On Mother's Day, a group of national feminist and labor leaders, journalists, and organizers traveled to Phoenix to document the experiences of women in the wake of SB 1070.
The testimony we heard makes clear in vivid and haunting detail how SB 1070 constitutes a violation of every principle we hold dear to safeguard women as mothers, workers and leaders in families and communities. It paves the way for assaults on the basic human rights of women who came here simply to support their families, and creates an environment in which violence against women and children (physical, spiritual and legal) has been state-sanctioned.
Women and children courageously recalled traumatic experiences. Their testimony reveals the horrific consequences of raids, harassment and detention of family members in migratory communities -- as well as incredible resistance.
These acts rip families apart.
"I never knew this could happen," said Catherine, age 9 and a U.S. citizen. Both her parents were arrested in a workplace raid.
These acts rob women of the right to support their loved ones.
"We were just trying to survive," said Sandra, Catherine's mother. Even those who've been on the job for a long time face increased workplace harassment. Benita, a public worker for 23 years, told us, "They give me more things to do because of my color; they're always telling me to do something about my accent."
These acts force women to live with physical and sexual violence.
"If the law goes through," one woman said, "I don't think any woman will call the police again. It will be chaos."
These acts subject women to humiliation and violence from enforcement agents.
Alejandra suffered a broken jaw when she was detained and then was denied medical care. Laura and others were refused the most basic sanitary supplies and subject to degradation from prison guards.
These acts scar children and force some to parent their younger siblings.
We heard from children who watched in horror as a parent was arrested, or came home to an empty house and a call from immigration, kids who draw pictures of living in a house in a cage. "They're damaging our soul," Esperanza told us. "The scars will be there forever."
These acts rob students of access to education.
We met a brilliant student accepted to a masters' program at Harvard and promised financial aid by a group of supporters here, who now worry that SB 1070 could mean jail for providing this help. Other teenagers have left school in order to earn income lost with a parent's detention.
These acts instill distrust of those who should be protectors.
Mary Rose Garrido Wilcox from the Board of Supervisors told us she had to ask the sheriff's office not to send representatives to the annual student baseball outing. "The kids are so afraid of those brown shirts," she said, "they won't come if the sheriffs are there." Terri said she often gives people rides to the doctor or the store. "Since SB 1070 was signed," she told us, "a lot of people haven't been coming out, even to get free food."
These acts have also given rise to a dynamic and growing movement of women and families.
The families of Arizona present a way forward and direct challenge to the bigotry that is spreading across the country. One young leader recited from her poem: "There is no need to debate, because my dreams are much larger than your hate." As Sandra told us, "They have wakened a giant." What advice did she have, we asked Catherine? "Luchar!" - "Fight back!"
As women from a broad array of social justice movements, we are inspired by the resistance we witnessed and the determination to solidify this growing movement. We call on our nation's leaders to hear these fearless testimonies first-hand and confront the realities of the people for whom they are responsible.
We ask the leaders of the Congressional Caucus on Women's Issues to hold a hearing for the women of Arizona in Washington, DC. We request that First Lady Michelle Obama also commit to meeting with them.
We know that President Obama could stop this insanity with the stroke of a pen by terminating the 287(g) agreements and the Secure Communities programs, which involve local police in immigration enforcement, and we call on him to do so immediately. These policies have enabled some of the most egregious abuses by local law enforcement, harassing and arresting people on small violations such as dogs barking.
The women we heard told us repeatedly, "We are humans. We are not animals. We are not criminals." We call on our nation's leaders and all those committed to a just and humane society to heed these cries, stop the raids, and stop the criminalization of migratory women, their families and communities.
Ellen Bravo directs Family Values @ Work, a network of state coalitions working for paid sick days and paid family leave. Grace Chang is an author and scholar on immigrant women; she teaches Feminist Studies at University of California, Santa Barbara.
Follow Ellen Bravo on Twitter: www.twitter.com/@Ellen_Bravo
This Lecture was done in 1999. - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FM1YU-Ni_84
Looking at the chart when he gets there,
What they estimated in 1999 for 2010 is spot on what actually happened.
[Estimated in 1999 population would be just over 300 million in 2010. It is..]
When he gets to the gumball demonstration keep in mind the large jar represents the people in the world that are WORSE OFF than Mexicans.
Because of illegal immigration from 1999 to present we've had to:
Build TWICE as many - schools - roads - sewer plants - power plants.
Build TWICE as many -everything else- that's infrastructure.
Hire TWICE as many new cops and firemen and teachers. [Or leave things under serviced.]
Use TWICE as many TREES and other natural resources.
Anyone that thinks illegal immigration isn't a significant load on our economy and natural resources is a moron.
Overpopulation from illegal immigration will SOON destroy the US as you know it.
If you don't want every city in the US to become a giant LA-like Slum within our or our children's lifetimes then illegal immigration has to STOP NOW!
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Link to just the chart. [Sorry about the quality.]
http://www.numbersusa.com/content/files/imagecache/fpage/files/cck_images/population.jpg..
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Amnesty is a kick in the teeth to these people who obey the law. It lets those who violated the law ignore it. Why, with any justice at all, should we do that?
What rights should we give to those who decide that our laws are not important? If I decided to ignore laws I stand to lose my rights.
Marching with Mexican flags front and center they demand rights in America. Germans, Irish, Chinese, Italians and others came here for a better life through legal means and they became Americans. Because we're next door Mexicans feel they can ignore laws and use America?
It's not racial. ("Where there is a Mexican, that is Mexico!" Pres. Calderon of Mexico)
It's not mean't to break up families.
It's not profiling.
Nearly 20% of Mexico's population is here illegally (Pres. Calderon).
It's about too many of another nation's people being here illegally. Attempts to frame the debate otherwise bely contempt for the laws of a nation that has tolerated them far too long.
It's about Nationalism. America has welcomed immigrants but they gave up thier alliegence to their homes. These people do not show a willingness to do that.
It's not about Nationalism, many people in the US are dual citizens. That flag crud is just an ANNOYING talking point of the haters, Irish folks fly Irish flags on St Patrick's day. LGBTs fly rainbow flags, tea-klanners fly both Confederate flags and Don't Tread On Me flags (neither are recognised American flags.)
Their actions by coming here break the law. I have read a comment elsewhere that a man and his family have been here 20 years illegally. He says he wants to go home and awaits a decision to stay or go from Federal authorities. The decision was made in 1986; GO HOME!
The law is not "Show me your papers" and those that characterize it as racist are mischaracterizing it to further the Open Borders and La Raza agenda. These are citizens of Mexico we are talking about and not Americans. If they want to be Americans they should go home and do it the right way.
Those Americans stay or leave by THEIR OWN decision, not YOURS.
81% of latin@s oppose or strongly oppose this racist law.
My Mexican LEGAL immigrant neighbors are the ones who are bearing the cost of the illegals. They are the ones driving down the Mexican Americans wages since they commute to their jobs in the US using the Border Crossing Cards which number over 7 MILLION! The husband is a skilled auto mechanic who earns only $8/hr at his job! We need to have a massive raid in the Texas valley to round up all the illegals who are working here. Of course, all of the business owners would scream bloody murder if that happened. Most of those business owners are Mexican Americans too by the way. They are the ones who are loudest and against any enforcement since they love to exploit their "own" people.
The same low pay problem also affects young people of any race.
TRUE Liberal = TRUE Democrat
Progressive = Social Democrat [In the US. It's different in Europe.]
Progressives -call- themselves Liberal and Democrat but they aren't.
A Social Democrat is 1/2 way between a Liberal and a Socialist. [Not either, just in-between.]
There isn't anything wrong with that EXCEPT that if you continue to let them call themselves Democrats and/or Liberals they will fragment your Party by confusing people about who stands for what.
Same thing the Teabaggers are doing to the Republicans.
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Reading your comments shows that this is actually not a political party issue.
After any city gets the illegal crime wave Arizona is experiencing ONLY THEN should they be allowed to even talk about Arizona. And they must have an unprotected border with Mexico.
Why are these same people not screaming at Mexico for all of their human rights violations and why are Mexicans so eager to come here? They should work to improve conditions in Mexico and less llegals will come here. Maybe they will even get US tourists to come back if Mexico's mess is cleaned up. My friends and family quit going to Mexico in the 80s when their problems started to become ours.
American people have NO SAY in the Mexican government, nor control of their population's political actions...there's that whole inconvenient SOVERGN NATION-thingy.
Take you white power FAIR talking points to a more gullible audience....say STORMFRONT.
you broke it, you OWN it.
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The illegals KNOW they are breaking the law before they do it.
I'm a legal Citizen and if I commit a crime then I can go to jail or prison and it breaks up my family.
That would be MY fault. - No one else's.
If you do the crime and get caught then YOU PAY THE CONSEQUENCES.
That's how it works for ME.
That's how it works for YOU.
If the consequences break up your family it is YOUR OWN FAULT! - No one else's.
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It said "Pending Posts = 0" so I re-posted.
You can blame HP's Censors [probably] or Software [maybe]..
The illegals KNOW they are breaking the law before they do it.
I'm a legal Citizen and if I commit a crime then I can go to jail or prison and it breaks up my family.
That would be MY fault. - No one else's.
If you do the crime and get caught then YOU PAY THE CONSEQUENCES.
That's how it works for ME.
That's how it works for YOU.
If the consequences break up your family it is YOUR OWN FAULT! - No one else's.
Suck it up!
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Anchor babies should be forbidden by US laws and that would solve the immediate family crisis. So too, if the kids are US citizens -can't they move to Mexico since their parents are Mexicans?
It's this victim education that has been part of the curriculum in Tucson AZ and now we have passed laws to forbid these pro La Raza classes, whites have abused the browns and other misinformation. As long as a group of people believe they are victims they will be victims. Greedy people will spot them a mile away and exploit them.
Ethnic Studies which teach Latin@s history of their oppression, and the neglect of History of their significant leaders and contributions....makes no one a victim, it empowers them to alter the present so that oppression ENDS.
I'm a legal citizen and if I break a Law I go to jail or prison and it breaks up my family.
So What!! - That would be MY fault. - Not somebody else's.
IF YOU DO THE CRIME THEN YOU PAY THE CONSEQUENCES.
If those consequences break up your family then it' is YOUR FAULT. - No one else's.
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I work in a Rescue Mission and help the homeless and the people with no hope. And I don't mean just putting some food on a plate. If you really care so much why are you not DOING something to help these people?
I'm going to go ahead and assume that you work at the Rescue Mission to earn your own pats on the back.
Not only should the workplaces be raided they should also HEAVILY fine those who hire ILLEGALS. When the jobs for ILLEGALS dry up they will self-deport leaving jobs and BILLIONS of tax dollars we could use for our CITIZENS and LEGAL immigrants.
Women who are CITIZENS and LEGAL immigrants have to sit by and watch ILLEGAL ALIENS getting the jobs and tax dollars that should be going to them. What are you doing about that?
Why don't you escort these ILLEGAL ALIENS back to their own countries and make their lives over there better so they don't feel the need to come to our country ILLEGALLY and steal what is rightfully ours?
...you're all going to hell.
LOL
Thank you Ellen and Grace. We are so angry. We need reform now.
You know, some of our own citizens in this country are denied jobs/food/housing based on the color of their skin. I believe the same people who are anti-immigration are the same folks who discourage poor, colored folk from welfare and general relief from the state.
Most immigrants come here to flee their impoverished countries. If they were happy with the economic status of their country, do you REALLY think they'll risk coming to America illegally? Look at the bigger picture: WHY are folks immigrating, and if America is such a peaceful country, why can't we do something about the welfare of globalization?
This country saddens me because of people like you.
No state is gonna throw all their tourism down a rathole, after AZ fiasco.
You see, these are truths that nobody wants to hear. All we want to hear is how they use us, steal, rob, etc...just read the comments and you can see the hate. The federal government AND our state allowed all of this, and now our governor had "enough!", right before election time. So she calls out every hispanic in AZ as being suspicious because of their brown skin.
A friend of mine asked me, "what's the problem with showing your birth certificate?". I said, "would you have a problem showing yours?". She said, "They wouldn't ask me because I'm white". I looked at her and said, "there, you answered your own question".
Thanks for allowing me to voice my opinion.
In addition to the crime of illegally entering the US, they commit MANY other crimes as well. The woman who sought sanctuary in a church in Chicago had committed at least FIVE felonies that I counted. She plead GUILTY to only two, and thus was deported. Should illegals have the right to pick and choose which of our laws they will obey? Should they have greater privileges and rights than Americans in this regards? I would judge that the writers of this would say yes to that.
They are absolutely wrong. If you are in this country illegally, then you are a criminal. If you have sex without considering the consequences, and choose to have children you're unable to feed, then you are behaving like an animal.
Crossing the border is a choice. So is procreation. These women made these choices, not the people of Arizona.