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African community forum on immigration reform: May 7 in Bronx, NY
On May 7 in Bronx, NY, community groups from across the city will be gathering to discuss immigration reform and its impact on the African community. In addition to the community discussion, there will also be an opportunity for health screenings and legal assistance. Check out the flier below for more information.
When: Tuesday, May 7 at 5:00pm (sign up for screenings and register at 4:30pm)
Where: Bronx Community College, Colston Hall lower level, 2155 University Ave (at 181st Street)
Host organizations include Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, African Communities Together, Bronx Community College, United African Congress, African Services Committee, and the National Council of Ghanaian Organizations.
- Hear from experts about changes in immigration law.
- Talk about issues with your fellow African immigrants.
- Find out if you qualify for the “Deferred Action” program, which provides work authorization and deportation relief.
- Get FREE immigration screenings and referrals from nonprofit immigration attorneys.
- Get FREE health screenings and referrals, including testing for hepatitis, diabetes, and high blood pressure.
Related: From last week, a woman from Africa talks about her experiences being undocumented on BET.
Stream or download the Democracy Exchange on immigration reform and civic engagement
We want to send out a huge thank you to all who participated in our Democracy Exchange yesterday, particularly our invited guests, Oscar Chacon of NALACC, Opal Tometi of the Black Alliance for Just Immigration, Erin Oshiro of the Asian American Justice Center, and Susan Downs-Karkos of Welcoming America. We’d also like to thank those who asked questions on the call for providing their own insight and helping us dive deeper into the ways immigration reform can be used as a civic engagement tool.
Miss the call? Stream or download yesterday’s Democracy Exchange here.
Here are links to the organizations who participated on the call:
- National Association of Latin American and Caribbean Communities (tweet @nalacc_org)
- Black Alliance for Just Immigration (@BAJItweet)
- Asian American Justice Center (@AsianAmJustice)
- Welcoming America (@WelcomingUSA)
Image via Fight for Philly
Reminder: Democracy Exchange on Immigration Reform & Civic Engagement is TODAY!
TODAY our next Democracy Exchange will focus on immigration reform and civic engagement. Join us at 2pm for what will surely be a great discussion with Oscar Chacon of NALACC (National Association of Latin American and Caribbean Communities), Opal Tometi of the Black Alliance for Just Immigration, Erin Oshiro of the Asian American Justice Center, and Susan Downs-Karkos of Welcoming America.
It’s not too late to sign up! Please sign up here to get the dial-in number.
Contact me (blee@strongerdemocracy.org) if there are any questions.
Follow along and join in on Twitter as well, using the hashtag #DemEx. We look forward to a great discussion!
Here is some additional info from the participating folks:
- National Association of Latin American and Caribbean Communities (tweet @nalacc_org)
- Black Alliance for Just Immigration (@BAJItweet)
- Asian American Justice Center (@AsianAmJustice)
- Welcoming America (@WelcomingUSA)
Sign up: Democracy Exchange on immigration reform and civic engagement
In our last couple of posts on this blog we’ve been focusing on immigration reform and tying it to democracy as a whole. Today, thousands of people mobilized and descended upon Washington, D.C. to make their voices heard and tell Congress that immigration reform is needed right now. Reports out of Washington say that Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT) would like to schedule a hearing on April 17 to discuss immigration reform, and hopefully, have a bill drafted by that time.
Until then, conversations about immigration will be going on across the country, including right here with the Campaign.
On Monday, April 15 the next Democracy Exchange will focus on immigration reform and civic engagement. Join us at 2pm for what will surely be a great discussion with Oscar Chacon of NALACC (National Association of Latin American and Caribbean Communities), Opal Tometi of the Black Alliance for Just Immigration, Erin Oshiro of the Asian American Justice Center, and Susan Downs-Karkos of Welcoming America.
Please join in and sign up for the call here.
Contact me (blee@strongerdemocracy.org) if there are any questions. We look forward to a great discussion!
Image via the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus Facebook page
Check out our April newsletter and sign up for the next Democracy Exchange on 4/15
Immigration reform will be taking center stage this month, with Senators inching closer to an agreement (we might even see a bill drafted soon). Any proposal would garner a significant number of questions — How will different communities be impacted? How will our current immigration system change? Will families be left out? What opportunities will the public have to weigh in on the bill? What will immigration reform mean for racial justice? What will it mean for our democracy?
Join us on Monday, April 15 at 2:00pm ET as we explore these questions, and others, on our next Democracy Exchange. We have an amazing group of guests, including Oscar Chacon of NALACC, Opal Tometi of the Black Alliance for Just Immigration, Erin Oshiro of the Asian American Justice Center, and Susan Downs-Karkos of Welcoming America, with whom we will be discussing immigration reform, civic engagement, and its impact on diverse communities.
Please sign up for the call here. We’re really excited about this conversation and hope you can join us.
The rest of this month’s democracy updates are below the fold.
Thank you for reading, as always.
Peter
Executive Director
phardie@strongerdemocracy.org
Immigration: A Democracy Issue
“This is what democracy looks like!”
So spoke one of the hosts of a gathering of African Diasporan immigrants on the steps of the Capitol in Washington, D.C. last week. Participants gathered from near and far to raise their voices and be heard. Representatives from the halls of Congress came too, heard, and, of course, spoke. Not surprisingly, they encouraged the gathering to continue to raise their voices and remind legislators of their identity and their issues.
Two lessons about democracy arise. First, government does not do well without good and constant communication with its citizenry. That communication comes in many shapes and sizes, and while ideally it should be two-way, it often is not. This is somewhat problematic: One-way communication falls far short of guaranteeing understanding, and even farther short of producing agreement or consensus.
Worse, it often does not feel successful as communication, and many organizations spend lots of time trying to figure out how to be heard. In a nation of 300 million, getting heard is no easy task. I felt a sense of pride that hundreds of folks got themselves organized to make a loud statement outside, and then head indoors for more communication. As we Americans like to say, this is indeed what democracy looks like.
The second lesson is that many of those gathered a week ago are not, in fact, citizens. They may have visas or not. They may have work permits or not. They may not even want to be citizens, for a variety of good and fine reasons. In spite of all that, they felt compelled and privileged to communicate with the government about their issues and concerns. One does not have to look far to find many citizens discouraged about government and reluctant to put some travelling boots on and head to Washington to speak their minds. So, kudos to the immigrant community for lifting their voices, and kudos to our society for creating and safeguarding the space for their voices.
Legislative immigration reform is a complicated set of democracy issues, including the courts, prisons, police, and laws, and an array of social and cultural attitudes and ideas about citizenship and nationhood, not all friendly and fuzzy as the inscription on Miss Liberty in New York harbor. But if voice is not something that we deny any inside our borders, then fixing immigration should ensure that voice, free from intimidation, free from fear of deportation, free from repercussion. We need the voices of all people in the formulation of law and the management of our nation’s assets. Police chiefs around the country have made this case: people who fear deportation are unlikely to report crime or to cooperate with the police. Immigrants living in the shadows are likely to become victims of economic exploitation and theft of their wages. Law and order breaks down without their voices, while human and social service systems don’t function well without.
Our decennial census counts everyone, citizens and residents, for good cause. To the extent that government sees the well-being of the nation, knowing who we are is important and vital. Immigration reform is not just the interest of immigrants, past and future. It is the interest of democracy. All have voice. And we like it that way.
**This particular group comprised Africans and Caribbean immigrants, making the case that not all immigrants came into the country illegally
*** Image via Wikimedia Commons
Include everyone in conversation on immigration reform
Immigration reform is the top news item of the week – a bi-partisan group of Senators released their framework for a comprehensive immigration reform plan, while President Obama is expected to release his own ideas later this week.
Certainly this isn’t anywhere near a perfect proposal (though few pieces of legislation ever are), but just because this proposal is bi-partisan does not mean it is ideal, particularly in terms of the people who it would impact the most.
Let’s make sure that we have a robust debate on immigration reform. We are dealing with a proposal written exclusively by citizens (as with a piece of legislation focusing on women’s health being written entirely by men, for example), and we must be intentional about listening to the voices of people who are undocumented. Additionally, we must bring forward the voices of same-sex couples who have gotten left out of the current framework. As we talked about last week, debate is important and structures aren’t always provided to do it well.
It’s a challenge to us as well — we must make sure that we do our part in amplifying their voices; voices which seem to be stifled in this debate. This is a big one, so let’s talk – and bring everyone to the table.
Read more on the Senate’s immigration reform proposal:
TPM: Gang of 8′s path to citizenship is still a rocky road
Mother Jones: The Senate Immigration Plan Isn’t Terrible – It’s Just Unworkable
Roll Call: Broad Coalition Prods Congress to Pass Immigration Overhaul
Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights: Bipartisan Senate Framework Offers Good Start on Immigration Reform
Huffington Post: Bipartisan Sponsors Claim Momentum for Uphill Battle
National Council of La Raza: NCLR hails bipartisan Senate group blueprint for immigration reform
Latino Rebels: Immigration Groups Respond to Senators’ Bipartisan Reform Principles
Asian American Justice Center: AAJC applauds Senate action on immigration reform and urges continued bipartisan solutions on family reunification
Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus: CAPAC reacts to Senate bipartisan plan for Comprehensive Immigration Reform
NPR: In New Immigration Plan, A Fraught Phrase Is Mostly Sidelined
National Coming Out of the Shadows Week
Undocumented youth across the country have been doing incredible work not only raising awareness about issues and challenges facing all immigrants, but also engaging communities through many means, including organizing, film screenings, and public meetings.. These efforts have led to legislative victories in several states, a groundswell of push back against some of the nation’s harshest immigration laws, and in doing so they have created a nation-wide community of young activists pushing for justice.
The week starting on March 10 is National Coming Out of the Shadows Week. Young people who are undocumented will be “coming out,” making public declarations of their status and gearing up with other undocumented community members, advocates, and allies for the next steps in their movement.
If you are free, please take some time to attend an event, learn more about what the undocumented youth movement has done, what they are working on now, and how you can get involved.
The map below shows some of the events in the coming week including Chicago on March 10, Los Angeles on March 13, and New York City & Philadelphia on March 14, amongst others -
For additional info on both national and state based immigrant youth alliances, here are just some of the resources available online -
- Immigrant Youth Justice League (Illinois)
- Great post on being an ally and what that means (via Immigrant Youth Justice League)
- National Immigrant Youth Alliance (National)
- Dream Activist (National)
- New York State Youth Leadership Council (New York)
- One Michigan (Michigan)
- NC Dream Team (North Carolina)
- Georgia Undocumented Youth Alliance (GUYA)
- Dream Activist PA (Pennsylvania)
- Dream Activist California (California)
Introducing Campaign for Stronger Democracy’s new executive director, Peter Hardie
CSD executive director Peter Hardie
The Campaign for Stronger Democracy is delighted to announce the hiring of its new executive director, Peter Hardie. Peter has already begun his work at the Campaign, and brings with him extensive experience from both local and national electoral campaigns, in a variety of roles including field and leadership positions.
“There may be nothing more challenging than genuinely democratic communities; there is also nothing more transcendent, or more closely linked to our health and sustainability as a nation, indeed, as a global society,” said Peter. “The Campaign for Stronger Democracy is a community of folks from divergent fields and practices who all stand on this fundamental truth of democracy: the more the better. I can’t be more pleased and honored than to have been asked to lead this initiative.”
Peter recently completed a strategic thinking process with Demos/The American Prospect, and previously served as Executive Director of the Pushback Network, a national network of grassroots organizations developing electoral and voter engagement strategies for social change. Peter has also helped lead TransAfrica Forum, an international advocacy organization, and worked as a consultant to the Ford Foundation.
A graduate of Harvard University and labor and community activist upon leaving college, he helped shape many grassroots community initiatives around peace and justice, violence against women, youth involvement and public schools. He enjoyed teaching in a Boston public high school and working with activists on public school reform efforts. As a union member and staff person for a number of unions, he organized new members, negotiated contracts and addressed issues of workplace democracy.
Peter is also principal of Wayfinding Organizational Consulting, incorporating principles of community and discovery into the dynamics of organization, social justice and social impact.
“As father to a seventeen-year-old son, I know only too well the intrinsically human quest for democracy,” said Hardie. “We want to be heard. We want to shape and craft our surroundings. We want to grow, and we want others to grow alongside us. We want a stake, and a say.”
Stay tuned to the Campaign for Stronger Democracy blog, Facebook, and Twitter for future opportunities to engage with Peter and learn more about the Campaign.
Assessing the State of the Union
Photo via the White House
Now a couple of days removed from the 2011 State of the Union address, we take a look around at some of the reactions from the democracy arena:
- National Conference on Citizenship points out President Obama’s stressing of civic participation and public works as ways to jumpstart the country. NCoC brings the speech back to their report from 2011 on the connection between civic health and unemployment.
- The Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights released a statement touching on the importance of closing the student opportunity gap; the loss of public sector jobs; and the pay gap between men and women, and women of color in particular.
- Public Campaign notes that the President pushed for an end to lobbyist bundling, which they say is a positive step. However, United Republic mentions that the President also receives bundled contributions, though not from lobbyists.
- Sunlight Foundation also touches on lobbying, saying that it is very unlikely for President Obama’s proposal from his speech to pass both houses of Congress. Instead, Sunlight suggests focusing on increasing lobbyist disclosure and tightening requirements for who must register as lobbyists.
- TechPresident has a rundown of some of the ways in which technology enhanced the State of the Union viewing experience, including the White House’s interactive feed, and twitter reactions.
- From ColorOfChange, executive director Rashad Robinson says that the organization applauds the creation of a governmental unit to investigate banks, but still demands full accountability from banks.
- In the Huffington Post, Sayu Bhojwani of the New American Leaders Project said that although President Obama spoke about the need for immigration reform, his actions so far in his presidency have not backed up what he has said.
- NoLabels pushed for Senators and representatives to sit together in the House during the speech. The New York Times reports that not many chose to intermingle with the other party (though most who did were Senators)
- In Nonprofit Quarterly, Rick Cohen examines the omission of the nonprofit sector from the speech.
- Research!America says that the President’s call for enhanced training in science and technology is a very positive development, but notes that funding must be preserved for progress to truly be made.
- Politico reports that one of the items President Obama spoke about in the speech, the STOCK Act, is coming closer to getting a vote and heading to the President for a signature. The bill would ban insider stock trading by members of Congress.
- Finally, Colorlines has word clouds for all three of President Obama’s State of the Union addresses.
Democracy Reform Headlines
- Sunlight: Mayors Against Illegal Guns runs ad backing Nevada background checks
- ACLU: Want to Restore Fairness to the Criminal Justice System? End Racial Profiling
- ACLU: Another Abortion Ban? You’ve Got to be Kidding Me
- Intellitics: Participatory Budgeting: North America Participation Metrics
- Tech President: Anthony Weiner Launches NYC Mayoral Campaign Online With An Image of Pittsburgh
- ACLU: Reflections of Another Affirmative Action Baby
- ACLU: An Unexpected Reaction: Why a Science Experiment Gone Bad Doesn't Make Me a Criminal
- Tech President: Revamped Data.gov Includes API Catalog
- Tech President: French Authorities Want to Tap (and Tax) Skype Calls
- Tech President: From the PDF Archives: Anthony Weiner, Digital Prophet
