Posted on 01/21/2008 6:53:14 PM PST by forkinsocket
PAWTUCKET Racism and xenophobia are contributing to a Rhode Island social climate in which immigrants are regarded as the villains, speakers at a pro-immigration rally said yesterday.
We build walls for people who have to leave their country for economic reasons, said Gladys Gould of the Providence Presbyterian Church, one of a number of organizations that took part in Unite for Fairness, held at the Pawtucket Visitors Center. You dont see them going after the Irish. The difference is, the police will stop us because of the way we look. It is all about race, said Gould, a native of the Dominican Republic.
About 90 persons attended the rally.
Gould said, This is a nation of immigrants. Its part of our history. But immigration trends have changed in the last hundred years. The global economy, driven by U.S.-based corporations and free trade agreements like NAFTA, has created a new reality in immigrants countries of origin. These agreements have hurt workers on either side of the border and have created conditions of poverty and urgency for people to migrate.
I think it is time we talked about what is the Rhode Island we want to be in and live in, said Ellen Gallagher of the International Institute, in Providence. We think its a Rhode Island that values communities and all Rhode Islanders, including immigrants.
Gallagher said that many immigrants do not understand that if their spouse is a U.S. citizen, they might be able to acquire legal status or citizenship for themselves. Unfortunately, she said, due to serious backlogs in processing immigration and citizenship applications, many people seeking legal status have been unable to achieve this goal.
Patrick Crowley, of the Rhode Island National Education Association, said, The real problems in Rhode Island are about job creation, not immigration.
He said immigrants in the Ocean State pay taxes, invest in real estate and contribute to the states economy.
And yet there are unscrupulous employers who use peoples immigration status as a means to exploit workers and abandon wage and hour laws. For a strong Rhode Island, we need to enforce our states wage and hour law, not take federal immigration law into our own hands.
Ivette Luna, of Ocean State Action, said Rhode Island is filled with fear and anti-immigrant ideas. She said statements of hate are frequently expressed on talk radio shows.
The people on the hill, she said, referring to the state government, are feeding into anti-immigrant statements. The key is education. We need the true facts. Its all about human. We all are people. We are all immigrants. An injustice to one is an injustice to all.
Those employers explicitly know they are hiring illegal aliens. Those weasels don't get a second chance. Prosecute, fine, incarcerate. Put them out of business.
You don't see the Irish demanding that the schools, shops, ballots, and traffic signs all operate in Gaelic either, you silly beeyotch!
Get the hell out of our country!
You're thinkin' ancient history, sport:
the Irish economy is booming due to their low taxes - lower than ours! - and the handful that were here illegally have all gone home.
You dont see them going after the Irish. The difference is, the police will stop us because of the way we look. It is all about race,
“”You dont see them going after the Irish. The difference is, the police will stop us because of the way we look. It is all about race, said Gould, a native of the Dominican Republic.”
A friend of mine who is a native born US citizen spent the 1980’s in Boston. He has a typical ‘irish’ last name and every few months he got called into the managers office to meet with INS to prove he was a US citizen. While I think it is silly that he had to do this repeatedly and nobody bothered to keep records of ‘this one has been checked and is OK” I fully support the govt doing its job and wish they could do it in this decade also.
‘Twas glorious was it not!
I am all for legal immigrants speaking out. In fact I want illegal immigrants to be noisey too. Just so that it helps NIE catch em.
Your cartoon reminds me that they aren't necessarily stupid. Just arrogant.
only is such an enclave in such denial of reality could the illegals be the victims and the evil business owners by the villians.
And for those illegals who are whining about the police picking them out because of their skin color??? YOU ARE IN RHODE ISLAND DICKHEADS!!!! Its 98.09% WHITE!!! You Stand Out! Try going to Brazil where you can fit it instead.
If they have to leave for economic reasons maybe they should go back and change the governments in their own countries. Instead of trying to destroy our country by trying to make it like the failed countries they flee from maybe they could try learning why we’ve been more successful and take it back home with them. How about that for understanding?
AFSCME organizer Gladys Gould
(American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees)
Ellen Gallagher [African-American Painter, born in 1965]
Patrick Crowley (b. February 18, 1973) is a Union Organizer and Community Activist currently living in Lincoln, Rhode Island. A graduate of the University of Massachusetts Amherst Labor Relations and Research Center, Crowley is one of many who entered the Labor Movement during the mid 1990’s when the AFL-CIO President John Sweeney issued a call to arms for a new generation of Union organizers to re-energize the American labor movement. He is a student of the philosophy of Saul Alinsky, author of, among other works, Rules for Radicals.
Ivette Luna, lead organizer of Ocean State Action
Ivette Luna, of Ocean State Action, a progressive coalition to win public policy and political victories for economic, social and environmental justice, calls out Unite for Fairness at an immigrants rights and awareness rally at the Blackstone Valley Visitor Center in Pawtucket Saturday.
Name:
Ivette Luna
Network:
Mexico
Here are some of Ivette’s friends on Facebook...
Patrick Crowley is a Union Organizer and Community Activist
>>Gallagher said that many immigrants do not understand that if their spouse is a U.S. citizen, they might be able to acquire legal status or citizenship for themselves.<<
Please! They know how the system works. I suppose they want taxpayers to hire lawyers for them too?
ping
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