Support AlterNet
Do you value the information you're getting from AlterNet? Please show your support with a tax-deductible donation.
Feedback
Tell us how we're doing.
Get on the Bus!
Corporate Accountability and WorkPlace:
Why McCain and the GOP Are So Afraid of Discussing the Economy
Frances Moore Lappe
Democracy and Elections:
Seven Ways Your Vote Might Not Count This November
Steven Rosenfeld
DrugReporter:
Obama's Biden Pick Signals 'More of the Same' Stupid Drug Policies
Paul Armentano
Election 2008:
The GOP Has Turned a Major Election into an Episode of the Mommy Wars
Judith Warner
Environment:
Boatloads of Trouble: How We Are Importing Our Way to Destruction
Stan Cox
ForeignPolicy:
The Bush Administration Checkmated in Georgia
Michael T. Klare
Health and Wellness:
Hospitals' Lessons From Hurricane Gustav
Sheri Fink
Hurricane Katrina:
From the Bayou to Baghdad: Mission Not Accomplished
Amy Goodman
Immigration:
Leader of Anti-Immigration Movement Calls Issue a "Skirmish in a Wider War"
Eric Ward
Media and Technology:
Only in America Could a Two-Faced Creature Like McCain Attain Such Media Status
Rory O'Connor
Movie Mix:
Does "Working Girls" Still Work?
Ariel Dougherty
Reproductive Justice and Gender:
Rutgers Center Helps Women Enter Politics
Alison Bowen
Rights and Liberties:
On Top of Jail Time, Prisoners Now Face Fees and Surcharges
Emily Jane Goodman
Sex and Relationships:
What Republicans Can Learn from "Gossip Girl"
Sarah Seltzer
War on Iraq:
One Fifth of Iraq Funding Goes to Private Contractors
Willam Fisher
Water:
Is California on the Brink of Environmental Collapse?
Rachel Olivieri
![]() |
| The Immigrant Workers Freedom Ride is taking place from September 20 to October 4. For more info, check out www.iwfr.org |
Unfortunately, racism never ended. There was no final resolution, no cure-all to racism and injustice implemented after the infamous decade of peace and violence was over. If anything, civil rights abuses have become deeply entrenched in American society, and are manifest in different colors (brown), different language ("terrorist"), and different legislation (The Patriot Act).
Having been subtler and sometimes invisible in the last few decades, the civil rights movement is once again becoming vociferous, invoking the passion, courage and outrage that marked the 1960s. Perhaps this is the sleeping lion that awoke after 9/11.
Four decades later, people are back on the buses to continue the struggle for economic and social justice and civil rights for America's most marginalized population -- immigrants. Surprise, America, it's a never-ending tour until we get it right.
This time, it's called the Immigrant Workers Freedom Ride (IWFR), and this time, it's nationwide. Kicked-off last Saturday, buses from ten different cities--Seattle, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Houston, Chicago, Boston, Miami, Las Vegas, Portland and Minneapolis--will travel 20,000 miles of highway, drawing a "new map toward citizenship."
"We chose this because it was bold, risky, and audacious," says David Koff, senior research analyst for the Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees International Union (HERE). "We took it from the Freedom Rides in '61 because of how effective they were in demonstrating to the United States that segregation was intolerable and had no legitimization. So it's the inspiration of the demonstration of a similar build-up of dissent around the status quo of institutionalized racism."
It's not just those living in the shadows -- there are 16 million undocumented workers in the United States -- that will be joining the road trip. The IWFR has a strong, broad coalition of organizers and supporters, including HERE, the AFL-CIO, civil rights groups, students, activists, churches and businesses.
Beyond creating visibility for immigrants' rights, the IWFR is hoping to draw attention to five main goals:
1) granting legalization status to working, taxpaying immigrants
2) clearing the path toward citizenship
3) restoring rights on the job
4) reunifying families torn apart by immigration laws
5) respecting and upholding civil rights and liberties for all
Along the route, these "travelling freedom schools" will stop in 100 cities and towns to educate people about the plight of immigrants, before converging on Washington DC for a hearing with members of Congress on October 1 and 2, and then ending in Flushing Meadows Park, Queens, NY, with a mass rally on October 4.
"The most important thing is immigrants telling their stories," says Steve Williamson, executive secretary of the King County Labor Council, AFL-CIO. "That's what this is a vehicle for. We're going to be doing that in big cities, little towns, all across America, with buses, with megaphones, on street corners."
And they've got stories to tell -- stories of heartbreak, of oppression, of violence and of stark and unabashed racism.
Liked this story? Get top stories in your inbox each week from AlterNet! Sign up now »
| More News and Analysis: | ||
|
Rutgers Center Helps Women Enter Politics Reproductive Justice and Gender: The Center for American Women in Politics at Rutgers trains and encourages women to run for office. By Alison Bowen, Women's eNews. September 7, 2008. |
Five Women Buried Alive -- and the Media Ignore It Reproductive Justice and Gender: Why is it that we get so outraged over war but look the other way when women and girls are beaten and murdered in the name of tradition? By Riane Eisler, AlterNet. September 6, 2008. |
On Top of Jail Time, Prisoners Now Face Fees and Surcharges Rights and Liberties: Prisoners across the country are facing court fees, arrest fees and booking fees in addition to their sentences -- and states are raking in the cash. By Emily Jane Goodman, The Nation. September 6, 2008. |