The New Freedom RidersJust as the Freedom Rides of the early 1960s exposed to the nation the brutality of legal segregation in the South, this year's Immigrant Workers Freedom Ride will expose the injustice of current policies toward immigrants.
Immigrants are construction workers, doctors, nurses, janitors, meat packers, chefs, engineers, farm workers and soldiers. They work hard, pay taxes and sacrifice for their families. They care for our children and elderly, pick and serve our food, and build and clean our houses. Immigrants want what we all want: a fair shot at the American Dream.
But our broken immigration system keeps millions of hardworking immigrants from enjoying equal rights and becoming full members of our society. They are subjected to exploitation, separated from loved ones and unprotected by our laws. The Immigrant Workers Freedom Ride will help draw a new map of the road to U.S. citizenship.
On Saturday, Sept. 20, nearly 1,000 immigrant workers and their allies boarded buses in Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Minneapolis, Chicago, Houston, Miami and Boston. These new Freedom Riders will travel some 20,000 miles of U.S. highways and stop at more than 100 cities, towns and workplaces. On Oct. 1 and 2, they will arrive in Washington, D.C., to meet with members of Congress. On Oct. 3, they will travel to Liberty State Park, which overlooks the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island, for an event hosted by the governor of New Jersey. On Oct. 4, they will come together at Flushing Meadows Park in Queens, N.Y., for a rally expected to attract tens of thousands of people.
Join the DC Freedom Ride Welcome Team, hosted by Union City!, and become a part of history. Listed below are the volunteer time slots available. Whatever time you can give will make all the difference as you welcome our brothers and sisters to Washington for this historic event.
Wednesday, Oct. 1:
9 a.m. to noon: Preparation and Setup
Noon to 3 p.m.: Welcome Freedom Riders
3 to 6 p.m.: Welcome Freedom Riders/Dinner
6:30 to 9 p.m.: Welcome Event at Bible Way Temple
Thursday, Oct. 2:
9 to 10 a.m.: Load Buses from Hotel to Capitol Hill
1 to 5 p.m.: Capitol Hill Lobbying/AFL-CIO Dinner
6 to 9 p.m.: Parking Lot Attendant March and Rally
E-mail your preferred time slot to streetheat@dclabor.org, or call 202/857-3410. All volunteers will receive a commemorative T-shirt. For more information, click here.