On April 2nd, Coloradans for Immigrant Rights joined in a March and protest in downtown Denver.
What were we protesting? The conditions under which Chipotle's tomatoes are picked.
Link to audio
The conditions under which those who pick our tomatoes are heartbreaking and unjust. There are no holidays, sick days, retirement or other benefits. There is not even an attempt at paying the minimum wage. The workers are asking for one more cent per bucket of tomatoes picked.
photo courtesy of Jobs With Justice, Denver
McDonalds and Yum Brands both agreed over the last five years to pass along the extra cent to workers. Chipotle and Burger King are the only fast food giants left who refuse to support the workers.
Chipotle's slogan is that it is "Food with Integrity". You be the judge.
To take action:
http://www.ciw-online.org/
For More Information:
http://www.sfalliance.org/chiphq.html
Thursday, April 10, 2008
Chipotle:Burrito with a Serving of Exploitation
Update on the Detention Center
PROTEST
The protest on Wednesday was amazing. Diverse community members came out and showed that they don't want private prisons in their back yard. Miriam Pena from CPC was the master of ceremonies. Emily Parkey from RAP spoke and Reverend Demmer gave the main speech.
Reverend Demmer highlighted the fact that the private prison group, GEO, doesn't have a contract with Immigration Control and Enforcement nor the Department of Corrections for building this facility. He spoke of how the facility could be used as a private prison or as immigration detention. Most importantly, he urged us to think about the morality of profiting off of others pain and suffering. There is a role for government in areas of the common good. Prisons are one such area. He spoke of how a multi-national corporation can build something like this with no contract and no predictor for use or need, simply because they are a corporation. He compared the plan to build this prison to the Field of Dreams; "If you build it, they will come". The problem with private prisons is that their business is to profit from imprisoning people. Rehabilitation would cut into their profits.
HEARING
After the protest, we all went into the Planning Commission hearing. Testimony was heard both for and against the detention center/prison. The Planning Commission is an appointed judicial body and they are only allowed to consider testimony concerning 11 criteria, most of which were related to architecture and neighborhood impact.
One of the criteria is the relationship of any new building to Aurora's comprehensive plan. The comprehensive plan cites Aurora's diversity and inclusion of the immigrant population as part of its values and goals. The Planning Commission did not accept the perspective of our testimony that this detention center works against those goals.
The Planning Commission did hear our complaints about the small waiting area. The size of the waiting area and the limit on the number of children allowed into visitation, have made for long waits outside the building for many families of those being detained. The new facility will not have any larger of a visitation area. The architect promised to work with the Commission to answer those complaints. The Planning Commission also followed up on questions about adequate natural light inside the detention center. The Commission unanimously approved the building plans for the center.
NEXT STEPS
This was just one step in the process to prevent the construction of this center. Stay tuned for further meetings and actions over the next months as we continue to work with our allies for social justice!
Monday, April 7, 2008
Protest Detention Center Expansion
WHAT: Protest to oppose private detention center and ask Aurora Planning Commission to vote against construction
WHY: The GEO Group, a billion dollar corporation, wants to build an 1,100-bed immigrant holding facility in Aurora. A coalition of immigrant rights groups, criminal justice reform advocates, faith leaders, Aurora residents and business owners oppose this proposed construction for a variety of reasons:
· Detention destroys families and communities
· Detention hurts asylum seekers and other victims of torture and trauma
· Conditions in detention are atrocious
· Private prisons profit off of misery
WHEN: Wednesday, April 9, 2008 - 5:15pm: Press Conference and Protest
6:00pm: Planning Commission Hearing
WHERE: Aurora Municipal Center
15151 E. Alameda Parkway; Aurora, CO
Press conference and protest outside; Hearing in Council Chambers
SPONSORS and SPEAKERS INCLUDE:
· Colorado Immigrant Rights Coalition
· Colorado Progressive Coalition
· Rights for All People
· Loretta Perry-Wilborne, ex-employee of the GEO facility in Aurora
· Rev. Patrick Demmer, Graham Memorial Community Church
For more info check out these previous blog posts:
Detention to Expand
Reflections on Aurora Detention Center
Thursday, March 27, 2008
Play in Fort Collins and Boulder this week
FORT COLLINS:NOW
Remembering Edgar Chocoy
Play serves as a reminder of the sometimes fatal flaws in the U.S. immigration
By Greg Campbell
gcampbell@fortcollinsnow.com
1:05 a.m. MT Mar 27, 2008
Four years ago this Thursday, a 16-year-old boy was gunned down in the streets of Villanueva, Guatemala, by members of a notoriously violent gang from which he tried heroically to free himself. The regularity with which such murders occurred in places like Villanueva made the death of Edgar Chocoy at the tattooed hands of Mara Salvatrucha wholly unremarkable. But the circumstances of his being on the streets in the first place made those gunshots echo around the world.
They will be heard in Fort Collins as a play based on Edgar’s struggle to save his own life comes to the Lory Student Center at Colorado State University. It’s a documentary look at how a troubled boy who was trying desperately to change his life was sentenced to death by a flawed U.S. immigration system.
Chocoy’s story begins and ends in the slums of Guatemala, but his fate was sealed in a Denver courtroom. His Fort Collins lawyer, who hasn’t yet seen the play, said knowing his story will be told on stage brings back a flood of emotions, including anger and sadness. But there’s also hope and opportunity.
“There was a lesson to learn in Edgar’s death and we haven’t learned it,” said immigration attorney Kim Baker Medina. “I’m very glad that they did the play because we shouldn’t forget about Edgar Chocoy as a person and for what he represents. The system failed him terribly, and we need to learn about why that happened and we need to work to see that it doesn’t continue to happen.”
READ MORE OF THIS ARTICLE
STORY IN THE DENVER POST
ORIGINAL STORY FROM 2004
DETAILS
Du Novo, Part 1: Lil’ Silent will be performed in
Fort Collins
Date: Monday, March 31
Time: 7 p.m.
Location: Lory Student Center as part of CSU’s week-long celebration of Cesar Chavez.
Spanish translation will be available on a limited basis.
A second performance will be held:
Boulder
Date: Wednesday, April 2
Time: 6:30 p.m.
Location: the University of Colorado Law School in the Wolf Law Building’s Wittemyer Courtroom.
Friday, March 14, 2008
Anti Immigrant Hate Crime in Boulder!
(talking points included below!)
While the Boulder Community pulls together an appropriate response for their community, our support in the form of Letters to the Editor is necessary and welcome!
What You Can Do:
1. Read the coverage
2. Make a pro immigrant comment online
3. Send off a letter to these two news agencies:
READ THE COVERAGE
Daily Camera
Two teens arrested for bias attack in Boulder
Pair allegedly insulted, pushed and hit Hispanic man
By Vanessa Miller , Heath Urie; Originally published 01:37 p.m., March 12, 2008
Two men have been arrested on suspicion of assaulting a Hispanic man Tuesday outside a PDQ convenience store after calling him a derogatory name and asking him, "Why are you stealing our jobs?" according to Boulder police.
Abraham Paquet, 19, of Broomfield, and Joshua Ruzek, 19, of Lafayette, were arrested after officers saw them attacking Ivan Ponce De Leon-Najera, 26, of Louisville, about 6:15 p.m. outside the store at 5200 Manhattan Circle.
Ponce De Leon-Najera told police the teenagers approached him as he was leaving the store, called him a name associated with his ethnicity and then asked him about taking their jobs, said police spokeswoman Sarah Huntley.Huntley said Ponce De Leon-Najera turned around and "exchanged a few words" with the teens.
The two suspects then started pushing and punching him, and Ponce De Leon-Najera told police they tried to spit on him, Huntley said.
(CLICK FOR MORE)
Write a Letter:
Send it to:
The Boulder Daily Camera and send it to openforum@dailycamera.com
The Rocky Mountain News Printed the same story…
Write a letter to the Rocky Mountain News and send it to letters@RockyMountainNews.com
You Could Say:
· As a community we need to pull together to support the victim of this heinous and outright racist attack. I am shocked at the brutality of the hate crime and the ignorance of its perpetrators. Hate crimes like this are motivated by hostile feelings against an identifiable social group, in this case immigrants. They are very different from regular crimes motivated by economic gain or personal animosity. Hate crimes communicate to the whole immigrant community intolerance and discrimination. They are used to exclusively to intimidate an entire community, not just one person.
* Immigrants are often erroneously blamed for decreasing wages and unemployment levels. However, scapegoating this vulnerable population only distracts attention from the real causes of economic instability and inequality in this country; failed economic policies and corporate greed. Immigrants are an integral part of our society and are a valuable resource in our communities. Solutions need to embrace the people and families contributing to our nation economically and socially. In fact, comprehensive immigration reform would benefit all workers by bringing undocumented workers out of the margins, thus raising wages, improving work conditions, increasing public safety, and defending labor protection.
For Your Letter:
Three points 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.
Rocky Mountain News:
1. No maximum length. Shorter letters are considered first and edited least.
2. Submissions must include full name, address and phone number for verification purposes.
3. Anonymity is seldom granted.
4. Letters by the same author rarely appear more often than every 90 days.
Daily Camera
1. Timely topics of local interest are given first preference.
2. All letters are subject to editing.
3. 300-word limit; name, full address and daytime phone required;
4. no anonymous or "open" letters;
5. each writer is limited to a letter a month
Please send a copy of your letter to jgarcia@afsc.org
Thank you for supporting the human rights of immigrants!
More Reading on Immigration & Hate Crimes:
http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/03/10/7587/
Published on Monday, March 10, 2008 by Associated Press
Hate Crimes Linked to Immigration Debate
by David Crary
NEW YORK - Anti-immigrant sentiment is fueling nationwide increases in the number of hate groups and the number of hate crimes targeting Latinos, a watchdog group said Monday.
The Southern Poverty Law Center, in a report titled “The Year in Hate,” said it counted 888 hate groups in its latest tally, up from 844 in 2006 and 602 in 2000.
(CLICK FOR MORE)
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