NY Youth Protests for AZ Law

New York is 2,456 miles from Arizona, yet young activists on opposite coasts are connected by their fury over new legislation in the Grand Canyon state that gives police the right to stop any civilian who looks like they may be an illegal immigrant.

New Yorkers of all ages protested on July 29, when the controversial Arizona immigration law was put into legislation.

“This bill strips away the core of what America stands for and promotes intolerance,” stated City Council Speaker Christine C. Quinn in a recent press release.

The law, Senate Bill 1070, requires all immigrants to carry identification documents, prompting comparisons to the times of South African pass laws or Nazi Germany’s required Star of David. In previous interviews, Hispanic Federation President Lillian Rodríguez López has compared the law to Nazi Germany and South Africa’s apartheid.

Community organizer Roberto Mercedes agrees, “I think the law is very racist. It devalues society and is definitely not fair.” As part of the New York Civic Participation Project (NYCPP), Mercedes was an organizer of their July 29 rally.

Many doubt the legal standing of the law, claiming that it will lead to unwarranted fear of government among Mexican-Americans and extreme racial profiling.

“The law is unconstitutional,” said Bishop Orlando Findlayter, a Brooklyn community leader who has led many into activism against the law.

Many New York activists have called teens the driving force behind the protests, expressing shock over how involved young people have gotten in the issue.

Mercedes was one of 200,000 other protesters who attended the May Day rally held in Union Square Park this year. The protests were part of a national movement intended to fix both the broken immigration system and SB 1070. Rallies were scattered across seventy US cities, drawing millions of protestors.

Mercedes says that young people were an integral part of the New York demonstration, making up about half of the protesters.

“We want young people to have a say in their own country, in what laws they must abide by.” Findlayter is the chairman of Churches United to Save and Heal (CUSH) in Brooklyn, an organization that has taken drastic action against the law, putting effort into involving members of his youth community in rallies and protests.

His community has been writing letters to New York government officials and marching in rallies against the law. Findlayter said that this is an important way to give undocumented young immigrants a way to have their voices heard.

Mercedes says that youth are taking action because of personal connections to the matter.

“If I saw my parents or someone I cared about so severely affected by a law, I would want to participate. I would want to support them,” he said.

“This is an issue that is motivating young people in a big way,” said former New York high school teacher, Jose Rivera. “My students went out to a lot of protests and rallies. They seemed very motivated by the issue.”

Rivera has joined forces with many in efforts to create a nationwide boycott of all goods produced and associated with the state of Arizona, including traveling to the state to visit his family. 

“I’m staying out of Arizona altogether,” said Rivera. Many of the former Arizonanian’s family and friends are still residing in the area, but he has taken initiative and moved out of the state. His move is a change many of his family members are now considering.

“As a group, united, there is an opportunity for young people to be heard,” said Bahir Mustafa, an activist from the NYCPP who is a big supporter of youth rights. “They look at the impact of this law on the people around them, and they feel the need to do something about it.”

“Young people in this city, particularly Latino youth, have very much been mobilized by the Arizona law,” said Council Member Melissa Mark Viverito in an email interview. “I have seen many young people at rallies and other actions that have been held against the Arizona law and in support of immigration reform.”

“Immigration is the civil rights of the 21^st century. We can only hope that justice is given the same way,” said Findlayter.