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Arizona's Gov. Brewer signed SB 1070 yesterday. SB 1070 gives local police the authority to detain people whom they suspect are in the country without authorization, thus making it a state crime to not carry proper identification with you at all times and subjects people of color to questioning. Therefore, it is no surprise this bill has earned a reputation as "Juan Crow" (in remembrance of the Jim Crow state and local laws that essentially justified discrimination and segregation towards African Americans between 1876 and 1965). One only needs to take a closer look at Gov. Brewer's speech to note the underlying racism and hatred embedded in her support of this law, all in the name of equality and justice? How does that make sense, especially when they are exercising further militarization of the Arizona border? Maybe she did not get the memo back when the Sensenbrenner bill was introduced? (HR4437): NO HUMAN BEING IS ILLEGAL!
Nevertheless, OUR voices have not gone unheard. Students and youth, in particular, have been mobilizing in opposition. This past Tuesday, nine students chained themselves to the AZ state capitol building.Yesterday, approximately 2,400 high school students from all over Arizona participated in walk outs to join the thousands of people who have been protesting and rallying outside the state capitol building. Furthermore, actions are occurring all across the country! Have you heard of the Trail of Dreams? What about Chicago's coming out stories?
As you can see, the courage and bravery of youth across the country is inspiring and fueling us more and more! So, please, join us! There are several actions you can do with just the click of the mouse here!
Because ARIZONA CANNOT BE THE STANDARD! WE MUST ACT! STAND UP! BE HEARD!
Stay tuned for updates and upcoming actions!!
If you would like to help organize and make change, contact any I-Dreamer or email us at idreamillnois@illinois.edu
Coalition Meetings – Thursdays at 8:30pm at La Casa.
THIS MOMENTOUS DAY!
ReplyDeleteNot one day in anyone’s life is an uneventful day, no day without profound meaning, no matter how dull and boring it might seem, no matter whether you are a seamstress or a queen, a shoeshine boy or a movie star, a renowned philosopher or a Down’s syndrome child.
Because in every day of your life, there are opportunities to perform little kindnesses for others, both by conscious acts of will and unconscious example.
Each smallest act of kindness – even just words of hope when they are needed, the remembrance of a birthday, a compliment that engenders a smile – reverberates across great distances and spans of time, affecting lives unknown to the one whose generous spirit was the source of this good echo, because kindness is passed on and grows each time it’s passed, until a simple courtesy becomes an act of selfless courage years later and far away.
Likewise, each small meanness, each thoughtless expression of hatred, each envious and bitter act, regardless of how petty, can inspire others, and is therefore the seed that ultimately produces evil fruit, poisoning people whom you have never met and never will.
All human lives are so profoundly and intricately entwined – those dead, those living, those generations yet to come – that the fate of all is the fate of each, and the hope of humanity rests in every heart and in every pair of hands.
Therefore, after every failure, we are obliged to strive again for success, and when faced with the end of one thing, we must build something new and better in the ashes, just as from pain and grief, we must weave hope, for each of us is a thread critical to the strength – the very survival – of the human tapestry.
Every hour in every life contains such often-unrecognized potential to affect the world that the great days for which we, in our dissatisfaction, so often yearn are already with us; all great days and thrilling possibilities are combined always in THIS MOMENTOUS DAY! – Rev. H.R. White
Excerpt from Dean Koontz’s book, “From the Corner of His Eye”.
It embodies the idea of how the smallest of acts can have such a profound effect on each of our lives.