L.A. Labor Organizers Plan Trip To Arizona To Flaunt Its Immigration Law

[pampango]

Source: LA Weekly

Los Angeles labor leaders are planning to trek to Arizona in "in busloads" July 29 to be present, sans identification, when the state's controversial immigration takes effect.

The trip is being organized in part by the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor-AFL-CIO, along with religious and community leaders, the Federation announced on its Facebook page. The idea is the challenge authorities to respect the rights of citizens on the buses even as the law encourages police in the desert state to check the immigration status of detainees and arrestees expected of being in the country illegally.

"We will not carry our ID or 'papers,'" states the Federation. "We will challenge Arizona to arrest us for being brown or black, for 'looking suspicious,' for not carrying our 'papers,' and for believing that America is fair, decent, and just."

Still, the anti-immigrant sentiment of some of the law's backers, particularly those who object to the Latinization of the Southwest, has opponents up in arms. The Los Angeles City Council recently voted to ban city travel to Arizona and to boycott business with the state. It joins a long list of cities with similar stances toward the new law.

Read more: http://blogs.laweekly.com/ladaily/immigration/la-labor-to-arizona/#

[sui generis]

1. That's actually what needs to happen

followed by a constitutional class-action challenge seeking enormous damages.

[LanternWaste]

8. I would guess that there's more than a handful of...

I would guess that there's already more than a handful of litigants looking into the possibility, and researching case precedent and relevant law.

There's little doubt in my mind that this law will be in court-- sooner rather than later, and that's when the real drama begins...

[joeybee12]

2. They need to speak only Spanish while they're there...get those racists' panties

in a bind.

[Cleita]

3. What I would like to see is local Latino owned businesses and Latino workers boycott

white people for one day or even a weekend as a demonstration: no Mexican restaurants serving white people; no gardeners or maids showing up to work for white employers; no patronizing white owned business or large corporate businesses like Wal-Mart or banks. They can just state that since they have been racially profiled, white people don't need their contributions to the economy.

[Socal31]

5. Brilliant!

No.

[Bette Noir]

That would be illegal. Discrimination cuts both ways.

[Cleita]

20. There is a loop hole for restaurants particular if they serve alcoholic

beverages. You have the right to refuse service to anyone, usually reserved for unruly drunks and other disruptors. However, the law is not specific so you really can refuse service. Also, this protest is meant to bring discrimination to the forefront.

[Romulox]

35. You're flat wrong. You can't racially discriminate at a bar. nt

[EFerrari]

22. "In order not to put any of our customers at risk of violating SB 1070"

lol

The idea reminds me of a sign we saw outside a cathedral in Guadalajara:

"Due to the fact that the Cathedral has no swimming pool, it is unnecessary to enter wearing swimming suits."

[No Elephants]

24. No, but Latinos can do business wih only Latino owned businesses.

Like the bus boycott.

[Romulox]

34. So many racist assumptions packed into this one post...

Oy! :eyes:

[joeglow3]

4. Interesting protest, but will not accomplish what they appear to want

When you shout, "I am breaking the law" it is no longer profiling. If they had done this without announcing it, it could have worked. Now, it is just a publicity stunt that will add nothing to potential lawsuits to overturn it.

[No Elephants]

25. Citizens are not required to carry papers.

[slackmaster]

6. July 29 will be a Thursday

How can you be a "labor leader" if you don't have a job?

[sailor65]

7. If they go out there and don't break any laws,

nobody will bother with them. Idiots....

And the word is "Flout," not "Flaunt." They can't even define their mission correctly.

[ieoeja]

All they need is some white guy telling a cop, "I think those people are illegal".

The officer then has a choice:

a) check them for papers, or
b) risk being sued for non-enforcement.

If a "tip" is not grounds for reasonable suspicion, then we've been using illegal warrants forever.

Given that the legislation included a provision specifically permitting (b) because many law enforcement officers in Arizona opposed this law, I'd say the cops are going to be stuck checking every individual for whom they receive such a "tip".

The law wasn't just written to permit racist cops to harass hispanics. It was written to permit racist civilians to force cops to harass hispanics. That was probably the worst part of the law.

Thanks to this law the KKK could organize a round-up of all hispanics, and the cops have to comply or the KKK gets to make a lot of taxpayer money off lawsuits.

Our one big hope here is that the Klan is too f'ing stupid to carry this out. Betting on Klan stupidity is generally a pretty safe bet, but still....


These two AZ laws are the sort that make me wish I was a professional activist. Not only would I have tons of fun clogging and bankrupting the AZ judicial system on this issue, but I'd be suing the fuck out of any school that teaches American History now that they are banned from teaching anything that "promotes ethnic solidarity".

[EFerrari]

23. I know. I would love to work on this one.

And a lot, if not most, LEOs are on our side because no matter what action they take, they are liable.

Leave it to Republicans to do something so incredibly stupid.

[Bette Noir]

14. The error belongs to the one who wrote the headline,

not the one who planned the protest.

[EFerrari]

18. Right. Just like that truck driver in Phoenix did nothing wrong and was not arrested

and like his wife wasn't forced to produce his birth certificate. Gotcha.

[Freddie Stubbs]

9. If none of them are hassled by the police, won't it diminish the argument against the law?

:shrug:

[Kingofalldems]

10. No

:shrug:

[Kingofalldems]

11. K and R to counter the freeper un-reccers

[marybourg]

12. "Flout"is the word they wanted . "Flaunt" means to show off. nt.

[Bette Noir]

16. Try explaining the difference between "gauntlet" and "gantlet.."

Most dictionaries have even given up on that one.

[EFerrari]

17. Thank you.

lol

[Posteritatis]

26. To be fair, flouting the law flaunts how absurd it is. (nt)

[ShortnFiery]

13. The real enemy is the employers who pit the people against one another ...

all in search of CHEAP LABOR. :shrug:

[EFerrari]

19. The real real enemy is the corporations that screw these people

in their home countries and drive them north with the help of our government.

This is about Colombia but it happens all over the region:

Coca-Cola's murderous record of anti-union activity in Colombia exposed
Saturday, May 22, 2010 by: Ethan A. Huff, staff writer

(NaturalNews) Coca-Cola: to many, it is simply the all-American cola that everyone grew up drinking. Originally created in the late 1800s as a medicine, Coca-Cola eventually evolved into one of the world's most popular soft drinks. Besides being a very unhealthy beverage, Coca-Cola has another dirty secret for which few people are aware; the Coca-Cola Company has been involved in a series of kidnappings involving union leaders and organizers at its Colombia bottling facilities. Many of those kidnapped have been severely tortured and even murdered by company thugs.

As shocking and unbelievable as all of this sounds, there is a trail of documented evidence against Coca-Cola for its crimes against union officials. In fact, back in 2001, the United Steelworkers of America and the International Labor Rights Fund, filed a joint lawsuit on behalf of SINALTRAINAL to address the problems in Colombia.

Javier Correa, President of the National Union of Food Industry Workers, and William Mendoza, President of the Barrancabermeja location in Colombia, have joined together with Ray Rogers, Director of the Campaign to Stop Killer Coke, to bring light to the issue and push for an end to the atrocities.

How did it all start?

Most people recognize that unions are formed to protect workers from unfair treatment and abuse by employers. Though some do not operate as intended, the general idea of unions is to ensure that workers are receiving fair pay for their labor and that they are not being grossly extorted by those for whom they work.

U.S. laws have been designed to protect American workers who form labor unions from being threatened or silenced by the companies for whom they work, and while they are not perfect, their intent was for the best interests of American workers.

When workers at Coca-Cola bottling plants in Colombia began to step up and organize unions, the Coca-Cola Company allegedly began to contract with paramilitary security forces to deal with leaders and organizers, something they would not legally be able to do in the U.S. Even today, these forces are using extreme tactics to silence anyone who would dare attempt to organize workers to form a union. These tactics include violent detention efforts, torture and even murder.


http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=405x36945

[Bette Noir]

15. They're braver than I am.

I put my passport in my purse as soon as this law passed.

Anyone who thinks that only people who break the law will be hassled clearly has no experience with police officers. I hope every citizen who finds himself in jail as a result of this law sues the bejesus out of Arizona.

[ieoeja]

21. You can also provide anonymous tips about people you think are illegal.

Here in Chicago it is highly possible that Latin-Americans still only rank third in the number of illegals as we have a massive undocumented Polish and Irish population. And where the Irish are concerned in particular, Chicago serves as a sort of half-way house. They start here then move on to other locations.

That guy whose been loudly cheering this law while waving an Irish flag on St Paddy's Day just might be an illegal immigrant from Ireland. He might be loudly cheering this law just so nobody gets suspicious about him.

The same may be true of a lot of the people you know loudly cheering this law. So you might wanna drop a dime on them. The police then have no choice but to check them for papers. That very provision was written into this law.

Just don't do this for anybody you KNOW to be here legally. Because that would be illegal on your part. Of course, short of people I have known since their birth, I don't suppose I really know for certain that anybody around me is here legally.

[Ed Barrow]

27. 50,000 predicted for immigration march Saturday (in Phoenix)

Source: Associated Press

Opponents of Arizona's tough new crackdown on illegal immigration are planning a protest march in Phoenix on Saturday.

Organizers briefed reporters about the march on Tuesday. They say they predict upward of 50,000 marchers will come from around the country.

Opponents plan to demand that President Barack Obama order federal immigration authorities not to accept custody of illegal immigrants brought in under the Arizona law.

And they want the Obama administration to revoke agreements that allow local police departments to enforce federal immigration laws.

Read more: http://www.azcentral.com/news/election/azelections/articles/2010/05/25/20100525arizona-immigration-protest-march.html

[bluestateguy]

28. But, but, look over there, behind the tree! It's 50 angry white men with boobs at a Tea Party!

That's how the media does it.

[Bette Noir]

29. And now Mr. President is sending the National Guard to police the border.

Sometimes I just want to cry.

[blondeatlast]

30. I'm having surgery tomorrow but I so hope to be there with my son. nt

[Iliyah]

31. LOL

it could be 50 million there marching and 50 tea baggers and the media will cover the tea bagger instead and inflate the numbers.

[struggle4progress]

32. The I.W.W. Free Speech Movement San Diego 1912

By Rosalie Shanks
The Journal of San Diego History
Winter 1973, Volume 19, Number 1

... The IWW was the only labor organization at the time which did not discriminate on the basis of race or sex in seeking new members.8 It disputed the older, more established unions which organized only skilled workers and excluded Orientals, Mexicans and women ... There were fifteen free speech fights of considerable importance in the United States between 1911-1913, but dwarfing them all was the San Diego episode ... The City Council on January 8, 1912, passed an ordinance that prohibited all public speeches in a six block square area ... On January 9 a quickly formed chapter of the California Free Speech League, comprised of 2,500 San Diegans of various political persuasions opposed to the ordinance, retained attorney E. E. Kirk, a well known San Diego socialist, to represent the IWW and the battle plans were drawn. Kirk stated: "A dozen persons have volunteered to act as 'martyrs' to the cause and will attempt to speak tonight . . . Bail money will be waiting . . . at the city jail" ... Some 175 people had been jailed by February 21; more arrests came every day. The Free Speech League, at this point, proposed to glut the jails and then to demand individual jury trials which would clog the courts and bring the legal machinery to a standstill. This idea appealed to the IWW which sent out word via their newspapers to come to San Diego. "On to California. Flood the jails of the Pacific Coast with unemployed" became the rallying cry. The general secretary of the IWW, in a letter to Mayor James Wadham, threatened: "This fight will be continued until free speech is established in San Diego if it takes 20,000 members and 20 years to do so." From every corner of the United States the Wobblies began to converge on the city ... Misdemeanor trials kept the police and township courts clogged: it took approximately five days for each trial. The conspiracy trials for thirty-eight of the first-night violators had not even begun as it had proved impossible to impanel an impartial jury to hear the cases ...

https://www.sandiegohistory.org/journal/73winter/speech.htm

[pampango]

33. March to open 'freedom summer' planned for Phoenix (AZDailySun.com)

http://www.azdailysun.com/news/local/state-and-regional/article_1d3cbcff-2997-533a-9842-e7cdcacab5e7.html

"Foes of Arizona's new immigration law hope to marshal 50,000 people for a protest march on Saturday, the first steps to a "freedom summer" of civil disobedience. In a media briefing Tuesday, organizers also announced the first four Arizona companies that will be targeted for boycotts. Alfredo Gutierrez said officers from all four have a record of contributing not only to Republicans but specifically to backers of SB1070."

Pablo Alvarado, director of the National Day Labor Organizing Network, said there is a need to focus attention on Arizona. "Arizona has become the testing ground for the most draconian antiimmigrant legislation in our country," he said. "It is in Arizona and other similar states where the immigration debate has been polluted with hate and poisoned by bigotry," Alvarado continued. "It is in Arizona where politicians and law enforcement agents have become the folk heroes of white supremacist organizations and individuals."

Maricopa County Supervisor Mary Rose Wilcox said those who are not in the state cannot imagine the fear the new law has created. "You have to come to Arizona, come to the march, talk to the people," she said. "You can feel the fear once you get off the airplane."

One is the Arizona Diamondbacks based on what he said is the "extraordinary hypocrisy" of owner Ken Kendrick who Gutierrez said has been involved with those opposed to immigrants. Kendrick has been a supporter of Republican candidates and recently help raise money for GOP congressional candidate Jonathan Paton. Others being targeted include: Hensley and Co., owned in part by Cindy McCain, wife of Sen. John McCain. Gutierrez cited the senator's current stance on tightening the border rather than providing a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants as he did years ago, as well as contributions made by company CEO Robert Delgago to those who support SB1070; FritoLay because of its sponsorship of the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl. Gutierrez said Fiesta Bowl officials also have given money to SB1070 supporters; Jimmy John's Gourmet Sandwiches based on the founder's support of Arpaio.