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Leaders worried about passive community

By Yolanda DeLong
ydelong@atlantalatino.com

03/24/2005

In light of the growing demand for immigration reform and a rise in anti-immigration legislative proposals, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund (MALDEF), and other organizations hosted a discussion last Saturday in Gainesville to explore issues such as education, civil rights, and civic involvement.

Community leaders, human rights activists, parents and religious leaders presented an analysis of the immigrant situation in Georgia.

“We need parents to be more active,� Shawn Arevalo McCollough, principal of Gainesville Elementary School.

Many teachers and principals want to set our Hispanic kids aside and put them in special classes because they believe they can’t perform in regular classes, and we’ve seen that this is not the case.

Parents have the right to tell their principals, “I don’t want my child to be in that classroom, I don’t want him to be held back, suspended or failed for another year.�

Today, the only way for kids to be successful in the U.S. is to attend school every single day. On a certain level, schools are at the service of the entire community, and it doesn’t matter what language the students speak, each child has the right to attend school and be treated fairly.

We need parents to be more active, even though we know that sometimes it’s discouraging and intimidating to show up at a school where they don’t speak Spanish. Many of our families don’t feel very welcome because of this.

Also, whether schools have bilingual staff or not, every individual should be treated respectfully. Congress has mandated that every child should attend school regardless of where they come from and whether they have documentation, but parents also must be strong and courageous enough to make sure that teachers respect the rights of their children.

Their children need them to come to school when they aren’t satisfied with their teachers. As a school principal everyday, I see that our Mexican families stay home when they should go talk to the teachers to demand fairer treatment of their children.

These children, who have crossed the border, have demonstrated to all that if we support our Hispanic kids, we will be successful.

Teachers and principals can’t look at them and say that these children aren’t smart enough because they don’t know English, or that they aren’t going to be successful.

There is nothing in federal laws that says you have to prove you are a U.S. citizen to attend a public school.

“What I’ve seen in the school system pains me
to discuss,� Carmen Allen, mother.

We Latinos are together but not united. We have to help each other to consolidate ourselves as one voice.

As a mother and volunteer, I’ve seen a lot of cases of discrimination in the schools. We aren’t going to resolve anything just by talking, if we don’t also act to prevent further abuse of children in the schools.

The school system doesn’t have strong channels of communication with the parents. They can’t participate in something they don’t have any information on. In the case of public meetings, they may be “public,� but most people don’t know when they will be held.

I am an activist for all kids, Americans as well as Latinos, I don’t discriminate. I have a list that I want to present to the lawyers here that contains information on disciplinary actions referred by the school system, and information on the kids who have been disciplined.

What I’ve seen in the school system pains me to discuss, being an American citizen myself. I thought that discrimination ended years ago.


“Organizing ourselves as civic-minded communities,� Fr. Victor Reyes, pastor of San Miguel Catholic Church.

The situation in the community is that every day the number of immigrants is growing, while at the same time there is a lack of vision for the future.

If we ask ourselves what’s going to happen in five or ten years, nobody would have a sure answer. If we say we are going to go forth and multiply, that’s a vision for us. We have to do greater deeds. With meetings like these, little by little we can work on creating a broader vision.

St. John says that we have to respect the dignity of all human life, and we must put this into practice.

We all have the same rights, and what we have to remember is that it doesn’t matter what an individual’s circumstances may be, there are inviolable rights such as the right to health and education.

It’s very important for us to learn about our human rights and organize ourselves as civic-minded communities, since we are responsible to our children. I want to remind you all to take advantage of opportunities to know your rights as human beings.

“This is a bad time to be an immigrant," Debbie Seagraves, executive director, ACLU in Georgia.

With regard to certain legislatures that are interfering with human rights, I think that we aren’t always getting the rights we must have, so I think that this is a bad time to be an immigrant, especially after 9/11, now that so many laws have changed and the public sentiment in this country has changed as well.

There is a broad range of people in Atlanta getting involved with what’s going on. I think that outside the Atlanta area the Latino community is feeling isolated and unprotected, which makes it more difficult to provide assistance and the complete civic involvement that a lot of people want.

We know that if we provide a space and get people together to discuss the topic, people will come up with solutions with just a little support.

Therefore, our message is the promise that the Constitution isn’t just for citizens, but for everybody, even though we know it won’t be upheld for all.

Also, we hope to have more and more meetings outside the Atlanta area, throughout the rest of the state so that people can congregate, not only to listen to us but to listen to one another and gain more autonomy. There are already a lot of groups out there that are working hard for immigrants.

“Hispanics need to get more involved in the political process,� Joel Alvarado, political analyst, MALDEF.

Politically speaking this is an important time for Latinos, because their ability to make a difference politically is being recognized and they need to get involved in the political process.

The final component of community development is political involvement like what we’re seeing today. I’ve seen more and more Latinos get involved with school boards, city councils, state legislatures, and more.

HR 256 and other bills

HR 256, which would prohibit undocumented immigrants from accessing state-funded social services, has been shelved for the moment and will not be passed into law anytime in 2005.

According to Democratic State House Rep. Pedro Marin in an interview with Atlanta Latino last Monday, “thanks to the work of Democratic Sen. Sam Zamarripa, myself and of course, that of the community, this bill has been rejected. However, it will come up again for debate next year and the fight will continue. The media should keep distributing information on this bills, and the community has to keep sending e-mails and demonstrating against it.�

From another perspective, representatives like Republican State House Rep. Chip Rogers have presented other bills in the Georgia Assembly over the past few months that would affect undocumented immigrants in Georgia.

SB 169 - Contracts for public works: includes a provision to prohibit retaliation.

Would prohibit any Georgia department, agency, institution, or political subdivision from entering into a contract for the performance of services unless the contract states that only persons who are U.S. citizens may perform the services.

SB 170 - Department of Motor Vehicles; legal residence; valid identification; create procedure
Would require the Department of Motor Vehicles to verify the legal address or residence of state residents, and would also prevent acceptance of driver’s licenses from other states without proof of legal residence in the United States.

SB 171 - University System of Georgia; prevent unauthorized non-citizens from enrollment.

SB 172 - Drivers’ licenses; all applicants to present valid documentary evidence of U.S. citizenship/legal immigrant status.