NATIONAL DAY LABORER COMMUNITY RESPONDS TO VIGILANTE ATTACKS

NATIONAL DAY LABORER COMMUNITY RESPONDS TO VIGILANTE ATTACKS

Day workers across the country will peacefully respond to coordinated vigilante actions organized by Connecticut Citizens for Immigration Control and local cells of the so-called “Minutemen.”

The recent wave of attacks is nothing new to the day worker community. Throughout 2005, similar attempts to incite violence and generate chaos against day laborers were experienced in Phoenix, AZ., Herndon, VA, and elsewhere. In Redondo Beach, CA, Joseph Turner, founder of Save Our State, encouraged members of his group to bring baseball bats to an anti-day labor event, noting “if we’re lucky, we’re gonna need them.”*

“History inevitably judges and condemns efforts like these to scapegoat those with the least among us as shameful, regrettable, and immoral,” said Pablo Alvarado, National Coordinator of NDLON. “In contrast, the dignified response of disenfranchised communities against this type of mistreatment always serves as an example to us all.” Within this spirit, day workers will respond with exemplary peaceful, dignified, and respectful actions while reaffirming and redeeming the legacy of the real Patriots who came to this country in search of a better life and to build a more perfect Union.

Continued...