Immigrant rights forum in Washington Heights

Not even a cold, windy night could keep Washington Heights community members and activists from gathering at the

Juan José Gutiérrez

Dominican Culturarte Foundation for an immigrant rights forum sponsored by the Party for Socialism and Liberation. Speakers at the Oct. 20 forum included Karina Garcia, leader of the anti-Minutemen Columbia protest, and Juan José Gutiérrez , national director of the immigrant rights organization Latino Movement USA.

PSL member William Guerrero opened the forum by affirming the importance of the immigrant rights struggle. Radhames Perez, an organizer in Washington Heights, followed with a very confident outlook on the struggle since the success of the May 1 demonstrations and what many deemed “the birth of a new civil rights movement.” He went on to praise the Party for Socialism and Liberation and ANSWER on their initiative to do work in the Washington Heights community.

The PSL showed footage of the Oct. 4 anti-Minutemen protest at Columbia University to shed light on the media’s misrepresentation of the anti-racist protesters. The footage showed one of the Minutemen attacking a student protestor, Martin Lopez, which shocked the audience at the forum. Karina Garcia began her talk explaining the significance of the demonstration.

“On very short notice nearly 500 people came out to demonstrate in the rain outside in front of Columbia University,”

Karina Garcia

she said. “They came to show these racists and fascists that their violence would not come about without a militant and tactical demonstration.”

Garcia went on to make the connections between the Minutemen and other racist groups, like the Ku Klux Klan, noting that these hate groups are funded by corporations and supported by the U.S. government. She also emphasized the importance of the struggle against these groups, “The Minutemen actually constitute a very real threat in our communities and to simply ignore them and think that they’ll go away would be making a very tragic mistake.”

After a thunderous applause from the audience, Juan José Gutiérrez took the stage. He gave a very in depth account on the history of the immigrant rights struggle, which started with two simple lines at the U.S.-Mexican border. The first line represented those immigrants who wanted to enter the United States as citizens, they would be charged a quarter. The other line represented those who wanted to enter as legal residents, which would have cost them a dime.

Gutierrez connected all of the current anti-immigrant laws as just another attack on the workers of this country. Gutierrez said, “Where there is political challenge, there is political opportunity.” His words rang clearly in the ears of those who strive to unite the workers of this country to fight against injustice.