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Rhode Island activists targeted by new wave of racism

This November Mary Kay Harris and Bill Bates, community organizers from DARE (Direct Action for Rights & Equality) in Providence, R.I., attended the annual Workers World Party conference in New York. DARE is an advocacy group involved in issues such as housing, gentrification, education and prison reform.

On the eve of the conference, a funny thing happened on the way to the forum, as they say. Except that it wasn’t funny at all. Their trip to New York was not without incident. International Action Center activist Dolores Cox interviewed Harris and Bates for Workers World.

WW: Tell us what happened on your drive to New York.

Mary Kay Harris: We were traveling on Interstate Highway 95 when we were stopped by a Rhode Island state trooper. This delayed our trip for several hours. There was no probable cause. We weren’t speeding, and the van was well maintained, visibly in good shape, no broken taillight or anything like that.

WW: What happened when you were stopped?

MKH: The trooper said it was because the license plate had an “09” sticker on it. This didn’t seem to make sense, but they stop cars and vans all the time in Rhode Island, especially if you’re “driving while Black,” or if there are a lot of people in a car or van. We were in a 15-passenger van.

The trooper flashed a light on several of us and asked the driver if he personally knew all the occupants. One of our passengers, Rosalina Collaza, said she was shocked to hear the trooper ask the driver this question.

WW: What do you think he was implying?

MKH: Well, it was probably because we were a mixed group—Filipino, Latina/o, Black and white. So he probably was implying the driver might be transporting “illegal aliens.”

The trooper ordered us out of the van, saying it was going to be towed. Then he separated the men from the women. Almost immediately out of nowhere a flatbed tow truck showed up, and that really seemed strange.

When we protested being stranded on the road on a cold, misty night, the trooper then transported us to a nearby airport in his car, three people at a time.

WW: Why to the airport?

MKH: I don’t know. Later on, we all regrouped at my house. And after talking things over, we decided to get back on the road and continue on to New York.

WW: Did the driver get a ticket for anything?

MKH: He was given a summons to appear in court. This seems to be standard practice. They give you a summons so that you have to appear in person. That way they can identify the legal status of suspected undocumented immigrants. And this sometimes results in deportation hearings.

The state of Rhode Island is suffering a new wave of racism unleashed by Gov. Donald Carcieri’s Executive Order passed in May which authorized police agencies to seek out and arrest “illegal” immigrants.

Oppression in any form is degrading, dehumanizing and unnatural. We must take a stand against hatred and support each other. That’s why every struggle for national liberation is crucial to building class solidarity. Workers of all colors must see that the ruling class and the capitalist system exploit us all. We must live by the motto: ‘An injury to one is an injury to all.’

Bill Bates: While Rhode Island is a small state, it has a big history of racism. Its past is tainted by a very active role in the Trans-Atlantic slave trade. Its present is tainted by the fact that it still actively participates in oppressing people of color. The more things change, the more they remain the same.

On Nov. 19, DARE, ONA (Olneyville Neighborhood Association), Comité de Inmigrantes en Acción, and English in Action held a press conference in Providence in response to continuing injustices toward poor and working-class people of color.

They demanded an end to racial profiling and called for a halt to incarcerating drivers for misdemeanor traffic violations. They denounced the practice of police assisting the ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) raids, pointing out the conditions around the world that force people to migrate in the first place.