IMPACT! and MEChA Call for Action in Solidarity with Arizona

IMPACT! and MEChA Call for Action in Solidarity with Arizona

Youth activists will organize a “Human Rights Summer” to build support for humane immigration reform.

On May 29th, several North Bay youth activists traveled to Phoenix, AZ to participate in a historic mobilization of over 100,000 people to stop the racist SB1070 bill recently passed in that state. As a response to the growing movement in Arizona, and nationally, for human rights and a just immigration reform, IMPACT! and MEChA (Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlan) are calling for local action to support the fight against SB1070 as well as ongoing efforts for immigrants’ rights in Sonoma County.

IMPACT! and MEChA are joining the call from groups such as Puente and the National Day Laborers Organizing Network in Arizona, and organizing a “Human Rights Summer,” modeled after the “Freedom Summer” of 1964 in the South. The purpose of this project will be to engage in education and action in solidarity with the struggle in Arizona; pass local resolutions, similar to those of L.A., S.F., Oakland, D.C. and others, boycotting the state of Arizona; connect the crisis in Arizona to local efforts for immigrants’ rights; build a large base of support for the movement for immigrants’ rights; build relationships and resilience within our community; and center the leadership of young people in this fight.

Some specific actions that we are calling for include:

o -A report-back and info-session on our recent trip to Arizona on Friday, June 11th from 6:30 to 8:30 at the Unitarian Universalist Church, 547 Mendocino Ave., Santa Rosa, CA.
o -House meetings and movie nights to educate our community about the realities of immigration and the situation in Arizona and locally.
o -A protest march in Petaluma on July 29th, the day SB1070 goes into effect. This march will coincide with a massive mobilization in Phoenix that same day.
o -That our local City Councils pass resolutions to boycott Arizona and express support for the civil and human rights of all people.


With this Human Rights Summer, as with the historic Freedom Summer of the 1960’s, we are looking to young people to take the lead in this fight. However, we welcome and encourage all people to join us in supporting our brothers and sisters in Arizona. We also are excited to be supporting the ongoing and inspiring work of groups like the Committee for Immigrants’ Rights of Sonoma County, which is working to stop the impounding of immigrant peoples’ cars, and the collaboration between local police and federal immigration officials.

If you would like to participate in Human Rights Summer, please send an email to impactpetaluma [at] gmail.com. Some ways you can help out are:

* Offer to host us for a house meeting;
* Help us with outreach and education in the community;
* Attend our march on July 29th;
* donate to this project by making a check out to the Peace and Justice Center of Sonoma County, and indicate that it is for IMPACT!


“From Civil Rights to Human Rights to the Rights of Mother Earth. From Sonoma County to the Southwest. We say “No” to racial profiling and criminalization of immigrants, and “Yes” to a just and humane immigration reform.”

in solidarity,
IMPACT! and MEChA de Santa Rosa