Crossing Boundaries, Connecting Communities: Alliance Building for Immigrant Rights and Racial Justice

8/3/2019 Crossing Boundaries, Connecting Communities: Alliance Building for Immigrant Rights and Racial Justice.

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Crossing Boundaries, Connecting Communities: Alliance Building for Immigrant Rights and Racial Justicewas

published by the Black Alliance for Just Immigration and funded by the Hill Snowdon Foundation,

Open Society Institute and Pubic Interest Projects.

Project Director Gerald Lenoir, Black Alliance for Just Immigration

Interviewers Rev. Deborah Lee and Chad Jones

Report Writer Rev. Deborah Lee

Editor Gerald Lenoir

Proofreader Karen DaltonDesign and Layout Tactile Pictures, Petaluma, California

Printer: ScanArt, Emeryville, CaliforniaProject Committee Naomi Abraham, Public Interest Projects

Ann Bastien, New World Foundation

Julia Beatty, Twenty-rst Century Foundation

Larisa Casillas, Common Counsel Foundation

Melanie Cervantes, Akonadi FoundationShona Chakravartty, Hill-Snowdon Foundation

Charles Fields, The California Endowment

Daranee Petsod, Grantmakers Confcerned for Immigrants and RefugeesMaria Teresa Rojas, Open Society Institute

Marisol Ramos, New World Foundation

Eric K. Ward, Center for New Community

Thanks to all of the organiations that participated in the interviews for this report. Thanks also to

Lori Villarosa of the Philanthropic Initiative for Racial Equity and to Manuel Pastor and the staff of

the Program for Environmental and Regional Equity at the University of Southern California for their

input. Photographs were provided courtesy of the organiations interviewed. Photographs from the

Beloved Community Center were taken by Lewis Brandon III; Broderick Webb provided photos for

the Power of a Million Minds Collaborative.

For more information about this report, contact:

Blk lli Jst iiti

1212 Broadway, Suite 812, Oakland, CA 94612

(510) 663-2254


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Executive Summary 1

Introduction and Key Findings 3

Beloved Community Center 7

Black Alliance for Just Immigration 10

CASA de Maryland 13

Center for Intercultural Organizing 16

Families for Freedom 19

Garden State Alliance for a New Economy 22

Highlander Research and Education Center 26

Koreatown Immigrant Workers Alliance 29

Midwest Immigrant Health Project 32

Mississippi Immigrant Rights Alliance 35

National Domestic Workers Alliance 39

People Organized to Win Employment Rights 42

Power of a Million Minds Collaborative 45

South by Southwest Experiment 48

Sunower Community Action 51

Voces de la Frontera 54

Recommendations to Funders 57

Appendix I: Organizations Interviewed and Contacts 60

Appendix II: Organizational Resources for Cross-Racial Alliance Building 62

Appendix III: Interview Questions 67


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CROSSING BOUNDARIES, CONNECTING COMMUNITIES:

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Young demonstrators march at an immigrantrights rally in San Rafael, California.


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Crossing Boundariespresents case studies of the alliance-building work of the organiations and extracts their

methodologies and lessons learned. The ve main re-curring themes that emerged from the interviews are:

Establishing a cross-racial alliance-building frame-work as central to the organiation and to theunderstanding of staff is key.

Language is one of the major barriers and chal-lenges to alliance building.

Political education is important to establishing ashared racial and economic justice analysis.

It is important to take time to develop personalrelationships and trust between staff and membersand all levels of an organiation as well as withallies.

Alliance building and educational work should betied to concrete campaigns.

Out of the interviews, nine recommendations tofunders were articulated (not in order of priority):

Support solidarity and relationship building activities.

Support the efforts of African American groupsto build alliances with immigrant groups.

Become catalysts for cross-racial dialogue. Invest in the development of cross-racial analysis

and education. Invest in experimentation and new approaches. Provide resources for leadership development and

the engagement of young people. Help build the capacity of organiations to pro-

vide translation and interpretation. Support the use of culture and art as relationship

building tools. Provide general support for movement building

spaces and convenings.

Crossing Boundariesis a rich compendium of experi-ences and lessons from a segment of frontline groupson the ground organiing, educating and building. Itis designed to be a resource for funders interested inproviding resources for cross-racial alliance-building

work as well as for organiations in the eld that aregrappling with ways to approach this crucial move-ment-building work. We hope that this report pro-

vides information and insights that are useful and timelyfor both audiences.

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Throughout the country, often in geographic areaswhere you would least expect it, immigrant rightsgroups and programs on the ground are reachingacross the barriers of race, ethnicity and nationalityto build alliances with native-born African Americans,Latinos, Asians, Pacic Islanders, Native Americans,

Arabs and Caucasians and within diverse immigrantcommunities.

Likewise, African American-led social justice groupsare reaching out to people of color and immigrantcommunities across the racial divide. While the strug-gle for fair and just immigration reform is the majorfocus, increasingly these groups are expanding theiragenda to take on issues of mutual interest to themand their alliance-building partnersjobs, health

care, police accountability and housing, to name afew. Alliance building is consciously used to counterimmigration as a wedge issue that pits African Ameri-can and immigrant communities against each otherfor jobs and resources, as well as to foster immigrantintegration into the larger socioeconomic and politicallandscapes.

Crossing Boundaries, Connecting Communities: Alliance Building

for Immigrant Rights and Racial Justiceis not meant to be acomprehensive or exhaustive study of all the efforts tak-ing place around the country, but rather it is an attempt tocapture the variety of ways that cross-racial alliance build-ing is happening on the ground in urban and rural areasacross the countrythe Midwest, East and West Coasts,and the South and Southwest. Although many more wereinitially identied, ultimately sixteen groups participated ininterview that provided the basis for this report.

The criteria for selecting groups to be interviewedwere:

1. a group had to be using cross racial/cross-ethnicalliance building1 as a deliberate and articulatedstrategy to build power at the community level;

2. the groups as a whole had to represent a broadgeographic spread;

3. they also had to represent the racial, national andethnic diversity of the movement with specialattention to groups led by African Americans andblack immigrants; 4) there was a bias toward newlyemerging or lesser-known groups, although a fewlong-standing groups were interviewed (Some

more widely recognied organiations that alsohave strong lessons are included in Appendix II) ;

4. youth-led and women-led organiations and pro-grams had to be represented; and

5. a variety of methodologies and approaches had tobe represented.

1 hroughout this report, the term cross-racial alliance buildingis used as a shorthand for a much more complicated and diversepractice of building connections across racial, ethnic cultural andnational boundaries.

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Race and racism are key defining features of U.S. society.Therefore, the struggle for justice must employ effective strategies

to build alliances across communities that are affected by racism. Gerald Lenoir, Executive Director, Black Alliance for Just Immigration


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The report focuses on partnerships between im-migrant/newcomer and native-born communities,

primarily communities of color. The immigrantcommunities are often embedded in longstandingcommunities, many of which have been here for gen-erations or before the United States was a country.

Some of the alliance-building efforts are also betweennewcomers and native-born peoples within the sameracial group (for example between African immigrantsand African Americans or between Latino immigrantsand Chicano/native-born Latinos).

Based upon these criteria, representatives of thesegroups were interviewed:

Beloved Community Center (BCC)

Greensboro, NC

Black Alliance for Just Immigration (BAJI)Oakland, CA

CASA de Maryland (CASA)

Takoma Park, MD

Center for Intercultural Organizing (CIO)Portland, OR

Families for Freedom (FFF)

New York, NY

Garden State Alliance for a New Economy (GANE)

Newark, NJ

Highlander Research & Education Center (Highlander)

New Market, TN

Koreatown Immigrant Workers Alliance (KIWA)

Los Angeles, CAMidwest Immigrant Health Project

(MIHP), Emporia, KS

Mississippi Immigrant Rights Alliance (MIRA)

Jackson, MS

National Domestic Workers Alliance

(NDWA), New York, NY

People Organized to Win Employment Rights(POWER), San Francisco, CA

Power of a Million Minds Collaborative

(PMMC), New Orleans, LA

South by Southwest Experiment

(SxSW), Jackson, MS, Albuquerque, NM and SanAntonio, TX

Sunower Community Action (SCA)

Wichita, KS

Voces de la Frontera (Voces)Racine, WI

In response to a series of questions posed by the in-terviewers (see Appendix III), representatives relatedtheir organiations history and their efforts to buildcross-racial alliances. The focus was on distilling thegroups alliance building methodologies, factors forsuccess, educational and training activities organiedand curricula used, lessons learned, and future plans.

From the lessons learned by the organiations, veconsistent themes emerged:

Establishing a cross-racial alliance-buildingamework as central to the organization and tothe understanding o staf is key.

The presence of a foundational framework for cross-racial alliance building was a key factor of success

(BAJI, CASA, CIO). This understanding and com-mitment to the fundamental importance of work-ing cross racially must be fostered among staff andmembers. Several organiations fostered a sense ofcommon and shared identity that cut across raciallines, for example, a new cross-racial identity as work-ers (GANE, MIHP), residents of a neighborhood

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(KIWA), or families that are facing deportations (FFF).

It was also noted that this framework cannot just

focus on the commonalities but must honestly ad-dress the differences as well. If we pretend that thereare not differences, people know they are being fed alie. (POWER) A framework for cross-racial alliancebuilding demands precise language to talk about howeconomic exploitation, racism, migration and displace-ment, impact different groups of people in different

ways.

Language is one o the major barriers and chal-lenges to alliance building.

Although groups stressed that bridging the languagegap is very difcult, they also recognied that trans-lation and interpretation are important factors forsuccess in alliance building. It requires a corps ofmultilingual staff or volunteers, and a strong com-mitment of time and resources to make this a priorityand a political commitment (KIWA, FFF, NDWA,MIHP, Highlander). In one group, translation became

a source of conict that spawned deeper discussionabout what it means to be a multiracial organiation(POWER). Interpretation and translation are not onlytechnical but also cultural. Providing these servicesreects a principle of full participation of all members(KIWA).

Political education is important to establishing ashared racial and economic justice analysis.

Many groups have adapted existing curricula or devel-oped their own pedagogical and popular education re-sources to address their specic audiences (Highlander,CASA, CIO, BAJI, NWDA). Some organiations havedeveloped yearlong political education courses andstressed the importance of discourse and relationshipbuilding over time as very valuable (Highlander, CIO,

POWER). Other groups devote just a weekend a yearto political education training or do political educa-

tion in the day-to-day workings of a campaign (BAJI,NDWA, Voces). Many want to be able to providemore hours of ongoing political education. They alsospoke of a desire to systematie curricular materials.Key topics and themes that helped to foster cross-racial alliance work, especially between African Americans and Latino immigrants include:

Analysis of the shifting U.S. economy (de-industrialiation, labor history, changing nature of jobs, impact offree trade on immigration and job loss in the UnitedStates);

Changing dynamics in international economies,particularly in Latin America, and the Caribbean(the impacts of national debt and free trade poli-cies on farmers and local economies);

History of the slave trade and coloniation; History of racism against people of color in the

United States and its ongoing legacies; History of U.S. and international peoples cross-

racial struggles;

Roots of migration internal to the U.S. and inter-nationally.

It is important to take time to develop personalrelationships and trust between staf and mem-bers and all levels o an organization as well aswith allies.

All groups spoke of the importance of taking time

to develop relationships and build trust across differ-ent racial lines, not just in the staff, but also in theirmemberships and at all levels of their organiations. Itakes time to really learn about the different realities in

which people are living. It takes to time to share per-sonal stories and histories and to appreciate culturaland religious differences.

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ALLIANCE BUILDING FOR IMMIGRANT RIGHTS AND RACIAL JUSTICE

Alliance building and educational work shouldbe tied to concrete campaigns.

INTRODUCTION AND KEY FINDINGS

Members and supporters of the Center for Intercultural Organizing gather in Portland, Oregon.


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BELOVED COMMUNITY CENTER


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initiated its Black and Brown Alliance work. The goalis foster understanding of the differences and com-monalities between African Americans and Latino im-migrants and to build stronger relationships betweenthe two communities.

In 2008, at a time when Latino immigrant communitieswere under attack by ICE and local law enforcementagencies, BCC, in conjunction with groups across thestate, organied a major Black-Brown Conference toaddress the urgent need to unite. Three hundredfaith leaders, labor and community activists, youth andstudents attended the conference, whose sponsors in-

cluded Faith Action International, Black Workers forJustice, Pulpit Forum of Greensboro, AFL-CIO, andthe North Carolina Latino Coalition.

The conference began with African American and La-tino welcoming ceremonies and an elaborate eveningof sharing of African American and Latino culturaland spiritual heritages through worship, music, song,dances and spoken word. Prominent African Ameri-can and Latino ministers gave messages focused onimmigration, pushing the audience towards nding

common moral ground and addressing the lines thathave been falsely drawn between peoples.

Conference speakers elaborated on the shared histo-ries of black and brown communities in North Caroli-na characteried by violent conquests and oppressionbeginning in 1492 and reected in the overthrow ofthe Wilmington black and white fusion governmentin18981, the brutal 1979 murder of ve labor andcommunity organiers in Greensboro, and the cur-rent escalating abuse of Latinos... One speaker spoke

about the similarities between the 1850 Fugitive SlaveAct and 287(g) Agreements2 provisions that are beingimplemented in North Carolina counties. Presenters

1. A progressive, democraticall elected local government inWilmington was overthrown b white supremacist mobs.

also addressed common issues of concern such asyouth education issues, law enforcement misconduct,

and workplace issues. Following the conference heldin Greensboro, educational roundtables and dialogueswere held in three different regions around the state.

LESSONS LEARNED

It starts with building community and relationships.BCCs power is in building community in all that theydo and in instilling a sense of a common purpose, i.e.,the ght for everyones dignity and self-worth. ForBCC this means working locally, building relationships

having conversations and being present.

We create community one person at a time. Thatbuilds stability and longevity and the mechanism thatholds us together. Facebook and twitter cant replacethat, says Arletha Jowers, BCC Community Educa-tion Organier.

BCC creates spaces and processes for communityconversation in their weekly two-hour communitymeeting where anyonefarm laborers, Latino im-

migrant workers, African immigrants and local U.S.citiensis invited to bring concerns and issues. BCCalso has created specic trainings and sessions in Afri-can American and Latino churches to promote under-standing in the community about immigration.

2. he ugitive lave aw of 1850 made an ederal marshal orother ofcial who did not arrest an alleged runawa slave liableto a ne of $1,000. he suspected slave could not ask for a jurtrial or testif on his or her own behalf. n addition, an personaiding a runawa slave b providing food or shelter was subjectto six months imprisonment and a $1,000 ne. he 287(g)Agreements are contracts between mmigration and CustomsEnforcement (CE) and local and state law enforcement agenciesto enforce federal immigration laws.

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Spiritual Underpinnings can help to anchor alliance-building work.

BELOVED COMMUNITY CENTER


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BLACK ALLIANCE FOR JUST IMMIGRATION


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BACK AACE JU A

the policies of economic globaliation similarly impactAfrican American and immigrant communities forms

BAJIs key framework for alliance building work. Us-ing dialogues, presentations, workshops, publications,technical assistance and trainings, BAJI has developed

ways to discuss this framework in the African Americancommunity sensitively and effectively.

An example of BAJIs methodology are its smallgroup Conversations about Immigration held in

African American churches which allow people tospeak, vent and express their emotions about immi-gration. As Latinos are quickly becoming the largest

racial minority in United States, perceptions amongmany African Americans of Latino immigrants takingjobs, taking over their communities, seemingly jump-ing the line and perpetuating racism towards African

Americans are not uncommon.

We dont try to answer point by point, but try to helppeople to see: What is the larger picture? Why arepeople migrating?, says Lenoir.

BAJI facilitators introduce the concepts of economicglobaliation, which in the 1970s caused many U.S.corporations to move manufacturing operations andgood jobs to Latin America and Asia, resulting ingreater unemployment and economic displacement in

the African American community. Parallels are drawnwith the policies of economic globaliation today thatoften force people in the global south to migrate tothe United States.

Our role is to provide a framework or in some cases,deconstruct the myths they have heard, said Phil

Hutchings, BAJI Senior Organier. BAJI also stressesthat the attack on immigrants of color has a racial

dimension to it and points out that African Americanshave a moral imperative and a self-interest in ghtingracism in all its forms.

Another example of BAJIs educational method canbe seen in a forum conducted for the IronboundCommunity Corporation (ICC) in an economically de-pressed African American community in Ironbound,a neighborhood in Newark, New Jersey. Twenty-ve

African American housing project residents attendedthe event. The training brought out parallels between

African American experiences of migration, exploita-tion and racism and the experiences of todays immi-grants of color.

Rather than talking about immigrant rights imme-diately, we showed a documentary lm about therst Great Black Migration internally in the U.S. after

World War I. This got people started talking abouttheir own migration stories often due to racism andeconomic factors, says Lenoir. Then we talked

about immigration and folks began to see that AfricanAmericans should be concerned with attacks onimmigrants too.

ICC organiers report that African Americans whoattended the forum showed a greater willingness to

work with Latino immigrants in the community andstressed the importance of translation services forimmigrants at all the meetings. BAJI is working withorganiers to develop African American-immigrant

dialogues and opportunities for building alliances inthe context of concrete initiatives and campaigns.

Our role is to provide a framework orin some cases, deconstruct the mythsthat theyve heard.

Phil Hutchings, BAJI Senior Organizer


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Building strong relationships is key to building strongalliances.

e leadership of black immigrants is important inalliance building with

African Americans.

BLACK ALLIANCE FOR JUST IMMIGRATION


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CASA DE MARYLAND


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CASA developed a sign-on letter for African Ameri-can congregations to support for the national March21, 2010 Washington D.C. Mobiliation for Immigra-tion Reform. The letter framed the mobiliationstheme as Jobs and Immigration: Full Employment& Full Citienship, attempting to link two goals andtwo communities. This full employment and full citi-enship message connects the impact of the exploita-tion of workers made possible in the current immi-gration system with the driving down of wages for all

workers. Underlying this message is another message,i.e., that with just immigration reform, workers wouldbe free to organie for fair market wages and compe-

tition between workers of different legal status wouldbe reduced, beneting African American workers.

The goal of CASAs work with African Americancongregations and communities is to have deep andmeaningful relationships with African Americanleaders in the county and to lay the groundwork forconsistent social justice work that Latino and African

American communities can organie together, ad-dressing health care, affordable low-income housing,

police brutality and other issues.

LESSONS LEARNED

Immigrant rights organizations must understandmore deeply the perspectives of the African Ameri-can community. It is important for immigrant orga-niations to deepen their own understanding of thehistorical roots of African American oppression inorder to understand where the pushback comes fromin African American communities around immigrantrights.

There may be resentment as immigrants are de-manding rights and equality where African Americansstill have not achieved full equality, says Thurston.

Immigrant rights organizations must support is-sues important to the African American community.Standing side-by-side with African Americans in sup-port of issues important to their community goes along way in demonstrating the power of cross-racialalliances.

FUTURE PLANSCASA plans to implement a short Immigration 101training in African American congregations that address-es the roots of job competition and racial divisions.

CASAs primary base is in Latino immigrant com-munities but also includes West African and Afro-Caribbean immigrants. CASA will also be developinga program to support the voices of black immigrants

within the organiation.

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CROSS RACIALALLIANCE BUILDING

CIOs methodology is based in educating and buildinga shared analysis within the community before launch-ing a campaign. Central to CIOs analysis is an under-standing of racial justice.

Every single piece of work or campaign is viewedthrough a racial justice lens and a multiethnic/multi-racial analysis, says CIO founder and director, Kayse

Jama. Jama admits that even among immigrants and

refugees this can be a challenge, as refugees from Eu-rope and refugees from the global south have differ-ent understandings of racism and colonialism. Classdifferences also exist within the refugee communitybased on skin color and education.

In 2006, CIO brought together 22 leaders from dif-ferent immigrant and refugee communities to launcha strategic citywide campaign to protect the rightsand liberties of the immigrant and refugee commu-

nity, to better include them in civic/public life, and toprovide specic strategies for improving governmentprocesses and services. The group hired ve organi-ers from African, Arab, Asian/Pacic Islander, Latinoand Slavic backgrounds who conducted community-based research with 1,000 immigrants and refugees.

The leaders then selected ten issues shared in com-mon that impacted newcomers across their respectivecommunities to take to the city ofcials of Portland.

The strategic campaign, taken up by immigrants andrefugees from diverse countries of origin, all advocat-ing collectively using cross-cultural analysis, was aneffective and powerful experience. Portland ofcialshad never witnessed the community coming togethersaying the same thing.

It scared them and laid a foundation. It communicat-ed to them that this is a movement, says Jama.

CIOs cross-cultural organiing has had a signicantimpact in the city of Portland. It has lead to the pas-sage of a resolution to protect the rights of all immi-grants, the eventual establishment of a Human RightsCommission and an Ofce of Immigrant & Refugee

Affairs for the City of Portland (2008), permanent cityfunds for immigrant and refugee leadership develop-ment, placement of more immigrants and refugees onboards/commissions, improvement in services, andseveral other initiatives currently underway.

CIO has likewise been successful at the state level. In2009, CIO partnered with several other organiationsled by people of color to advocate for the inclusionof specic racial justice language in Oregons success-ful health care reform bills. This important victory willreshape the way Oregon provides healthcare to peopleof color, immigrants and refugees.

Also in 2009, in cooperation with the Urban League ofPortland and the Black United Fund of Oregon, CIO

held a series of three dialogues between the AfricanAmerican and African immigrant communities to ex-plore how the communities can be allies to one another.

The rst dialogue included fteen African Americansand fteen African immigrants. The second and thirddialogues gathered sixty-seventy people each.

The dialogues addressed the shared histories of op-pression, divisions and commonalities between com-munities, and understanding the U.S. system of racial

oppression. Participants spent time in mixed groupsin honest discussion about oppression and internal-ied oppression. The nal dialogue included celebrat-ing cultural gifts and differences as well as and theteaching and learning of African and hip-hop dances.

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LESSONS LEARNED

raining immigrants and refugees as leaders is central tobuilding alliances across these communities.CIO has ayearlong program called PILOT (Pan-Immigrant Leader-ship and Organiing Training) to strengthen immigrantand refugee leadership. Last fall PILOT graduated adiverse group of 20 leaders from 16 different countriesfrom social agencies, mutual aid organiations and othergroups.

PILOT has modied the BRIDGE curriculum of the

National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights toreect the local racial history and policy. It includes Or-egons Ku Klux Klan history and the Native Americanexperience of children forced into federal governmentboarding schools as a way to link immigrant and refugeeissues to the African American and Native Americancommunities. Immigrant leaders are now serving on Cityof Portland committees, organiing their communities,growing social justice organiations, and empowering im-migrants and refugees throughout the state.

raining non-immigrant allies is also essential to build-ing strong cross-racial alliances. CIO conducts a paral-lel popular education course called RISE (Refugee andImmigrant Solidarity Education) for non-immigrantU.S.-born allies to teach people how to be good allies inthe struggle for immigrant and refugee rights. The six-

week-long, twelve-session program addresses the globaland political dynamics of immigration as well as theracial basis of U.S. immigration policy. It equips partici-pants to be engaged allies advocating for immigrant and

refugee issues.

CIO incorporates allies in its work, creating space forthem to gain exposure to the issues and contribute inappropriate ways, such as volunteering during cam-paigns, canvassing and providing logistics support. Over150 allies have gone through the RISE program.

Building a shared analysis is the foundation for strategicalliances. CIO considers its work of building strategic

alliances among communities as distinct from coalitionwork. Building an inclusive movement across communi-ties means starting from scratch and bringing people tothe table as equals, according to Jama. It also means goingdeeper and allowing the space and time for cross-culturalanalysis building and dialogue.

Once there is a shared analysis about the root causes,everything else is easy. People will see the intersectional-ity, says Jama. A strategic alliance focuses on issuesthat impact immigrants and refugees across communi-ties. For example, the Portland City Council resolutionproposed by CIO was inclusive of the issues not justaffecting documented immigrants but also those facedby undocumented immigrants and Muslim immigrants.

FUTURE PLANS

CIOs next steps include further developing its on-sitemember-run media center, which amplies strategiesfor cross-racial alliance work and the collective voiceand perspectives of the immigrant and refugee com-munity. A weekly community radio show, CommonSense and Movement Building already does this andCIO plans to conduct further media skills training inthe immigrant and refugee community. CIOs orga-niing work on the horion is to address statewidepolicy issues across communities and cultures. CIOalso hopes to extend the dialogues begun with Africanimmigrants and African Americans in order to includeLatino and Asian Pacic Islander communities.

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FAMILIES FOR FREEDOM


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diversity of those at risk of deportation in New YorkCity. Sixty-ve percent of FFFs members are Eng-

lish-, Spanish- and French-speaking Afro-Caribbeans.The remaining families include Latinos, West Africans,Chinese and South Asians. FFF members are bothdocumented and undocumented immigrants andeighty percent have criminal convictions. FFF is alliesand partners with the Detention Watch Network andthe Drug Policy Alliance and is a resource to NewSanctuary Movement congregations in New York City.

In partnership with the Immigrant Defense Project,FFF developed Deportation 101 in 2005, a valuable

resource guide on the deportation system with strategiesfor anti-deportation organiing. Hundreds of organi-ational representatives, service providers and orga-niers have taken the seminar that FFF has conductedin cities including Boston, Miami, Atlanta, New Yorkand Washington, D.C.

In 2009, FFF launched a training of trainers so thatmembers and allies could teach the Deportation 101curriculum. Trainees met for three hours each week

over the course of ten weeks. The rst class of eighttrainers graduated last fall and are now available toprovide training and to speak at community presenta-tions, churches and colleges.


Deportation is a cross-racial issue from the begin-ning, says Roshuevel. The biggest challenge is not

racial but the divisions over who is worthy of relieffrom deportation.

This division is reected in comments of people whosay, I just came here to work and I am not a criminal.I deserve relief. And others who say, I did not comeillegally. I have been here for 30 years as a permanent

resident. I have one conviction and served my time. Ideserve relief.

We dont make a distinction, says Roshuevel. Wehave to avoid the trap that one group is more deserv-ing than another. We advocate that we all need justiceand relief so we wont be pitted against each other.Families come together in monthly Family Meetings,

which are support, networking and resource spaces.They also meet at weekly deportation resource cliniccollectives where FFF staff and members share theirknowledge about how to navigate the criminal justiceand immigration detention systems with people in

crisis. At the clinic, people who have different levelsof knowledge come together to better understand thesystem.

Every person is placed on the criminal justice mapand/or the immigration map. At the clinic, experi-enced participants walk through and explain whathappens when someone goes through criminal justiceand immigration processes. Participants learn theirrights and become aware of how to navigate the sys-tem. They are also are encouraged to be involved withFFFs advocacy campaigns or mobiliations on par-

ticular cases. FFF also sponsors a monthly radio showcalled the War on Immigrants Report.

The guiding principles of FFFs work are family unityand an end to enforcement that targets immigrantpeople of color. FFFs discussions among familiesbuild common understanding of how all immigrants

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We show that were all being crimi-nalized and we all deserve due process,discretion in the system, and the consid-eration of family unity. We all deserveto be treated justly.

Janis Roshuevel, FFF Executive Director


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are criminalied in different ways. FFF shows thecriminaliation of immigrants at different points,

whether at the border, at their home or workplace, orwhen they are racially proled and arrested on thestreet.

We show that were all being criminalied and we alldeserve due process, discretion in the system, and theconsideration of family unity. We all deserve to betreated justly, says Roshuevel. FFF problematies thecriminal justice system and critiques the structural rac-ism embedded in the criminal justice, immigration anddeportation systems.

In addition to its direct work with families, some ofFFFs biggest educational work is to transform per-spectives within the mainstream immigrant rightscommunity that often excludes issues of immigrants

with criminal convictions. FFF brings the stories of itsfamilies and a critical perspective focused on the im-portance of due process, family unity, judicial discre-tion and end to hyper-enforcement in any reform offederal immigration laws.

We have to point out that reform is not just aboutlegaliation. You can still have a green card and getdeported, says Roshuevel.

LESSONS LEARNED

Te people aected should lead the movement forchange. FFFs work is driven by the people directlyaffected by the issues, who have keen knowledge and

political analysis because of their interaction withimmigration and law enforcement systems. Its effec-tive educational materials and accessible resourcescome out of members direct, lived experience andknowledge. Trainings are very practical and immedi-ately helpful. Based on FFF families experiences, theyhelped draft the Child Citien Protection Act (HR

182) introduced by New York Representative Jos Ser-rano (D-NY) to give immigration judges the authority

and discretion to prevent the removal of a parent of aU.S. citien child if it is not in the childs best interest.

FUTURE PLANS

FFF is working to build up its base and to get moremembers to be leaders and activists. It has also startedto work with 40 black immigrant pastors in Brooklyncalled Churches United to Save and Heal (C.U.S.H.),

which focuses on stopping the criminaliation ofimmigrants and support for just and inclusive immi-gration reform for all immigrants. FFF would like toformalie its political education curriculum and is also

working on developing Deportation 102 for advancedpractitioners.

AE EED


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GARDEN STATE ALLIANCE FOR A NEW ECONOMY


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Labor unions have been successful in organiingrecent immigrant workers but recognie that broaderpublic support for any campaign requires buildingstronger alliances with African American and work-ing class white communities who feel threatened bythe demographic change. GANEs focus has been tobuild a foundation of shared trust and deep alliancesamong African-American communities, immigrantcommunities and labor unions as it organies in new

ways to create high quality blue-collar jobs for AfricanAmerican and immigrant working families.


In August 2008, GANE launched an advocacy cam-paign with a new multiracial union focused on theresidential construction industry for policies that

would benet both existing immigrant workers andunemployed or underemployed African American

workers. In northern New Jersey, the residentialconstruction labor force is comprised of ninety-eight

percent Latino immigrant workers, many of whomare day laborers working at minimum wage with nobenets and under precarious safety conditions.

We wanted to do something different, says WayneRichardson, GANE staff member at the time, andnow president of the new union, Local 55 of theLaborers International Union of North America. Wehad to repair and mend fences and bridges with theunion and community because of mistrust. We had toget real community partners.

GANE began by bringing in Christian, Muslim andother clergy as well as environmental justice groups tobuild support for the common goal of creating goodjobs for local residents. African American communitydevelopment organiations and congregations helpedto recruit African Americans who had never had

formal construction training or union work, includingex-prisoners in re-entry programs and others who hadbeen historically shut out of the industry.

The formal training combined specic constructionskills and education. Training to help build cross-racialunity between African American and Latino traineesincluded a three-part education series tapping expe-rienced facilitators and educatorsBernard Moore,

who was then working with UNITE-HERE; GeraldLenoir of the Black Alliance for Just Immigration(also proled in this report); and Mayron Payes of theCenter for Community Change. The rst session wasattended by 30 African Americans. Ten Latino im-migrants attended the second session from the work-ers centers. The third session brought 18 Latino and

African American trainees together to learn construc-tion skills and a framework for understanding race,immigration and work.

Key components of the session covered the historyof union labor and its dynamics with different immi-grant communities; the historical struggle of African

American workers to get into trade unions; the im-pacts of the North American Free Trade Agreement(NAFTA), especially the loss of U.S. manufacturing

ADE AE AACE A EW ECy

As we gathered in front to prepare forthe action, one guy in our group, Ed, be-gan to rail against immigrant workerswho are working for pennies. He wasan experienced carpenter and could not

get any work. One of the others in our group got angry and said So, Who

loses? Ed stopped and grinned, andsaid We all lose.

Kate Atkins, former Director of GANE


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jobs; the impact of trade policies on Latin Americaneconomies, in particular, how they force many peopleto migrate to the United States; the purpose andbenets of unions; and who benets from pitting onegroup against another for jobs.

Trainees shared common experiences of discrimina-tion they face living with the labels of illegal forimmigrant workers and ex-felons for African Amer-icans. They also broke down false statements suchas African Americans are lay or theyre taking ourjobs with a deeper analysis and gained new perspec-tives on each other.

One exercise, the Diversity Pule, involved using aseries of poster-sie pictures. One picture is of im-migrant workers at a march carrying a sign United

We Dream. Another is a picture of Dr. Martin LutherKing, Jr. delivering his I Have a Dream speech. Athird is a picture of an African American man fromthe 1968 sanitation workers strike in Memphis hold-ing a sign with the words, I am a Man. Pictures arecut up into pule pieces and handed out to partici-

pants who must nd others who have pieces of thesame picture and together they put the pules backtogether. In mixed-groups, the pule-mates discussthe questions: What was Dr. Kings dream? What isthe status of it? Is the dream different for African

Americans and immigrants?

The new multiracial union, Laborers Local 55 based inNewark, was begun with the rst trained workers 22 African Americans and ve Latino immigrantsfrom the day laborers center. Today it incorporatesthe entire state of New Jersey and Delaware and hasaround 150 African American and Latino members.

As the residential housing construction market fell dueto the recession, Local 55 found a new opportunityto nd work for its members because of the federalstimulus money coming to the State of New Jerseyfor weatheriation. Working with GANE, the unionorganied a successful nine-month campaign for a

state policy that requires weatheriation contractors topay a living wage of $17 an hour, provide workers ac-cess to training, and hire fty percent of their workersfrom low income neighborhoods and from those newto construction. The hope is that these new standardsfor weatheriation contractors will help to shift thestandards in construction industry as a whole.

Following up on this success, the New Jersey Build-ing Laborers Training Fund partnered with the Black

Ministers Council, vocational/technical schools andLocal 55 to secure $2.9 million for weatheriationtraining for the whole state of New Jersey. The rstpilot program was completed in January 2009, provid-ing training connected to good jobs, union member-ship and a career. In the next two years, the Laborers

Training Fund will train 600 people, a mix of AfricanAmerican, Latinos and Caucasians in weatheriationwith skills that will transfer into residential construc-tion when that market rebounds.



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LESSONS LEARNED

Structured dialogues during a campaign andthroughout are critical. It is important to carve outtime for structured dialogues. GANE did three dur-ing their nine-month campaign. GANE leadershipsaid that seven dialogues would have been optimal inorder to give trainees more time to talk and discuss is-sues together. Skilled and experienced facilitation andresource people to conduct the trainings was key.

We were always reminding people of our dialogues. Itencouraged everyone to be thoughtful. It slowed usdown, made people less goal oriented, and broughta deeper analysis to all staff and leaders, says Kate

Atkins, former Director of GANE. She also stressesthe importance of doing dialogues in the context ofconcrete organiing campaigns versus dialogues in a

vacuum. If you dialogue in a vacuum, people donthave enough motivation to push past things. In a cam-paign you get to see through action how it plays out.

Establishing a common framework on race, immigra-tion and work is also essential.This framework and

training content helped to create a sense of sharedstruggles as workers and an awareness of how race isused as a tool of economic oppression to keep low-income working people divided. Building peoplesidentity as workers has also helped to open up com-mon ground and shift hardened assumptions.

This provides a new perspective other than Us vs.

Them. It helps people to see how the system worksto divide us and that everyone has a right to work and

feed their families, says Richardson.

FUTURE PLANS

Local 55 is charged to nd employment for ninetypercent of the graduates of its weatheriation train-ing programs and is actively seeking contracts to ndtrainees and Local 55 members work in weatheria-tion, green jobs and residential construction. Based onthe policy it won, GANE and the Laborers Interna-

tional Union of North America is pushing for a wageand benet standards policy broader than weather-iation jobs in Newark. The New Jersey policy is thepilot for a national proposal that has been brought toPresident Obama to create a competitive grant pro-gram for cities to set up weatheriation programs thathire local residents, pay union-scale wages and ben-ets, and have strong local hiring requirements.

[A common framework] provides a

new perspective other than Us vs.Them. It helps people to see how thesystem works to divide us and thateveryone has a right to work andfeed their families.

Wayne Richardson, President, Laborers Local 55


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HIGHLANDER RESEARCH & EDUCATION CENTER


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ADE EEAC & EDUCA CEE

immigration affects other communities too, espe-cially African Americans, Hernnde continues. We

cannot help build a strong movement for immigrantrights if it is not also connected to a broader move-ment for racial and economic justice for everyone.

Today Highlanders immigration work is deliberatelymultiracial, identifying areas of potential conict and col-laboration among the different racial and ethnic groupsin the Southern region. Thinking of the immigrantand black community as mutually exclusive is inaccurateand shortsighted, says Hernande. We have to breakdivide and conquer strategies that lead one side to say,Those people are taking our jobs, and the other side tosay, Those people dont work hard enough. Education

and organiing rooted in understandings of globaliation,migration and race, helps to forge new alliances betweenblack and immigrant workers.

Highlanders yearlong leadership and organiing schoolThreads, like its name suggests, threads across races,generations and issues to knit communities together. Par-ticipants include African Americans, immigrants/refugeesand whites from across the Southern region, especiallyfrom the Deep South and Appalachia. Threadss 2010

theme is economic justice with participants coming fromLouisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia,Kentucky and South Carolina. Participants come fromgrassroots organiations engaged in a wide range of issues,including mountaintop removal, immigrant and refugeerights, juvenile justice, food justice, predatory lending,transgender justice, workers rights and educational equity.

A multiracial analysis is the underpinning of Highlandersleadership development programs and recruiting strat-

egy. Through popular education, participants in Threadsconnect to each others stories, build an analysis aroundpower and oppression, and develop relationships overtime. They begin to see how their specic issues are partof a broader long-term struggle for democracy, humanrights, and economic, racial and social justice.In teaching about immigration, for example, globalia-tion is understood as both causing job losses in theSouth as well as economic crises in other countries,

which force people to migrate in search of work. Ananalysis of the history of oppression and resistanceof the African American community in the South isanother central component.

During a Threads session from the previous cycle,several leaders working in the immigrant communityshared their experience of a recent raid by Immigra-tion Customs and Enforcement (ICE) in their com-munity. Non-immigrants in the group who had littleunderstanding of the issue of immigration werestunned and confused. They asked questions like:

Why would people want to be here when they aretreated this way? Why do they stay here?

By the next time the Threads participants met, sev-eral of the African American participants from theGulf Coast shared how they had been signicantlyimpacted by the discussion on immigration. Rethink-ing their views about immigration, they were able toconnect the issue to what they experienced during andafter Hurricane Katrina. A later training session was

held in Biloxi, Mississippi and immigrant participantswere able to see and understand the depths of thedevastation of Katrina and the ongoing issues in theGulf Coast.

We have to break divide and conquerstrategies that lead one side to say,Those people are taking our jobs andthe other side to say, Those peopledont work hard enough.

Monica Hernandez, Highlander Education Team Member


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LESSONS LEARNED

Immigrant rights must be situated within the broaderstruggle for social justice. Highlanders curriculumand analysis helps immigrant participants locatetheir struggle in the broader context of social justicemovements, the history and legacy of the South, andthe history of resistance and struggle against racism.Participants are able see that it is broader than a cam-paign for legaliation and are able to identify how aspecic campaign needs to be connected to a longer-term struggle.

Highlander develops popular education tools aroundrace, globaliation and migration that help communi-ties gain a deeper understanding of the devastation leftbehind by hundreds of years of coloniation and imperi-alism that still reverberates today.

Conversations about race are essential to buildingalliances. According to Highlander staff, one of thebiggest obstacles to cross-racial alliance building is thelack of a shared understanding about race and racism.

To address this, Highlander is holding conversationsabout race within the Latino community to addressthe myth that racism does not exist in Latin Ameri-ca. Direct conversations about how racism impactscommunities in different ways are as necessary as theacknowledgement that the struggle for racial equalityfor African Americans is still incomplete. In order todo bridge building, Highlander creates spaces wheregroups can talk amongst themselves about the issuesand then come together.

Youth and young adult leadership development iscritical for the future of movement building. High-landers youth program, Seeds of Fire, creates oppor-tunities for youth to nd their own voices and lead-ership. This multiracial summer leadership programfor white, African American and immigrant youthof diverse backgrounds develops strong connections

and parallels between issues of education and juvenileincarceration. Youth build a shared power analysis,

understand the connections among oppressions andforms of exploitation, become aware of the historyof peoples movements, and gain skills for cultural

work, leadership and organiing.

Highlander also works with adult allies to create space foryouth voices and leadership in their organiations. High-lander intentionally recruits a high percentage of youngadults for every workshop.

Youth and young people are able to take this notion

of working multiracially to a whole other level, saysHernnde, and they offer the best hope for building anintergenerational, multiracial, multi-issue movement forracial and economic justice.

A commitment to providing translation and inter-pretation services is a prerequisite to eective cross-racial alliance building. Highlander established thegroundbreaking Multilingual Capacity Building Pro-gram to expand the pool of social justice interpretersand translators in the region. The program also helpssocial justice organiations think about interpreta-tion and translation as important tools that allows allparticipants to bring their whole selves to the tableand be equal partners, even when they speak differentlanguages.

FUTURE PLANS

Highlander will undertake a strategic planning processin 2010 to focus on further developing its framework of

race, migration and globaliation as well as redesigningstrategies and identifying additional tools. In partnershipwith others, they will continue to develop educationaltools to address the realities and dynamics of race andracism in immigrant and refugee communities.


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KOREATOWN IMMIGRANT WORKERS ALLIANCE


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residents include signicant numbers of Bangladeshisand African Americans.

KIWAs membership has slightly more Latinos thanKoreans, reecting the neighborhood demographics.A multiethnic approach to our work is crucial so thatwe dont breed exclusive thinking about who belongsin this community and who doesnt, says Ma.


KIWA promotes the concept that residents and work-ers should have input and set standards for the kindsof jobs, wages, affordable housing and developmentin their community. Its organiing committees cur-rently focus on tenant organiing to address the highrents, overcrowded conditions and threats of displace-ment that workers residing in Koreatown face. TheKIWA Neighborhood Organiing Committee is atri-lingual committee that focuses on tenants rightsand housing issues.

KIWAs organiing proactively outreaches to multira-cial residents. Meetings and activities are conducted inEnglish, Korean and Spanish. Monthly tenants meet-ings bring together twelve to fteen people acrossracial and cultural lines to share food and personalexperiences, learn about local threats to affordablehousing, discuss tenants rights and develop campaignstrategies.

Other committees address workers rights issues and

immigrant issues. Committees come together peri-odically for community building activities to discusseducational or cultural topics, such as workers rightsissues, immigrant issues, and the commemoration ofthe sa-i-gu Los Angeles civil unrest.

KIWAs organiing style focuses not just on sharing

information but also on facilitating interaction andrelationship building in a deliberate way. Though

Koreatown is a diverse community, there are not manyopportunities for people to interact at a deeper level.Members are drawn to the multilingual meetings andthe deliberate effort to get people from different cul-tures to engage.

KIWA has often used participatory exercises wherepeople draw their experiences and aspirations to helpthem bridge the language divide. For example, at ameeting of a committee advocating for a new park inpark-poor Koreatown, participants were asked to draw

What do you want in your park? on a collective pieceof paper. In another committee, participants wereasked to draw how they would depict a particular prob-lem in their home if it were an ailment in their body?Unity is built around the concepts that low-incomeresidents and families share common experiences andthe necessity to confront issues together.

We are constantly reminding people we are in a multi-ethnic city. We have different experiences and slightly

different stories that are somehow connected, says Ma

KIWA is one of a handful of organiations with amultiethnic character in Los Angeles. They reect anuncommon alliance between Korean, Latino, Ban-gladeshi and African Americans. Their multiethnicpresence at actions and rallies is one that has forcedcity council members to take notice as they have advocated together for Koreatown neighborhood issues.

Last year, KIWA engaged in a campaign to preserverent-controlled buildings and was able to prevent thedemolition of several residential buildings slated tobe turned into parking lots. KIWAs tenant commit-tees also participate in a national coalition, Right tothe City Alliance, where they connect to other tenantrights groups.

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Organizational clarity and a commitment to beingmultiracial is an important starting point.

Providing translation is critical to successful alli-ance building.

Cultural translation is important as well. It is es-sential to be aware that beyond language translationthere is also the issue of cultural translation andcultural dierences.

KOREATOWN IMMIGRANT WORKERS ALLIANCE


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MIDWEST IMMIGRANT HEALTH PROJECT


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DWE A EA PJEC

talk about work issues. These meetings became a placeto deepen understanding of the roots of interracial

and intercultural conicts in the plant.

We talked about why Muslims have to pray through-out the day and helped to show that its not the So-malis fault. It seems like the plant does not care about

workers. They wont slow down the line for anybody,says Carlos Rich, Midwest Immigrant Health Project,Iowa Organier.

The dialogues and bridge building helped the twogroups to nd common ground as workers workinghard to feed their families. Unfortunately the Kansasplant downsied and many Somalis from the Kansasplant migrated to Minnesota and other surroundingstates. However, the important lessons and alliancebuilding between Somalis and Latinos continues andis expanding regionally. MIHP has hired a Somaliorganier to work in Wilmar, Minnesota.

In each state where MIHP organiesMinnesota,Missouri and Iowaimmigrant members have

formed Health Action Councils to address a widerange of health and safety issues in the workplace.From June 2009 to January 2010, MIHP sponsoredthree regional Health Action Council meetings bring-ing together Somalis in Minnesota and Latinos fromMissouri and Iowa to address common concerns.

Using three-way translation in English, Somali and Span-ish has slowed down the conversation but ironically hasfostered deeper listening and understanding between the

groups. It took longer but everyone had a better under-standing of what was said, says Rich.

Awareness that other workers of a different race andreligion are dealing with similar issues has helped to buildsolidarity and inspiration between the two communities.Said one Somali worker to Latino workers at the meeting,

Brothers and sisters, we are with you in your struggles.

The meetings have resulted in a plan to bring in Oc-cupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA)

trainings and build alliances with health departmentsand the faith communities. When two different racialgroups come to a realiation that they have the samestruggle and they say lets continue to work together, itis a powerful moment, says Rich.

Health Action Councils successful campaigns haveled to workers achieving greater respect from theiremployers, including a small raise, the right for Somali

workers to pray during the work day, the right to bringin their own food for lunch, the right to go to thebathroom freely, as well as improved plant safety.

MIHP also has a project in Columbus Junction, Iowa.In the 1980s, a pork processing plant now owned byTyson Foods opened up and began to recruit immi-grants from Mexico, Central America and the Carib-bean. These early immigrants have since settled andestablished roots there. In 2008, because of federalcrackdowns and fears of raids on undocumented

workers, the plant red hundreds of Latino workers,

replacing them with African American males recruitedfrom South Chicago to work with the remainingLatinos in the plants. In mid-2009, recent refugeesfrom Burma with no English language abilities werebrought in as a third group of workers.

This practice is a formula to pit immigrants, refugees,Latinos and African Americans against each otherinside the workplace. Using its relationship-buildingtechniques, MIHP has developed programs and strate-

gies to build worker alliances and win campaigns toimprove working conditions inside the plants.


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LESSONS LEARNED

ime and eort building relationships is well spent.MIHPs organiing approach emphasies building re-lationships. Organier Carlos Rich spends many week-ends at the laundromat doing his laundry when theplant workers are doing their laundry, talking to themand building relationships with them. Trust takes timebut investing time and effort pays off in the end.

ransfer the power to workers. Aer you developrelationships with them, transfer the power to them,says Rich. Most people want to do that, but dont.MIHPs practice allows workers Health Action Coun-cils to determine their issues, think about solutions,and gure out what they need to do. In MIHPs orga-

niing style, the organiers role is to listen and under-stand what the workers want and help them connect

to relevant entities or resources that will help themreach their goal.

It is most valuable when workers can concretely showthey have their own space, have achieved their own

victories.

FUTURE PLANS

MIHP is proud of the steady progress they are mak-

ing and will expand their work to create strongerbonds between Latino, Somali, African American,Burmese and other workers. With the experience theyhave gained in the last eight months, the plan is toexpand the alliance building work to other areas inthe Midwest, such as Western Kansas where there aremany Latinos and Somali workers.

DWE A EA PJEC


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MISSISSIPPI IMMIGRANT RIGHTS ALLIANCE


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about 600 electrical plant workers. School districts inLaurel, Jackson and other places in Mississippi have

refused to enroll Latino students.

As a membership-based organiation, MIRA supportsthe needs and rights of the immigrant population byproviding legal services, organiing, advocacy andpublic education. MIRA has organied successfuldirect actions by workers picketing contractors homesand casinos over unpaid wages. Through these directactions, workers have been able to recover over onemillion dollars of back pay. MIRAs pressure on theDepartment of Labor has forced them to increasetheir number of bilingual investigators, which waspreviously one.

CROSS-RACIALALLIANCE BUILDING

MIRAs goal is not only to address the abuses of im-migrant workers but also to build a multiracial coali-tion of African Americans, Latinos, Vietnamese and

progressive whites that will help to bring about pro-gressive change in Mississippi. In a state where ninetypercent of white voters vote for Republican and whitecandidates, the shifting demographics speeds up thepotential for Mississippi to become a majority peopleof color state.

We not only build the power of immigrants for im-migrants. That power can enhance the struggle of

African Americans with whom they share much in

common. We want to connect people together whowill be able to take power from the white suprema-cist oligarchy in the state, says Bill Chandler, MIRAsExecutive Director.

MIRAs work with immigrants focuses on organiingthem to demand their rights as workers. At the same

time, MIRA helps immigrant workers to locate theirstruggle in the context of the ongoing struggle in Mis-

sissippi of working people and African Americans deal-ing with the same issues of exploitation and racism.MIRAs board chair is State Representative Jim Evans,a national AFL-CIO organier and a leader in the Mis-sissippi Legislative Black Caucus. He and the Caucushave shaped the MIRAs effective legislative strategy.MIRA actively educates and partners with the Legisla-tive Black Caucus to stop anti-immigrant legislationaimed at driving Latinos out of the state.

Since MIRA began its work, white supremacist legisla-tors have introduced 230 anti-immigrant bills, includ-ing bills to criminalie undocumented workers andEnglish-only laws to deny services and discriminateagainst immigrants. With the leadership of the BlackCaucus, nearly all of the anti-immigrant legislation hasbeen defeated.

In February 2010, MIRA organied its annual CivicEngagement Day and brought 200 immigrant workersninety-eight percent of whom were undocumented,

from Gulfport/Biloxi, Laurel/Hattiesburg, andPascagoula/DIberville and other parts of Mississippito the State Capitol. They were welcomed by the BlackCaucus and the Speaker of the House and becauseof the support from the Black Caucus and workers inthe capitol building, they did not have to go throughsecurity. Immigrants heard from Black Caucus mem-bers about the similarities in the history and strugglesof immigrants and African Americans and deepenedtheir understanding of what the Black Caucus does

and why it exists.

The leadership that the African American communityhas provided over the decades has expanded the rightsof everybody else, including white working classpeople, whether it be voting or economic rights, saysChandler.

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Connecting the struggle of African Americans andLatinos is essential.

MISSISSIPPI IMMIGRANT RIGHTS ALLIANCE


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PP A AACE

MIRA has held four Unity Conferences, each bringingin several hundred participants to foster alliance build-

ing among Latinos immigrants, African Americans,Asians and African immigrants and to discuss localand national issues.

An integrated sta and board help to build an inte-grated movement. MIRA has a policy to have inte-grated staff. MIRAs Legal Services Project is led by

African American woman, so that when immigrantscome to get legal support, they see who we are byseeing our staff, says Chandler. MIRAs 15-memberboard is made up of seven Latinos and seven African

Americans/Africans and one white member.

Cross-racial partnerships can lead to victories. Be-sides its successful and innovative partnership withthe Black Caucus, MIRA has active and successfulpartnerships with the NAACP chapter on the GulfCoast to address racial proling, establish jobs pro-grams, and build a multiracial coalition in the wakeof Katrina. The NAACP in Biloxi has participated inMIRAs advocacy efforts with state and city govern-

ments.

FUTURE PLANS

MIRAs ongoing legislative work includes proposinglegislation to set up a Department of Labor (Mis-sissippi is one of the few state without one) and aframework for bilingual education in the state. Locally,MIRA is working on anti-racial proling ordinance inJackson modeled after an ordinance in Detroit whichprotects both African Americans and immigrants. Inaddition, MIRA is contemplating a lawsuit seekingstate funding for court interpreters. MIRA will alsocontinue its opposition to 287(g) agreements andracial proling.


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NATIONAL DOMESTIC WORKERS ALLIANCE


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Culture work is important to building alliances.

Participatory democracy strengthens alliances.

Broadening alliances increases power.



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PEOPLE ORGANIZED TO WIN EMPLOYMENT RIGHTS


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speak English. The only possible explanation for whythey dont have jobs must be because they are lay.

We turned to political education to address the frictionbetween members. It was a turning point for the organi-ation where we could have split apart, recalls Williams.POWER initiated a mandatory 10-week process for theleadership of the organiation, ten African Americansand ten Latinas. Leaders were told that at the end of the10-weeks they were to make the decision whether or notPOWER should continue to be a multiracial organia-tion or split into two ethnic specic groups.

In the rst session, the group broke into separateAfrican American and Latino groups, where they eachtalked about the key problems in their communities and

what their perceptions of the other group were. Therst session was followed by two sessions where lead-ers studied the Trans-Atlantic slave trade, the historyof African Americans, and viewed a lm clip from AlexHaleys Roots.

Many of the Latinas said they had no idea about theparticular experience of African Americans and slavery.

They had thought that African Americans were justanother immigrant group who had come to the UnitedStates at an earlier time. They had not been aware ofthe clear legacies of slavery, says Williams.

This was followed by four sessions of study about thehistory of U.S. military and economic interventionsthroughout Latin America, focusing particularly on Ni-caragua, including a lm about a Nicaraguan revolution-arys personal story.

For African Americans this was profound. Many hadthought that Latin American countries were poor coun-tries because people were lay, and that people werecoming to the U.S. to take advantage of gains that hadbeen won through the Civil Rights Movement, says

Williams.

The nal session mirrored the rst session with peoplereviewing the top concerns of their particular communi-

ties and revisiting the future of the organiation. Theleaders unanimously voted for POWER to continueto be a multiracial organiation. Through this process,POWER staff and leadership sharpened their collectiveanalysis about the nature and history of US imperialism,

white supremacy and patriarchy.

This experience has led to a deeper political conscious-ness among POWER members of the value of being amultiracial organiation. Individual members have takena leading role promoting multiracial alliances through-

out the larger movement. African American POWERmembers have become advocates of language rights andtranslation for non-English speakers in other commu-nity meetings and formed an African American contin-gent in the marches for immigrant rights. Latina POW-ER members have stood up against anti-black racism

within the Latino community. As they have discussedthe need for legaliation of undocumented workers,they have connected that issue to the larger ght for thepolitical enfranchisement of those with felony convic-

tions who are denied the right to vote.

When POWERs Latina Women Workers Project wageda campaign targeting the San Francisco Police Depart-ment for the systemic impoundment of cars driven byundocumented drivers, they chose the term racial pro-ling in the name of their campaign to connect withthe experiences of African Americans. Though othermembers of immigrant rights groups were reluctant tolink the issue to racial justice, the women were insistent.

In 2005, POWER began two organiing campaigns thatfocus on separate issues directly affecting their differentmember constituencies. The Bayview Organiing Proj-ect organies low-income residents against gentricationin the last remaining African American neighborhood inSan Francisco. The Women Workers Project organiesLatina domestic workers.

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POWER recognies the importance of people work-ing on campaigns that most directly affect them. At

the same time, the organiation has been intentionalin creating opportunities for members to build re-lationship, deepen political education together, andengage in common campaigns. Amandla is a POWERproject that brings together leaders in each of thecampaigns to address issues of concern to both theirconstituencies. In 2007, Amandla African Americanand Latino members joined the successful campaignto kick Junior ROTC out of San Francisco schools.

LESSONS LEARNED

Analysis and ongoing political education are essentialto building multiracial unity. POWERs ongoing po-litical education has been critical to sharpen peoplesconsciousness, provide tools for understanding the

world, and develop leadership.

The POWER University 100 series is a nine-weekclass geared towards new members to introducethe idea of multiracial unity and the importance oforganiing in the changing economy and to teach

practical skills. The POWER University 200 Series isfor emerging leaders in the organiation to learn aboutthe ways in which patriarchy, white supremacy, impe-rialism and the U.S. social movements impact workingclass peoples lives.

Fantastic Fridays is a discussion space for members totalk about issues happening in the world. In the Har-riet Tubman Book Club, members read and discussbooks about different social movement histories in

the world and how they relate to experiences in theUnited States. In 2006, POWER published its ownbook, Towards Land, Work & Power, offering a plat-form to unite African American, Latinos and othercommunities of color.

Addressing dierences in how racism and economicexploitation are experienced by dierent racial

groups is important. POWER has learned that it isimportant to directly address the different realitiesthat racial groups experience instead of just talkingabout the similarities. Addressing the differences is animportant step to seeing the common root causes ofa system that exploits low-income workers in different

ways.

For example, in terms of jobs and employment, theAfrican American community experiences high levelsof unemployment and structural dislocation from the

formal workforce. In the Latino community, peopleare working several jobs, overworked, but underpaidor not paid at all.

We have to acknowledge the differences and deepenour ability to explain the different realities and talkabout where those differences came from. Only thenpeople are willing to move forward, says Williams.

Interpersonal relationships matter in building alliances.A large part of political solidarity work is building in-terpersonal relationships. People have incredible soli-darity and respect for each others food, says Williams.

Through cooking contests, sharing food and playingcharades across language barriers, people have builtsocial bonds with one another. The cross-racial relation-ship-building skills have proven valuable as POWERexpanded its multiracial unity building to include low-income Chinese workers from the Chinese Progressive

Association.

FUTURE PLANSPOWER is determining what the next joint campaign

will be that will benet both the Latino and AfricanAmerican communities, possibly focusing on jobs orfree public transportation.

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munity arrived in New Orleans in the mid 1970sat the end of the Vietnam War. At that time, about

2,000 Vietnamese refugees were resettled into Section8 housing in remote East New Orleans, where theyestablished their community.


Cross-racial alliance building is a new experience formany of the youth in the collaborative. For VAYLAsexecutive director, Minh Nguyen, who was born and

raised in New Orleans, working together across raciallines is a dream come true.

I rst started my education in a predominantly Af-rican-American elementary school, then an all Cau-casian private school and I lived in the Vietnamesecommunity. My parents worked in an African Ameri-can community and I have been exposed to the Latinocommunity. I have personally seen all the parts of ourcommunity but Ive never seen everybody in the same

space working together.

The rst year of the collaborative emphasied becom-ing more aware of one anothers issues and communi-ties. Each organiation committed to attending regularmeetings of the other organiations to learn abouttheir missions and campaigns and to observe their dif-ferent and similar styles of leadership and work. Eachorganiation also hosted a big social event for theothers to attend and meet their communities. VAYLA

invited others to attend their annual Halloween fes-tival. FYS held a big concert and Rethink invited theother groups to a picnic.

Weve got to break down cultural stereotypes. Insteadof going to a forum and trying to explain, weve gotto show them how we are similar and what makes us

unique. We showed them that we may look differ-ent, but we share the same struggles as other young

people, says Nguyen.

By visiting one anothers communities, youth got tosee different realities in the city and different com-munity youth spaces. FYS meets at John McDonoghSenior High School in the Trem neighborhood,

YASS is in the Central City, Rethink is based down-town, LatiNOLA is in Gert Town and VAYLA is inNew Orleans East.

In January 2010, the Collaborative held its rst three-

day retreat that brought together 40 African-AmericanCaucasian, Latino, and Vietnamese youth, ranging inage from preteens to early twenties. A cross-racialcommittee of youth had spent nearly a year meetingbiweekly to plan the retreat. At the retreat, partici-pants were placed into groups mixed by organiationand gender. The agenda included youth-led trainingson policies, organiing strategies and identifying issuesof common concern.

In this short time as a collaborative, the executivedirectors and youth leaders of the organiations haveformed strong bonds of friendship and support. Theyhave been meeting biweekly, writing grants with eachother on behalf of the collaborative, and leveragingstaff and other resources to support common work.Collaborative members participated in a photography

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project exhibited at City Hall called Through theYouth Lens, featuring photos of the conditions in

their schools. They also were organiational hosts ofthe Youth Organiing Convening that brought to-gether representative of 125 youth organiations fromacross the country in New Orleans. Collaborativemembers also support one other at press conferencesand campaign events.

Nguyen reects, Instead of us ghting as multipleorganiations, we are now ghting as one large voice.

They see Vietnamese, Caucasian, African American,Latino and others. It says: You mess with one of us,

you mess with all of us.

LESSONS LEARNED:

A foundation of strong relationships must anchor across-racial alliance. The Collaborative has taken thetime to form a strong foundation of interpersonalrelationships that has created the motivation to in-

vest in building the alliance. This has helped to breakdown stereotypes not only among youth but has also

impacted parents and elders in their communities.Nguyen recounts the experience at the funeral of a

Vietnamese youth that was attended by African Amer-ican youth. When the Vietnamese elders in the com-munity saw other youth of color crying and showingsympathy, it changed their perceptions.

Providing transportation is important to insuringparticipation. One of the main challenges the Powerof Million Minds Collaborative faces is transportation.

Getting youth who live racially and regionally separatedto come together for youth meetings is a key part ofthe Collaboratives strategy. However, the lack of good,reliable, and affordable public transportation in NewOrleans stretches organiations resources and staffcapacity.

FUTURE PLANS

Out of the retreat, the Collaborative will be launchinga joint campaign around educational equity in the cityof New Orleans and will continue the effort to shapethe future of youth.

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Out of the Caravan experience, in 2006 the three or-ganiations began SxSW to deve

Documents

Crossing Boundaries, Connecting Communities: Alliance Building for Immigrant Rights and Racial Justice