Phoenix, Arizona. This weekend 100,000 people marched six miles from Steele Indian School Park to the State Capitol to denounce SB1070 and demand President Obama intervene in the growing human rights crisis in Arizona. We were joined by supporters ranging from AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka to the voice of her people, Grammy Nominated Singer, Jenni Rivera, and attendees who drove from as far away as Boston to support the local people leading the effort to overturn SB 1070.
In a gathering Sunday morning, movement-building organizations from across the country share their commitments to bring the Arizona human rights crisis fight back to their communities.
Participants heard from local leadership, national allies, and from veterans of the Mississippi Freedom Summer the urgency of a national response. Organizations shared ways to connect their struggles, campaigns, and creativity in breakout sessions and committed to ongoing peaceful resistance. A global call for escalating resistance to stop SB1070 was made.
“We will make this summer a Human Rights summer everywhere, “Said Pablo Alvarado, Director of the National Day Labor Organizing Network (NDLON), “Wherever the Diamondbacks play, protest. Wherever there are new police/ICE collaborations, push back. Wherever Arizona companies do business, boycott. Wherever there is injustice, we must shut it down.”
The Arizona Human Rights Summer has already begun. Yesterday, the undocumented Trail of Dreams students who walked 1,500 miles from Florida to Washington, DC this spring to demand action from Obama, was in Arizona facing down Sheriff Arpaio. In a meeting with the man who has made a career attacking the immigrant community, these four students walked in and demonstrated that they are not afraid and that this issue is no longer an immigrant rights issue, it is a human rights issue. The students walked in, met with Arpaio and left adding to the fight back for human dignity.
For more information, photos, and to share what you are willing to do visit www.altoarizona.com
