ADD this page to get action bulletins and updates from BAMN - the Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action, Integration, and Immigrant Rights and Fight for Equality By Any Means Necessary!
GET MOVEMENT UPDATES! This page is run by BAMN to organize the new youth-led, mass struggle for immigrant rights.
Contact a BAMN organizer and we'll help: Southern California 323.317.7675 Northern California 510.502.9072
1.Use MYSPACE and FACEBOOK. Add this page, make it one of your Top Friends, and change your profile "Name" so that it says "May 1 - Boycott, Rally and March for the DREAM Act"
Post this MYSPACE BULLETIN! [COMING SOON] If you see a picture, look at the SOURCE CODE. (On Internet Explorer and Firefox, it's under the "View" menu under "Source" or "Page Source")
Join the Facebook Event page for the May 1st Day of Action here: [COMING SOON!] Invite all your friends to the Event!
2. Circulate the Dream Act petition! Download the Dream Act petition: HERE!
Immediately get a group of students to help you. Hold a meeting and form a group. Invite all interested student organizations to join the effort. Set a goal of how many signatures you think you should get. Sit down with your team and read the petition out loud and have discussion about what you should say to get people to sign it. The petitions will be your way of spreading the word and organizing the strength of the students to win. The success of the day will depend on how many students know about it. You will have to talk to them to get them to sign it.
Mail a copy of completed petitions to BAMN at: BAMN PO Box 76137 Los Angeles, CA 90076
3. Make classroom announcements with the petitions! If public speaking makes you nervous, that’s ok! Being a leader means overcoming fear. Prepare what you will say. You can get a lot more signatures faster this way, and spread the word faster as well.
4. Download the flyer make copies, pass it out while making your class announcements, pass it out all over school, show your family and friends and organize for May 1st! Download the flyer HERE!
5. Organize a march and rally in your area on Friday, May 1! Organize contingents from your school, job or church. Pass out the flyer and gather petition signatures at your event. Let us know about your event and we'll include it on the statewide list.
6. Get organizations involved! Contact school clubs, community groups, unions (including teachers' unions), churches, etc...Get them to endorse the May 1 Day of Action and help organize.
7. Contact BAMN Let us know what you are doing and if you have any questions.
Southern California 323.317.7675 Northern California 510.502.9072
Honor California's Cesar Chavez Birthday Holiday more info:CLICK HERE!
LA Students Win César Chávez Holiday! Students Declare Victory in the fight for Recognition of the Chavez Holiday
LAUSD Board Members pass resolution making Chavez Holiday officially recognized District holiday
VICTORY!! On March 7, 2006, BAMN organized more than 400 L.A. high school and middle school students to go to the courthouse to demand their voices be heard in defense of school integration in the historic LA school desegregation case. WE WON!!! BAMN nearly 300 LA students and community members are now a party to this landmark case! Read the report from the day and watch the TV story.
Contact BAMN Los Angeles: (323) 317-7675
BAMN BAY AREA
MAY 1, 2006: BAMN Oakland organized and led a 50,000+ person march for immigrant rights in Oakland, CA!
KRON Channel 4 features one of BAMN Oakland's high school organizers. (Find the clip on their home page here.) See the raw helicopter footage or KTVU Channel 2, or KGO Channel 7 (click here and poke around the most recent video pages 1-2-3-4)
We are forming BAMN Chapters in the Oakland schools. If you want to be a leader at your school, contact us at (510) 502-9072 and california@bamn.com.
Contact BAMN Bay Area: (510) 502-9072
VICTORY AT THE U.S. SUPREME COURT
The BAMN chapter centered in Detroit, Michigan spearheaded the effort that led to BAMN's most historic victory to date, organizing a 50,000-person March on Washington on April 1, 2003 that coincided with the U.S. Supreme Court's hearing on the University of Michigan affirmative action cases. As a result of this march and the movement leading up to it, the Supreme Court UPHELD affirmative action for the entire country! Get more info here.
April 1, 2003 March on Washington
GALLERY
DALLAS, TX:
This great news clip from DALLAS on March 28 shows exuberant protests and students storming Dallas City Hall, and, predictably, frightened warnings from media and establishment leaders. (Choose the video called "Students Walk Out, Protest For Second Day") Video NBC5 Dallas
ESCONDIDO, CA:
Watch this video of students walking out in Escondido, CA (near San Diego)! NBCSanDiego.com
FRESNO, CA: See this great photo report about the Fresno, CA walkouts! About 500 rallied downtown on March 27. The movement grew so quickly that by the next day more than 6,000 walked out and rallied downtown!
HUNTINGTON PARK, CA: Watch this extended-length helicopter video of hundreds of Huntington Park, CA students walking out and getting students at other schools to join them! These walkouts took place on Friday, March 24 and helped spark the national movement!
Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action, Integration, and Immigrant Rights and Fight for Equality By Any Means Necessary
BAMN.com Myspace.com/nationalbamn
West Coast: 323.317.7675 East Coast: 313.645.9360
May 1 Day of Action - Pass the Federal Dream Act's Details
The youth of America, who represent the hope and the aspirations for an America free of racist prejudice and inequality, who feel genuinely the possibility of freedom for their families, communities, and all those facing second-class treatment, must mobilize, march and rally on Friday, May 1st.
This year, hundreds of thousands of undocumented students across the country will be unjustly banned from receiving financial aid and therefore denied the opportunity to attend college and pursue their dreams. President Barack Obama has made clear his support for a federal and California Dream Act which, if enacted, would change this and open up a pathway towards citizenship for its beneficiaries, creating more opportunities for their families and communities. Marching for the Dream Act on May 1st can raise the national profile of the Dream Act and help to shape the debate on immigrant rights that will be happening for the next period of time. Winning the passage of the Dream Act will open the door to winning all of our demands for the dignity and equality of the Latina/o and immigrant communities. It can say to America—if you live and work, and contribute to the life of the nation then you are an American—you deserve respect and opportunity.
The families of undocumented students pay taxes and make an enormous contribution to our nation's economy and prosperity, yet their sons and daughters face the same kind of discrimination that young black students experienced in the old Jim Crow south. It is only fair and just for their children to receive the opportunities that are created by their labor.
We have a great deal of power now. This year, the student walkouts, marches, and boycotts that began in spring 2006 and have continued every year since won official recognition of the César Chávez Birthday Holiday in the LA Unified School District (LAUSD)—the second largest school district in the country. Mobilizations in early April 2009 supported by the Catholic Church demanding an end to the immigration raids have secured a de facto moratorium on raids from the Obama administration. Just following these mobilizations, workers in Bellingham, Washington who were arrested in an ICE raid were all released and given permission to work legally. Fresh forces continue to throw their weight behind our fight. On April 7, the Council of Catholic Bishops added their support to the voices of millions of Latina/o and immigrant youth calling for the passage of the Dream Act. Everything in the fight for immigrant rights is in motion. If we fight now, we can take important steps in our fight.
In spring 2006 youth played a decisive role in inspiring and leading the historic marches of millions that secured the defeat of the anti-immigrant measure HR4437. This measure, if it had passed, would have made the more than 12 million undocumented immigrants in America felons. The mobilizations that defeated this attack were the largest civil rights demonstrations in our nation's history. They showed the enormous power of the Latina/o communities to shape the American political agenda and win justice and progress for all the oppressed and downtrodden. To defeat the new Jim Crow and win equality and dignity for the Latina/o, immigrant, Asian, and other minority communities in this new era of hope, the Latina/o communities must take the lead again.
To win the Dream Act, we must make May 1st a day of powerful mass action. This will happen only if the Latina/o, black and immigrant youth and student leaders of the new civil rights movement take the lead and make it happen. Too many politicians, unions, immigrant rights, civil rights, and community organizations who should be actively campaigning for quick passage of the Dream Act are standing silent on the sidelines or refusing to support its passage unless it is coupled with some anti-immigrant measures. Without independent youth leadership, the Dream Act will remain like the dreams of undocumented immigrants in America today—deferred.
We can win the Dream Act, open up pathways to citizenship for our parents and families, and win so much more, if we mobilize the power of the new civil rights/immigrant rights movement. Independent youth leadership is the key to achieving any progress on questions of racism, discrimination and prejudice. This is our time. If we step forward and lead, there is no limit to the progress we can make! Our demands for progress must be heard. Boycott school, work, and march on May 1st!
THE COALITION TO DEFEND AFFIRMATIVE ACTION, INTEGRATION, IMMIGRANT RIGHTS AND FIGHT FOR EQUALITY BY ANY MEANS NECESSARY [BAMN]
Win the Right of Undocumented Students to Receive Financial Aid for College!
Demand that Governor Schwarzenegger Sign the California DREAM Act Now!
No More Separate and Unequal Educational
Opportunities for Latina/os and Immigrants!
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 26, 2008
Statewide March and Rally in Sacramento
10AM: Gather and MARCH from Cesar Chavez Park (10th & J St.)
12PM: RALLY at the Capitol (west steps, intersection of Capitol Mall and 10th St.)
MARCH ENDORSERS INCLUDE:
BAMN, Sacramento Mayor Heather Fargo, Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums, Berkeley Mayor Tom Bates, MALDEF, AFT 2279 (Sacramento City College professors), and many more! (full list below)
On Friday, September 26, 2008, students from across the state will march in Sacramento to the West Steps of the Capitol to call on Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to sign the California Dream Act, SB 1301 (Cedillo). If enacted, the California Dream Act would make campus-based financial aid programs available to undocumented California students. Its passage would affect the lives of hundreds of thousands of poor and deserving students without papers who have the legal right to an education, but cannot attend college because they are discriminatorily denied access to state financial aid.
The families of undocumented students pay taxes and make an enormous contribution to California's economy and prosperity, yet their sons and daughters face the same kind of discrimination that young black students experienced in the old Jim Crow south. Undocumented students are unjustifiably denied equal educational opportunities and assigned to permanent second class status.
Every undocumented student who graduates from a California high school knows that from the moment they walk across the stage they will not have the same opportunity to go to college as their classmates, even if they are the valedictorian of their class. It is unfair and unjust to ask undocumented students to accept a situation in which their dreams are deferred because of something they could not control and cannot change—which side of the border they were born on. Having the Dream Act signed into law will establish the principle that undocumented students are the peers and equals of every other young person in California and that their right to develop their full potential will be honored and respected in this state.
BAMN and other rally organizers are inviting Senator Obama to address the Sacramento rally in order to turn his message of hope into reality for so many deserving young people in California. At a similar moment last year, Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama called on Governor Schwarzenegger to sign the California Dream Act. In 2007, Governor Schwarzenegger vetoed the bill on the last day on which he could act. Senator Obama has also spoken out in favor of the passage of a Federal Dream Act.
For the past 15 years, California has been a backwater for the civil rights of Latina/o, black, and immigrant people. Today, we have the opportunity to turn that era around. With the nation poised to elect the first black president, and the right to gay marriage upheld in our state, this is the time to turn a corner in California to end the Jim Crow practices of denying undocumented students their equal right to go to college.
Partial list of supporters of the Sept. 26 March and the California Dream Act:
BAMN
MALDEF - Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund
Tom Bates, Mayor of Berkeley
MEChA (Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlán, Sacramento State
AFT 2279 (Sacramento/Los Rios Community College professors)
Sacramento Labor Council for Latin American Advancement (LCLAA), Sacramento & San Francisco
Diablo Valley College Latino Student Alliance
Diablo Valley College Dream Club
Diablo Valley College Puente
Diablo Valley College Democrats
Los Medanos College La Raza Club, DVC
Sigma Lambda Beta International Fraternity Inc. (DVC)
Oakland Education Association (OEA)
Noel Gallo, Oakland School Board Director
Chris Dobbins, Oakland School Board Director
St. Cornelius Church, Richmond
St. Isabel Church, Los Angeles
Immigration Law Society (UCLA Law School)
Chicano Consortium, Sacramento
Glaziers Union Local 718
Peace and Justice Committee, St. Mary Magdalene Church, Berkeley
El Puente Program, Merritt Middle College
Joan Hollinger, Professor of Law, UC-Berkeley
Nancy Lemon, Professor of Law, UC-Berkeley
Other supporters of the California Dream Act:
California State PTA
UNITE HERE
The California Student Aid Commission (CSAC)
University of California (UC) Board of Regents
California State University (CSU) Board of Trustees
California Community College Board of Governors
Association of Independent California Colleges and Universities (AICCU)
Mexican American Legal Defense Fund (MALDEF)
Asian Pacific American Legal Center of S. California
Los Angeles Unified School District
California Federation of Teachers
California Faculty Association
Associated Students Inc., California
Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles (CHIRLA)
Los Angeles Area and San Francisco Chambers of Commerce
California Hispanic Chamber of Commerce
South Bay Labor Council
Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce
Latina/o, Black, Native American, Asian, Arab, and White, Immigrants With & Without Papers—
WE ARE ALL ARIZONANS!
Keep ACRI Off the Ballot
Defend Affirmative Action and Equal Opportunity
Build the New Civil Rights Movement
MARCH & RALLY
Saturday, June 14, 2008
5:00PM
Falcon Park, across the street from Carl Hayden High School
(N. 35th Ave., W. Roosevelt, Phoenix, AZ)
We must stop ACRI, the attack on affirmative action, equal opportunity, and integration in Arizona. ACRI is the one ballot proposal aimed at increasing discrimination against and inequality for all of Arizona’s minority communities and women. The aim of ACRI is to deny every Latina/o, black and Native American young person, even those everyone regards as our brightest stars, from being able to go to college and become doctors, lawyers, teachers, or engineers.
Deceptively called the "Arizona Civil Rights Initiative," ACRI is nothing more than an attempt by the racists in this state to broaden their anti-Latina/o and anti-immigrant campaigns into an attack against every brown and black person in this state. The KKK-supported ACRI is a ballot initiative to amend the State Constitution to ban all affirmative action programs in Arizona. ACRI would outlaw all the equal opportunity programs won out of the civil rights movement that combat de facto segregation and open the doors to college and job opportunities for minorities and women.
Racism and sexism still structure opportunity. If ACRI reaches its goal of collecting 230,000 signatures before its July 3rd deadline and passes this November, it will drive out Latina/o, black, Native American and other minority students and women from the state's universities. Separate and unequal would be institutionalized in Arizona.
If we unite, we win. Building the new integrated youth-led civil rights movement is the key to victory. Our communities have tremendous power. The new civil rights movement is the real hope for progress, prosperity, freedom and justice in our state. And, so like Martin Luther King and César Chávez, we march.
We march to stop ACRI and all the attacks on the Latina/o and immigrant communities. We march to defeat the new Jim Crow. We march to end second-class treatment for brown and black. We march because when we march together we can see and feel the power we possess. We march because it is the only way for our state and our nation to progress and realize our ideals of democracy, freedom and justice. We march to win.
For too long, the right-wing racists of Arizona have gotten away with scapegoating undocumented people and trying to pit black, Latina/o, and immigrant communities against each other. Their aim is to weaken the struggle for equality. We can end this now. If we fight together and keep ACRI off the ballot, we can hand the right-wing a significant defeat. If we win this fight, we can stop the tidal wave of racist anti-immigrant, anti-Latina/o attacks ripping apart our state.
Keep ACRI Off the Ballot
The only sure way to defeat ACRI is to keep it off the ballot. Mass community mobilizing led by BAMN succeeded at keeping identical initiatives off the ballot earlier this year in Missouri and Oklahoma. We can win here if we can stop voters from signing the ballot petitions for ACRI. The people who are circulating the petitions lie about what ACRI is about. Signature gathers are paid huge sums of money to gather voters signatures and they flat out lie to get those signatures. We need people standing next to them telling voters the truth. We need people telling voters the truth that the Klan backs ACRI and that those who circulate or sign the petition are supporting racism. We need volunteers to tell people DO NOT TO SIGN THE ACRI PETITION.
The days when any racist with enough money can use Arizona's ballot initiative process to take away our rights and opportunities must come to an end.
Latina/o, Black, Native American, Asian, Arab, and White, Immigrants With and Without Papers—We Are All Arizonans
The massive solidarity demonstrated in the marches and walkouts of in spring 2006, led first and foremost by the Latina/o community and actively supported by broad sections of this state, defeated the racist, reactionary anti-immigrant HR 4437 and show the method of mass struggle and unity that can win.
Join us in making clear to the State of Arizona that we need to stand up together to stop the resegregation of our state. Take a stand for the rights of Latina/o, black, and other minority students and women to go to college, and for the rights of all people to live with dignity and to be treated with respect. Become a leader of the new civil rights movement and lead this nation out of the darkness of fear, prejudice, cynicism and despair the hallmarks of the right wing program for America and into the light of optimism, progress and hope. ¡Sí Se Puede!
A great shift is occurring in our nation. The outcome of the national election is still months away, and yet something much greater has already changed: we have changed. Our generation is gleaming with optimism and excitement. For the millions of young people asserting political demands for the first time, what began as opposition to the Iraq war has grown into a declaration of hope for becoming a nation no longer separated along lines of gender and race. It took only a few months for our generation to brush aside old notions that once seemed invincible. Yesterday’s view was that a fundamental change for the better would have to wait until some indefinite point in the future; today’s view is that such a change is really possible now.
This swift change of views has arrived at an important moment for our nation. Now is the time to remove all the barriers of race and gender that deform opportunity in our nation. UCLA, UC Berkeley and the other elite campuses around the country have been moving backwards since they have implemented state bans on affirmative action programs, against the interest of the student body on these campuses and of Latina/o, black and Native American students. While our generation has distinguished itself for breaking the racial and gender barriers to the American presidency, college campuses in California and other places in the country have experienced a fortification of those barriers against minorities and women gaining a college degree. At UCLA and UC Berkeley the enforcement of Proposition 209 has driven down underrepresented minority enrollment to the token levels that existed forty years ago. We cannot accept these conditions any longer, not in the face of a generation so eager to do away with the old social divisions.
Our generation needs a voice to speak for our own interests and aspirations. Our demands for progress need to be heaerd beyond the vote tallies in primary caucuses – we need to be heard here and now. In this state. On this campus. Everywhere. We need our own leaders, and we need to BE leaders ourselves. We are the leaders of our generation. Join us and work to change our society today.
Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action Integration and Immigrant Rights and Fight for Equality By Any Means Necessary (BAMN)
Strike Down Prop 2! Defeat Ward Connerly's Ballot Drives in Missouri, Arizona, Colorado, and Oklahoma! Defend Grutter v. Bollinger Defend the Voting Rights Act of 1965: Oppose Racially-Targeted Voter Fraud! Restore Affirmative Action in Michigan, California, and Washington
BAMN has filed a second federal lawsuit against Michigan's Proposal 2, which passed in November 2006 and outlawed affirmative action programs in Michigan. Building the new civil rights movement nationwide to defend our Supreme Court victory in Grutter v. Bollinger, we can win this lawsuit and overturn anti-affirmative action ballot measures across the country, including Michigan's Proposal 2, California's Proposition 209, and Washington's Initiative 200.
The Michigan fight teaches us that by far the best way to defeat Connerly's initiative drives is to prevent them from getting on the ballot in the first place. Take action in your state now!
We felt our strength and power when we walked out and marched for our freedom and dignity. It was because of our actions that the racist law HR4437 was eliminated. This year we will keep fighting. We are not going to accept any second-class treatment any longer! The César Chávez holiday has been ignored for seven years now and treated as inferior. We all know and understand that the Chávez holiday represents the struggle for immigrant rights and Latino equality in this nation. By ignoring the Chávez holiday, the school districts are ignoring us, our struggle for equality and our dignity, and that must end now! Whether they want to close down the schools to honor the Chávez holiday or not, we are closing them and forcing everyone to recognize our Movement and honor the Chávez holiday!
CIRCULATE THE PETITION to Honor California's César Chávez Holiday!
Download the PETITION ( EnglishSpanish ) and get it filled out at your school, church, or neighborhood to Honor the César Chávez Holiday. It’s a great way to organize in the schools, and to get lists of people and their contact info. Show the petitions to your school board and the media, and mail a copy to BAMN at the address below.
Send petitions to: BAMN / P.O. Box 76137 / Los Angeles, CA 90076
Thank you for adding us! We hope you enjoy our sound! We will be opening for, and backing the rocksteady legend PAT KELLY on MAY DAY Friday May 1st @ The SugaCane Lounge in Los Angeles (18+ All Night)!!! (Click on Flyer to enlarge)
The Hispanic Heritage Society of Texas is comprised of young men and women of Hispanic background as well as students with an interest in Hispanic cultures. Our mission is to serve as a support group for students of Latin American or Spanish descent, as well as educate communities in Texas about Hispanic cultures and issues, in both Latino countries and in the United States. It is our hope that by sharing our cultures and issues with the community, our efforts will break old stereotypes of the Hispanic world and contribute to a greater understanding between the members of our growing multi-cultural state.
In anticipation of the bill's introduction in the next few days on March 24th, 2009 we are asking everyone to do TWO things:
• Call your Representatives and ask them to cosponsor the DREAM Act. To call contact your Representatives in the House and Senate please call the switchboard operator at 202-224-3121.
• Sign the petition which will automatically send a letter to your Members of Congress urging them to cosponsor the DREAM Act. For a PDF or DOC version see Petition.
The Ideas for Change in America competition was created in response to Barack Obama's call for increased citizen involvement in government. The final round of voting began on January 5.
The top 10 rated ideas from the final round will be presented to the Obama administration on January 16th at an event at the National Press Club in Washington, DC. At that event they will also announce the launch of a national advocacy campaign behind each of the top 10 ideas in collaboration with nonprofit partners to turn each idea into an actual policy.
WELL GUESS WHAT????????? THE DREAM ACT IS IN 18th PLACE!!!
It only takes a minute of your precious time to sign up and vote in favor of THE DREAM ACT. Just for a moment think about all those undocumented students that depend on THE DREAM ACT to come out of the shadows. I'm sure they will be forever grateful.
THE VOTING ENDS AT 5pm ET on Thursday, January 15th! WE ONLY HAVE 8 MORE DAYS LEFT! PLEASE SPREAD THE WORD AND START VOTING!!!
BOYCOTT FOREVER 21 ACTION! TAKE BACK THE SOUTH CENTRAL FARM! RESPECT WORKERS RIGHTS AND COMMUNITY! NO MORE WAREHOUSES!
SATURDAY DECEMBER 13TH GATHER 11:30 AM; ACTION STARTS 12PM-3PM
More info: myspace. com/ boycottf21; boycottf21@yahoo. com
The Forever 21 Corporation wants to construct a facility on the South Central Farm and continues to contract factories that regularly violate labor laws! THE NEVER FOREVER 21 COALITION WILL RALLY TO DEMAND RESPECT AND DIGNITY!
COMMUNITY OVER PROFIT! FAIR WAGES! RIGHT TO UNIONIZE!
NEVER FOREVER 21 COALITION South Central Farmers – DQ Unity Coalition – Coalition of Immokalee Workers Student Farm Worker Alliance – California Statewide MEChA – MEChA de PCC MEChA de Cal Poly Pomona – MEChA de UC San Diego – MEChA de CSUN
South Central Farm Resolution to Boycott Forever 21 SUPPORTED BY THE D-Q UNITY COALITION
In a country where big business traditionally threatens community welfare and security we are constantly faced with the threat of losing our progressive grass root
Basically, Change. org and Myspace have put together a campaign to submit the Top 10 ideas among voters to the Obama campaign as well as launch a national lobby for each of those 10 ideas. The DREAM Act is currently ranked second here ( http://www. change. org/ideas/view/pass_the_dream_act_now ) and has a great chance of being in the Top 10 ideas granted that we all vote now and again starting on January 5 for the second round. Registration only takes a few minutes; it is quick and painless.
"instead of passively hoping the administration accepts each top idea, we will select a formal nonprofit sponsor for each idea to help create a nationwide movement to lobby the administration and Congress to turn the idea into real policy."
If everyone could take 5 minutes out to vote for the DREAM Act and make themselves be heard, we could gain increased awareness and valuable allies in getting this passed in 2009.
Please take our quick poll! Click here to take it.
» Put a banner on your page, post a bulletin, a blog, put us in your top friends, etc. Get the word out! » Want to help out even more? Become a volunteer. Work on organizing, promoting, whatever you do best! (read blog) » Check out our website! NYCProimmigrationProtest. co. nr
We felt our strength and power when we walked out and marched for our freedom and dignity. It was because of our actions that the racist law HR4437 was eliminated. This year we will keep fighting. We are not going to accept any second-class treatment any longer! The César Chávez holiday has been ignored for seven years now and treated as inferior. We all know and understand that the Chávez holiday represents the struggle for immigrant rights and Latino equality in this nation. By ignoring the Chávez holiday, the school districts are ignoring us, our struggle for equality and our dignity, and that must end now! Whether they want to close down the schools to honor the Chávez holiday or not, we are closing them and forcing everyone to recognize our Movement and honor the Chávez holiday!
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