(Fall 2003)
The Immigrant Workers Freedom Ride is a national campaign to draw attention to the recent plights of the immigrant communities. Modeled on the freedom rides of the 1960s that challenged segregation in the South, this campaign will push for reforms in policies that have hurt and caused fear and mistrust in the immigrant communities. The 9/11 attacks and the subsequent national security concerns have fueled racial discrimination, and infringed on basic human rights of immigrants such as the rights of immigrant workers to reunite their families and having a voice on their job regardless of their legal status. The campaign will also focus on the rights of the immigrants for a clear road to citizenship.
In late September, the freedom riders will set off from cities across the country (Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, Chicago, Houston, Miami, and Boston) to converge in Washington DC to meet with members of the Congress. The riders will then head to New York for a mass rally on October 4th. Efforts by various labor, religious, and civil rights organizations are currently undergoing to recruit riders from each state’s immigrant communities. NAKASEC will endorse and participate in the 2003 freedom rides and mobilize Korean American community members for this very important campaign.
