By Grassroots DC, on October 7th, 2017 On September 24, 2017, Many Languages One Voice (MLOV) held an Emergency Planning & Community Defense Day (Día de Planificación de Emergencia y Defensa Comunitaria).
The event was designed to bring the community together to learn about our rights as immigrants in DC, prepare together, and celebrate our communities’ strength and resilience!
¡Nos reunimos para aprender nuestros derechos como inmigrantes en DC, prepararnos juntos, y celebrar la fuerza y la resiliencia de nuestras comunidades!
Workshops included:
– Know Your Rights in DC / Tus Derechos en DC
– Emergency Preparedness Plan Against ICE / Planes de Emergencia en Contra de ICE
– Legal Advice / Consejos Legales
– Community Defense / Defensa Comunitaria
Video byBen Parisi with subtitles byJuan Carlos Vega.
According to MLOV Executive Director Sapna Pandya, “It was an incredible day, grounded in Puerto Rican and Mexican resilience & music, with opportunities for dance, joy, and important discussions of the threats to our communities & how we will combat them together organizing towards #ExpandedSanctuary in DC. We built a beautiful community altar, answered questions about immigration and employment abuse, and got folks connected to needed services.”
MLOV’s next community event, Dance in the Round: Circle As Sanctuary, is scheduled for Sunday, October 8, starting at 2:30 pm at the Columbia Heights Civic Plaza.
By Guest Contributor, on September 8th, 2017 Written by Ray Jose
MLOV Youth Justice Organizer
 On Tuesday morning at 11 AM, Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced that Trump and his administration has decided to end DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals). This means that the Department of Homeland Security will stop accepting new DACA applications (i.e. from people who are eligible but do not already have DACA). Individuals who already have DACA and whose work permits will expire between now and March 5, 2018 will be able to apply for a two-year renewal if they apply by October 5, 2017.
This news has obviously been devastating as we remain concerned about the pending uptick in immigration enforcement & raids that this announcement foretells. We also must remain vigilant that any calls for policy change (i.e. DREAM Act, etc.) do not use undocumented youth as pawns for a white supremacist agenda that calls for border militarization or walls, military service requirements, furthering the Muslim ban or expanded cooperation between police and ICE.
In fact, we are already feeling the immediate impact of this announcement – just hours ago, workers from Matchbox came in to MLOV’s offices to say that 40 of their colleagues had been forced to resign yesterday due to their immigration status.
Following the announcement from Jeff Sessions came DC Mayor Muriel Bowser’s statement, “[calling] on Congress to quickly pass the Dream Act so that DREAMers across our country can continue to build a safer, stronger, and more prosperous country for all…Washington, DC will continue to stand with our nearly 800 DREAMers and the thousands of immigrants who live in the District. We are proud of our DREAMers and our support will be unwavering.”
While Mayor Bowser says she “stands unequivocally with DREAMers,” in the same breath she is complicit for not holding Trump accountable for terminating DACA. At the same time that Mayor Bowser says she and DC are “standing with the DREAMers,” the District continues to tolerate dangerous loopholes in policies that have led to our immigrant residents being deported, police violence on Black and Brown communities, abusive employers who continue to engage in wage theft, displacement of long-term residents, and an education system that is failing our youth of color.
In this moment, words are not enough. We need a real #SanctuaryDC that keeps all DC residents safe, and MLOV will hold all politicians accountable for their actions or lack thereof.
LOOKING FOR WAYS TO SUPPORT DACA YOUTH AND OTHER UNDOCUMENTED YOUNG PEOPLE IN DC?
HERE ARE A FEW THINGS YOU CAN DO TODAY:
1. Donate to support three of MLOV’s undocumented immigrant youth organizers by clicking here. These youth participated in the Summer Youth Employment Program but didn’t receive stipends because they are undocumented. When we reach our donation goal, extra funds will go to DC youth needing help paying for DACA renewal (cost is $495) and related costs. 2. Encourage DACA youth and their families seek mental health support through local agencies:
- Mary’s Center
202-846-8053
- Latin American Youth Center
(202) 319-2229
- La Clinica del Pueblo
(202) 462.4788
3. Join upcoming trainings provided by SanctuaryDMV to be trained in providing Rapid Response to ICE raids and ICE surveillance, which we are fearful may increase in DC and the metro area. .
Click on this link to register for an upcoming Rapid Response training by SanctuaryDMV! 4. Follow Many Languages One Voice on Facebook and Twitter to stay updated on how you can support our members’ demands for Sanctuary in Schools.
This summer, MLOV trained 15 mostly undocumented immigrant youth to be community organizers – preparing them to protect themselves, their peers, and their families. As a result of holding local politicians like Mayor Bower accountable, funding for these youth participants’ stipends has been in jeopardy. You can support our immigrant youth organizers by clicking here to donate. Despite this threat, our youth have developed five critical steps that educators and administrators in the DC school system can take to keep them safe and support their education. LEGAL SERVICES FOR DC IMMIGRANTS
As a result of organizing by MLOV in November 2016, Mayor Bowser released funds enabling local community organizations to provide pro bono legal services for DC immigrants. Refer individuals needing to renew their DACA or with other questions about their immigration status to the following MLOV partners:
- AYUDA
202-387-4848
- Catholic Charities
202-772-4352
- DC Immigrant Rights Project (collaboration of Ethiopian Community Center & Lutheran Social Services)
(202) 844-5430
- Whitman Walker Health Legal Services
(202) 745-7000
- CARECEN
(202) 328-9799
- CAIR Coalition
(202) 331-3320
To my undocumented family, to other DACA recipients, and to any community under attack by this White supremacist administration: we have been here before and we will continue to protect our community and resist. Trump and politicians on both sides are deflecting the responsibility onto Congress to create a legislative solution, but we know that protecting only some immigrant youth is not enough.
This moment is meant to divide immigrant communities into who is “deserving and undeserving,” it is meant to put the blame on parents of undocumented youth, it is meant to uphold the criminalization of Black and Brown immigrants who are disproportionately targeted by police, ICE and the criminal justice system. This moment is meant to break us, but we are resilient people and we will fight for a liberation that goes beyond documentation or any legislation.
By Liane Scott, on July 7th, 2017
By Stuart Anderson, on August 17th, 2016 It’s that time of year again, folks! Family and Friends of Incarcerated People is holding their annual community event. Join us, this Saturday, August 20, 2016 at Oxon Run Park, 1st and S. Capital Streets SE. The fun starts at 1:00 PM.
By Guest Contributor, on May 23rd, 2016 Cross-posted from Tits and Sass
written by Bonnie D.
Content warning: This interview contains graphic descriptions of police violence and rape, imprisonment, and domestic abuse.
 Bonnie is a veteran sex workers’ rights activist who has done outreach work in the D.C. area since 2001. She was a HIPS (Helping Individual Prostitutes Survive) client who lived on the streets in Maryland. Later, she was inspired by the work of Robyn Few and others to participate in activism and community organizing through SWOP-Maryland. Last year, she recorded sound for No Humans Involved, a documentary film produced by PJ Starr about Marcia Powell, the street sex worker killed by the negligence and cruelty of the Arizona prison system in 2009. Currently, she’s on a community advisory board with John Hopkins researchers for the SAPPHIRE (Sex Workers And Police Promoting Health In Risky Environments) study, which examines the role of police in HIV risks faced by Baltimore cis and trans sex working women.
You’ve been doing outreach since 2001, originally to D.C. and Prince George’s County Maryland, and later to Northern Virginia and Baltimore as well, using HIPS supplies and sometimes your own money. Where does your dedication come from?
I enjoy it and have to do it and will never stop doing it. That’s because I have memories where the ends of bread, dry socks, housing, a place to get high [where they would] not send me to jail, or a place to avoid drugs (depending on my mood), were my biggest dreams.
I have 8 years where I can proudly say the drug I am allergic to has no power over me.
Up until very recently I provided housing. I had to stop, and now I provide referrals and transportation to shelters or transitional living or an affordable place to live, whatever is asked of me. My current venues are methadone clinics, BDSM clubs, immigrant sex work apartments, drug testing clinics, and sex or BDSM party houses. I never leave someone who wants to be inside outside. What if it was the last time I saw that person? What if they were arrested for being homeless i.e. trespassing or loitering; really any charge. A Prince George’s County cop told me and I will never forget: it does not matter what I/we do, it only matters what he/they write on their papers.
Privileged, housed people may not understand that, and it is something I cannot explain. There are two separate worlds, where the language barrier is experience.
Continue reading Long-Time Sex Workers’ Rights Activist Discusses Violence And Endurance
|
Comments are closed 
