U.S. Events in Recognition of International Migrants Day, 2006:

Partial List of U.S. Events & Activities in Recognition of International Migrants Day (Dec 18th, 2006)


ARIZONA

Tucson
Event: Comunidades Sin Fronteras: Lucha y Esperanza (Community Without Borders: Struggle & Hope)
Date: 9-Dec-06
Time: 2:00-5:00 pm
Location: Rudy Garcia Park, Tucson, Arizona
Contact Person: Kat Rodriguez (52-770-1373, kat@derechoshumanosaz.net)
Sponsoring Organization: Coalición de Derechos Humanos
Details: Community fair and celebration. On Saturday, December 9, from 2-5pm, in Rudy Garcia Park, the Coalición de Derechos Humanos will hold Community Without Borders: Struggle and Hope, a community fair and celebration in recognition of International Human Rights Day (December 10th) and International Day of the Migrant (December 18th). This event will bring together local groups and individuals from political, labor, faith-based, education-based, and community-based organizations to stand in unity against repressive policies that deny the human rights of migrants and undermine the dignity of all peoples. Community organizations will provide information about available services; speakers will illuminate the connections between migrant rights and human rights; and youth and other local musicians and poets will share their interpretations of human and migrant rights.

CALIFORNIA

Davis
Event: Accion Clandestina
Date: 18-Dec-06
Time: Todo el dia
Location: CSUS/ UCD
Contact Person: Xico Gonzalez (916-949-5994, brownsindicato@hotmail.com)
Sponsoring Organization: Sindicato Cafe de Sacraztlan
Details: Haremos una accion en las universidades de CSU, Sacramento y UC Davis. Nuestra organizacion es una colectiva de artistas chicanos, en la cual utilizamos las artes y en especial la serigrafia. Asi que haremos una accion en la cual pondremos posters en las mencionadas universidades. Tambien organizaremos con el Comote de Solidaridad Zapatista de Sacramento e imprimeremos posters para su accion.

Emeryville
Event: Christmas at the Woodfin: Rally to Defend Immigrant Rights of Hotel Workers
Date: 18-Dec-06
Time: 5:30 PM
Location: Woodfin Suites Hotel, 5880 Shellmound, Emeryville, CA
Contact Person: Brooke Anderson (510-893-7106 ext.18, brooke@workingeastbay.org)
Sponsoring Organization: East Bay Alliance for a Sustainable Economy
Details: Workers standing up for their rights at the Woodfin Hotel in Emeryville have recently been fired (for supposed 'problems with their social security numbers'). These workers are struggling to save their jobs, and are in need of support from the community. On Monday, December 18th, please join us for a holiday rally to show your solidarity with immigrant workers. We'll gather to share holiday cheer and send a message to the Woodfin that threatening immigrant workers is not acceptable in our community.

Fresno
Event: Las Posadas sin Fronteras
Date: 16-Dec-06
Time: 4:00 PM
Location: 453 N. Fresno Street
Contact Person: COMITE NO NOS VAMOS (559-497-0206)
Sponsoring Organization: Centro Bellas Artes and Comite No Nos Vamos
Details: The Mexican cultural usually celebrates xmas nine days before by re-enacting Joseph and Mary's trip seeking shelter to await for the arrival of Baby Jesus. The people will walk to a house each night, signing the posada song, leaving the Virgin Mary at the home, when at the end of the song the "innkeep" grants the posada. Las Posadas sin Fronteras is an annual event that Centro Bellas Artes and Comite NO NOS VAMOS present each year in our community. Instead of the nine days, el Comite will do the whole piosada in one night and will be seeking Health Care, good employment, housing and human rights for its "pereguinos" (travelers). Centro Bellas Artes and Comite NO NOS VAMOS will grant the travelers a HOME at the COMITE headquarters at 453 N. Fresno Street, by breaking the Pinata, giving presents and sweets to the little ones, There will be hot champurado, pan dulce, food and punch for all.

Event: Press Conference / Conferencia de Prensa
Date: 18-Dec-06
Time: 12:00 n
Location: No definido
Contact Person: Rufino Dom¡nguez-Santos (559-499-1178, rdominguez@sbcglobal.net)
Sponsoring Organization: Frente Indígena de Organizaciones Binacionales (FIOB)
Details: Una Conferencia de Prensa la hora y lugar no se han definido y tambi‚n vamos a participar en una posada para discursos en favor de los migrantes.

Los Angeles
Event: Day of Solidarity & Culture
Date: 17-Dec-06
Time: 1:00pm-5:00pm
Location: Shatto Recreation Center, 3191 W. 4th St. (near Vermont), Los Angeles, CA 90020
Contact Person: Liz Sunwoo (213-738-9050, liz_miwon@yahoo.com)
Sponsoring Organization: MIWON, CHIRLA, KIWA, IDEPSCA, GWC, PWC, SAN, African Diaspora Foundation, Congolese Community of Southern California
Details: Celebrate our communities while demanding our rights. Delicious food, music, performances for the whole family!

Event: Posada for Immigrant Rights
Date: 17-Dec-06
Time: Gather at 4:00 pm at
Location: Avenue 50 Studio/Acorn Gallery, 131-135 N. Avenue 50, Highland Park, CA 90042
Contact Person: Kathy Gallegos (323-258-1435, ave50studio@sbcglobal.net)
Sponsoring Organization: Avenue 50 Studio, Inc.
Details: In the spirit of the season and in celebration of the United Nations International Day of the Migrant, the Avenue 50 Studio and the Arroyo Arts Collective invite the community to join us in a candlelight Posada for Immigrant Rights on Sunday, December 17. Walk with us through one of Los Angeles's oldest, most diverse neighborhoods, singing together to the accompaniment of live musicians, and stopping at three venues along the route, where specific immigrant concerns will be highlighted with brief readings.

Oakland
Event: Press conference denouncing ICE workplace raids, Woodfin terminations, employer sanctions
Date: 18-Dec-06
Time: 10:00 AM
Location: Oakland Federal Building; 1301 Clay Street between 12th and 14th Streets, Oakland
Contact Person: Evelyn Sanchez (415-572-0639, evelyn@immigrantrights.org)
Sponsoring Organization: Bay Area Immigrant Rights Coalition (BAIRC)
Details: Recent raids in six states at meat packing factories and the termination of launderers at Cintas in South San Francisco, San Leandro and San Jose, along with the termination of hotel workers from the Woodfin Hotel in Emeryville demonstrating the devastating effects of employer sanctions in the greater Bay Area. Since 1986 the policy of employer sanctions has made it easier for employers to lower wages and worsen workplace conditions for immigrant workers. Employers have also used employer sanction as a means to threaten workers. Speakers include recently fired Woodfin worker, AFSCME 3299, NNIRR, Black Alliance for Just Immigration (BAJI), UNITE HERE 2850, National Lawyers Guild, BAIRC etc.

Event: Human Security & Migrant Rights Now! Celebration to recognize International Migrant Rights Day and benefit for Oakland day laborers
Date: 18-Dec-06
Time: 6:00 PM
Location: YWCA Oakland (1515 Webster, Webster & 15th St.)
Contact Person: Colin Rajah (510-465-1984 x306, crajah@nnirr.org)
Sponsoring Organization: NNIRR, BAIRC, AFSC
Details: Celebrate International Migrants Day in Oakland with Culture, Action and Solidarity (as well as good food and drink)! All proceeds will benefit Oakland’s Lucha Unida del Jornaleros. Featuring Mamacoatl, Xago from Headrush, slides from David Bacon, local immigrant community leaders and much, much more! Enter raffle to win David Bacon’s new book and a CD from Mamacoatl!

San Diego
Event: Posada at the Border
Date: 16-Dec-06
Time: 3:00 to 5:30 pm
Location: State park Field in San Diego
Contact Person: Betty Canton-Self (415-227-0388, icir2010@yahoo.com)
Sponsoring Organization: Interfaith Coalition for Immigrant Rights
Details: This is a Bi-national event celebrated in coordination with faith communities of Mexico. The event purpose is to remember immigrants who died at the border as a result of the lack of humane immigration policies. To call faith communities to up-lift in our society the values of hospitality that contradict this human tragedy and to unite as faith communities in a call for a comprehensive immigration policies that protect life and human dignity.

San Jose
Event: Annual 10 Mile Walk for Human Rights and Fair Immigration Laws
Date: 12-Dec-06
Time: 12 Noon
Location: Mi Pueblo Plaza - 1775 Story Road (and King), San Jose, CA
Contact Person: Guadalupe Siordia-Ortiz (415-202-3082, lupitasiordia@aol.com)
Sponsoring Organization: MICA (Movimiento de Inmigrantes en California) - COMITE DE PADRES UNIDOS
Details: La caminata iniciara en Mi Pueblo Plaza al mediodia y terminara en el City Hall en San Jose.

FLORIDA

Apopka
Event: Celebration of International Migrant Day
Date: 22-Dec-06
Time: 7pm
Location: Apopka, FL
Contact Person: Quina Colon (407-886-5151, quina0531@yahoo.com)
Sponsoring Organization: Farmworker Association of Florida
Details: A combination posada and migrants day celebration.

Pierson (Volusia County)
Event: Posada
Date: 16-Dec-06
Time: 6pm
Location: Pierson (Volusia County)
Contact Person: Quina Colon (407-886-5151, quina0531@yahoo.com)
Sponsoring Organization: Farmworker Association of Florida
Details: A combination posada and migrants day celebration.

ILLINOIS

Chicago
Event: Press conference with Elvira Arellano
Date: 15-Dec-06
Time: TBD
Location: Adalberto United Methodist Church (2716 W. Division St., Chicago IL 60622)
Contact Person: Emma Lozano or Elvira Arellano (773/523-8261, psf@somosunpueblo.com)
Sponsoring Organization: Pueblo Sin Fronteras/Familia Latina Unida
Details: Press Conference with Elvira Arellano (Dec. 15 marks 4 months of living in sanctuary. Her son Saul will be in Miami with other U.S. citizen children who have 1 or both undocumented parents, joining a class action lawsuit.)

TEXAS

Houston
Event: Immigrant community meeting
Date: 16-Dec-06
Contact Person: Maria Jimenez (713-857-3373, dignidad@hotmail.com)
Sponsoring Organization: CRECEN
Details: Immigrant community meeting to discuss and develop workplan to advance the human rights of immigrants in the Houston area in 2007

Event: Founding Meeting
Date: 17-Dec-06
Contact Person: Maria Jimenez (713-857-3373, dignidad@hotmail.com)
Sponsoring Organization: Family Solidarity Network
Details: Family Solidarity Network will hold its founding meeting. It will focus on support services and advocacy on behalf of immigrant families who have had a family member detained or deported.

San Antonio
Event: Migrant Rights are Human Rights
Date: 18-Dec-06
Time: 4:30 PM
Location: San Antonio Federal Building
Contact Person: Genaro Rendon (210.299.2666, genaro@igc.org)
Sponsoring Organization: Southwest Workers Union
Details: Protest at the federal building followed by a vigil in memory of the migrants who have died crossing the border. Demands: Military out of the Border! No Border Walls! Full rights for all workers! No Racist Minutemen! Stop Deportations! Reunification of Families!

Taylor
Event: Vigil for Detained Immigrant Families
Date: 16-Dec-06
Time: 11:00 AM
Location: 1001 Welch, Taylor TX 76574 (In front of the Hutto Facility)
Contact Person: Luissana Santibanez (210-835-4755), Bob Libol (512-971-0487)
Sponsoring Organization: Texans United for Families
Details: Public vigil to demand the freedom for children in detention. Caravan to Hutto will meet at the ACLU office at 9:45 AM (corner of 11th & Rosewood)

NEW MEXICO

Event: Junta de liderazgo
Date: 14-Dec-06
Time: 5:30 PM
Contact Person: Rachel LaZar (505-246-1627, rlazar_elcentro@yahoo.com)
Sponsoring Organization: El CENTRO de Igualdad y Derechos
Details: Junta de diferentes grupos de promotoras y lideres de base comunitaria para honrar sus contribuciones a la comunidad.

Event: Reunion Comunitaria
Date: 13-Dec-06
Time: 4:00 p.m.
Location: Casa Maria Eugenia
Contact Person: Maria Teresa Tellez (505-824-2850, mattellez2@hotmail.com)
Sponsoring Organization: Comite DD HH
Details: Reunion con Promotor@s de Derechos Humanos para hablar de la Historia de la Declaracion de los Derechos de los Migrantes en la ONU. Lectura de este Comunicado y darlo a conocer en la Comunidad, Centros, Iglesias etc. Puntos varios etc.


NORTH CAROLINA

Burnsville
Event: Latino Legislative Assembly
Date: 18-Dec-06
Time: 6:00-9:00 PM
Location: Sacred Heart Catholic Church - Burnsville, NC
Contact Person: Ada Volkmer (828-713-5124, adavolkmer@bellsouth.net)
Sponsoring Organization: COLA / Centro de Enlace / El Pueblo
Details: What do you think are the most important issues facing the Latino community in North Carolina? What do you think we should focus on at the NC General Assembly? Let your voice be heard and help build the 2007-2008 Latino Legislative Agenda with El Pueblo, COLA and Centro de Enlace!

OREGON

Portland
Event: Segundo Encuentro Indigena para celebrar el dia Internacional del Inmigrante
Date: 17-Dec-06
Time: 2:30pm-6:00pm
Location: 6401 SE Foster Rd. Portland OR
Contact Person: Romeo (503-233-6787, romeo@portlandvoz.org)
Sponsoring Organization: VOZ workers' Rights Education Project
Details: SEGUNDO ENCUENTRO INDIGENA PARA CONMEMORAREL DIA DE LOS DERECHOS HUMANOS Y EL DIA INTERNACIONAL DEL INMIGRANTE, Domingo 17 de Diciembre, de 2:30 pm a 6:00 pm. En el Local del Sindicato SEIU Local 503 6401 SE Foster Rd. Portland OR, (Esquina de la Foster y la 64 en el Sureste de Portland) Ven y participa en este evento, comparta y conozca la lucha y los retos de las comunidades indigenas en este pais, in-cluyendo la lucha de los Nativo Americanos, y el proceso de negociacion de este tema en la mesa de la Organizacion de las Naciones Unidas. Invitado especial: Jose Matus de la alianza Indigena sin Fronteras, quien nos compartira su experiencia sobre la lucha de los Nativoamericanos contra la militarizacion y la construccion del muro en la frontera entre Mexico y EU.Tambien participaran otras personas de origen indigena del continente Abia Ayala, quienes tambien nos compartiran sus retos y desafio en una ralidad de exclusion, racismo, discriminacion y Xenofobia. 'Los pueblos indigenas no somos inmigrantes en nuestro propio continente. Nuestros ancestros recorrieron y vivieron en toda mesoamerica y nun-ca se pusieron muros'. Habra Musica tradicional e intercambio de comida de los pueblos indigenas.Y para disfrutar mas del evento, nos acom-panara el Sonido Usumacinta. !No te lo pierdas! ORGANIZADO POR: AFSC, VOZ Proyecto de Jornaleros, Latino Network, OCIMO, Escuela de Lideres Magdalena Mora.Apoyada por Portland Immigrants Rights Coalition & SAYSEGUNDO Para Para mas informacion (503) 230-9427 o (503) 233-6787and xenophobia.


Everywhere

Event: International Migrants Day Tool Kit
Date: 15-Dec-06 to 20-Dec-06
Time: All Day
Location: www.ushrnetwork.org
Contact Person: Ajamu Baraka (404 588 9761, admin@ushrnetwork.org)
Sponsoring Organization: US Human Rights Network
Details: An online toolkit that will have information regarding global and domestic migration. Blog page

Event: Radio Diaspora: International Migrants Day
Date: 16-Dec-06
Time: 5-7pm EST
Location: www.wrfg.org
Contact Person: Janvieve Williams (404 588 9761, jwilliams@lacccenter.org)
Sponsoring Organization: Latin American and Caribbean Community Center
Details: This week Radio Diaspora explores International Migrants Day. Join us for a live radio show on Migration, get the facts around migration and how it affects not only families and individuals that migrate, but also those that have to stay behind.

###