July 29 March for Human Rights: Let's Promote Smarter Public Debate in Immigration

Following the July 29 March in South Bend, which was led by area youth and students, we're hoping to stimulate more discussion in our community about the policies affecting international migration. Most of the media discourse is very limited and encourages divisive and racist attitudes in the general public. Here's an op-ed piece I submitted to the South Bend Tribune following our march. It is scheduled to appear in the paper on August 14.

Il/legality: Some History

Op-ed by Jackie Smith-- to South Bend Tribune

One of our aims for the July 29 immigrant rights marches here and around the country was to encourage more enlightened and intelligent discussion of what comprehensive immigration reform should look like. For starters, we need some historical perspective on the term “illegal.”

No human being is illegal. They might happen to have moved from where they were born, but humans have been doing that since we first walked upright. Why should we think that “modern” society is so different? Today’s migrants are just doing what humans have always done.

Despite the fact that they’re engaging in an age-old survival strategy, today’s migrants face obstacles that only entered the scene in the 20^th century: legally restricted national borders. Before then—i.e., when many European-Americans’ ancestors entered this country—there were no such limits to entry. In fact, people were encouraged to come. Yet they moved for the very same reasons that most international migrants come here today. In a country built on the influx of migrants, it is highly ironic that we’re now closing the door to the opportunities this country provided for our own ancestors’ survival.

If we’re going to insist on the primacy of laws, let’s consider how this nation’s current border laws came to be. Christopher Columbus “discovered” the Americas, and to secure them for his European sponsors engaged in actions that would now be called “genocide.” Genocide is now, thankfully, illegal in contemporary international law, but it came too late to save indigenous communities.

Whereas today’s international migrants are criticized for “stealing our jobs,” Columbus and his successors stole all the gold and silver they could find, in addition to the labor needed to extract these precious ores from the ground. They also stole people for the emerging slave trade. Because these “explorers” were operating in the name of their God, their Church, and/or their king, their activities are portrayed in our history books as noble and justified. But those wanting to call themselves “native-born” in the U.S. today would certainly rather welcome today’s international migrants than those European migrants of earlier centuries.

If we go back just a little more than 150 years, we see that the United States government actually stole a huge chunk of Mexico in the Mexican-American war of 1846-48. Ironically, Arizona used to be Mexico. And the strategies used to take it from Mexico would clearly be deemed illegal under modern conventions of war and under the United Nations Charter. So who should be considered “illegal” in Arizona?

International migration—like the migration of people within our country—is not something most people take lightly. Most don’t want to be uprooted from their families, culture, and traditions. But the fact that their local or national economy is not providing jobs means that their very survival requires movement. U.S. trade policies have further restricted economic opportunities in Mexico and elsewhere, forcing millions to lose their farms, their jobs, and the possibilities of survival in their home countries.

In the United States, we’re lucky to have such a large economy with many opportunities for domestic migrants to pursue without crossing an international border. But citizens in most countries are not so lucky.

Let’s move beyond the dehumanizing name-calling that has characterized the national “debate” on immigration and engage in more thoughtful, historically informed, and reasoned discussions about how best to address international migration.

South Bend Youth Inspired by US Social Forum

One of the key goals of the US Social Forum is to inspire people to take action in their local communities to bring about the kind of world those attending the Forum are envisioning-- i.e., a world where human rights and ecological mindfulness are prioritized over wealth and profit-making.

The power of the Social Forum process to inspire local action is apparent in our experience in South Bend: A group of five high school-aged youth from South Bend La Casa de Amistad's youth collectiva helped organize a march for human rights and against discrimination. The idea for the march came from the widespread calls at the USSF for groups to organize locally to protest Arizona's discriminatory immigration law, SB1070. When they returned home, students began meeting with local organizers from Jobs with Justice and other students from the area--including several University of Notre Dame students who attended the US Social Forum as well.

The organizers inspired many older organizers in the region with their energy, enthusiasm, and creativity. They painted banners and signs for the march, and designed a t-shirt to distribute to marchers and show our numbers. Estimates of the size of the march ranged from 250-400, and people joined us at various points along the way.  The march ended with a rally and speeches at the newly opened Center for Civil Rights History near downtown South Bend. It was appropriate, noted Center director Dr. Kevin James, that this sort of protest event was one of the first major events the Center hosted.

For this town, this size of a march is notable. But what was most impressive is that it was a diverse march with people from all different neighborhoods and colors. I think many who attended were inspired to continue finding ways to build bridges across the diverse segments of the community. We're looking forward to continuing this process and thinking ahead to an event to commemorate International Human Rights Day on December 10.

Student Observations of the USSF

I drove 6 hours with friends from Bloomington, Indiana to attend the US Social Forum in Detroit. I was planning to attend mostly media justice and anti-war/ anti-militarism workshop, and was also excited to learn about urban gardens and food sovereignty efforts in Detroit. Half-way through the first day of workshops, I reconciled myself to that of which many had already warned me: that it would be impossible to see and do all that that there was to see and do related to these worthy but broad issues. I did end up learning quite a lot (including the discovery of a long-lost second cousin working at a progressive magazine that I read), but I also was presented with the opportunity to learn more and write about disability activists at the forum. Below is a longer reflection that I wrote on this topic while in Detroit--the term "ableism," or the presumption of able-bodiedness, was a new one to me, but it's one that I hope to remember and reflect on as I explore what it means to build inclusive movements, both in my work in peace studies and beyond.

At the opening march on Tuesday, disability activists carried a giant paper mache puppet of Justin Dart, an activist who was instrumental in passing the Americans with Disability Act (ADA). Next month will mark the 20^th anniversary of the landmark bill, which established legal protections against discrimination on the basis of disability. Two decades after this legislation, many disability communities continue to push for recognition of and compliance with the rights enshrined by the ADA, while others also focus on developing alternative or non-state approaches to disability justice. The U.S. Social Forum is an important space for sharing of these multiple understandings, experiences, and strategies within disability communities and across movements. It also provides a vital opportunity for forum participants to reflect on the presence of ableism within their movements and to develop tangible commitments to inclusiveness and mutual support.

The USSF's Disability Justice Committee worked for more than a year to make the USSF accessible and committed to disability justice. The success of these efforts is evident in more than 20 disability-related workshops; the availability upon request of an ASL interpreter, assisted listening devices, and Braille programs; computer-aided real-time translation in large events; and the option to register at a disability access table.

Nevertheless, access has been a problem for many individuals in Detroit for the social forum. While working at the Disability Access table, Susan Fitzmaurice and her son, Teddy Fitzmaurice, say that they have received complaints from individuals using service animals and wheelchairs about the set-up of Cobo Hall and treatment by some employees. Lack of accessibility in USSF shuttles has the potential to leave disabled individuals reliant on the city shuttles when others can use free ones.

Disability communities at the USSF are using different frameworks to articulate their ongoing needs, visions, and struggles. A Detroit-based disability advocate-activist, Susan Fitzmaurice identifies access as a prerequisite for inclusiveness that is still largely lacking in progressive movements. “I think many movements are increasingly welcoming philosophically, but it's still the case that most people doing access work are disabled themselves,” she explains. “You can say that everyone is welcome in, but if we literally can't come in, we're still stuck outside the room.”

Teddy Fitzmaurice is a disability activist who has spoken to federal and state officials about disability issues and has been active in protesting on behalf of the Community Choice Act (CCA). The CCA would increase flexibility in the long-term care system by allowing individuals entitled to support services to choose where they want to receive them. According to ADAPT, a national grassroots community with which Teddy works, individuals who are entitled to services generally prefer to receive them at home but often have to enter into nursing homes or other institutions in order to be able to access them. Teddy also runs a civil rights and disability justice micro-enterprise called Teddy's T's, which is selling T-shirts and buttons in the lobby of Cobo Hall during the forum.

In addition to rights-based or access-centered approaches to disability issues, some disability communities prefer to focus more explicitly on the language of “justice” to advance their work. Mia Mingus, an Atlanta-based member of the Disability Justice Collective, facilitated a workshop Wednesday that identified disability justice as “moving away from a rights-based equality model and beyond access to a framework that centers on justice and wholeness for all disabled people and our communities.” The workshop's approach highlighted the limitations of policy work in securing justice for disability communities and encouraged participants to analyze cross-cutting issues such as media culture, environment, education, and race using a disability justice framework.

Both Susan and Mia see continued difficulty in forging intersections between movements, both at the forum and in their activism and membership in disabled communities more generally. “It's especially difficult for people of color to find each other,” Mia says. “The disability movement has generally been very white, and people of colors' movements have often been very able-bodied.” Susan emphasizes that while cost or perceived cost is often an issue in planning for accessibility, inclusion of disabled needs often requires planning and early commitment more than significant expenditures. On her goals for future forums, she comments, “I'm really hoping that what will come out of this is recognition that disability access needs to be prioritized.”

Links to Reports on the USSF

Last week over 15,000 political activists and organizers gathered in Detroit to network, share skills and organizing techniques, and to develop strategies for addressing some of the most pressing issues of our day. The backdrop of the decrepit buildings and physically neglected city of Detroit reminded USSF participants of the urgency of our tasks. At the same time, Detroit's tenacious activist community inspired and provided leadership and insights into how to build powerful and diverse coalitions that can exert real force in our political system. Although the mainstream news media offered little sense that something important was happening in US politics over the past week, one could argue that the US Social Forum was among the most important political gatherings of recent years. Here are some links to Detroit local and alternative/movement media sources that will give readers a flavor of what took place as Detroit--the "solution city"-- hosted the second United States Social Forum.

View from the People's Media Center of the US Social Forum

I had hoped to be able to blog more from the US Social Forum, but as a member of the Communications Working Group and the Documentation and Evaluation Committee, I was busy behind the scenes. In addition to coordinating a team of students from around the country who were helping document the participants and the more than 1000 workshops and cultural activities taking place during the Forum's five days, I helped produce the USSF newspaper and support the communications effort of the US Social Forum.

The People's Media Center provided a large space for both movement and professional media makers to do their work. It contained a press briefing room where groups could hold press conferences and where reporters could get the latest updates on Forum activities. And throughout the week one could see crews using the spaces reserved for recording live audio interviews and film.

US Social Forum Highlights Detroit as "Solution City"

Crowds of weary-looking activists and organizers mustered the energy for the US Social Forum’s fifth and final day of activities. They spent the morning sessions learning about local organizing and coalition work presented in two dozen “Detroit Highlighted” workshops. These workshops were a feature of the USSF aimed at lifting up Detroit’s stories of success as a counter to popular images of the city’s desolation and decay.

Dispatches from Detroit, parte dos

This is a continuation of my previous post - a thunderstorm apparently moved up from Indiana and discouraged me from trying to go anywhere tonight, so lots of time for blogging. I attended two sessions today, both relating to organizing. The first was Strengthening Organizing in Asian Communities. Half the presentation was in Mandarin Chinese, with continuous translation the whole time between Mandarin and English. We started off with some small group introductions, and I have to admit I was proud when we broke into small groups by region and the West Coast had more people than all the other regions combined—proof that it is, indeed, the best coast.

Dispatches from Detroit, part 1

Hello friends! After an action-packed two days here in Detroit I’ve finally found a minute to sit down and ponder my first experiences here. Yesterday left me feeling a bit disoriented after the early-morning drive up here followed by an orientation meeting for the research team and then wandering in the Detroit sun (Midwestern summer, such a delight) for a few hours before catching the tail end of the opening march, which was quite a sight for sore eyes. The constant mainstream media coverage of Tea Partiers and their attempts to pass off their largely corporate and GOP-backed shenanigans (documented in a nice piece over at The Exiled here and another at AlterNet here) as real grassroots activism had left me fearful of what I might find when I returned from South America last month. Suffice to say that the sight of thousands of people (estimates range from 10,000-30,000) converging in Detroit to share experiences, knowledge, and passions; strategize; build coalitions; and generally take to the streets for some good-old fashioned agitating—all for any progressive cause imaginable—was a much-needed antidote.

Opening Ceremonies

The journey began at 6:30AM Tuesday morning as we piled into two minivans and headed on our way to the Motor City, site of the 2010 US Social Forum. Upon arrival we wasted no time in getting involved as we held our initial collaboration meeting with the UC Riverside and our other counterparts. The central message of our group's first meeting challenged my past research experiences. Being a science major, and participating in chemistry research over the last year, I am quite used to the "white lab-coat" approach to research in which one is totally removed from what he or she is observing. For our team to accomplish its mission at the USSF this week I will need to remove this typical attitude and immerse myself within the experiment. I can no longer attain my status as a neutral, unattached observer, because I do have political interests and passions that I will attempt to take a stance on in Detroit, while becoming more enlightened about the issues from the many grassroots groups in the process. Our research collaboration, like the USSF itself, aims to better grasp the totality of the various social movements that are occurring all around us. Being an active participant will help me better understand whether the USSF is a table for progress to be made, or if it is developing into an organization with particular views and reputations. Either way a common theme to look for this week will be the emphasis the forum places on the intentionality of hearing other voices that have, in the past, lacked a voice. Off to the opening ceremony march... more to come later.

US Social Forum March Comes to Benton Harbor

Yesterday I joined friends from our Jobs with Justice chapter to head up to Benton Harbor for a rally and march with the intrepid team of activists on the "March to Fulfill the Dream"-- that is the dream of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. that all people of all races in this country would have both the right to vote and the right to food, shelter, and other basic needs.

BP Oil Gusher Shows Another United States is Necessary

Most mainstream media coverage of the oil gusher in the Gulf of Mexico neglects to point out the basic cause of this mess, which is our society’s dependence upon oil and its corresponding lack of respect for the ecosystem that supports us. Activists and governments demanding greater respect for our planet (after all, we need it to survive!) and for more just solutions to global warming met in Cochabamba, Bolivia last April and issued a call for a United Nations resolution to recognize the rights of Mother Earth. See the Cochabamba Declaration

Tired of the politics of hate?

Contrary to the stories in mainstream media coverage, anti-incumbent sentiment doesn’t mean Americans want the politics of hate and exclusion. 

The mainstream media coverage of the "tea party" activists and last week's coverage of the mid-term primary elections has stressed how these events signal voters’ dissatisfaction with incumbent officials in Washington. Coverage also points out how the Republican candidates who are challenging incumbents are mobilizing around political platforms of hate and social exclusion, such as anti-immigration and opposition to government programs designed to provide safety nets for the most vulnerable members of our society.