New York unionists say
'End racist roundups'
By G. Dunkel
Brooklyn, N.Y.
More than 500 people, most of them union members, marched
through the streets of Park Slope, Brooklyn, on March 23 to
protest the government's indefinite detention of
immigrants.
The protest wound up at the federal detention center in
Sunset Park, where some family members of detainees and union
leaders spoke at a rally.
Somewhere between 300 and 1,500 people are being held in
detention centers around the country. No one knows the real
figure, since the government is not releasing their names or
the charges against them, if any. From reports filtering out,
the detainees do not know why they are being held, have no
contact with lawyers, and little or no contact with family or
friends. They are mainly South Asian and Arab.
They have been disappeared.
Marchers chanted, "INS, FBI, no more kidnapping, no more
lies," "Stop the racist detentions--set them free," "Bush, do
not expand this war," and "No justice, no peace!"
An impressive number of unions had contingents: Local 23-25
of UNITE, representing garment workers in Chinatown; UFCW Local
1500; DC 1707 and Locals 2627 and 1930 from AFSCME; the
Professional Staff Congress (PSC), which represents faculty and
professional staff at City University of New York; and Local
300 of the National Postal Workers.
Representatives of Desis Rising Up and Moving (DRUM), a
group from the South Asian community, said at the rally that
they don't just want the names of the detainees and the charges
they face, they want justice.
Larry Adams, president of Postal Workers Local 300, pointed
out that "The foundation of the union movement is the principle
'an injury to one is an injury to all.' All the immigrants in
this country are workers, whether or not they are union
members. We need to protect them and their rights to protect
ourselves and our own."
He declared, "These racist detentions flow from imperialist
war."
Barbara Bowen, president of the PSC, spoke about her union's
struggle against the City University administration's attempt
to double the tuition it charges immigrants. She said that
demonstrations--big and strong--could end these racist
detentions.
Hank Sambach, representing the Public Library Guild, AFSCME
1930, said, "Bush can dig up $5.2 billion for homeland
security, but has to cut daycare, senior care, schools and
libraries because he doesn't have enough money. The union
movement must oppose his endless war." He called for a strong
union presence in the April 20 anti-war march in
Washington.
Brenda Stokely, president of AFSCME DC 1707, said, "We
cannot tolerate racism in silence. We cannot support the
bombing of innocent children, innocent women, and innocent
men--we cannot support the terrorism of our country in
Afghanistan, or anywhere else."
Anne Pruden, a hospital worker and militant from SEIU 1199
who has been going to these weekly marches since they started
two months ago, said they have grown considerably--from 50 to
500.
"We need them to keep on growing," she concluded.
Reprinted from the April 4, 2002, issue of
Workers World newspaper
This article is copyright under a Creative
Commons License.
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