The Movement for Immigrant Rights

Paul Johnston and Yesenia Molina of the Immigration Action Group will bring us the latest news about : (1) resistance to our county's on-going collaboration in the "Secure Communities" deportation program that is traumatizing dozens of local families every month, and (2) the growing youth movement for civil rights, associated with the implementation of the new California DREAM Act (effective this coming January 1) in our local schools.

They will also place these two topics into the larger context of social change, highlighting the centrality of immigrant empowerment throughout U.S. history and the promise of a new generation of immigrant youth leadership in California's immediate future. The goal of the evening will be to invite participants to join in the ongoing movement for immigrant rights, and to provide sufficient information for them to do so effectively.

The Immigration Action Group is a team of organizers and immigrant advocates based in a variety of organizations and constituencies here on the Central Coast, united in their commitment to work against the daily institutionalized abuse of immigrants' human rights and for long-term and comprehensive immigration reform. Yesenia Molina is a long-time activist in the Watsonville Brown Berets and a staff organizer for SCCCCOR, the Santa Cruz County Community Coalition to Overcome Racism. Paul Johnston is a public sociologist, formerly on the faculty of Yale University, and a longtime labor and community organizer.

WILPF Public Program, Tuesday June 19, 7 – 9 pm, Quaker Meetinghouse, 225 Rooney St. (off the inland end of Morrissey). Open to all. Free, donations welcomed!