Rally to Stand Up for Justice

By Joyce Yin | NAKASEC Staff

To view more photos from today’s event, please visit NAKASEC’s flickr.

Today, the US Supreme Court heard oral arguments on the anti-immigrant law SB 1070 and are expected to make a decision sometime in June on whether or not to uphold certain provisions, including the controversial ‘show me your papers’ provision that requires local law enforcement to question the immigration status of those whom they have a ‘reasonable suspicion’ are undocumented. Hundreds of individuals, including leaders from civil rights, progressive, faith-based and labor groups, from across the country gathered in front of the US Supreme Court to rally against hate and call on the Supreme Court to stand up for justice and strike down these discriminatory provisions that would in essence promote racial profiling.

NAKASEC mobilized advocates and community members representing a variety of different Asian American/Pacific Islander (AAPI) organizations to show a strong presence on an issue that also heavily impacts AAPI’s and communities we work with and raise their voices as part of the day’s pivotal event. The final decision in June could have important ripple effects for the future of state immigrant bills. This effort was coordinated in part with the Fair Immigration Reform Movement (FIRM) and Reform Immigration FOR America (RI4A).

Morna Ha, executive director of NAKASEC made the following statement:

With one clear, unequivocal voice, civil rights, faith, and immigrant community members and leaders stood before the Supreme Court to seek justice and unity.  Arizona’s cruel law, SB 1070, violates all that we believe America should be – a country where our basic rights are protected and where we can live without fear.  For Latinos, African Americans, Asian Americans and others who look different, we should not have to fear being stopped based on the color of our skin, the shape of our eyes, or whether we speak with an accent.

The Supreme Court must strike down this unconstitutional law. It is an affront to our communities and it is an affront to what we value as an American people.

Our country needs real solutions. SB1070 and copy-cat laws like the ones in Alabama and Georgia do not fix a badly broken immigration system and only serve as distraction. We need to find humane ways that keep families together, allow immigrant students access to higher education, and lets people continue to contribute back to the country they call home.

We will be watching very closely what happens in the coming months for the Court’s ruling and will continue to sound the trumpet for humane immigration reform. Our communities only prepared to fight that much harder to realize the reforms that this country truly needs.

Resources:

• Explanation of the implications of the upcoming Supreme Court Case (original source by the National Immigration Law Center) – Download (Korean and English)