As a resident of
What is being couched as “Immigration Enforcement” is actually the egregious violation of human and civil rights. Many of the “anti-immigration” people are born of the same cloth of hate, ignorance and most of all – fear that has brought all civil and human rights movements to the forefront of our society throughout history. The Hispanic members of our community are being harassed, intimidated, and arrested solely based on the color of their skin/ethnicity/culture of origin. United States citizens of multiple generations are being confronted about their “citizenship,” are being treated differently based solely on the color of their skin. The time has come for collective action.
The fear promulgated by the zealots in our country is concentrated, in full force, towards our Hispanic community. Every human and civil rights struggle has faced the same play book of demagogues: during the time of WW1, women were called to serve their country but denied the right to vote. Women suffragists were ostracized and imprisoned. Alice Paul once said, “I never doubted that equal rights was the right direction. Most reforms, most problems are complicated. But to me there is nothing complicated about ordinary equality.”
During the Vietnam Conflict, the war was unpopular, Jim Crow laws were being addressed head on and the Black community and civil rights leaders were the targets of hatred, violence, and jailed for standing up for those without a voice. “Change does not roll on the wheels of inevitability, but comes through continuous struggle. And so we must straighten our backs and work for freedom. A man can’t ride you unless your back is bent,” stated Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
In the same attempt to divert the attention of the country from the atrocities and unacceptable military occupation in
Every Saturday morning for many weeks the crowds are growing at the demonstrations at corner of
We have the opportunity before us today to speak up and make a significant stride in addressing the intolerable injustices being practiced today in our communities. The same forces that led us to the military occupation in Iraq, that want women to return to being submissive to their husbands and patriarchal hierarchy, that believe we should teach abstinence only to our children, that want to do away with public education -are promoting this. This is about the forces of fear infecting our communities.
All of us have been working diligently, decade after decade to effect change and stem the tide of human injustice, in the treatment of women, children and the oppressed. We must once again stand and work together to address this new threat to our freedom.
As Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King once said, “in the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.”
In Solidarity,
candidate United States Congress District 3 in
co-publisher, co-founder One Planet magazine
community leader,
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