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.
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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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