Coming Out to Face Arpaio: Riding for Justice
The message below went out on Thursday, July 19, 2012 to Standing on the Side of Love supporters. You can sign-up for these emails here.
Friends,
The seeds we planted together at the Justice General Assembly are calling to be watered.
Some of the local partners in Phoenix and others are preparing to risk everything to move this country forward. On July 28th, undocumented parents, workers, and students are confronting their own fears so that the world will recognize their humanity.
Through something that has often moved history forward—bold, peaceful civil disobedience—they will load onto a bus and embark on a journey from one end of the country to the other. As they travel state by state on a No Papers No Fear Ride for Justice, these individuals will come out as undocumented and unafraid, and they will work with immigrant communities throughout the Southwest and Southeast to build barrio defense on their way to the Democratic National Convention this fall.
Please join us in supporting these brave individuals who are risking their very freedom. Click on the video below to see the call to action and learn how you can get involved.
Today, a trial in federal court is starting against Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio for his years of harassment and abuse in the name of immigration enforcement. It’s a good day when the Sheriff finally has to explain himself. But for migrant communities and for anyone who has bore witness to the crisis in Maricopa County, the jury is already in.
In Arizona and across the country, migrant communities have had enough of the mistreatment, and are ready for a new day. !Basta ya! Neither Congress nor the President nor the courts have granted real relief from the suffering that migrants face. So they are taking their future into their own hands.
Undocumented people like Leticia, Nataly, and Gerardo, who will participate in the No Papers No Fear Ride for Justice, have decided they’re safer out of the shadows than in them, and that the only secure community is an organized one. If Arpaio wants to find them, he will no longer find them in fear. They’re prepared to confront the Sheriff and all the proponents of prejudice along the bus route to show that our love is stronger than their hate.
That risk will only be worth it if all of us rise to follow the example of their courage, if we succeed in riveting the nation’s attention on the journey.
There are no more sidelines in the immigration debate. The participants in the No Papers No Fear Ride for Justice are calling on us to do our all to turn the tide with them.
In covenant,
B. Loewe, NDLON
PS: This week is just the beginning. Sign up for updates and spread the news of the bus tour as far and wide as possible. Like “Undocubus” on Facebook and follow @undocubus on Twitter.
