"Illegal People" northwest tour report
D A V I D * B A C O N, in his own words..., 04.02.2009 15:47
Southern Oregon hosted author/photographer David Bacon on his book tour on Feb. 2, 2009 in Medford, Oregon.
The Rogue Independent Media Center is pleased to present a northwest tour report back by David Bacon, in his own words...
Dear folks,
This is a collective thank-you to all the people who helped to make the book tour for "Illegal People" possible. It was a real success and collective achievement, by any measure.
20 speaking events
2330 people we reached in those events
124 books sold
In every meeting we were able to connect the issues of immigration and the displacement caused by corporate globalization to the many needs of working people -- for immigration reform, single-payer healthcare, the employee free choice act, and the jobs programs promised by a new administration.
Photos from Medford event Feb. 2, 2009, (click pics to make them bigger)
* David Bacon *
* 90 people attended *
It was a family event
Jason, Brenda & Bev @ JwJ table
Kathy Keezee with UNETE
Daboberto with UNETE
Smoki and Dagoberto
David Bacon talks with participants
Dagoberto and David Bacon
SOJwJ Table
Young Jobs with Justice supporters
Sponsoring Southern Oregon Organizations
Each of you knows best the impact of these events on your local work. But what impressed me the most was the discussion that followed each presentation. These were rare opportunities for learning more about the impact of immigration enforcement on our communities.
In Lincoln City, Bend and Medford, for instance, immigrant families were able to speak clearly to people in the community around them about the human cost of immigration raids, and the reasons why people have left home thousands of miles away to make new lives in the Pacific Northwest. Other community members, citizen and longtime residents, were able to voice their solidarity with immigrant families.
In every meeting we were able to connect the issues of immigration and the displacement caused by corporate globalization to the many needs of working people -- for immigration reform, single-payer healthcare, the employee free choice act, and the jobs programs promised by a new administration.
Often there were hard issues voiced by participants in the meetings. Immigrant families spoke about the racism they've encountered here. Workers talked about the fear they have for their jobs. These were some of the most positive moments -- we were able to speak directly, for instance, with folks who think other workers are stealing their jobs, and talk about the unity we need to struggle for a system that produces security instead of insecurity and displacement.
Some important ideas were discussed in these meetings, that I hope will lead to the kind of actions we need to move forward:
- In many meetings people talked about the Tacoma detention center, and the desire to make it a focal point for increased activity. Some suggested a call to students in the Northwest to come to Tacoma over spring break and create a tent city outside, like the shanty towns built by students during the anti-aparthied movement. This could provide a way to highlight the raids, checkpoints and other enforcement actions hitting many communities throughout the Northwest.
- In Bend, immigrant families and Jobs with Justice activists began a process to organize the area's first May Day immigrant rights march this year.
- In Portland, the Rural Organizing Project announced an important victory -- a judge issued a temporary restraining order preventing the employer sanctions ordinance in Colombia County from going into effect. Portland activists in Jobs with Justice and the Oregon Fair Trade Campaign are also organizing a delegation to Mexico to look and the impact of NAFTA on migration.
- In Bellingham Community to Community and other organizations discussed their plan to pass a local ordinance to protect the rights of immigrant families, and counteract anti-immigrant hysteria
- Corvallis' immigrant rights movement used the tour presentation as the first official event of their new organization, Latinos Unidos
- University events at UW in Seattle and Tacome, Western Washington University, Evergreen State College in Olympia, UO in Eugene, Central Oregon Community College, Western Oregon University, Oregon State in Corvallis all showed that the immigrant rights movement has a real base among students in the Northwest, and strong faculty support.
- Jobs with Justice chapters in Bend, Portland, Eugene and Medford are all deeply involved in work with immigrant communities and workers.
- The North West Immigrant Rights Project is doing a heroic job defending the migrants incarcerated in the Tacoma detention center.
These are all extremely important initiatives. It is crucial for us to try to move the Obama administration on ending the raids and closing the detention centers. If we can't get the administration to take action to reduce repressive enforcement in the first few months, it will essentially begin enforcing the Bush immigration policy. It will then become much more difficult to get it to move on any larger reform.
This is just a small look at something much bigger -- the growth of the immigrant rights movement in Oregon and Washington. I believe that this tour made a small contribution to that growth. You all deserve the credit for having made that step forward possible.
Thank you.
David
__________________________________
David Bacon, Photographs and Stories 
http://dbacon.igc.org
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Illegal People available @ Bloomsbury Books 05.02.2009 - 11:38 Bloomsbury Books in Ashland is a local independent book store. Its not Barnes and Noble, if you know what I mean... so when they heard that David Bacon's book tour was coming to Southern Oregon they ordered some copies of "Illegal People" and some books came in... "Illegal People: How Globalization Creates Migration and Criminalizes Immigrants" Bloomsbury Books 290 East Main Ashland, OR 97520 541-488-0029 FULL DISCLOSURE: I have know interest in Bloomsbury Books, no personal financial interest anyway. However we all have a financial interest of our community to consider here, so we should show support for our local economy, especially local independent businesses. That is the informercial here, the take home message of how we can build a local healthy economy and strengthen our community which is good for ordinary working people and all of Southern Oregonians--Wes Brain I N F O M E R C I A L>  Homepage:: http://
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