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Tag: UndocuBlack Network

UndocuBlack Network Celebrates Black History Month

Posted on

For Immediate Release

WASHINGTON – The UndocuBlack Network, a network of current and formerly undocumented Black immigrants, today celebrated Black History Month. The group recognized the occasion by honoring the triumphs of Black Americans. It also paid homage to Black people across the diaspora – Claude McKay, Marcus Garvey, Miriam Makeba, Shirley Chisholm, Cicely Tyson, Kwame Ture, Chinua Achebe – who came to this country, and linked their liberation to that of Black Americans. The group issued the following statement:

“Black History Month is an opportunity to honor the sacrifices and triumphs of Black Americans,” said Patrice Lawrence, executive director of the UndocuBlack Network. “The progress that many of us enjoy today is on the backs of Black martyrs of the civil rights movements. Some of us, including many people in the South, have stood or walked on soil where Black Americans were beaten, maimed and lynched. We cannot enter this month without paying homage to those who cleared the way for all and did so embodying selfless advocacy even though they would be unable to see the fruits of their labor. This month is also an opportunity to create cross-cultural dialogue on the challenges facing Black people, whether they were born in the United States or elsewhere. Black Americans and Black immigrants are linked in struggle; our liberation rests in one another’s hands.”

“White supremacy wrongly seeks to separate people based on where they were born, ability, sexual orientation or how much money one has in the bank,” Lawrence said. “But unless Black Americans are free, Black immigrants will not taste freedom. Claude McKay, Marcus Garvey, Miriam Makeba, Shirley Chisholm, Cicely Tyson, Kwame Ture, Chinua Achebe all understood this and worked toward the uplift of the Black community. The extent to which Black Americans fight for the safety and security of Black immigrants is the degree to which Black Americans secure their own future. No one is free unless we are all free. Moreover, the same system oppresses both communities. This Black History Month and beyond, we must look for ways to build bridges of understanding and empathy.”

“One of the reasons we launched our ‘Immigration Is a Black Issue’ campaign is because we understood that Black immigrants face intersecting oppressions of being Black and undocumented,” Lawrence concluded. “We knew that immigrants are subject to the same exploitation that Black Americans experience. The true measure of freedom is whether it benefits all. We can never enjoy a system where some are free and others are in the bondage of mass incarceration, housing insecurity, criminalization based on immigration status, etc.”

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New Year, Same Ask: UndocuBlack Network Urges Congress to Include Green Card Language in Build Back Better

Posted on

For Immediate Release

Jan. 6, 2021

 

NEW YORK – The UndocuBlack Network and several partners today sent a memo to Congress urging them to include Green Card language in the Build Back Better Act (BBB). In addition to UndocuBlack, the memo was signed by the National Korean American Service & Education Consortium (NAKASEC), the National Immigration Law Center, and the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles (CHIRLA).

The joint memo is available here, and  outlines the procedural steps to secure a pathway to citizenship in BBB. It includes guidance on how to sidestep the parliamentarian’s misguided and nonbinding advice in the Senate.

“The strategy is informed by Senate rules, but it also relies upon all Democrats in Congress working in unison to deliver justice to our communities,” said Patrice Lawrence, executive director of UndocuBlack Network. “The Democratic party has the power to organize the Democratic Caucus and make this happen. It now needs to show political will and embrace this strategy.”

The UndocuBlack Network emphasized its demand for registry, noting that this approach was morally sound and just. The group is unwavering that green cards through registry – outside of immigrants being issued citizenship – is the only way to tangibly change the lives of 11 million undocumented people. The Congressional Budget Office has preliminarily scored the registry language and the registry abides by the funding limits currently imposed. In fact, the House Judiciary Committee’s summary of the registry language noted it is “billions of dollars cheaper” than amending Section 245B of the Immigration and Nationality Act.

“It is critical that the voices of impacted people and advocates be afforded respect,” said Yoliswa Khumalo Hadebe, director of narrative and media and a Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals recipient. “Grassroots organizers kept immigration relevant in the BBB by not giving into the parole agenda or the stagnation of temporary fixes from the last three decades on the immigration progress.”

“We are done with those in positions of power claiming to fight for us but instead taking up space and treading over the voices and demands of impacted people and grassroots advocates,” continued Hadebe. “This work is not a political chess game to us. The lives of 11 million people are hanging in the decision of the BBB Act. Whether we were born within the borders of the United States or not, we are still people.”

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UndocuBlack Network Speaks on Dismantling White Supremacy on Anniversary of Jan. 6

Posted on

For Immediate Release

Jan. 6, 2022

NEW YORK – The UndocuBlack Network today remembered the one-year anniversary of the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. The group’s executive director, Patrice Lawrence, and its director of media and narratives, Yoliswa Cele-Khumalo Hadebe, issued the following qualite sildenafil citrate avec expedition statement:

“Jan. 6 was a stark reminder of the lengths white supremacists will go to maintain power and control. It was also a warning for elected leaders that regardless of political party, they must advance truth and justice, rather than peddling in lies and misinformation,” said Lawrence. “The occupation of the U.S. Capitol was a low point in American democracy. All elected leaders must come together to ensure accountability for persons who entered the Capitol, bringing mayhem and fear with them.”

“It is not lost on Black undocumented folks that the people who stormed the Capitol and their apologists are the same people challenging humane immigration policies. But hate should never be coddled and allowed to fester,” added Lawrence.

“On the day of the white hate insurrection, Black and Brown communities were left terrified of merely being outside in D.C.,” Cele-Khumalo Hadebe said. “UndocuBlack spent the day ensuring its members had safe rides from work and school.”

“The goal of the white hate insurrectionists, as it was when the Klan paraded in white sheets and burned churches, was to inflict terror and fear. But even in the turbulent days of Jim Crow, Black people mustered the courage to challenge hate. It is time for us to tap into the courage of our ancestors who directly faced lynching, beatings, sexual assault, enslavement and terrorist bombings of sacred gathering spots. Our ancestors fought like hell then, and we, as their descendants, will fight now and always,” said Cele-Khumalo Hadebe.

Contact: Sydney Bagley, sydney@spotlightpr.org

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