Racism, Feminism, Immigration & Organizing - Rinku Sen to Speak at UA

Tonight! March 29, 2011

6pm

Gallagher Theater, Student Union

University of Arizona

Author of The Accidental American: Immigration and Citizenship in the Age of Globalization, and Stir It Up: Lessons in Community Organizing, Rinku is a leading figure in the racial justice movement and has expertise in race, feminism, immigration, economic justice, philanthropy and community organizing.

Over the course of her career, Rinku has woven together journalism and organizing to further social change and has regular columns at Colorlines, Huffington Post, and Jack and Jill Politics.

This event is part of the Who Draws the Line? - Social Justice Perspectives on Diversity Speaker Series - sponsored by UA Student Services Fee, Tohono O’odham Nation, African American Student Affairs, Native American Student Affairs, Asian Pacific American Student Affairs, Chicano/Hispano Student Affairs, LGBTQA Affairs, Women's Resource Center, UA Bookstore, Office of the President, Dean of Students, and YWCA.

Arizona CEO's Say YA BASTA to Immigration Legislation

In a letter sent to AZ Senate President Russell Pearce last week, several CEO's of major employers and several businesses and civic groups wrote, "Arizona should be pushing for federal action on immigration and border issues."

As a result of their efforts, combined with the ongoing work of civil rights groups, activists, educators, students, and families, five anti-immigration bills were defeated last week. No motions to reconsider them were filed on Monday, the last day to do so. Community leaders working for immigrants' rights breathed a sigh of relief for a moment, before quickly fighting against the 20+ additional pieces of anti-immigrant legislation in AZ.

Here's a summary of what was defeated:

• SB 1308 and SB 1309 - two bills that challenged birthright citizenship and the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution
• SB 1405 - would require hospitals to acquire immigration status of patients before providing care
• SB 1407 - would require schools to collect immigration data on students
• SB 1611 - 30-page immigration omnibus bill which contained similar provisions like the other bills listed above (written by Sen. Pearce, author of SB 1070)

You can read the entire letter from the AZ CEO's. While they don't seem to necessarily be pushing for better pathways to citizenship, they clearly are looking for better, FEDERAL solutions, that address the immigration issues faced by families every day. They want AZ to be focused on fixing it's broken economy.

The CEO's ended their letter with "Together, we can get results."

So what does working together look like?

~ mM

The I-Word

What do the following things have in common?

Jaywalking

Littering

Speeding

Rolling through a STOP sign

Downloading music without paying for it

They're all ILLEGAL.

What's not illegal? HUMANS. Immigrants are humans.

Sign the pledge. Drop the I-Word.