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Congressman John D. Lewis (D-Georgia), Original Freedom
Rider, Oct 1 at the Welcoming event at Bible Way Chuch
in DC. "You have rekindled the struggle for justice
in this country." For more
photos...
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The Freedom Riders arrived in DC October 1, to an
energetic welcome and celebration across from the
Best Western Skyline Hotel in Southeast DC. For
more photos...
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Rudy Anderson of Texas JwJ speaking at rally
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Read
about the experiences of the Las Vegas Bus
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Read
about Juan, a rider on the Seattle bus.
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Go
to the Mass Celebration in NY on
October 4th.
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Featured Resource:
Educational
Connections: Culture, Identity and Youths
more resources
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Thousands
Rally at Celebration
in New York October 4th more
photos
The Immigrant Workers
Freedom Ride finished with a huge, daylong Celebration of America's
Immigrants in New York's Flushing Meadows Park Oct. 4. More than
125,000 union and community supporters joined the nearly 1,000 immigrant
workers who had crossed the country in an unprecedented effort to
putimmigration issues squarely on the national political agenda
for 2004 and mobilize national support for changes in immigration
policies. The New York celebration followed a rally Oct. 3 hosted
by New Jersey Gov. James McGreevey (D) in Liberty State Park.
The riders had converged
on Washington, D.C., Oct. 1-2.
After a rousing and spirited welcome by union members and elected
leaders on Oct. 1, the
immigrant workers met with more than 120 members of Congress. On
the Hill, they pushed for a road to citizenship for all immigrant
workers, immigrant family reunification, full civil rights for immigrants
and protection of immigrants' workplace rights....(Excerpted rom
Work In Progress, October 6, 2003, AFL-CIO)
Later that afternoon the
Riders attended a rally in DC and then visited
a UNITE picket line with UNITE President Bruce Raynor, supporting
workers at Sterling Laundry at the Churchill Hotel, 1914 Connecticut
Ave., NW, and joined the Laborers' rally for ACECO workers with
Laborers President Terry O'Sullivan at the US Treasury Department
at 15th St and Pennsylvania Ave., NW.
In the evening,
the riders and other activists joined both union and non-union DC
area parking workers on a march for
justice in Downtown DC. The crowd of more than 1200
took to the streets chanting in Spanish, Amharic, and English and
demanded living wages and affordable health insurance for DC's parking
workers, who are mostly immigrants.
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Nearly
one thousand immigrant workers and their allies are boarding
buses in Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, Los Angeles,
Las Vegas, Minneapolis, Chicago, Houston, Miami and Boston
and cross the United States over the next 12 days...
(more)
Contact a coordinator in your
area for information about local events.
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About The Ride
Immigrant workers work hard, pay taxes,
and sacrifice for their families. They work as construction workers,
doctors, nurses, janitors, meat packers, chefs, busboys, engineers,
farm workers, and soldiers. They care for our children, tend to
our elderly, pick and serve our food, build and clean our houses,
and want what we all want: a fair shot at the American Dream...>>>
© 2003 Hotel
Employees and Restaurant Employees International Union
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