Strengthening our borders and strengthening national security should not
>come
>>  at the cost of denying hard-working men and women their civil rights," Ms.
>>  Durazo said.
>>
>>  The idea for the effort originated with leaders of the Hotel Employees and
>>  Restaurant Employees International Union, which successfully pushed the
>>  A.F.L.-C.I.O. to reverse its traditional anti-immigrant policy and embrace
>the
>>  cause of immigrants. Many unions are seeking to unionize immigrant
>workers,
>>  including illegal immigrants, because they are frequently among the
>nation's
>>  most exploited, lowest-paid workers and because their wages often pull
>down
>>  wages for other workers.
>>
>>
>>
>___________________________________________________________________________
>>
>>
>>  http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A27028-2003Sep17.html
>>
>>  Cross-Country Ride to Champion Rights for Immigrant Workers
>>  By Sylvia Moreno
>>  Washington Post Staff Writer
>>
>>  Almost 900 workers traveling in buses from across the country will
>converge on
>>  Washington on Oct. 1, inspired by the Freedom Rides of the 1960s civil
>rights
>>  movement but focused on advocating for immigrants' rights, organizers
>>  announced yesterday.
>>
>>  The event, billed as the Immigrant Workers Freedom Ride, includes 18 buses
>>  that will depart from 10 cities beginning Saturday. The participants will
>meet
>>  in Washington on the evening of Oct. 1 for a series of rallies, a march
>>  through downtown and a visit to Congress before leaving Oct. 3 for New
>Jersey.
>>  The ride will culminate at a mass rally Oct. 4 in Flushing Meadows Park in
>>  Queens, N.Y.
>>
>>  Along the various cross-country routes, buses will stop in 103 cities to
>>  participate in gatherings and meet with political and religious leaders. A
>>  stop in Tucson will include a ceremony to commemorate illegal immigrants
>who
>>  died in the desert as they tried to enter the United States to find work.
>>
>>  Organizers said the focus of the event is to gain support from Congress
>and
>>  the public for legislation giving legal status to millions of illegal
>>  immigrants who work, pay taxes and contribute to the economic growth of
>the
>>  country.
>>
>>  "We don't believe we are a burden to this country," said Rafael Ernesto
>>  Gonzalez, an office cleaner in downtown Washington who immigrated here
>four
>>  years ago from El Salvador and is a member of the Service Employees
>>  International Union Local 82.
>>
>>  Gonzalez, among hundreds of thousands of Salvadorans, is living and
>working in
>>  the United States legally under the immigration designation of Temporary
>>  Protected Status, which expires in March 2005. But he cannot visit his
>country
>>  legally nor have his family reunited with him.
>>
>>  "It's four years that I've seen my family," he said. "We have feelings,
>and we
>>  get melancholy. We should not be seen as a threat to this country, but as
>>  contributors. Our immigration status should be changed."
>>
>>  The national coordinator of the ride compared the fight for immigrants'
>rights
>>  to the struggle for equal rights by the civil rights movement.
>>
>>  "All people are equal . . . and no one should live in the shadows of this
>>  society," said Maria Elena Durazo, the national coordinator of the ride
>and
>>  vice president of the Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees
>International
>>  Union Local 11 in Los Angeles.
>  >
>>  The Rev. James E. Orange, an original Freedom Rider and a former associate
>of
>>  the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., said that in the 1960s, he would have
>never
>>  predicted the need for another mass rights movement after "having our
>heads
>>  beaten in and our buses burned." But he said the movement "is alive and
>well
>>  and we applaud those who are working with us."
>>
>>  Durazo said organizers were concerned about harassment from hate groups
>along
>>  the bus routes. She said ride participants have been trained to respond
>>  nonviolently, in the tradition of King, in case of confrontations.
>>
>>  The buses will arrive in Southwest Washington in the late afternoon Oct.
>1,
>>  and participants will stay in a hotel for two nights. A welcoming event,
>>  including city and federal elected officials and religious and union
>leaders,
>>  will be held that night at Bible Way Temple in Northwest.
>>
>>  On Oct. 2, participants will meet on the West Lawn of the U.S. Capitol,
>then
>>  spend the day lobbying Congress. That night there will be a reception at
>>  AFL-CIO headquarters, featuring Cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick, archbishop
>of
>>  Washington, and AFL-CIO President John J. Sweeney. Afterward, participants
>>  will rally at Farragut Square in support of parking attendants. A short
>march
>>  also will be held on the streets bordering the square, organizers said.
>>
>>
>>  © 2003 The Washington Post Company
>>
>>


-- 


Al Kagan
African Studies Bibliographer and Professor of Library Administration
Africana Unit, Room 328
University of Illinois Library
1408 W. Gregory Drive
Urbana, IL 61801, USA

tel. 217-333-6519
fax. 217-333-2214
e-mail. akagan at uiuc.edu