Press Release
For Immediate Release:
March 27, 2014
Contact: Emily Kessel, NAKASEC, eakessel@nakasec.org
Fast for Families Leaders Speak Out at the MLK, Jr. Historic Site in Atlanta
Atlanta, GA– On Wednesday, March 26, Fast for Families arrived in Georgia, marking the thirty-first day of the bus tour campaign. Charlie Flemming, President of the AFL-CIO Georgia, spoke at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Center in Atlanta, expressing his support for immigration reform.
Flemming said, “We are standing on the grounds of the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historic Site honoring the struggles and sacrifice of the civil rights movement. Labor is in full support of immigration reform and all rank and file workers rights.” The gathering at the MLK Center signaled an important moment for the Fast for Families campaign, bridging the civil rights movement of the 1960s with the current struggle for immigration reform.
Flemming was also joined by local community organizations, such as the Asian American Legal Advocacy Center (AALAC), and NAKASEC affiliate, the Korean Resource Center (KRC), at the MLK Center in Atlanta.
Helen Kim Ho, the Executive Director of AALAC, said, “AALAC has worked with a broad coalition to combat anti-immigrant legislation in the Georgia assembly. It is the perseverance and bravery of DREAMers, like Raymond Partolan, the student president of Mercer University, and millions more each day that will bring reform for all immigrant families.”
Hee Joo Yoon, the Executive Director of KRC in Los Angeles, stated, “It is Congress that has to act now, so that our Asian American and Pacific Islander brothers, sisters, mothers, fathers, grandmothers, grandfathers, and community members who are undocumented and separated from their loved ones can fulfill the American Dream and be united with their loved ones.”
Hee Joo Yoon on KTN Atlanta: https://bitly.com/shorten/
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Campaign Overview
On January 27, 2014, Fast for Families Across America launched its second phase with plans to visit over 100 Congressional districts in all. For one month, fly-ins was organized to reach over 25 key Congressional members. On February 24, 2014, the campaign kicked off its two-bus nationwide tour in Los Angeles. “Fast for Families” leader DJ Yoon (NAKASEC) is traveling on the northern route with Susana Sandoval (Fast for Families) who joined after Rudy Lopez (Fair Immigration Reform Movement), while leaders Eliseo Medina (Fast for Families) and Cristian Avila (Mi Familia Vota) are traveling on the southern route for the entirety of the tour. Stopping at more than 75 districts with daily events calling for Congressional action on immigration reform, the two buses will meet in Washington DC in April.
“Fast for Families” reignited the immigration debate last November when Eliseo Medina (Fast for Families), DJ Yoon (NAKASEC), Rudy Lopez (FIRM) and Cristian Avila (Mi Familia Vota) —abstained from all food, except water for 22 days in the shadow of the U.S. Capitol on the National Mall. The campaign calls for Congressional action for just and humane immigration reform.
Fast for Families” video can be found here and at http://www.fast4families.org/pressvideo
AAPI Google Hangout video from Tuesday, March 26 with Congresswoman Judy Chu can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ZeExZljsyw
Visit www.fast4families.org for more information and follow us on twitter for the latest updates @nakasec @djnakasec @fast4families
The National Korean American Service & Education Consortium (NAKASEC) was founded in 1994 by local community centers to project a progressive voice and promote the full participation of Korean Americans on major social justice issues. NAKASEC maintains offices in Annandale, Virginia and Los Angeles, California. NAKASEC has affiliates in Chicago (Korean American Resource & Cultural Center) and Los Angeles (Korean Resource Center).
