Respond to Anti Immigrant Event in Greeley!

Immigrant Rights Advocates from Denver & Greeley bravely attended the Anti Immigrant Event in Greeley on Tuesday night, only to find that voices of dissent were effectively silenced….
Take a moment Today and participate in these 3 actions, ranging from EASY to ADVANCED!

Easy
1) Click on any of the links below and where ever available, use the talking points below to make comments and express that you believe immigrants are valuable assets to our community and anti immigrant sentiment is detrimental to our communities!
Decent Coverage:
http://www.9news.com/news/top-article.aspx?storyid=77546
http://cw2.trb.com/news/kwgn-illegal-immigrant-meeting,0,5182237.story?coll=kwgn-home-2
http://www.myfoxcolorado.com/myfox/pages/News/Detail?contentId=4396685&version=1&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=VSTY&pageId=3.2.1
http://www.thedenverchannel.com/video/14147769/index.html
Not so decent coverage:
http://www.denverpost.com/ci_6932520 & mwhaley@denverpost.com
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5701888,00.html
http://blogs.rockymountainnews.com/denver/rockytalklive/archives/2007/09/illegal_immigrants_and_crime_g.html#more Rocky Live Chat about whether Greeley should have its own ICE office
http://www.greeleytrib.com/article/20070919/NEWS/109190107
You could say:
Without the opportunity for public comment, the press was robbed of an opportunity to hear from the 50 or so pro immigrant people in the audience. It seems like the anti immigrant organizers of this event don’t value the views of all residents and citizens of Greeley. Community wide solutions can only emerge from community wide dialogue!
I empathize with victims of all crimes, but do not understand why Weld County D.A. Ken Buck is targeting one group of people for crime. This use of government resources and time to stigmatize and scapegoat an entire community is shameful.
Immigrants in every ethnic group in the United States have lower rates of crime and imprisonment than do the native born.
If we want to thoughtfully address crime in this country, we should look at the lack of meaningful opportunities for low income and youth of color in this country. We should also address how our criminal “justice” system warehouses disproportionate numbers of those youth, rather than provide essential services to address the underlying issues that led to criminal behavior in the first place.
Misinformation and generalizations about immigrants only serve to spread bias, hate and division. Painting immigrants as criminals is one of the tactics that extremist anti-immigrant groups have used to promote a white supremacist agenda.
To focus on immigrants as perpetrators of crime is unfair and one-sided. Immigrants are also victims of crime, particularly of crimes that are committed against them because of their race and ethnicity. Rhetoric like this discourages
immigrants from contacting law enforcement when they observe or are victims of crimes.

Intermediate:
2) The Mayor of Greeley, Tom Selders, has been targeted by anti immigrant activists. An advocate for Immigrant Rights by working to end the raids, send him your message of support!
Write a personal or organizational letter of support for Mayor Tom Selders!
Send to tom@selders.org or call (970) 350-9774 to express your support!
City of Greeley 1000 10th Street Greeley, CO 80631
fax: (970) 350-9736
You could say:
I applaud the efforts of Greeley’s Mayor Tom Selders’ in helping to vocalize the concerns of Colorado residents. I want to be part of the vocal majority who supports his plea for Comprehensive Immigration Reform for our nation’s hard working immigrants. His courage to speak up for his community should be commended.
People want to come here to work through legal channels but have no options. We call for an immediate end on all deportations and raids. The immoral and inhumane raids undermine community cohesion, family unity and imbue fear and uncertainty in the nation’s immigrant communities. They are distractions from crafting a workable comprehensive immigration reform, and what we need is a real commitment to an overhaul of the broken immigration system.
Undocumented immigrants are our neighbors, spouses, brothers, sisters, and friends. They are contributors to our communities, both culturally and economically. We benefit from immigrant labor without extending immigrants the protection of our laws. Any federal immigration policy must allow undocumented immigrants to legalize their status, support family reunification, reduce backlogs, protect workers rights, and provide opportunities for safe future migration.

Advanced:
3) Write a letter to the Denver Post and send it to openforum@denverpost.com or to the RMN and send it to letters@RockyMountainNews.com by Thursday, Sept. 20, 2007!
Three of the talking points below are sufficient (although more is okay), the length of your letter can be anywhere from 8 sentences to a few paragraphs.
Remember, editors like to publish personal accounts or community impact. Often times, the newspaper will call indicating they might print your letter.
1. Maximum length: 200 words
2. Submissions must include full name, home address, and day and evening telephone numbers for verification purposes.
3. Letters may be edited for length, grammar and accuracy.
(only straight text, no email attachments)
Please send a copy of your letter to jgarcia@afsc.org
Call or email Jordan at 303-623-3464, jgarcia@afsc.org if you need assistance.
You could say:
Without the opportunity for public comment, the press was robbed of an opportunity to hear from the 50 or so pro immigrant people in the audience. It seems like the anti immigrant organizers of this event don’t value the views of all residents and citizens of Greeley. Community wide solutions can only emerge from community wide dialogue!
I empathize with victims of all crimes, but do not understand why Weld County D.A. Ken Buck is targeting one group of people for crime. This use of government resources and time to stigmatize and scapegoat an entire community is shameful.
Immigrants in every ethnic group in the United States have lower rates of crime and imprisonment than do the native born.
If we want to thoughtfully address crime in this country, we should look at the lack of meaningful opportunities for low income and youth of color in this country. We should also address how our criminal “justice” system warehouses disproportionate numbers of those youth, rather than provide essential services to address the underlying issues that led to criminal behavior in the first place.
Misinformation and generalizations about immigrants only serve to spread bias, hate and division. Painting immigrants as criminals is one of the tactics that extremist anti-immigrant groups have used to promote a white supremacist agenda.
To focus on immigrants as perpetrators of crime is unfair and one-sided. Immigrants are also victims of crime, particularly of crimes that are committed against them because of their race and ethnicity. Rhetoric like this discourages
immigrants from contacting law enforcement when they observe or are victims of crimes.


Thank you for supporting the human rights of immigrants!
-Coloradans For Immigrant Rights
Organizing Citizens to Support Immigrant Rights!

Jordan T. Garcia - Immigrant Rights Organizer
Coloradans For Immigrants Rights (CFIR)
"Organizing Citizens to Support Immigrants Rights!"
a project of the American Friends Service Committee