Thread: Pomona day laborers to take part in cross-country relay race

http://www.dailybulletin.com/search/ci_3560061

Pomona day laborers to take part in cross-country relay race

By Monica Rodriguez, Staff Writer
Inland Valley Daily Bulletin

POMONA - Day laborers Alfredo Saucedo of Pomona and Gilberto Bernal of Los Angeles are getting ready to trade in their work tools for running shoes.
On Saturday the two men will begin what is expected to be a two-month-long, cross-country relay run known as the "Day Laborer Run for Peace and Dignity."

"I, personally, am nervous (about the run) because it's a big responsibility and I don't want to let my friends down," Bernal said in Spanish Wednesday morning as he sat outside the Pomona Economic Opportunity Center, also known as the Pomona Day Labor Center.

The two laborers volunteered to be part of the run, which will take a team of 12 runners from Santa Monica to Georgia before heading north and ending in New York.

Mike Nava, director of the center, said the run is part of an effort to bring something laborers and immigrants alike seek.

"They want dignity, respect and justice, like everybody else," Nava said.

The event is being coordinated by the Los Angeles-based National Day Laborer Organizing Network, which represents 30 community-based organizations that work with day laborers on various matters, according to a statement from the organization.

Chris Newman, legal programs coordinator with the network, said the relay team consists of men and women from cities including Oakland, Phoenix and New York.

Some runners are laborers and others are volunteers who support their cause, Newman said.

The runners are expected to arrive in Pomona about 4 p.m. on Sunday, where they'll be welcomed at the Day Labor Center on Mission Boulevard near the 71 Freeway with food and music, Nava said.

After spending the night in Pomona, the runners are expected to meet at 8 a.m. Monday at Pomona City Hall, where they'll call for city leaders to support a local resolution opposing a federal immigration reform bill introduced by Rep. James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., Nava said. The relay team will then continue the run, stopping in Rancho Cucamonga for the night, Nava said.

All along the run the team will make stops at corners or centers where day laborers gather, he said.

Donations are being accepted at the Day Labor Center to help pay for the runners' financial obligations such as rent and other needs while they participate in the event, Nava said.

Contributions can be dropped off at the center or mailed to the Pomona Economic Opportunity Center, 1682 W. Mission Blvd., P.O. Box 2496, Pomona, CA 91766.

Saucedo and Bernal, who works out of the Day Labor Center but commutes from Los Angeles, said they'd like to show people that they and other undocumented immigrants aren't terrorists.

"We come here to earn our daily bread and to earn money to send to our families," Saucedo said.

The men said they hope that by taking part in the relay they will help bring about an environment that is more welcoming to immigrants regardless of their immigration status.


Monica Rodriguez can be reached by e-mail at m_rodriguez@dailybulletin.com or by phone at (909) 483-9336.

"They want dignity, respect and justice, like everybody else," Nava said

OH YEAH, NAVA? WELL SO DO THE LEGAL AMERICAN CITIZENS SO THEREFORE, ICE SHOULD SHOW UP AT YOUR LITTLE RUN AND PICK UP THOSE ILLEGALS AND TAKE THEM BACK ACROSS THE BORDER. OUR GOVERNMENT SHOULD SHOW US (THE LEGAL AMERICAN CITIZENS) THAT MUCH DIGNITY, RESPECT, AND JUSTICE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Somebody give these illegals a compass pointing due SOUTH. Let them run on back home!

Maybe they will run threw Butler County, OHIO. I hope so. Wouldn't that be good.

The article says they'll be coming through Georgia. I'll have to find out when so I can be sure to 'greet' them.

[quote="PinestrawGuys"]The article says they'll be coming through Georgia. I'll have to find out when so I can be sure to 'greet' them.





[/quote

Stretch a large net across the road when they come....wrap it up and call ICE!

Originally Posted by PinestrawGuys

The article says they'll be coming through Georgia. I'll have to find out when so I can be sure to 'greet' them.

Georgia, then South Carolina and then North Carolina. They'll probably decide to stay here since NC officials just loves illegals!

http://www.mercurynews.com

Posted on Sat, Mar. 04, 2006


Day laborers run to celebrate contributions to society


Associated Press

SANTA MONICA, Calif. - Twelve day laborers began a run across the country Saturday to raise awareness about workers' contributions and to call for citizenship for undocumented immigrants.

About 50 people attended the start of the run near the Santa Monica Pier. Pablo Alvarado, director of the National Day Labor Organizing Network, said the runners would be joined by supporters along the route as they run to New York City.

On a route that includes a stop in Washington, D.C., the laborers plan to visit other workers, labor unions, churches, community groups and American Indian reservations to call on the federal government to provide permanent residency and eventually citizenship for immigrants.

The run will also send a signal to anti-illegal immigration groups, including the Minutemen Project, that immigrants want to live in harmony with others.

"We can send a message of peace to them, a message of reconciliation," Alvarado said. "Nobody can take away our humanity."

Because they often stand out in public areas while looking for work with contractors or homeowners, day laborers have become the public face of immigration, Alvarado said.

The laborers are continuing an American Indian tradition of running, he said.

"Running is a ceremonial act that indigenous nations used to do and continue to do," he said. "We're recreating that tradition."

Stephen J. Eichler, executive director of the Minutemen Project, said the group had no dispute with day laborers as long as they were in the country legally.

"The day laborers that are here illegally are the ones that we have a problem with. They have negated our laws," he said. "It's not a matter of can't we all just get along. It's a matter of they're breaking the law."

http://www.latimes.com



Day-Labor Group Starts Trek
A dozen workers begin a months-long journey to New York City to build peace and harmony between laborers and anti-immigrant groups.
By Martha Groves
Times Staff Writer

March 5, 2006

With the recent arrests of undocumented workers in Orange County fresh in their minds, a dozen day laborers gathered with supporters Saturday in Santa Monica to kick off a cross-country run aimed at calling attention to the exploitation and discrimination faced by immigrant workers.

The group converged at sunrise on Palisades Park, where the Pacific Ocean served as a backdrop for speeches and blessings in Spanish and English. An oft-stated aspiration was that the 3,000-mile run would serve to build peace and harmony between workers and groups opposing illegal immigration.

After a ceremony that featured burning incense, singing and gentle drumming, the dozen runners descended a stairway to a pedestrian overpass that leads to the beach. Once on the sand, many of them — wearing lime-green shirts imprinted with two runners superimposed on a U.S. map and the motto Day Laborer Run for Peace and Dignity — doffed their running shoes and waded into the chilly surf.

Each runner carried a "sacred baton" or staff decorated with animal horns, feathers or strips of fabric. Participants had carried many of these staffs, given by indigenous peoples, in previous runs — from Alaska to Mexico and Alaska to Panama — in support of immigrant workers' rights.

Carlos Mares, 32, a day laborer and labor organizer who emigrated from Mexico City 14 years ago and lives in Oakland, said he was motivated by the anti-illegal immigrant sentiment in California and the nation to undertake the challenge. He particularly criticized the Minuteman border-control group and a federal immigration reform bill that calls for a wall to seal off long stretches of the border with Mexico.

"We're trying to show the federal government they should recognize the contributions of immigrants, especially day laborers," Mares said through an interpreter. "We demand fair legislation, not just for Latin American workers but also for workers from Africa, Asia and all over the world."

Day laborers in Los Angeles and other cities often wait on street corners or in hiring centers near large home-improvement stores in the hope of being hired for odd jobs in construction or landscaping. According to a recent study, an estimated three-fourths of day laborers are illegal immigrants, primarily from Mexico and Central America.

Proponents of border controls say they are responding to national security concerns. The Minuteman group, for example, has stationed citizen patrols at the Mexican border and participated in events to protest illegal immigration and day-laborer centers. But many homeowners and contractors welcome the immigrants as a cheap source of labor. The workers say they have the right to earn a living.

The run, expected to take two to three months, is being coordinated by the Los Angeles-based National Day Laborer Organizing Network, made up of 30 community-based organizations that address matters involving wages and workplace and civil rights.

The 10 men and two women, making the run across the Southern states to Georgia and then to New York City, will pass through 25 states and 50 cities and towns, said Pablo Alvarado, the network's national coordinator. One runner is from Los Angeles and one is from Pomona.

The runners will be supported by three vans carrying supplies and water. Grass-roots organizations and contributions from day laborers along the way will provide funding and help the runners cover rent and other expenses while they are away.

A study released in January showed that wage violations, workplace injuries and employer abuses are common in the day-labor community. Nearly half of the 2,660 day laborers who participated in the survey by three universities, including UCLA, had been underpaid or not paid at all in the two months before they were interviewed. Forty-four percent said they were not given food, water and breaks.

Last month, police in Orange, responding to citizen complaints, arrested nine day laborers outside a Home Depot store. One who showed a California identification card was released, but the others, who had no proof of residency, were sent to a U.S. Border Patrol checkpoint in San Clemente.

After Saturday's beachfront ceremony, the runners headed down Third Street Promenade and then to a building-supply company on 11th Street. Clumps of day laborers stretched for blocks, gawking as the runners with their sacred batons sprinted past.

The runners made stops throughout the day, including day-labor centers in West Los Angeles and near downtown Los Angeles.

They are expected to arrive this afternoon in Pomona. On Monday at Pomona City Hall, they plan to urge city leaders to support a local resolution opposing the federal immigration reform bill.

That measure was approved by the House of Representatives in December and has been referred to a Senate committee. The bill by Rep. F. James Sensenbrenner Jr. (R-Wis.) calls for two layers of reinforced fencing, new lighting, cameras and underground sensors similar to those in place near San Ysidro, Calif. One new stretch would seal off nearly the entire 350-mile length of the Arizona-Mexico border.

Oscar de la Torre, a Santa Monica activist, said he found the idea of such a barrier ironic. Before there was a United States, he said, "these people's ancestors helped build this continent. We didn't cross the border; the border crossed us."

http://deletetheborder.org/node/687




http://lists.ysu.edu

Day Laborer Run for Peace, Dignity and Justice, Very Important!!!
Javier Gallardo _jornaleros at elptla.org_ (mailto:jornaleros at elptla.org)

Planning Meeting:
Date: Friday, February 24th, 2006
Time: 7 PM
Place: Saint's Paul Episcopal Church
61 Street and 39 Ave. in Woodside, Queens.
7 train to 61 Street Stop.


(English version on bottom half of this email).

Estimados Amiag at s y Aliad at s,

Reciban un cordial saludo por parte de la Red Nacional de Jornaleros y
Jornaleras y el Proyecto de los Trabajadores Latinoamericanos, Inc. (PTLA)

El motivo de este email es para cordialmente invitarles, a participar en la
reunión organizativa en apoyo a los 12 corredores y corredoras que
participaran
en la primera e histórica carrera Jornalera, por la Justicia, Paz y
Dignidad,
este viernes 24 de febrero a las 7 de la noche.

La carrera es llamado de integración entre todas las comunidades, una
protesta
encontrar de todas las propuestas, políticas anti-inmigrantes y un
planeamiento
igualatorio, y comprensivo para una legalización para tod at s l at s inmigrantes.

La carrera comenzara el 4 de Marzo en California y terminara a fines de Mayo
en
la ciudad de Nueva York.

Adjunto se encuentra el comunicado de Prensa en Ingles y Español donde
explica
con más detalle las metas y el recorrido de la carrera.

La Reunión de Planificación se realizara:

Viernes 24 de febrero, 2006
Hora: 7 PM
Lugar: Iglesia Episcopal San Paul
61 Street y la 39 Avenida.
Tren 7 hasta la parada, 61 Street.

ESTA CARRERA ES DE TODOS Y TODAS, PARTCIPEMOS EN LA PLANIFICACION DE EVENTOS
DE
APOYO A LOS CORREDORES Y CORREDORAS QUE SACRFICARAN TRES MESES DE SUS VIDAS
POR
TOD at S NOSOTRO at S, LOS ESPERAMOS.

Para mas Información, favor comunicarse con Javier Gallardo al 718-628-6222
o
917-513-8502, Oscar Paredes al 718-628-6222 o 917-513-8757.

Gracias

Javier Gallardo

***

Dear Friends and Allies!!

Greetings from the National Day Laborer Organizing Network and the Latin
American Workers Project, Inc.

The reason behind this email is to cordially invite you to participate in an
organizing meeting in support of the 12 runners whom will participate in the
first ever and historical Day Laborer Run for Peace, Justice and Dignity, to
be
held this Friday, February 24 at 7 PM.

The run is a call for the integration of all communities, a protest against
all
anti-immigrants bills, proposal, and policies, and an equal and compressive
legalization for all immigrants.

The run will start on March 4th in California and will end late May in New
York
City. Please find attached a press release in both English and Spanish which
gives further details about the goals and planned route of the race.

The planning meeting will be held:

Date: Friday, February 24th, 2006
Time: 7 PM
Place: Saint's Paul Episcopal Church
61 Street and 39 Ave. in Woodside, Queens.
7 train to 61 Street Stop.

For additional information please call, Javier Gallardo at 718-628-6222 or
917-513-8502; Oscar Paredes at 718-628-6222 or 917-513-8757.

Gracias

Javier Gallardo