A delegation of Latino leaders, policymakers, and stakeholders stood in front of the AFL-CIO headquarters in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday and boarded a bus headed to Selma, Alabama to participate in the reenactment of the historic civil rights marches of 1965.
Civil rights leaders will march alongside Latino leaders until Friday, when they will arrive at the steps of the Alabama State Capitol and demand for the repeal of Alabama’s harsh anti-immigrant law, HB 56, as well as voter ID laws.
“47 years after the passing of monumental legislation, the 1964 Civil Rights Act, immigrant men, women and children are degraded in our laws, and in our minds,” said LULAC National President Margaret Moran. “We can blame ourselves for the dehumanization of the undocumented community because we have allowed terms like “illegal alien” to identify their class.
As previously reported on La Plaza, the march marks the first time that leaders from the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), the National Council of La Raza (NCLR), the National Action Network (NAN), the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights (LCCR), the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), and other national organizations join together in action to call for immigrant justice.
“We march with our sister organizations and the African American community to make clear that although the Hispanic community is diverse and disagreements over comprehensive immigration reform and the Dream Act exist, we will not turn our backs and ignore the plight of the undocumented,” said Moran.
Labor Council for Latin American Advancement
League of United Latin American Citizens
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