Being Part of Something Beautiful: Georgia Summer of Human Rights

by Ben Brazil

They have begun to gather this week in Atlanta – volunteers from around Georgia and around the country, all preparing to launch Georgia’s Human Rights Summer with Saturday’s March for Dignity and Rights.   Organizers are expecting as many as 20,000 people for the march, which begins Saturday at 10 a.m. at the  State Capitol.

“You don’t want to miss this march,” said Gina Pérez, an organizer for the Georgia Latino Alliance for Human Rights.  “It’s going to be amazing.”

The catalyst for the protest is Georgia’s House Bill 87, a measure modeled on Arizona’s harsh immigration law.  Volunteers and organizers say the law has scared some of their neighbors out of their state and worried others so much that they scarcely leave their homes.  Many, however, have not reacted with fear.

“For me, personally, what has changed is that the law has given me energy to protest, to keep on fighting for what I think is just,” said 25-year-old Ricardo Láscarez as he carefully painted a protest sign in the evening light slanting through a small grove of oak trees.

Láscarez is not the only one who has turned the new law into a source of motivation.   “With H.B. 87, the community basically woke up and saw that things were going to get worse if we don’t get organized and speak up,” Pérez said.  “What we’ve seen from the community is that they’re actually reacting and getting angry and there’s a lot of energy.  People are willing to get organized and do something.”

The movement goes beyond Saturday’s march.  Today (Friday) has been named a “Day of Non-compliance” in which immigrants and their allies will stay home from work and refuse to buy anything.  “We want the state to realize what a great impact we have,” Pérez said.  “We want them to notice us in our absence because they take us for granted.”

GLAHR volunteers are also asking dozens of local business to be “buy spots” or  “tiendas del pueblo” (people’s stores).   To become a “buy spot,” business owners declare their support for the immigrant community and pledge to deny access to law enforcement officers seeking to harass or question their employees or customers over their immigration status.

So far, 110+ stores have signed on.  Organizers hope to recruit much more.   Shoppers can identify such stores by posters featuring a rose, a dove, an outline of the state of Georgia and the words “immigrants are welcome here” and “Georgia Buy Spot.”

Volunteers and organizers point out that the campaign focuses on more than House Bill 87 – which was partially blocked this week by a federal judge.   “H.B. 87 is only an ornament” and a political distraction, said 31-year-old Carlos González Medina, a construction worker and 10-year resident of Atlanta.   For González Medina and others, the bigger problem is an overall atmosphere of fear and intimidation fueled by the federal “Secure Communities” and “287g” programs, both of which give local police immigration powers.  With these programs, people who need police assistance are afraid to call them, and a simple traffic ticket can quickly turn into a legal catastrophe that tears families apart.

For all these reasons – and to claim a dignity they feel they are denied – marchers are coming from around the state and across the nation. .   In addition to buses from Macon, Tifton, Roswell, Statesville and many other Georgia communities, marchers are coming from most of the Southeastern states and from as far away as California, New York, and Chicago.

“What I want is for the people to know that being part of this movement is something beautiful, it’s something good, it’s something that you can feel, it’s something that gives you a sense of value, that gives you courage,” Láscarez said.  “I want the people to know that we can make a change for the good.”

As to people who support the bill, he simply hopes they’ll think twice about all the ways in which immigrants are economically and culturally part of the Atlanta community that he now considers home.

Margarita Villanueva feels similarly.  After practicing how to speak to the news media, she explained that “Georgia is my home now because I’ve been here for 18 years.  I’ve paid taxes and made a life here as a citizen even though I don’t have documents.”  She hopes the march will lead to access to higher education for the three children she has raised here.  She also hopes it will show American citizens that the Latino immigrant community has come to the United States “to work and help make this country better off — because we know that this is a very good country and for exactly that reason we want to continue supporting it.”

To support their community – and to claim their place in it – immigrants say it is critical to make their voices heard.

As he painted a sign beside Láscarez,  González Medina said he was speaking out not only for his own sake, but also out of concern for the state.  “I want the voters, the American citizens, to realize that their legislators are distracting them from the real problems that affect the state. … Georgia is losing millions of dollars in the harvest [because of the flight of migrant laborers], and additionally they aren’t paying attention to the banking crisis or the mortgage crisis.”

“I think I worry more about the state’s future than they do,” González Medina continued.  “So I invite them to educate themselves, and if they want me to leave, I ask that first they give me the chance to show whether I should be allowed to stay or not – but justly, without attacking me.  Give me an opportunity to prove that I am a good person and a good citizen.”