NEWS & LETTERS, October - November 2009
Silencing Mexican voices in Michigan
Detroit--The small group, Centro Obrero, is working on the immigration section of the upcoming U.S. Social Forum in Detroit. During the past weeks, we held a meeting at the home of a Mexican family whose status, like so many people's, is all over the map: green card holders, permanent residents, undocumented, U.S. citizens. That makes for some complicated family dynamics. People in the neighborhood live under rules and policies where many have no influence and cannot vote.
So I asked for the gathering to explain to them the Office of Charter Commission, and why I am running for it in the city-wide election. We discussed political life in Detroit, and why Mexicans don't vote when they can. We talked about the effects of the repatriation, how people were told not to speak Spanish, not to live where Mexicans live, and not to have any unnecessary contact with the government. That means no census, no financial aid forms for students of our generation, and certainly no running for political office.
Recently a neighbor called and asked if I would accompany a woman to the police station to make a missing person report on her teenage daughter, who had not been seen in five days. The woman was frantic and was putting up posters in the neighborhood, but also wanted the police to help her find her daughter. I went along with her to help translate.
While we were there, we spoke to another person in the lobby waiting to make a complaint. The officer at the desk in the Southwest District (read BARRIO) told me that if "you are going to speak another language, you have to go outside." I made a report to the commander at the precinct and we will take it from there. This was a big issue in a department that is already under a Justice Department consent decree and has recently gone from bad to worse.
I got thrown out of a second place by police in the last month, at TRW Automotive in Livonia, Michigan. Several people gathered, along with two Mexican workers from the Reynosa, Mexico, TRW plant who came to the Michigan headquarters to share their workplace concerns with the owners of the plant. Livonia police were called before we could ask for the manager. The police came and made us leave without even asking what we wanted or why these workers traveled thousands of miles to air their grievances nonviolently. The company has their own police force.
We will not go away when we are shut out or shut down. We have a right to make police reports in any language. We have a right to demand respect on the job and the right to go to any lengths to seek justice. We have the right to enter into electoral politics and fight to get the representation we need.
We will not be moved. We are here to stay. Stay tuned for the outcomes of these battles, big and small. We will not remain silent in the face of this official disrespect.
--Elena Herrada
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