November 2003

Views expressed are those of the authors, not necessarily of the AFSC.

Immigrant Workers' Freedom Ride: "Somos Uno, We Are One"

Maya Raquel Anderson works as the Project Voice Regional Organizer at the American Friends Service Committee in the San Francisco office.

"Immigration built this nation," chants Gelazio, 22, of Houston, as he marches with 5000 immigrant workers and community activists through the streets of Atlanta, GA, in the largest immigrant rights demonstration the state of Georgia has ever seen. Gelazio and I are part of the Houston delegation of the Immigrant Workers' Freedom Ride, a bus caravan of 900 immigrant workers and activists rallying for immigrants' rights in 103 cities across the US.

5000 demonstrators march in Atlanta , Georgia in support of immigration rights during the Freedom Ride, October, 2003. Photo: Maya Raquel Anderson, AFSC

The freedom riders' goal is to promote immigrant workers' rights, civil liberties, family reunification, and the opportunity for immigrants to become legal residents. Our current Freedom Ride seeks to build on the legacy of the historic civil rights freedom rides of 1947 and 1961. Then, African-American and white activists traveled together through the South, despite vicious beatings, arson attacks, and long state-prison sentences, to demand the enforcement of Supreme Court decisions ( Morgan v. Virginia and Boynton v. Virginia ) acknowledging the right to desegregated interstate travel.

As a US citizen and immigrant from Germany, I had the unique opportunity to participate in the Houston delegation of the immigrant workers' freedom ride from September 25 to October 4, 2003. Our delegation of about 95 immigrants, allies of immigrants, and former participants in the 1960s freedom rides, visited churches, community centers, and union halls in 15 Southern cities.

In Selma, AL, we marched across the Edmond Pettis Bridge, where thousands of civil rights activists were beaten and tear-gassed in 1965 on their first attempt to march to Montgomery. The historic march galvanized the public, Congress, and President Johnson to support the Voting Rights Act. The US finally repealed some of the most overtly racist aspects of its immigration laws in that same year.

During our journey, no one physically attacked or tear-gassed us, a reminder of the gains made by the civil rights movement. However, the freedom riders pointed out that inhumane US immigration policies can lead to hardship and death.

Some of the riders have had friends and relatives who died while crossing the US border due to dehydration, exposure, or anti-immigrant violence. Maria Elena Durazo, chairwoman of the Immigrant Workers' Freedom Ride, reminded us that an average of one person dies in the border area every day, as militarized US border patrols push immigrants to cross the border in the most dangerous desert areas. Freedom riders noted that they often face severe workplace exploitation and live with the constant threat of being torn away from their families and deported.

The Los Angeles freedom ride delegation was detained and interrogated by immigration enforcement near El Paso on September 26. The Los Angeles riders braved the threat of deportation by refusing to disclose their immigration status and chanting, "We shall overcome." Protests poured in from around the country. Faced with resistance by the riders and the national outcry, immigration officials finally gave up and released them.

Angelina, one of the freedom riders, described how her son "just went to get milk," and ended up in immigration detention, where he died from suspicious causes that are still under investigation. "I'm on this freedom ride so that no mother will have to go through what I have gone through with my son," she said.

Chelladurai, a worker from India, spoke about how he had paid over 12,000 dollars to a labor contractor, who promised him a welding job in the US, and then left him in New Orleans without a job, money, food, or home. Throughout our journey, immigrant freedom riders and Southern civil rights activists shared stories of exploitation and struggle, prayers, songs, and visions of a more just society - where all human beings are truly considered equal.

After traveling through the South, our delegation converged with the other nine freedom ride delegations in Washington, DC. We visited with elected officials to garner support for our four-point agenda of legalization, family reunification, workers' rights, and civil liberties. We particularly urged elected officials to sign on to the DREAM Act, which would allow undocumented immigrant students, who graduate from US high schools, to attend college and to have an opportunity to obtain legal status.

Jose, a community college student from Houston, shared his story of not being able to continue his education due to his immigration status. "My dream is to become a social justice activist as a professor of political philosophy. I already completed my Bachelor's degree in Paraguay, but my status is preventing me from being able to enroll in a Master's program."

The freedom ride culminated in a mass rally and festival in New York City, where an estimated 130,000 immigrants and their allies shared our stories, chanted, danced and vowed that this was just the beginning of a long-lasting and powerful movement for immigrant rights. Beyond raising awareness about the hardships faced by immigrant workers, the Freedom Ride served to break down cultural barriers and create strong bonds between diverse immigrant communities and their allies. One of the Houston Freedom Riders, Mario, aptly summarized the spirit of the Freedom Ride, when he called out: "Somos uno," we are one.

For more information about how to get involved in struggles for immigrant rights, please see www.iwfr.org , or AFSC's Project Voice at www.afsc.org/immigrants-rights/news/default.htm.

Previous Article    Next Article