Has anyone been paying attention to the awful legislative and budget debates at the Mass. State House around undocumented immigrants?
I have called all the powers that be and they seem surprised to listen to a caller speaking to stop and veto these policies. I called as a voter and US citizen to say no to this bigotry.
We need allies to step up. Many years back we got local Irish and Italian immigrants and war veteran immigrants to be out in the press and in the State House to counteract this hate since we all know it is our Latino communities being targeted in particular, citizen and non citizens alike, even though all will be affected.
As an African-American and Irish woman, I am ashamed of our state and nation. Obama should have acted months ago to avoid these outcomes and pushed forward comprehensive immigration reform.
Hatred will not win. We need some powerful messaging to counteract this fear and willing allies. Let’s get our allies in action mode. Patrick will need courage and cover, as well as other electeds. Let’s give it to them.
P.S. Drew Weston’s research and polling on this issue is a good start. Reaching out to non-people of color immigrants in the State House and outside the State House is also a place of hope. And call the State House and show them we value immigrants.
I emailed my Senator (Jehlen) to thank her for voting “no,” and she replied that she had gotten surprisingly little feedback either way. So let your Reps and Senators know how you feel — it will have an impact!
Kelly — check this out from MIRA. Sorry you missed the first call.
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p>Thank you for taking time to join us on an urgent call to share information, discuss, and strategize on the recently passed anti-immigrant amendment in the State Senate!
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p>Dear MIRA Member,
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p>Today several advocates for immigrant rights discussed the importance of a unified message, and how to create a strong voice together. We would like to present you with some talking points and information about the passed amendment, and outcomes from the call!
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p>To download a PDF of these talking points please Click Here
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p>To download a PDF list of the Roll Call, please Click Here!
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p>And join us for another call to talk about new updates on Tuesday June 1st, at 12:00pm.
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p>Please CALL the offices of those who voted against us and tell them that their vote is not in line with the State of Massachusetts, in only 20 minutes they were able to reverse the entire culture of the state, from a welcoming state to a more restrictive one!
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p>Senators who voted FOR the anti-immigrant amendment:
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p>Steven A. Baddour 617-722-1604
Frederick E. Berry 617-722-1410
Stephen M. Brewer 617-722-1540
Stephen J. Buoniconti 617-722-1660
Gale D. Candaras 617-722-1291
Harriette L. Chandler 617-722-1544
Susan C. Fargo 617-722-1572
Jennifer L. Flanagan 617-722-1230
Jack Hart 617-722-1150
Robert L. Hedlund 617-722-1646
Brian A. Joyce 617-722-1643
Thomas P. Kennedy 617-722-1200
Michael R. Knapik 617-722-1415
Joan M. Menard 617-722-1114
Mark C. Montigny 617-722-1440
Michael O. Moore 617-722-1485
Richard T. Moore 617-722-1420
Michael W. Morrissey 617-722-1494
Robert A. O’Leary 617-722-1570
Marc R. Pacheco 617-722-1551
Steven C. Panagiotakos 617-722-1630
Anthony Petruccelli 617-722-1634
Richard J. Ross 617-722-1555
Karen E. Spilka 617-722-1640
Bruce E. Tarr 617-722-1600
James E. Timilty 617-722-1222
Richard R. Tisei 617-722-1206
Susan C. Tucker 617-722-1612
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p>Please CALL the offices of those who voted with us and THANK them for standing up against the kind of language that should not be found in our legislature!
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p>Senators who voted AGAINST the anti-immigrant amendment:
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p>Sonia Chang-Diaz 617-722-1673
Cynthia Stone Creem 617-722-1639
Sal N. DiDomenico 617-722-1650
Kenneth J. Donnelly 617-722-1432
James B. Eldridge 617-722-1120 Patricia D. Jehlen 617-722-1578
Thomas M. McGee 617-722-1350
Stanley C. Rosenberg 617-722-1532
Steven A. Tolman 617-722-1280
Marian Walsh 617-722-1348
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p>To find out who your State Senator is, please [Click Here!]
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p>If have any questions or would like to give any feedback please contact Nicole Tamburet, ntambouret@miracoalition.org, 617-350-5480 ext. 222
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p>The MIRA team
…that I contacted him and thanked him for his “NO” vote. We spoke at today’s Memorial Day Service for the Fallen here in Arlington. He is attending such services in each of the five communities he represents, today.
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p>After all, Memorial Day was instituted in 1868 to remind America to appreciate those who died to save the Union, and bind up the wounds left by the Civil War.
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p>There are still plenty of wounds to “bind up”, it would seem.
She’s generally pretty progressive plus she has nothing to fear politically since she’s not seeking re-election this year.
disappointed is a better word I think.
how I feel about this issue — which is exactly how you feel!
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p>(Beyond that, even, because not only do I think this sort of policy is economically bad policy, not only do I think it’ll cost the state money, and not only do I think this sort of policy is just plain-old bigoted — the most important thing, really — but this bill is bad politics for the Democratic Party. The anti-immigration crowd is never going to vote for us, anyway, and while they’re a vocal minority, they’re still a minority. There are more immigrants and relatives of immigrants than there are people who irrationally fear them so. So not only is all the bad things about this sort of policy true, but it’s not going to help a single democrat keep their seats if they vote to support it — and could hurt us for generations in the eyes of the immigrant community.)
Did there not used to be a pro-immigrant consensus shared by even social conservative Democrats in Boston at least, which explicitly extended to undocumenteds? In the 80s, everyone knew that half the Irish people in the city were illegal and no one, least of all the politicians, gave a crap. And when groups like the Irish Immigration Center went out of their way to support other immigrant communities I don’t recall any backlash against the bigshots on their board.
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p>Immigrants as a class were seen as hardworking and vulnerable, and those who boasted of their own foreign ancestry often claimed a special duty to defend them. I remember Ray Flynn used to tell of how, as mayor, he barricaded a group of defecting Polish sailors in his own City Hall office to protect them against INS men while he went over their heads with calls to Sen. Kennedy et al. No doubt he was exaggerating wildly, but the fact that he told this story proudly said a lot.
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p>Today we have cowards with Irish and Italian names who can’t sell out immigrants fast enough to satisfy the bloodlust of the loudmouth morons in their districts being fired up by the talk radio savages.
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p>Do these frauds, who walk at the head of the St. Pat’s and Columbus Day parades, think that their ancestors would have gone home when their visas expired, if there had been any immigration law back then, given the crap they were facing in their home countries? Are they proud to join the long tradition of trying to shut immigrants out of jobs and rat them out to higher powers?
Hi, Kelly. Jill Stein appeared at the rally that Centro Presente organized on Saturday, and distributed the following statement, which went to the media and is posted prominently on her website and went out to her Facebook contacts, too. Thought you might find it interesting…
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p>http://www.jillstein.org/2010/…
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p>According to yesterday’s Globe, the governor hasn’t even read the legislation, much less taken a strong position against it:
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p>http://www.boston.com/news/loc…