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Gearing up for his final deportation hearing, Jamaican immigrant Roxroy Salmon together with Families for Freedom sponsored an event on May 5, to talk about immigration politics — with a mouthful of popcorn.
Families for Freedom, a New York City based organization fighting against the deportation and subsequent separation of families, hosted the event “Politics and Popcorn” at First Presbyterian Church to educate the community about the immigration system and tell the story of one immigrant facing deportation and separation from his American born children.
Having been in the U.S. for more than 30 years, Roxroy Salmon risks being sent back to Jamaica for minor drug convictions from 20 years ago. Under the 1996 immigration laws, minor crimes, including drug offenses, are an automatic reason to deport immigrants — illegal and legal — and curtail the immigration judges’ discretion to take other factors, such as family ties, into account.
Supporters of Salmon have been on a rolling fast since March, where one person fasts every day in solidarity with his struggle. “It’s to help us have a sense of what sort of loss we’re talking about, what is the extremity of the system we’re talking about. In the end of the day it’s to help us show the system that there are a hell of a lot of people in this community that want him to stay here,” said Janis Rosheuvel, director of Families for Freedom.
Salmon has been actively fighting his deportation order since 2006 in order to stay with his three American citizen children in Brooklyn. “I’m no terrorist, I’m a member of this community. I live in the neighborhood, I’m the next-door neighbor, I’m the person that sit beside you on the train, that walk down the block and say ‘hi.’ I’m not no criminal or no terrorist, I love this country,” he said.
During the event, David Wilson author of The Politics of Immigration debunked some of the myths of the immigration system, attributing the problem to “the idea that people in this country have that immigrants are criminals.” Wilson said now is the time to reach out and re-educate people. “People are more open to new ideas than they’ve ever been…because they’ve been told things that aren’t true,” he said.
Part of the outreach by Families for Freedom is to rally support for the Child Citizen Protection Act. Introduced by Senator Robert Menendez (D-NJ) in 2008, if passed, the bill would allow discretion for immigration judges when deciding deportation cases that involve the separation of families. As the system stands, “the judges hands are tied,” explains Rosheuvel. “All the judge can look at is his status and his criminal convictions are. For someone who’s been here for over 30 years, should they not have a chance to have a judge actually judge? It’s a very clear and precise intervention that we’re asking for.”
The bill has so far garnered 16 co-sponsors and is in the House Judiciary Committee.
Edolphus Towns, U.S. Representative of the 10th District of New York was also honored for having been a leader in the fight for immigrant rights and a co-sponsor of the Child Citizen Protection Act. Samuel Pierre, a representative from Towns’ office said “65 percent of the cases that come out of the 10th congressional district deal with immigration, so we take this very seriously.”
“It’s not just about hosting an event; it’s about looking at the fate of an immigrant and 32-year Brooklyn resident from a political, legal, and personal standpoint,” said Rachel Soltis, coordinator of the New Sanctuary Coalition, an interfaith organization working with Salmon’s case.
Salmon’s final deportation hearing is scheduled for July 7. “While I am fighting, I am going to campaign on others’ behalf because what is going on in our communities is uncivilized, it’s oppression,” said Salmon. “We have to put a stop to it now.”
Families for Freedom will host a children’s vigil at Union Square on June 20 at 11 a.m. to urge support for the Child Citizen Protection Act.
For more information on Salmon’s case visit: www.familiesforfreedom.org.
An unprecedented nomination by President Barack Obama has opened the gates for not only a woman, but a Nuyorican Latina to serve as the 111th Supreme Court Justice. As a daughter of Puerto Rican parents, Judge Sonia Sotomayor’s story from rags to riches and possibly to the highest court of the nation, has sparked pride across Latino communities and a heated debate about identity politics.
Introducing Judge Sotomayor in the East Room of the White House, President Barack Obama said, “Over a distinguished career that spans three decades, Judge Sotomayor has worked at almost every level of our judicial system, providing her with a depth of experience and a breadth of perspective that will be invaluable as a Supreme Court justice.”
Judge Sotomayor responded, “I strive never to forget the real world consequences of my decisions on individuals, businesses and government.”
From growing up in a public housing project near Yankee Stadium in the South Bronx to graduating from two of the nations most prestigious universities — Princeton and Yale — for some, Sotomayor has reinvigorated the idea that the American Dream is indeed alive and kicking.
“I think it speaks to what people can become in this country; regardless of where the family is from, they have opportunities in this country,” said Cesar Perales, president and general counsel of Latino Justice PRLDEF. “It has interesting historical grounds,” he added, “people that left Puerto Rico were the poorest of the poor that could not survive, and today are beginning to play important roles that actually affect the lives of the people in Puerto Rico.”
Yet statistics show that Sotomayor’s success story is a rarity amongst the Latino experience. Fast-forwarding 30 years from Sotomayor’s Yale graduation in 1979, and Latinos are still facing educational disparities. Comprising 25 percent of students in grades K-12, Latinos have the highest high school dropout rates and are half as likely to complete college as white undergraduates. Recent numbers from the National Center for Children in Poverty show that more than 60 percent of all Latino children live in low-income households.
While Sotomayor’s success against provides a model for Latino youth, it also underscores the ongoing struggle for racial equality. Angelo Falcón, co-founder and president of the National Institute for Latino Policy and assistant adjunct professor at Columbia University said Sotomayor is a product of “community struggles to open up those institutions.” He added, “Her struggle, her story of growing up in a housing project, all those things came about as a result of struggle — even the struggle for fair housing.”
Still awaiting confirmation from the U.S. Senate, Sotomayor would replace Justice David Souter who announced his retirement at the end of the court term. Appointed by President George H.W. Bush, Justice Souter firmly established himself among the court’s liberals. With a hard to characterize judicial record, Sotomayor seem to be right in line with her would-be predecessor.
As the first Latina Justice Sotomayor will make history, but will she leave a politically progressive mark on the court?
“I think that perhaps Obama missed an opportunity here,” said Marjorie Cohn, president of the National Lawyers Guild and a professor at Thomas Jefferson School of Law on May 29 on Democracy Now! “I’m thrilled that there will be the first Latina on the Supreme Court,” said Cohn, “but I really would have liked to have seen a real progressive counterweight to radical rightists on the court.”
“She basically, politically, maintains the status quo of the court,” said Falcón, who describes her as “pragmatic, centrist, with very moderate positions.”
The symbolism and importance of Sotomayor needs to serve as a way “motivate people to organize and continue to press as opposed to feeling comfortable that we have arrived,” said Falcón. “With all the hype you got to get defensive around something like this,” he said, “when you take an overall picture of the situation within the Latino community there’s a long way to go.”
Greg Anderson, 47, moved to New York with his family in 2001 and has since been involved with his community garden in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn. Twelve members take care of the garden, growing any vegetable in season, from carrots to tomatoes. A year ago, Anderson, the president of the Dean Street Community garden, a two-building wide lot of land between a row of apartments, decided to add a unique twist to this urban garden: chickens. The community garden has about seven chickens that lay anywhere from one to over 20 eggs a day. Anderson and four others take care of the chickens. The eggs are distributed throughout the community and among the garden members. Anderson works with the youth at Queens Community House, a non-profit that provides services to Queen’s diverse population.
How did this community garden begin?
The garden has been here since the late ’80s. There were two houses here that burnt down here. The city leveled everything down, so the community started a green thumb garden. Probably, like most communities, [the garden] started because it was an empty space [where] trash was building up and people were starting to hang out. So that’s the best way to save the area, to bring in a community garden.
And when did the chickens come?
The chickens came last year. It was me and my wife’s idea.
How did you come up with this idea?
I grew up with chickens. I grew up in Selma, Alabama, and as you get older, you start missing things that you had in an early life. So I started missing being on a farm. We were going to do it first in our backyard. But after researching and seeing how much work is involved and seeing the different benefits of having chickens, and since we were part of the [community] garden, we thought it would be better to do it in the garden. That way, we could use the chickens to educate the community about food source and about the benefits of having chickens.
How is the economy affecting what you’re doing here?
We do spend less time in the garden off-season. But last year we didn’t have as many members as we do now. I’ve seen a lot more members interested in the garden.
Why is this?
Food is more expensive. People are more conscious of their health now and understand that the less processed your food is and the more whole foods that you consume, the better off health-wise you are and even mentally.
Do you think there’s a trend towards community supported agriculture, farmer’s markets and community gardens?
Huge trend, huge trend. I’ve seen it grow in the past five years. We would go to conferences where it would be a few 50-60 people there. But this year going to conferences, they were packed. There were a lot of people interested in working together to do more local growing, that way the food doesn’t have to travel as much. That equals less pollution. People also are looking for a different type of lifestyle, a lifestyle that’s not as busy. Money comes and goes, but when you create a sustainable lifestyle, you find that you don’t need as much money because you can barter for whatever you need; you can grow your own food. Just because you live in an urban area, doesn’t mean you can’t grow your own food or raise your own livestock.
Are these eggs better than what you get at the grocery store?
To me they’re even better than the organic eggs you can get in the store. These are local; these are fresh. My omelets were made with eggs that were laid fresh this morning, you can’t top that. From the chicken to the table, you can’t beat that.
Hong Kong Day 3:
It was official. We had gained weight. We had been in Hong Kong for almost three days and the only sightseeing we had done was to oogle at the seafood tanks in the several restaurants we had lived at. We had seen it all, from eels, to large fish, to clams and crabs. It was time to see something other than mounds of food and flaying chopsticks. On the rainiest, windiest day ever, we decided to visit Lantau Island. Lantau Island is almost twice the size of Hong Kong Island. The main attractions on the Island are Disneyland Park, and the Tian Tan Buddha Statue.
We took a one hour boat ride to the island followed by a 45 minute taxi drive way up into the mountainside, to Ngong Ping plateau. Our destination, according to our tour guide pamphlet was the “Golden Buddha.” It lies nestled on a hilly top more than 500 meters above sea level.
We arrived at our destination in a flurry. We were too baffled to even notice the large Buddha as we stepped out of the car; party because of the nauseating car ride up the perpetually curving street and partly because we were frantically trying to keep ourselves grounded as the winds relentlessly attempted to take us down. “There’s the Buddha!” I yelled as everyone desperately looked around, fighting the stinging raindrops.
It was the moment of realization. First, we realized the Buddha was bronze and not gold as the pamplehts had so eagerly suggested. Second, we realized that our feat was far from over as 260 flooded steps awaited our ascent in order for us to reach the not-golden Buddha. And third, with the snapping the metal rods of our umbrellas, due to the hurricane force winds, we realized we had zero protection against this weather fury, which I was sure my grandmother had somehow sent in reprise for skipping Dim Sum.
But we were too far too turn back now. So fifty yuans later, we emerged covered in colorful plastic raincoats and began tackling the inundated steps. We finally reached the Buddha and briefly took pictures of the amazing scenery around us: the misty mountains in the distance coupled with green rolling hills. Once the gale force winds resumed and our faces were covered by our own sweeping hair, we entered the exhibition hall. Inside were hundreds of ceramic rectangular tiles. Each tile had written on it the name of people’s ancestors. The walls were lined with these Chinese characters as incense and flowers decorated the counter below. After the big Buddha, we visited the Po Lin Monastery where we had an amazing vegetarian meal.
It was a day well spent and as we arrived back at our hotel, utterly soaked, our stomachs were already growling and ready for dinner.
Hey Guys! Sorry I haven’t been able to update this thing in a while, I’ve been having so much trouble accessing my blog with the hotel built-in ethernet. Seems like there’s something in the connection that blocks wordpress. Anyways, the past two weeks have flownby! Here’s a quick wrap up: After a couple days in Hong Kong, we headed out to Beijing to visit the Great Wall and the Forbiden City. We then took a 2 hour flight to Shanghai for some shopping down Nanjing Road. We spent a brief 2 days in Shanghai, feasting on spicy, savory Shanghai food and then took a 2 hour car ride to Hangzhou, a beautiful jungle paradise, for some quick sightseeing. After taking a boat ride across the West Lake we took another flight to Guangzhou. Stores lined almost every street, it was a head-spinning frenzy and a haven for any shop-aholic! After filling up a substantial part of my suitcase with souvenirs and an entirely new wardrobe, we took another 2 hour car ride to Zhongshan, the town where my grandmother, on my father’s side, was born. I haven’t seen much of the city yet, as we’ve spent the last day trekking through mud and dirt in the pouring rain to find the house of my grandfather, on my mother’s side. I’ll write all about it in a later post. I’m having an amazing time over here. While the must-see touristy sight are definitely breath-taking and impressive, reconnecting with family members, and learnining about my heritage and my culture is something no hike up to the Great Wall can top. My Chinese however, isn’t going so well…
Hi, I’m Karen Yi, a third year journalism student at NYU. I started to this blog to document my travels in Europe, Africa and China this year. Let me know what you think, any feedback would be great! Feel free to email me at kfy204@nyu.edu. Happy wandering!
