"If You Are Watching This, I have Been Arrested in Alabama"

Yesterday afternoon, Fernanda and Cesar Marroquin, leaders of DreamActivist PA, were arrested at the Alabama State Capitol in Montgomery, in a courageous stance against the unjust immigration policy enacted there and to demand full human rights for the people of Alabama and beyond.

Watch the video message from Fernanda explaining what her actions and presence in Alabama means for those across this country living in isolation and fear.  "I don't want people to lose hope. I want you to know that you are not alone.  That we are here for you.  And its time for all of us to come together and take a stand.  And to take a stand for our human rights.  For our dignity, our families and our communities".

Today the DreamActivist PA, Juntos, One Love Movement and the Media Mobilizing Project held a press conference to share with Philadelphia how legislation like HB56 in Alabama and similar policies proposed in PA will affect our state and to support the national movement of undocumented youth who are fighting for the human rights of their communiities and for all people.  MMP's Statement to the press is below:

The Media Mobilizing Project exists to tell the untold story of poor and working people in this city, state and country.  We want to thank the media who are here today and everyday,  amplifying the voice of those in this country who are not sitting silent in the face of injustice.   We recognize that the growing inequality between the most of us who struggle everyday to put food on the table and the few who are concentrating their wealth and power, is at the heart of all of the hardships we are coming up against as people today.   And for those families who have come here from other countries, who are building this country hand and hand with all Americans,  there is an added worry today, that they or a loved one will be ripped from them and be deported.  There is a frustration that they would be denied their basic rights.   We recognize that everyday, millions of people in Pennsylvania, Alabama and across America wake up to face a growing insecurity.  And that most make the choice to continue to fight for something better, for themselves, their families and this country.  

We are here today to support the group of undocumented families, lead by their youth, who staged a sit-in in Alabama yesterday, risking deportation, many to countries they hardly know.  Two of those detained are from DreamAct PA, grew up in Pennsylvania and are in Alabama to bring to light the immorality of HB56, one of several pieces of state legislation that turns its back on our immigrant brothers and sisters.  This act of civil disobedience was done in the spirit and in the footsteps of the young people of Alabama who fought for their right to an education 50 years ago as part of this country's civil rights movement.  And was inspired by Dr. Martin Luther King's fight for equality and for what he called the human rights of all people. What he described as "Those rights granted to us by the Almighty".  Towards the end of his life, King acknowledged that we must begin to build a movement for the interests of all poor people - black, white, brown -  for our human rights.  

Last year Alabama had the 10th highest poverty rate in the country, officially 17% of Alabameans live in poverty, but considering that the poverty line is low, we know that this number is much higher.  HB56 and similar laws being passed in other states, are showing the country that these laws are NOT solutions for the people of these states, but in fact have deepened the suffering of those states.  While municipalities and states across this country are struggling to stay afloat, the private and corporate sectors are seeing record profits. Yet our representatives would have us believe that those of us from other countries -- also struggling to make ends meet -- are the the cause of our hardships.  It is clear, these laws are not solutions to record high unemployment, to mass housing foreclosures, to deteriorating public education systems, to rising costs of healthcare, basic utilities and food and to jobs that are asking of people to work longer and harder with less and less in return.  The immorality of shutting off water to homes for being undocumented.  The immorality of allowing crops to rot in the fields when record numbers of people, children, are going hungry-- the immorality of these laws is shocking.  And still, none of this has made anything better for the people of Alabama or the US.   HB56 has not and will not secure a better future for people. 

We know that similar legislation is at our doorstep here in PA.   MMP will stand against any law that would tear apart families, that would deny any young person the quality education they deserve, that would exploit the work of those who help make this state better everyday and any law that creates more insecurity and hardship for the people of Pennsylvania.   And we will continue to support and connect with those who are coming together to find real and lasting solutions.  Today we thank the young people of DreamAct PA for this.  

Thank You 

click for full image