Fight for Immigrants: A Long Island Update

Dr. Luis Valenzuela, leading immigrant advocate and executive director of the Long Island Immigrant Alliance, spoke recently at a Babylon Green Party Forum on Immigration. He gave a seminar on the local and national battle for immigrant justice.

Click here for a video of the the 29 minute presentation.

Among Dr. Valenzuela's successes is the defeat last spring of a proposed Suffolk County ordinance dubbed the "Standing While Latino" code.

An especially vile and discriminatory proposal, the bill sought to make illegal the gathering of two or more persons on public walkways. Enforcement of the ban would be targeted at Latino men.

Click here for Dr. Valenzuela's compelling testimony against the offensive bill.

BTW: Of all the local political parties, the Babylon Green Party stands alone in its commitment to ending racism and anti-immigrant bigotry on Long Island.

Thanks to the Wilders for their vision, commitment and leadership.

Boycott In Prince William County

Finally, Latinos are beginning to stand up to the bully racists and fighting back.

The latest example of this growing militancy in the face of officially sanctioned bigotry is what's is happening in Prince William County just outside of the nation's capitol.

Latinos and immigrant rights activists there have called for a week-long boycott of all businesses in Prince William County, Virginia in response to what they see as a wave of anti-Latino immigrant hostilities.

The official ring leader of the anti-immigrant faction and self-appointed harrasser of immigrants is Republican Jeff Frederick.

Click here for a news video account of the boycott.

It's an economic boycott. Boycotters are shopping only in establishments that post green "pro-immigrant" signs or in places outside of the county. The one thing that America and Americans understand above all else is that money talks. And now activists in Prince William are aiming to leverage the purchasing power of some 70,000+ Latinos and their supporters for social justice.

Communities across the nation are watching the Prince William action for lessons that can inform other actions in locailities as well as campaigns at a larger scale.

As rightwing radio has been used to mobilize against Latinos, I suspect that Spanish language radio is being used to help in mobilizing the boycotters. It's the one area in which Latinos are not totally overmatched.

The one thing I wonder about is whether there is an effort to nationalize the boycott--either now or later. That is, are Latinos and other pro-immigrant Americans across the nation being asked to support the action by also boycotting services and products with direct connection to Prince William County racists?

I'm sure that many Americans would gladly join the cause.

Martin Luther King's "I Have A Dream" Speech -- August 28, 1963

U.S. District Judge James Munley's Ruling Against the Hazelton Anti-Latino Codes

The following is the conclusion to U.S. District Judge James Munley's ruling against the Hazelton's so-called Illegal Immigration Relief Act:

Whatever frustrations officials of the City of Hazleton may feel about the current state of federal immigration enforcement, the nature of the political system in the United States prohibits the City from enacting ordinances that disrupt a carefully drawn federal statutory scheme. Even if federal law did not conflict with Hazleton’s measures, the City could not enact an ordinance that violates rights the Constitution guarantees to every person in the United States, whether legal resident or not.

The genius of our Constitution is that it provides rights even to those who evoke the least sympathy from the general public. In that way, all in this nation can be confident of equal justice under its laws.

Hazleton, in its zeal to control the presence of a group deemed undesirable, violated the rights of such people, as well as others within the community. Since the United States Constitution protects even the disfavored, the ordinances cannot be enforced.