social justice, environmental justice, climate justice; also, notes from teaching at the intersections of race, gender, class, sexuality and nation and environmentalism.
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
AltoArizona.com
"Stop sb 1070 - We will not comply" civil disobedience outside courthouse
Yesterday hundreds gathered outside the Sandra Day O’Connor Federal Courthouse in Phoenix, Arizona to seek an injunction of SB1070, which is set to be implemented on July 29th. Braving the heat for nine hours, we sang, drummed, chanted while inside the court house two lawsuits, one from civil rights groups and the other from the United States Department of Justice, argued that the law be temporarily stopped. After the first hearing with civil rights groups, six brave individuals blocked a main intersection in front of the courthouse carrying a banner that read "Stop SB1070: We Will Not Comply." This act of peaceful non-cooperation signals our decision to escalate our resistance because laws that do not serve humanity must not be followed.
Six days remain until July 29th, which marks the implementation of SB1070 in the state of Arizona. Governor Jan Brewer has dug her heels in, continuing to defend the law, hitching her political hopes to hate legislation. She has ignored the family separation of families; she has publicly called most immigrants in Arizona "drug mules." Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio has already declared that regardless of the legal challenges, his department will conduct aggressive sweeps across the city after midnight on July 29th. Senator Russell Pearce, sponsor of the legislation, is hosting a national event to strategize how to spread 1070 to other states across the country. All the while a judge deliberates the fate of SB1070, and has indicated that she will not stop this law in its entirety.
The story does not end there. We are protagonists and our actions are shaping the outcome and ultimately the future of Arizona and beyond. We sent a message yesterday that while we applaud the action of the Obama Administration, we do not place our hopes on the ruling of Judge Susan Bolton and demand full justice for the state. Our hopes are in the movement we are building here in Arizona and where you are.
For our friends in Arizona or those who are coming to Arizona, we have kicked off our Week of Action against Criminalization, and on July 29th we ask all Arizonans – Don’t Work, Don’t Buy, Don’t Comply! Please text 30644 with the message, “Arizona” for up to the minute information about actions this week.
For our sisters and brothers standing with us outside of Arizona, we are asking for:
1) Actions Anywhere, Actions Everywhere! We ask you to take action in your community on July 29th. We know our fate is linked; we know that our people are being criminalized and harassed across the country. Let this be a day where we collectively assert our human rights and send the message that we will not permit more violence and harassment of our communities.
Areas of Interest for Actions on July 29th: -- Immigration and Customs Enforcement offices -- Local and Municipal Law Enforcement agencies that are currently participating in ICE Access programs. -- Institutions in your community that collaborate with ICE -- Elected officials who have taken positions supporting SB1070 -- Protest Boycott targets (see boycott info below)
2) Donate to the organizing efforts in Arizona. Text 50555, subject line: “ARIZONA to donate $5. You can also contribute at: http://bit.ly/azdonate ($5 will be added to your mobile phone bill/deducted from your prepaid account. Message and Data Rates May Apply. Full Terms: mGive.org/T.)
Lady GaGa JOIN THE ARIZONA BOYCOTT! CANCEL YOUR CONCERT IN PHOENIX...
Lady GaGa, your fans ask you to join the Arizona boycott and cancel your concert in Phoenix on July 31.
There has been a boycott called for all Arizona business until hateful laws such as SB1070 are repealed. Governor Brewer recently passed a law making it legal for police enforcement to racially profile individuals based on the assumption that he/she/they are "illegal." She has also signed a bill, dropping all ethnic studies programs, and teachers with accents can no longer teach english classes.
Several musicians have pulled their events out of Arizona, in support of the Boycott, and we, your fans from diverse backgrounds...the LGBT community, Women, Minorities, etc. have called on Lady Gaga to follow suit and respect this boycott.
Read letters written from two members of the LGBTQ community in Phoenix asking Lady Gaga for a meeting at http://bit.ly/gagaletters
Day of Non Compliance: JAIL HOUSE ROCK
July 29th is the state wide day of non-compliance and resistance against SB1070.
On that day there will be several actions across the county. We will be having a rally and concert outside of the county jail where many of the men and women who are arrested will be held. Many of the men and women will be arrested due to civil disobedience, while others will be held for not having the proper "identification."
We must show up in HUGE... numbers and support every single individual who is not complying with SB1070.
Performances by:
Fayuca
Mariachi
Grime
Mazameh
More to be announced! If you would like to have your band play or would like to recite your poetry please email us sandra@puenteaz.org.
If you would like to set up an area for live art/mural painting please contact us as well.
Statement From Zack de la Rocha on Soundstrike Artist call to boycott arizona
Click below to hear audio of Zack's Press Statement
July 21, 2010
Good morning, my name is Zack de la Rocha I’m the lead singer of Rage Against the Machine. Welcome to everyone here.
Friday July 23rd is a very important day for us, for a couple of reasons. One because it will be the first concert that Rage has played in Los Angeles in 10 years. It will be held here at the Palladium in a venue that will capture the spirit and the intent of our music and we are very proud to share the stage with Conor Oberst and The Mystic Valley Band, as well as the Jornaleros del Norte.
All three bands on the bill also reflect a spirit of solidarity and the fight for social and economic justice. Which brings up the second reason we have come together. This, during the week of national action in protest of the implementation of SB 1070 on July 29th.
Just minutes from my home I can quickly get to the 10 Freeway. A freeway that connects the communities that I have called home my whole life to the State of Arizona where decades ago my grandfather first crossed the US/Mexico border.
Several years ago I was asked by friends and activists to learn more about and join a battle brewing in Arizona.
Over the last few years I have learned to more fully grasp the conditions that hundreds of thousands of immigrants face in Arizona. In my visits to Arizona I was repeatedly in awe of the stories I heard that all centered around one man: Maricopa County Sheriff Apraio.
A Sheriff that does not want to merely detain immigrants, he wants to humiliate them and cause them pain and suffering and then parade them in prison chain gangs for a photo opp.
A Sheriff who proactively sought out and got an agreement with the Bush Administration for local immigration authority.
A Sheriff, who under the guise of saving money has housed detainees in tents in the extreme dessert heat of Arizona.
A Sheriff, who in his endless attempt to try to humiliate male immigrant detainees, has mandated that they wear pink underwear.
And then we heard the story of Alma Minerva Chacon who during what should have been one the most precious moment of her life was forced to give birth to her daughter handcuffed and chained to a gurney in a scene from periods of history I thought had been long gone. This is everyday life under the reign of Sheriff Arpaio, A man that picks at the economic wounds of the pains that everyday people are experiencing in this deep economic crisis and infects it with hatred. This is the Sheriff that would enforce SB 1070.
The fight in Arizona has been conveniently defined by the media and politicians as a battle for and against SB 1070. But that fails to capture the alarming climate that runs deep into the fabric of the State that once refused to honor the birthday of the late, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
But Sheriff Arpaio is not the only culprit. There are many Sheriff Arpaios. People who have taken to local city, county, and state governments across the county the idea that immigrants are the problem. That immigrants are to blame.
SB 1070
287(g)
Illegal Alien
Criminal
Detainee
These words have become concepts that explain only a sliver of the reality and do not reveal the inhumane reality that they conceal.
No facts or stories that I could possible share with you today could illustrate the situation in Arizona as well as ONE LETTER that I was handed during a March in Arizona. I want to read to you excerpts from that letter.
To whom it may concern,
We attest that we are a group of desperate and frustrated women that are asking for someone to help us. We find ourselves detained in the Estrella prison of Maricopa County. There are lots of women that are unjustly being accused for crimes that we have not committed. We are all mothers of families -- wives and daughters. And for this reason, we are asking for your help. Please have mercy on us. What you know outside of what's taken place in here is nothing. We are treated like the worst delinquents, the worst criminals, only because we are Hispanic or undocumented. They treat us worse than anything that exists in this world. There are plenty of injustices and plenty of humiliations that we are experiencing. Some of us for wanting to work and make a better life for our children. . . .
Please help us. We find ourselves here in a tunnel without an exit, being treated like dogs that are not deserving of anything. We need help for our cases. Someone to listen to us and do something for the injustices that are being committed against us. Our children and our parents suffer our sentences the most. And we find ourselves with our hearts broken without knowing what's going to happen tomorrow. We ask that you have the valor to take this document to a news agency or a radio or to any agency that can help Hispanics that are undocumented. Or to any place that can help us.
We are human beings, not animals. We are women, not criminals. Help us please. Listen to our pleas, so that our cases can come to light. So we have hope of coming out and being reunited with our families. Please, we ask for you. We beg you. We plead for your help. Gracias.
This letter had an impact on me I could never explain.
Once shaken by this letter how could we take the bond between our fans and our band into a State that causes the pain that comes out in this letter?
How could we not approach artists of conscious who share our feelings and concerns?
How could we not unite with artists like Coner Oberst, Juanes, MIA, Calle 13, Maroon 5, Kanye West, Tigres del Norte and others to form the Sound Strike?
How could we not stand up for our fans in Arizona, many of whom come from immigrant families?
How Could Rage Against the Machine not do a show to help the brave leaders on the ground to get the needed resources to take on this fight?
How could Rage Against the Machine work with SoundStrike to spread the word, to get other artists involved, to take this issue to our fans and to tell Arizona that artists of conscious, professional athletes, cities and governments, students and universities will not be a part of these injustices?
Toxic ideas have led to a chain of events culminating in the passage of a law that says that we are not all equal. That it is ok to racially profile.
Yet still, this is not a Latino issue or an immigrant issue. This is a battle of basic human dignity. A battle that Rage Against the Machine, and the artists of SoundStrike are fully committed to win. We thank our fans, especially those in Arizona, who understand that we are also fighting for them.
From Selma to Phoenix, From Civil Rights to Human Rights, and the Rights of Mother Earth!
Resistance has sparked across the state of Arizona and the country to defeat SB1070 and all racist policies that further criminalize our people and separate families. We know that if SB1070 is not stopped in Arizona now, similar laws will spread throughout the country.
We demand that the Obama Administration take decisive action and not comply with Arizona’s SB1070. This law can only terrorize our communities if the federal government cooperates with it.
We demand that all ICE ACCESS programs such as 287(g), "Secure Communities," and the CAP programs be suspended.
We demand Arizona institutions such as Cities, Towns, Police Jurisdictions, Universities, Colleges, K-12 Schools, School Districts and Businesses to publically state that they will not comply and will not cooperate with SB1070.
We call on people from around the country to come to Phoenix and stand in solidarity with the communities of Arizona to stop the implementation of SB1070!
We call that all those in that cannot come to Arizona have solidarity actions in their home communities.
TABOO from "Black Eyed Peas:" new song 'One Heart, One Beat' opposing SB1070
Music video for Taboo's new song 'One Heart, One Beat' opposing Arizona's Bill 1070 against illegal immigration. In the song you will hear Dolores Huerta, Eva Longoria, Oscar De La Hoya, Shakira & Juanes also in opposition to the bill. Produced & Directed by D Zapa Media, LLC. Contact 323-388-7273 or dzapamedia@yahoo.com
Jornaleros del Norte Music CD Fundraiser
In an effort to raise funds for the organizing and litigation effort in Arizona against SB 1070, Los Jornaleros del Norte have released a 10-track CD titled, "Que No Pare la Lucha." Because the organizing efforts do require lots of resources, personnel, and legal fees, Los Jornaleros have decided to donate all of the proceeds of their album to the AltoArizona campaign.
On Monday, June 7th, 14-year-old Sergio Adrian Hernandez Huereca was shot and killed by a Border Patrol Officer at an international bridge near downtown El Paso, Texas. The boy was unarmed, but theofficer claims he used deadly force in self-defense. Meanwhile, witnesses claim that Sergio was running from the agent when lethal bullet struck his head..
Currently, the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) in El Paso, Texas, is investigating the incident, and you can view their press release here.
However, we are calling on the White House to conduct an independent investigation of the killing.
We demand an investigation that doesn’t start by equating the issue of immigration with border violence and drug trafficking.
We demand the Obama administration to understand that there is a human rights crisis on the border and the overwhelming majority of immigrants crossing into the U.S. are victims, not perpetrators, of that crisis.
Six days remain until July 29th, which marks the implementation of SB1070 in the state of Arizona. Governor Jan Brewer has dug her heels in, continuing to defend the law, hitching her political hopes to hate legislation. She has ignored the family separation of families; she has publicly called most immigrants in Arizona "
Resistance has sparked across the state of Arizona and the country to defeat SB1070 and all racist policies that further criminalize our people and separate families. We know that if SB1070 is not stopped in Arizona now, similar laws will spread throughout the country.
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