BY OLGA RODRÍGUEZ
NEW YORK - The "March and Mass Rally for Immigrants' and
Poor Peoples' Rights" slated for October 12 here in New York
City is shaping up. Activists in Austin, Texas, and Los
Angeles, California are hosting similar regional
demonstrations
Miguel Maldonado of the Coordinadora '96, an immigrant rights coalition that called the 25,000-strong national march on Washington, D.C., for immigrant rights last year, reported that locally, a series of meetings in various communities are being organized to help maximize participation in the action. Several meetings and activities are being planned by Bangladeshi community activists to promote participation from this immigrant group in the march.
Dominican activists have planned a meeting in Washington Heights in Manhattan September 26 to build participation, and other meetings are in the works, including in the Haitian community in Brooklyn. Anger over the torture of Haitian immigrant Abner Louima by city cops exploded into two massive protests in August demanding justice for Louima. The fact that the cops responsible are not in jail and that other incidents of police brutality against Haitians have since come to light has sparked larger interest in that community in the October 12 protest.
Pointing out that the new immigration laws went into effect this past April, which include provisions for narrowing the possibilities for political asylum and making it easier for federal agents to deport immigrants, the demonstration demands are: Human and Constitutional Rights; Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action; Citizenship Now and Amnesty for Undocumented Immigrants; No More Police Brutality; Free Public Education for All Children through University; Reform Labor Law and Increase the Minimum Wage to Cost of Living; and Expansion of Health Services.
The demonstration will assemble at 10 a.m. at Columbus Circle, march down Broadway to 42nd Street, then to the United Nations for a rally at 1:00 p.m. at Dag Hammersjold Plaza. For more information call: (212) 505-0001.