"My own grandfather immigrated here at age 14," Feingold said. "My father flunked kindergarten, twice, in Janesville, because he didn't speak English; he only spoke Yiddish."
America was built by immigrants, Feingold said, and should welcome its newest immigrants with laws that guarantee equal protection for workers and open access to education regardless of their legal status.
"We must demand fair treatment for immigrants and this is the way to go
about it," Feingold said, in a speech that was translated into Spanish, the
first language of most of the 200 people gathered at the Madison Labor Temple.
The warm smells of tamales and cilantro greeted "freedom riders" who
arrived in the rain aboard two buses that started the day in Minneapolis. Bus
caravans originating in 10 U.S. cities will converge on Washington Wednesday to
demonstrate for reform of immigration laws. The "freedom ride" will
end in New York Saturday for a rally within sight of the Statue of Liberty.
The ride is modeled on Civil Rights caravans of the 1960s that sought to gain voting and other rights for African Americans in the South. Its goals include changing laws to make it easier to obtain U.S. citizenship, to gain protection in the workplace, and to keep families together. President Bush seemed to be moving toward granting amnesty to many workers from Central America when the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 ended progress on the issue.
Mariano Espinoza, 32, of Minneapolis, said he's seen many injustices since he came to this country 12 years ago from Puebla, Mexico.
"If you work hard every day, if you don't complain, and, most importantly, if you work for minimum wage, the bosses love you," said Espinoza, who worked as a janitor before becoming a union organizer. "But if you organize, they put you out on the street."
Another problem, said Espinoza, the father of two children, is that while children born here are U.S. citizens, their immigrant parents often aren't, and so the families fear being split apart by immigration laws.
Miguel Osio, 52, a Madison construction worker who joined the bus ride here, said he's disillusioned after being in the United States for eight months. In Cuernavaca, Mexico, he was an oral surgeon, and he came here to see if he could set up a practice taking care of immigrants. But his credentials don't transfer, and he's found himself working on a "construction and deconstruction" crew for $6.75 an hour and no benefits. When he was injured on the job, he had to treat his own injury. And he lives in a crowded apartment with many other workers.
"I tell my friends from Mexico that we're here in the First World, but we live in Third World conditions," Osio said.
The Minneapolis bus riders included Marv Davidov, a Twin Cities activist who was on the original Freedom Ride in 1961 and spent 40 days in the Mississippi State Penitentiary for "breech of the peace."
"It's all about struggling for justice against repression for people of color and others," Davidov said. "We have widespread support. And we will succeed here like we did in the other."