Content provided in partnership with
Freedom boards the buses; immigrant workers' freedom ride revives debate - Currents
New Internationalist, Nov, 2003 by Mark Engler
IN a few intense months we have challenged and changed America's attitudes about immigrants,' said textile workers' union vice-president May Chen--herself the daughter of Chinese immigrants--at a massive 4 October rally in New York City's Flushing Meadows Park.
She was speaking at the festival to celebrate the end of the Immigrant Workers' Freedom Ride: a three-week tour in which over 900 activists of 50 different nationalities boarded buses in 10 cities to travel across the US demanding amnesty for undocumented workers. By the time they arrived in New York, their bus tour had made over 100 stops at union halls and churches, plus a lobbying trip to Washington DC, which revived a national debate about immigration policy that had been moribund since 11 September 2001.
- Most Popular Articles in News
- The Ten Best Laptop bags
- Tata plans cheapest-ever car for Indian market
- GLOBALIZATION AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF UNDERDEVELOPMENT OF THE THIRD WORLD
- Corn is good for you; Corn is not only a tasty treat, but also a cereal that ...
- THE 50 BEST STYLISH HANDBAGS TO CARRY
- More »
Ramon Ramirez, president of a farm workers' union in Oregon, joined the Ride with his wife and three children. 'We are struggling for a new legalization,' he said, citing demands for citizenship opportunities, family reunification, and labour protection. 'Our day is going to come.'
The estimated 100,000 people who gathered in New York City waved signs reading 'We are all immigrants' and 'Amnistia Ahora!' (Amnesty Now!). Union banners flew alongside the colours of Mexico, Puerto Rico, Haiti, Ecuador and dozens of other countries. 'Let me see you swing those flags,' yelled hip-hop performer Wyclef Jean, as he rapped in three languages.
Armando Blas Garcia, who joined the Freedom Ride from Minneapolis with his 16-year-old daughter, told a reporter why Americans should take notice: 'To people who say this has nothing to do with them, I say: "Who does your yard work? Who makes your fast food? Who cleans your hotel rooms?"'
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]
Today's immigrant rights activists take their inspiration from the militant Freedom Rides of 1961, with which the US Civil Rights movement challenged the apartheid of the Deep South. While the 2003 rides did not draw the same type of savage response from white racists, some activists nevertheless faced real risks. Two buses from Los Angeles were stopped by immigration authorities near El Paso, Texas.
'"Show me proof of your citizenship," they told us,' recounted Maria Elena Durazo, the Freedom Ride chairperson. 'They asked every single one of us, one by one, but none of us spoke.'
'When they put us in a cell, people were scared and crying,' added Diana Chavez, who had boarded one of the buses in Los Angeles. 'We held each other and said we wouldn't let them intimidate us. We sang the whole time.'
'In that moment of danger,' Durazo says, 'we became children ... of the African American fighters for Civil Rights.'
Spanish-language TV and radio stations in the Southwest treated the Ride's stop by La Migra (the immigration authorities) as emergency breaking news. Politicians quickly responded by pressuring the Department of Homeland Security, which released the activists after four hours.
Polls show that amnesty is the top political issue for Hispanics who this year surpassed African Americans to become the largest minority group in the United States.
As a result of aggressive voter registration drives, Latinos in 2004 will constitute an estimated nine per cent of the electorate (up from seven per cent in 2000). Already it's rare to find a national politician in the US who won't attempt to stammer a few words of 'Spanglish' whenever they might court new amigos. In one gaffe, President Bush even did the same to greet French-speaking dignitaries.
The workers on the Freedom Ride are looking for more than false camaraderie and fickle promises from politicians. Diana Chavez, who took part in the Freedom Ride to show her Mexican-American father that 'we can change this nation', captures the mood: 'We're tired of racism and discrimination. Immigrants aren't going to stay in the shadows any more.'
COPYRIGHT 2003 New Internationalist Magazine
COPYRIGHT 2003 Gale Group
