Hispanics planning boycott on Friday in Georgia
http://www.gainesvilletimes.com/news/st ... 9299.shtml
Hispanics planning boycott on Friday
By ASHLEY COX and JEFF GILL
The Times
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The way Miguel Rodriguez sees it, the Gainesville-Hall County area may not fully appreciate the economic impact of its local Hispanic community.
Rodriguez, a serviceman for Que Buena FM in Gainesville, said Wednesday the radio station has been broadcasting details of a boycott that encourages Spanish-speaking residents to not spend money Friday in Hall County.
"This is to show how much money the Hispanic community spends every weekend," he said. "We want the community to see how much they would miss if we leave."
The radio station is calling for a boycott in protest of Senate Bill 529, to which a state House committee made a last-minute change on Wednesday, adding a 5 percent surcharge on wire transfers from illegal immigrants.
Sponsored by state Sen. Chip Rogers, the bill: denies state services to adults living in the state illegally; sanctions companies that knowingly employ undocumented workers; and imposes stiff penalties on human trafficking.
It's the latest skirmish in a battle over a Republican push to crack down on illegal immigration.
The debate over denying state services to illegal immigrants has been one of the hot-button issues at the Capitol and droves of activists from both sides have rallied at the Capitol.
"Anything that goes against people is wrong," Rodriguez said. "You say everyone is equal, but with this bill you are saying we are not equal."
Local attorney David Kennedy will be at the radio station about noon Friday to address the issue.
Dave Anderson, owner of Mexico Lindo newspaper, said protests and boycotts stemming from the issue of immigration have been going on, to a degree, nationwide.
"A lot of families are in the process of becoming legal, but they want to spend money on the borders, not on processing," he said.
Rodriguez also said he had heard that teachers were telling Hispanic children not to go to school Friday and he wanted to know why.
Dennis Fordham, superintendent of the Hall County School System, alerted principals Wednesday to rumors swirling of a possible boycott of schools Friday, said Gordon Higgins, spokesman for the system.
He told principals that the rumors involve students staying home from school because U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Services agents plan to swoop down on area schools.
The system has no information from the INS, Gov. Sonny Perdue's office or the Georgia Department of Education concerning any immigration enforcement at the schools, and school will go on as usual, Fordham said in the message.
Gainesville City Schools' superintendent, Steven Ballowe, said he sent a letter home to parents Wednesday saying that a flier is circulating that requests Hispanics to boycott work and businesses out of protest to state immigration legislation.
The flier doesn't mention schools and "every bit of proposed immigration reform has kept schools exempt," Ballowe said.
He said he further told parents they should know that, concerning any potential INS raids, "schools are a safe haven for their children and children need more days in school, not fewer."
Also, absences are "unexcused unless we have a doctor's note," Ballowe said.
"If parents have an issue with legislation, they should handle it in ways that don't involve their child's education," he said. "Education is the key to the child's future success."
Hall County schools' policy on absences says that students are excused for illness, a family member's illness or death, a court order mandating it, religious holiday and "conditions rendering attendance impossible or hazardous to student health or safety."
A flier encouraging Hispanics to, among other things, stay home from work Friday, has been circulating around area poultry plants.
The Times obtained an English translation of the flier, which says the proposed bill would "affect us tremendously."
Titled "Did You Know?" it reads: "With this law, the politicians have the right to deport for being illegal and treat us like criminals. Your children don't have the right to any medical services, nor schools.
"Don't be hired by a business illegally due to the fine which your boss will have to pay for hiring you."
The flier encourages workers to "get together," stay home from work and school and not buy anything.
It also offers details of a protest, set for 10 a.m. Friday.
Participants are encouraged to wear a white shirt, bring inoffensive posters and signs and meet in front of the fountain at Underground Atlanta, from where they will walk to the Capitol.
The effects of such a boycott, if it comes to pass, may not be known until Friday.
Staff writer Harris Blackwood and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
Contact: news@gainesvilletimes.com, (770) 718-3401
Originally published Thursday, March 23, 2006
Latinos urge day of protest against bill Leaders call for ec
http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/ ... ycott.html
ajc.com > Metro
Latinos urge day of protest against bill Leaders call for economic show of force
By BRIAN FEAGANS
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 03/24/06
A coalition of state Hispanic leaders is calling on immigrants in Georgia not to buy anything today and stay home from work if possible as a show of economic might.
It's unclear how the one-day effort could affect poultry plants, restaurants and other businesses that rely heavily on immigrant labor. And organizers stopped short of calling it a boycott, saying they only want workers to participate if it doesn't jeopardize their jobs.
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The effort is designed to protest a sweeping anti-illegal immigration measure making its way through the Georgia Legislature, said Julian Herrera, a Norcross pastor and spokesman for the Alianza 17 de Marzo de Georgia (March 17th Alliance of Georgia).
The alliance is named for the day that pastors and Spanish language media executives met in a Smyrna restaurant and decided to take action, Herrera said. "We're sending a strong message that if you pass a law that punishes these people, then they will leave," he said. "Who is going to build the homes? Who is going to do landscaping?"
The partial boycott comes amid a flurry of rallies around the country in protest of federal efforts to crack down on illegal immigration. Police estimated that more than 10,000 people gathered Thursday in Milwaukee for a demonstration dubbed "A Day Without Latinos."
Herrera said the alliance, with the help of Spanish-language radio stations, might put out a call Friday morning for Hispanic immigrants to gather at a yet-to-be-named location in Norcross.
Metro Atlanta business owners, meanwhile, don't know what to expect.
Jerry Moore, co-owner of seven Burger Kings in Gwinnett County and one in DeKalb County, said his managers were getting mixed messages from a staff that's more than half Hispanic. Moore had already developed one contingency plan should many employees stay home. "We could treat it like a snow day and have just the drive-through open," he said.
Then again, much of his restaurants' clientele is Hispanic, too. "We may be short-staffed, but we may have more people than we need," Moore said.
Word of the call to stay home from work had Spanish-language radio stations buzzing Thursday with callers debating whether to comply. And at the General Assembly, Sen. Sam Zamarripa called on Georgians to pray over the weekend rather than stay home from work.
"The undocumented community has called for a peaceful work stoppage tomorrow, and I am not in a position to stop it," said Zamarripa, who has tried to soften the anti-illegal immigrant measure. " I understand their confusion; most of us do not fully comprehend the reach of SB 529."
The bill would prohibit adult illegal immigrants from getting many public benefits, financially penalize private employers who hire workers in the county unlawfully, and establish harsh penalties for human trafficking.
Supporters of the bill say it is the first step needed to address the growing number of people who enter the country illegally and burden schools, prisons and the health care system while paying few taxes and driving down wages for legal residents. Critics say the bill unfairly criminalizes poor laborers without seriously discouraging the people who hire them.
Jesus Brito was among the Hispanic business owners who planned to shut down today in protest. Brito, who was born in Mexico but is now a naturalized U.S. citizen, said he won't open his four Atlanta-area supermarkets so his 70 workers could participate as well.
Michael Pinzon, who promotes acts in Latino clubs around Atlanta, said many dance halls would stay closed on what is normally a lucrative night. A Mexican band scheduled to play at one club on Roswell Road will perform Saturday night instead, he said. "If people don't stand up and do something," said Pinzon, a second generation Colombian American, "then they won't be heard."
The proposed work stoppage also spilled over into at least one school. A homemade flyer circulating through the halls of Meadowcreek High in Norcross urged students contemplating a "skip day" to attend school today instead. Cutting class "will only prove to the pro-bill advocates that we neither want to be nor need to be in school," the flyer said.
The legislation working its way through the General Assembly would not affect illegal immigrants' access to K-12 education.
