Riders
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Rosario Dawson Calls DNC Immigration Demonstrators ‘Soldiers of the Battle’ [Video]
September 05, 2012
On Tuesday, actress Rosario Dawson, who had been at a nearby forum on immigration, walked over and showed her support for Undocubus demonstrators who traveled from Arizona to Charlotte to urge the Obama administration to stop criminalizing immigrant communities.
“We really need to have better representation and that’s why we continue to have to keep seeing soldiers of the battle keep going down one by one until finally there is a critical mass to make a difference,” Dawson told reporters outside the DNC site where Undocubus members were demonstrating.
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Riders of the ‘UndocuBus’ Have ‘No Papers, No Fear’
September 05, 2012
Monday night, the “UndocuBus,” with dozens of monarch butterflies painted on its side, sat in a parking lot in front of Skandalos, a Mexican restaurant/performance venue on the outskirts of Charlotte, displaying its slogan to any late-night passersby: "No Papers, No Fear." Inside the club, Los Jornaleros del Norte (Day Laborers of the North) played cumbia tunes to the undocumented immigrants who have been traveling the country on the bus. Los Jornaleros are aptly named. The band members met on a street corner where they waited to be picked up and employed for the day, and started playing instruments together as a way to pass the time.
Standing on a corner waiting for work has become much more dangerous in the age of Arizona’s SB 1070 “Papers Please” immigration law, and its legislative cousins throughout the country. What recourse do the country’s 117,000 day laborers have against harassment, brutality and wage theft?
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No Papers, No Fear: Undocumented Immigrant Activists Arrested Outside DNC
September 05, 2012
An immigrants rights campaign is traveling the U.S. by bus to bring awareness to the terror undocumented people live with daily.
Ten undocumented immigrants were arrested on Tuesday afternoon outside the Democratic National Convention, amid chants of “Undocumented, unafraid!” and “No papers, no fear!”
Around 3:30pm, several dozen activists marched to the corner of East 5th and College Street in Charlotte, North Carolina, just blocks from where the DNC was being held, and blocked the intersection to protest President Obama's deportation policy. They unfurled a banner that read “Sin Papeles, Sin Miedo” ("no papers, no fear") laid it on the street, and began chanting, singing and telling their stories. Within the hour, 10 undocumented people were taken into police custody. They were released Wednesday morning with a charge of impeding traffic, a misdemeanor. An Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) official was contacted about the case, but decided not to pursue steps toward deportation.
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DNC Profiles: Kemi from Houston
September 04, 2012
“Being black and undocumented is an uncommon intersection.” — Kemi Bello
Name: Kemi Bello
Party affiliation: None. I am comfortable existing outside of any political ideology.
Where are you coming from? Houston, Texas, but I am originally from Lagos, Nigeria.
How did you get to Tampa? Undocubus came to Texas on their journey across the United States. I connected with them in Austin and decided to join them. I knew about them because I’m involved with the DREAMers. I took a flight from Texas to Atlanta, but when I got there, Undocubus was already in Tennessee. So I got on the MARTA at ATL and took it to the Greyhound Station, where I picked up a bus to Knoxville. Once I got to the Knoxville bus station, I hopped a cab to the nearby Unitarian Universalist Church where I found my travel companions. The only thing I didn’t do is ride a bike!
Why are you here?
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Listen to Kemi’s spoken-word poem about why she is on the Undocubus to Charlotte: -
‘Undocubus’ Dreamers arrive to be heard at Democratic Convention
September 02, 2012
For five weeks, a stay-at-home mom of three, a construction worker, a student who aspires to attend graduate school and more than 20 others risked deportation to travel on a “undocubus” across the country—for a cause.
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Now they want their voices to be heard at the Democratic National Convention.
Their journey is called the “No Papers, No Fear Ride for Justice.” They say it is intended to call attention to the abuses that undocumented immigrants, like them, face due to tough state immigration laws and treatment by authorities.
They’ve been riding a 1972 bus dubbed “undocubus” that left from one of the worst battlegrounds, Arizona, in July and—after making stops in 10 states and more than 15 cities—arrived in Charlotte, North Carolina, this weekend. Their plan is to attend the Democratic National Convention Sept. 4-6. They chose that political powwow over the Republican National Convention because they want to have a voice at the convention. Tania Unzueta, one of the undocubus riders, told VOXXI last month that the Democratic Party is “a place where immigrants are supposed to be welcomed.” -
4 Years Later – Why the DNC
September 01, 2012
With an opponent like Mitt Romney its a valid question why we are heading to the Democratic National Convention.
The platform coming out of the Republican National Convention and the politics of Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan send a clear message of where the party stands. It represents a roll back not only to immigrant communities, it also rolls back civil and labor rights, the rights of women, bans marriage equality. All this plus it promises more of the same economic policy continues to advantage the 1% at the cost of the 99%.
It would be easy to say then, that the Democratic Platform presents a clear alternative. Perhaps on some issues, it does. But its safe to say there has been deep disapointment from various sectors of the progressive movement in the party’s inability or unwillingness to be bold and present a real alternative to the lunacy of the GOP. Still a big tent, the Democrats seem to be a party eternally in search of its soul.
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Travel Notes by Julio Salgado
August 31, 2012
Julio Salgado, a DREAMer and CultureStriker, sends us a dispatch from the UndocuBus, a project of the “No Papers, No Fear” campaign, as it makes it way across the country to Charlotte, NC, site of the upcoming Democratic National Convention:
A Juanes song, “La Camisa Negra,” is blasting from a small black speaker inside the UndocuBus. Mari Cruz and Chela are seated at the front of the bus and are singing along—they know all the words, about a black shirt and a broken heart. The folks in the small bunk beds at the back of the bus are encouraging the celebration, when suddenly the iPod connected to the speaker loses its Pandora signal. That’s the thing about this ride. The unexpected is bound to occur.
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Immigration advocates rally over law enforcement concerns in Knoxville
August 29, 2012
Undocumented immigrants and supporters spoke out Tuesday in Knoxville about their concerns over law enforcement ties to federal programs, blocked traffic and four were taken into custody.
Several groups spoke in front of the Knox County Sheriff's Office. They include: No Papers No Fear Riders, Knoxville United Against Racism, Allies for Knoxville Immigrant Neighbors (AKIN) Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition (TIRRC) and the Unknowns Working to be Known.
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When we go to Knoxville.
August 26, 2012
Riding a bus for weeks at a time as an undocumented immigrant can be a little intimidating. Stopping in cities and towns where there is a clear risk of arrest and jail means overcoming fear. Still, along with my fellow undocumented passengers of the "No Papers, No Fear Ride for Justice," I'm looking forward to our visit to Knoxville as we head toward Charlotte, N.C., and the Democratic National Convention at the beginning of September.
I am on the bus because it is time for undocumented people like me who live, work, study and organize in this country to come out of the shadows. It's time to change the laws so that people like me and my family don't have to live in fear of jail, deportation or separation. It's time for people in the United States to understand that we are human and we are home, regardless of where we were born or what our immigration status is.
I've been in the United States since I was 7 years old, My dad, who was having a hard time finding work in Mexico, moved after being offered a job in Chicago. To make sure my sister and I grew up with our father, my mother made the choice to move with him to the U.S. After our visas expired, we became undocumented.
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Manuela Esteba: Tengo el derecho de sentirme libre
August 26, 2012