Thread: Silent march marks one-year 'anniversary' of Arizona's contr

Silent march marks one-year 'anniversary' of Arizona's controversial immigration law
BY Albor Ruiz - Ny Local

Sunday, July 31st 2011, 4:00 AM


Faith leaders, joined by other community leaders and immigrants, marked the one-year anniversary of ArizonaÃ*s anti-immigrant law with a silent march to show their solidarity with their immigrant brothers and sisters

It's hard to believe, but Friday was the first anniversary of Arizona's infamous anti-immigrant law.

A group of faith leaders, community activists and immigrants took upon themselves the unhappy task of marking the 12 months of this legislation that gave legal standing to the worst anti-immigrant prejudices and attitudes.

"On the one-year anniversary of the SB1070, we want to denounce the repression and unfair laws that are destroying our immigrant communities," said Diana MejÃ*a, an organizer with the American Friends Service Committee in Newark and cofounder of Wind of the Spirit, a group that champions immigrant rights.

The protesters gathered in front of the Immigration office at 26 Federal Plaza in Manhattan for a silent march to show solidarity with their "immigrant brothers and sisters."

Wearing white and displaying photos of deported loved ones, they remembered the 400,000 immigrants removed last year, many of whom were torn from their families and communities.

The marchers called for just and humane immigration laws and policies that bring "reason and fairness" to our immigration system - the exact opposite of SB1070.

Organized by the New Sanctuary Coalition of NYC, 4th Ave. United Methodist Church, American Friends Service Committee-Immigrant Rights Program, Families for Freedom, the New York Immigration Coalition and others, the march was the last of seven similar events held in the past seven weeks to protest local and federal laws that deny immigrants what the marchers call their "right to remain."

Denouncing the record-breaking number of deportations under the Obama administration's enforcement-only policy - more than 1 million to date - the marchers called for a policy that keeps immigrant families together and in their communities.

Shamefully, this past year, several copy-cat state bills have sprouted up around the country.

At the federal level, while Congress neglected its duty by refusing to tackle true comprehensive immigration reform, legislation mandating the error-prone employee identification program - known as E-Verify - has been introduced, as has a bill providing for the indefinite detention of immigrants.

Without a doubt, immigrants and their families need all the help they can get.

Yet not all the news is bad. The Arizona law has sparked a forceful political awakening for Latinos around the country.

In that state, a successful voter registration campaign has added thousands of Hispanic voters to the electoral rosters. Keep in mind that according to the Pew Hispanic Center, 766,000 Hispanics are eligible to vote in Joe Arpaio's state, but only a minority used to do it.

Things are changing rapidly on that front, and there is no better proof than the fact that this November, Russell Pearce - president of the Arizona state Senate and main sponsor of the racist SB1070 - will become the first state legislator ever to face a recall election.

People fed up with Pearce's anti-immmigration extremism spearheaded a true grass-roots effort that gathered enough valid signatures from registered voters to force a special election.

In what would be true poetic justice, Señor Pearce could find himself without a job before the end of the year.

Here in New York, the faith communities plan to continue their work for justice for immmigrants.

"With this march, we are saying that we are committed to continue the struggle against repressive anti-immigrant laws," MejÃ*a said. "And we are calling all decent, compassionate people to join us in this fight for justice."

aruiz@nydailynews.com

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/201 ... z1Tj4W6Xbi

Faith leaders need a lesson on obeying the law. A half truth is still a lie.

Originally Posted by partwerks

Faith leaders need a lesson on obeying the law. A half truth is still a lie.

Many of them are IAs too.

Maybe we should have a "silent bank robber march" where we can bring attention to the fact that bank robbers,are just trying to improve their families lives,and bring attention to all the prejudices they face

Originally Posted by strugglingcitizen

Maybe we should have a "silent bank robber march" where we can bring attention to the fact that bank robbers,are just trying to improve their families lives,and bring attention to all the prejudices they face

That is just too true!!!!!!! LMAO It should be all about how unfair it is that the robbers cannot just rob as they please!

Originally Posted by thedramaofmylife

Originally Posted by strugglingcitizen

Maybe we should have a "silent bank robber march" where we can bring attention to the fact that bank robbers,are just trying to improve their families lives,and bring attention to all the prejudices they face

That is just too true!!!!!!! LMAO It should be all about how unfair it is that the robbers cannot just rob as they please!

Apparently,only certain laws are worthy of enforcement,the borders just doesnt happen to be included in that list

Let's all stop paying federal income taxes because if we keep that money we could build a better life for our kids.

See Joe Legal vs Jose Illegal: http://www.alipac.us/ftopicp-1224994.html#1224994

I'm a Union construction worker here in NYC and live with this crap every day.

Anti-"immigrant" law? I wasn't aware we had any anti-"immigrant" laws.

Originally Posted by Oldglory

Anti-"immigrant" law? I wasn't aware we had any anti-"immigrant" laws.

Me eather never heard of that before.But if they are marching in silence we dont have to listen to their jiberish

Ruiz is the "immigration" columnist for the Daily News. We were talking about how awful he is as a journalist at the last NY ICE meeting. The guy is a complete joke, and what's worse, he never responds to any critical e-mail. For all I know, he doesn't respond to any reader e-mail.

Of course, he didn't mention that ninety percent of these marchers:

http://american-rattlesnake.org/2011/07 ... l-part-ii/

were of Hispanic origin. It was not a multicultural bazaar, contrary to the way they'd like to portray the event.