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Retracing The Freedom Route

      The culmination of the Freedom Bus Ride represents not the end of a journey, but the beginning of a process that will see changes in the lives of millions of Immigrants in the State of New York and throughout the United States.
Spawned from the powerful spirit of the Freedom Rides of decades past, thousands of U.S. citizens and Immigrants from around the country rode buses from separate locations to Washington D.C. and then to New York to promote the basic civil rights of Immigrants.  From the successful rally in Sacramento at the capitol, to the march in downtown Palm Springs, to the energetic welcome in Phoenix, to the moving speeches at St. Joseph's Catholic Church in Yakima, to the well attended Mass in TUCSON, to the rallies at the Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services in Reno and the University of Nevada Reno, riders and speakers called for new legalization; a clear path to citizenship; family reunification and protection of civil rights and liberties.
The dedication and commitment shown by the Bus Freedom Riders, to the task of breaking down the barriers that denies people their basic civil rights and civil liberties, was reminiscent of the spirit of defiance exhibited by those persons who made the very first Bus ride for the desegregation of Public schools in the early 1960's.
Not even the wicked stoppage and detention of two buses carrying Freedom Riders from Los Angeles to Washington, D.C. by Border Patrol, for two hours at one of the checkpoints that that was set up for the Freedom Ride, could dampen the enthusiasm of the Riders. The Riders of the two buses remained silent in the face of questioning by the Border Patrol, who found no evidence that any of the riders were in their country illegally. The buses were released and no one was arrested.
At San Antonio, outside of City Hall hundreds of people chanted "si se puede" has they awaited the arrival of the buses from Los Angeles that were " routinely detained".
The rousing welcome for the Freedom Riders was evidenced in Austin also, where hundreds attended an event that saw Immigrant, labor, religious, civil rights and community groups, come together with common goals.
In Denver the Riders in the buses were loudly greeted, where the San Francisco Bay Area and Seattle and Portland buses gathered for a program at St Joseph's Church.
New Orleans, Oklahoma City, and Tulsa also had successful events, ranging from a cultural Rally at Latino Community Development Agency to events commemorating the civil rights struggles.
In Immokalee Florida, riders were greeted by a coalition of Immokalee workers who were ex-captives, who took them on a tour of the conditions of the work camps. (The Immokalee workers were held in slave-like conditions, unable to pay off their travel to the US, and a few were murdered attempting to leave.
In Chicago, thousands welcomed the buses on their way to Dearborn, the most Arab American town in the US, where the Riders addressed civil rights and civil liberties issues, that particularly affect the Arab-American community since September 11.
From Chicago, the buses traveled through Toledo, OH; Cleveland OH; Knoxville, TN; Marion NC; Selma AL; Montgomery, AL; Birmingham, AL; Dallas, TX; Memphis, TN; Green Grove Springs, FL; Savannah, GA; Charlestown's; Minneapolis, MN; Madison, WI; Jefferson, WI; Milwaukee, I; Wichita, KS; Kansas City, MO; St. Louis, MO; Omaha, NE; Des Moines, IA; Davenport (Quad cities); and Boston, MA.
At Selma, Riders and activists remembered the civil rights struggles. They toured the Slavery and Civil Rights Museum and the National Voting Rights Museum. Riders walked across the Edmond Pettus Bridge where on March 7, 1965, marchers headed for Montgomery were met with clubs and tear gas. The Voting Rights Act was signed into law five months later.
In Montgomery, Pat Ford, Executive Vice President of SEIU, and Rev. Joseph Lowery, Original Freedom Rider, gave impassioned speeches at Dexter Avenue King Memorial Church-Dr. Martin Luther king's Church in 1955, where the Montgomery bus boycott was organized the night Rosa Parks refused to move to the back of the bus.

After a festival in South Toledo, bus riders and a group of farm workers, marched from separate directions, gathering at the Farm Labor Organizing Committee's headquarters in Toledo.
In Boston, hundreds attended a send for the riders at Faneuil Hall. Anna Berger of the SEIU, gave a moving speech and Armand Sabitoni, Laborers Vice President, brought the crowd to tears in a speech about Dr. Martin Luther King's legacy. Sabitoni noted how fitting it is that that the symbol of the Immigrant Workers Freedom Ride, the Statute of Liberty, is herself an immigrant.
Buses traveled through Boston, MA; Providence, RI; Hartford, CT; New Haven, CT; Cleveland, OH; Buffalo, NY; Rochester, NY; Marion, NC; Morganton, NC; Anniston, AL; Atlanta, GA; Doraville, GA; Nashville, TN; and Charleston, SC; Orangeburg, SC; Columbus, OH; St. Louis, MO; Louisville, KY.
At Davenport, the Immigrant Rights Network-Dubuque Chapter met the Freedom Riders. The support from the local labor unions, churches, and community groups, was great.
In St. Louis, against the backdrop of St. Louis Arch, hundreds welcomed the Bus Riders at City Hall, reflecting the massive community support of the IWFR. After a rally with great gospel music, the riders held a memorial in honor of rider Angelina Dominguez's son Esteban Silva, a legal immigrant who died while in custody at an INS Center. Each rider placed a rose in a basket next to his picture.

 

Massive Support For Immigrant Workers Freedom Ride

By Roy Van Dyke

Councilmember (District 40), Yvette Clarke at press conference on Saturday, September 27, 2003 on Flatbush Avenue. In picture Omar Boucher, Roger Toussaint and Kendall Stewart looks on.

Photos by Roy Van Dyke

Unionist Roger Toussaint along with elected public officials giving support to the Workers Freedom Ride at the Merchants Mart on Flatbush Avenue

                                                      Immigrant workers and supporters of the Immigrant Workers Freedom Ride, that winded its way from nine major cities across the United States, to culminate at Flushing Meadows Park, Queens New York, received massive support all along the way. The protesters first major stop was Washington D.C. where collective voices were raised against the injustices of immigration laws that are wicked and bias.
Union leaders from throughout the country, join hands to call attention to the plight of the immigrant worker who are being denied basic civil rights and civil liberties, in a land where freedom for every man, woman and child is enshrined in the constitution of the country.
Even before the historic event kicked off from the nine major cities, elected councilmember's from New York, on Saturday September 28th joined with various community, religious and labor leaders at the junction of Caton and Flatbush avenues to call upon residents in the area to come out and support the Mass Rally at Flushing Meadows. Prominent among them were the Transport Workers Union Local 100, representing some 38,000 workers.
In a message the TWU local 100 said, "Transit workers don't want to know where you come from. We want to know where you are going. And then we help you get there. That's the way we see the fight for immigrants rights. If some of us get left behind, it holds back all of us. If some of us can't make a decent living, it's that much harder for the rest of us. And if more of us get freedom, that's good for all of us."
The TWU local 100 message added: "Immigrant rights? Of course! Maybe we see it because our members come from 70 countries. Maybe we see it because we have families who need to be brought together. Maybe we see it because we see an increase in racial profiling and fear. Maybe we see it because we work hard for a living and respect everyone else who does. Maybe we see it because we are union members who see the Bush administration taking away union rights and immigrant rights."
City councilmember, Yvette Clarke (D-40th District) in lending her support said that: "American immigration policy has generally recognized the natural desire of immigrants to reunite with their families here in their new homeland. But the implementation of this humane response is bogged down in bureaucracy. Long delays, unnecessary restrictions and opaque procedures impose undue hardship on countless immigrant families, especially within the Caribbean-American community.
"Immigrant workers, living and paying taxes in New York City, deserve the right to legalize their status, to have a clear road to citizenship, to unify their families, to have a voice on the job without regard to legal status, and to enjoy full protection of their civil rights and civil liberties, rights denied by their undocumented status and outdated laws. The road to citizenship needs a new map. The goal of the Immigrant Workers Freedom Ride, is to help draw that map," Councilmember Clarke added.
Some 107 communities in 24 States representing some 11.3 million people have passed resolutions opposing the Federal USA Patriot Act, implemented by the Bush Administration which states that lawful permanent residents who happen to have committed some minor criminal offense in the distant past could be stripped of their right to an immigration hearing and court review.
Councilmember Clarke pointed out that it is critical that Caribbean and African American leaders, within the City of New York, stand up and speak out on behalf of immigrant children and families who have had to suffer in silence since the implementation of the USA Patriot Act. Councilmember Clarke also called on Caribbean—Americans across the city, as well as all citizens of goodwill-many whose forefathers made the same trip that is traveled today by immigrants from across the Diaspora—to make their voices heard and to join this noble cause.

 



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