REMARKS BY PEOPLE"S WORLD AMISTAD AWARDEES 2017
People's World Amistad Awards 2017
RESISTING Together So We Can MOVE
FORWARD
December 9, 2017
First and Summerfield United
Methodist Church, New Haven Connecticut
VIDEO: https://youtu.be/x8wPo7td1zE
Photos and video posted on Facebook at "People's World Amistad Awards 2017"
VIDEO: https://youtu.be/x8wPo7td1zE
Photos and video posted on Facebook at "People's World Amistad Awards 2017"
Below are the remarks by the Awardees:
Camila and Carolina Bortollets
Rep. Robyn Porter
Peggy Buchanan
Camila and Carolina
Bortolleto, Co-founders, CT Students For A Dream
Thank
you so much to the organizing committee for recognizing my sister
and me with this award. You have been a great supporter of CT
Students for a Dream and for immigrant rights in Connecticut, and so
we are particularly honored to get this award.
This
year's theme of RESISTING Together So We Can Move FORWARD is
particularly fitting for the time our immigrant community finds
ourselves in. The immigrant community is under attack. We have always
been under attack, but especially so under this administration whose
policies are overtly racist and xenophobic, With the ending of DACA,
the increasing deportations of our community, with TPS being on the
chopping block and the Muslim ban, it seems like every day there is
a new attack on the immigrant community
As you all may know, this issue is
something that affects me and my family personally. I’m
undocumented. I came here when I was 9 years old from Brazil with my
family, we came like many families, undocumented. I
always knew we were undocumented, fear of police and the constant
threat of deportation was common conversation. But I didn’t
understand what my status would mean for my future until I was in
high school starting to think about my future, applying for college.
That’s when I realized the barriers that stood in my way because of
my immigration status.
Despite
the barriers, I worked hard to achieve my dreams. I was luckier than
most, I was able to attend and graduate from college. I went
to WCSU in Danbury and graduated in 2010. But I recognize that most
students in my situation are not that lucky . I acknowledge the
privilege I had that allowed me to be able to finish my education and
get a college degree. I had parents and a community who supported me.
College
graduation felt like I had hit brick wall. A college degree meant
nothing, it would not erase my undocumented status. I could still be
deported any time to a country I barely knew, I couldn’t work and
use my degree.
As I
walked across that graduation stage, I was still undocumented, I
didn’t know what my future would hold, but I knew that I wasn't
going to give up. I knew that I was going to fight for my right to be
here.
It was then that I found my way to the
immigrant rights movement. I was tired of sitting by and doing
nothing, of letting others speak for me and fight for me. I wanted to
fight for myself. So In 2010 my sister and I got together with other
undocumented youth who also wanted to fight for change, fight for
justice for our communities and families. We came together around a
coffee shop table, and decided to start fighting, back then, for the
DREAM Act, and we started CT Students for a Dream.
CT Students for a Dream, we are a
statewide network of youth that fights for the rights of immigrant
youth and our families. Over the last seven years, we have grown and
built across the state. Our goals are to educate, advocate, and
empower.
This past year has been a difficult
time for our immigrant community as we have been under attack. The
rhetoric and policies of the current administration have left many in
the immigrant community fearful for their futures and safety. Not
just immigrants, but people of color have been under attack by the
racist administration that openly embraces white supremacist ideals
and people.
Three months ago, Trump lived up to his
campaign promise and ended the DACA program, putting 800,000 mostly
young people of color in danger of deportation and in danger of
losing their work permits and their livelihoods.
I myself qualify for DACA and was able
to get that in 2013. When the immigrant movement won the victory of
DACA in 2012, my life changed. I was already in my mid-20s and had
lived most of my 20’s undocumented, But with DACA I was able to
get a work permit, a driver's license, DACA allowed me to work, more
importantly, it allowed me to plan and dream for my future once again
and in many ways begin my life. Now all that is in danger once again
The time for
political games is over - the very real lives of 800,000 DACA
recipients, including myself, and of our families, friends, and loved
ones are at stake. That’s why we at CT Students for a Dream are
fighting for a clean Dream Act.
A clean Dream Act
means a pathway to permanent protection for immigrant youth that does
not hurt or criminalize our immigrant communities in any way. This
means no increasing ICE, not border patrol, no big beautiful wall,
not more deportations in exchange for the Dream Act. Let’s be
honest, congress doesn’t actually want the Dream Act, they see this
as their change to add and pass more anti-immigrant policies that
hurt and criminalize our community.
We at CT Students
for a Dream will not stand for enforcement measures that criminalize
our families and communities. I will not trade my safety for the
safety of my parents and my community. That is non-negotiable. We
demand a clean Dream Act and we will fight for the dignity of all 11
million undocumented people in this country. We must do away with the
notion that protecting some immigrants requires inflicting more pain
and punishment on others. That notion is wrong and we will oppose it.
TPS, another program
that has helped some of our immigrant community live and work in the
US has also been under attack. The administration is systematically
ending TPS status for countries, putting hundreds of thousands of
people who have been in the US for decades in danger. They have
already ended TPS for Haiti, Sudan, and Nicaragua, and more countries
are on the chopping block in the next few months.
We have also seen increasing
deportations and arrests in our community over these past year. Every
day it seems there is another family, another immigrant arrested and
detained and being in danger of deportation.
Despite all of these attacks, we are
fighting back. We have seen over the past year the immigrant
community, along with our allies, organize together and fight to
protect individuals and families facing deportation.
A few months ago right here in New
Haven Nury Chavarria from Norwalk was the first immigrant in
Connecticut to courageously challenge this unjust system and take
sanctuary in a church to protect herself and her family. Due to the
efforts and work of her and our powerful immigrant community, she won
for now, she was able to leave sanctuary and be reunited with her
family.
Right here at First and Summerfeld,
Marco Reyes form Meriden also took the courageous decision to seek
sanctuary. He took sanctuary here for over 3 months while fighting
his deportation. Again thanks to the hard work of Marco and the many
organizers, the immigrant community, and allies, of organizations
like ULA, CIRA and more, he was finally able to leave and be reunited
with his family the day before Thanksgiving.
Trump might have
thought that by attacking DACA, by attacking our families and
communities, that we would be quiet, be afraid and shrink back. But
no, the opposite is happening, we are fighting back, we are
organizing, and we are resisting, we are here to say loud and clear
that this is our home and we are here to stay. We will not be pushed
back into the shadows.
Regardless of what happens these next two weeks, one thing I have
learned this past few years, is that our successes and our worth as a
community have never been based on legislation, the potential of our
community will continue to reside within each of us, the youth, the
workers, the parents, and allies, who put themselves on the line
every day fighting for justice and to provide for their families and
communities.
This award is really to honor our
powerful immigrant community, our immigrant youth, their families,
and all the ways that we are fighting back and resisting this year.
More than anything I have been proud to
work with and fight alongside amazing immigrant youth and leaders in
Connecticut as part of CT Students for a Dream, and others like
Unidad Latina en Accion (ULA), Connecticut Immigrant Rights Alliance
(CIRA), and many courageous families who have decided to fight
against deportation orders.
You all are proud testaments to the
strength and resilience of our ancestors, and inspiration for future
generations who will follow in your footsteps. While many just talk
about “equity”, “fairness” and “justice”, you all live
these values everyday as you fight for our rights even when there are
no cameras or reporters present. We have questioned people in
positions of power and authority, even within our schools and
organizations, in order to push for justice.
We will continue to fight for the
rights of our families and communities.
Now, more than ever, it is crucial for Connecticut to uphold the
values of equality for all its residents.
Our immigrant community has been fighting back fiercely against the
attacks on our immigrants, we need our legislators and institutions
to follow the leadership of our immigrant community.
These next two weeks will be critical for immigrant youth. Already
every week 122 immigrant youth are losing their DACA protections. We
can no longer wait. We have just two weeks to pass a Dream Act, the
best change is for it to be attached to a year end spending bill.
Any vote on the year end spending bill that does not include the
Dream Act is a vote to deport hundreds of immigrant youth.
This is clear - we need Senators Murphy and Blumenthal to come out
publicly and say they will not vote for a year end spending bill
without the Dream Act. Sign the petition - come see us after
State Representative
Robyn Porter, 94th District
Hello everyone, and thank you so much.
First of all, I want to give thanks to
God, I tell you, because it is truly because of him I stand before
you here today. That has always been my story, and I'm sticking to
it. Many are called but few are chosen. I was chosen, and I am
humbled by that, and when I say that, I walk in the spirit of
humility.
I don't even know where to begin with
this one over here to my right, Senator Gary Winfield. My God.
That ain't supposed to make me cry. I look up to him in a way that I
can't even describe. I call him my L.B.B., which stands for
Little Big Brother, because he's actually younger, but he's been a
big brother in many, many ways, showing me the route and
really supporting me at a time when I didn't believe in myself. But
others believed in me, and that has truly been the wind beneath my
wings.
I want to give credit to my family who
is here. My mother, Marilyn Porter. Please stand. My
daughter, Amina Marshall, please stand. My sister, my Irish twin I
call her, Tracey Porter, hailing all the way from Brooklyn, New York
in this bad weather. I love you so much. Thank you.
And I want to thank the Committee for
actually choosing me. I am so honored. So very honored. I never
expected this. Pretty much like the twins, I don't quite feel like I
deserve it, but I accept it in humility. I really do. There's been
so much work to be done, and we started out 2017 real rough. We've
had a lot to deal with over this last year, and not just on a
national level but also on a local and a state level. We've done a
lot to try to get things done. It's been very hard, and I think
because of the spirit of hate and fear that is spewing throughout not
just the State but nationally, it's a heavy lift.
So the one thing that I really want to
say today while I have everyone's ear, is that we represent many
good causes. When I think about these twins, Camila and Carolina, God
bless them, I remember when they would come to the Capitol and I'd
be, like, "Who are these girls?" And, I mean, they would
be up there advocating and educating us on the issues and what it was
they needed us to do and how they needed us to stand with them in
order to move them forward.
And I'm just glad to say, "Teamwork
makes the dream work," and we've been able to do so much
together, and I look forward to
doing a lot more with you all, and to be in the light for someone
like Peggy. My goodness. When I saw that, I said, "I
know I'm special." AFL-CIO and all the great things that the
labor movement is doing, and there's certainly an attack against the
labor movement. We are up against the alt-right, white nationalists,
white supremacists, whatever you want to call them. I sum it up with
one word: Hate. And we have to combat that.
So what I would like to see is us
actually come together and not be sidelined on our issues and the
things that drive us, the passion that drives us for people. We've
got to bring all these issues under one umbrella, because we are up
against some big money. And, yes, money is power in politics. But
what I tell people is, "we have people power," and we have
more people than they have money. Okay? We have more people than
they have money. They're the 1 percent and we're the 99 percent.
So what we have to do is come together
and support each other in ways that we've never done before and not
allow ourselves to be distracted by what's going on. Because it's
all a distraction. There's no
need to be shocked about the tone of what's
happening and what's being spewed down. This stuff has been going
on for 400 or 500 years. This country was built on this kind of
hate. But what we have to do is stick together and say "Enough
is enough." And we're going to fight together to get this
done.
And I have to be really frank and open
when I speak now because not only do I speak as someone that
fights for all the issues that Senator Winfield brought up, but I
stand before you as a Black woman in America, and that alone is a
battle every single day when I get up and leave my house. There are
things that I deal with that many other folks don't deal with that
don't look like me. So I need to know that as I support the issues
that are important to us all, you all support the issues that are
important to me, and a lot of that is around criminal justice reform,
police brutality, and the things that are going on.
We were able to do some good things
this year despite the push-back and the pull. We got some good
things done, but there's a lot of things we didn't get done that we
should have gotten done. And I'm going to put my labor hat on here
now because I'm talking about the Fight for 15, the minimum wage,
family medical leave.
I mean, the things that we should have been able to get done in this
state because we have over 70 percent of this state supporting this
stuff. But we weren't able to get it done because we didn't quite
come together the way we needed to.
So my plea to all of you here, because
I know you're here, you're with me and we stand together on the same
issues, but we've really got to get our stuff together. And when I
say that, I mean we've got to put all the B.S. aside, all the little
things that separate us, and come together in unity and in love. It
is about community. It's about the village, and I talk about that
all the time. It's about the village and getting back to the basics
and back to the things that make us strong as a people, one people,
under one nation, under one God. It's not about the color of your
skin but, unfortunately, we know that's a half truth because we do
suffer because of the color of our skin.
So my plea today is we get these things
done on a whole; that we come together collectively and that we work
together on all issues, and that when I go out and I'm marching for
criminal justice reform and for police accountability, that I see all
of you standing with me because we just need to feel reciprocation
going forward. We really do.
And I'll tell you the other thing that
I believe. I believe that it's time for women to lead. Nothing
against the men. We've got some great men in our presence doing
great work at the Capitol, but I do believe that somewhere along
the line something gets in the way when it comes to men and
leadership. Ego, pride and all those other things that go together.
Women have a knack of making things work,
multitasking, not being distracted and understanding at the end of
the day, we need to just get it done.
So let's make it happen. Please
support us going forward because that's really the drive for 2018.
We need to see more, not just women, but more progressive women and
more women of color. We need to see women representing the
communities that they live in, and that representation is very
important because, as a woman at the table, I get to bring issues
that men don't talk about. And not that they're not important to
men. They're not just on the front burner for men.
So that matters, that we have women at
the table taking a stake and making a claim for the things that
are important, not
just to women but to families, because when you talk about women, you
talk about
families. We're getting to a point
where women are actually the breadwinners now. There's the whole
pay-equity issue. That's another bill that I wasn't able to get
through.
And I mention these bills to you
because going forward in 2018, we're going to be calling on all of
you. We're going to need you at the Capitol. We're going to need you
at the public hearings. We're going to need you for testimony.
We're going to need you talking to legislators across the state, not
just
the ones that represent you.
We've got a lot of work to do, but I
say the rubber meets the road on the ground. It's a grassroots
movement. We have to get back to the basics. We have to do the
things that we know work. And that's what works. What works is
people coming together and moving forward on one accord.
There's so much more I could say, but I
tell you, I'm just so very humbled. I never thought in a million
years that this would be my calling. And I'm so humbled. That is my
prayer every day. God, keep me humble. Keep me in your will. Keep
me connected to you so I can hear what it is you want me to do for
the people because my passion is real as my commitment. I'm
dedicated for life because this is a life movement, people, and if
you ain't in it for the rest of your life, you can leave now because
this work will continue to be done when you're long gone. So we need
you to be committed for life. Right?
Nothing is going to happen overnight.
It hasn't happened in decades. So let's not act like it's going to
happen next year. It's going to take time, but through perseverance
and commitment and dedication, I believe together not only do we get
it done, together we win.
All the folks that believe we're going
to win -- let me see some hands. For all the folks that know that
despite the way it looks right now -- and I'm here to tell you it's
going to probably get worse -- but with our hands to the plow, things
will get better. So don't give up hope. You've got to keep hope
alive, because hope is what fuels us, and knowing that what we're
doing here today is not for naught. The fights that we fight, we may
lose the battles, but the war we're going to win in the end. I truly
believe that. And that's why I do what I do. And I will continue to
fight the good fight until there's no more fight left in me.
So thank you, because you all truly
give me the coverage to go on, give me the inspiration to go on.
That's a reciprocal thing that happens. I give it and I receive it.
And that's what keeps me going.
I traveled all the way from South
Carolina to be here, this has been one heck of a week for me, but it
was so important for me to be here today in person to accept this
award because it means that much to me. It's not just the award, but
it's what the award stands for. It's the people. Each and every one
of you means something to me, and I truly mean that. The love is
real, and I hope that going forward you will be able to continue to
see as I exhibit that through what I do, not only at the State
Capitol as a legislator but just as an everyday person, a woman, a
mother, a sister, an auntie, a friend.
That's who I want to be, and I want to
carry that over to what I do politically because I don't like being
called a politician. I believe that I am a public servant. I have a
servant's heart, and this is what I was born to do evidently.
They say, "Tell God your plans and
make him laugh." Well, he told me his. I'm still laughing
because I did not believe when I went in my prayer closet and said,
"I'm going to pray on this," that he was going to tell me
"Yes." I thought, "Oh, that's going to be easy. I'm
going to pray on it. He's going to tell me no, and she can get off
my back." It didn't happen like that.
So I am in it for the long haul, and I
thank you all for being here, especially with this inclement weather
for coming out to support us. It means a tremendous amount to me.
Thank you so much. God bless you all.
Peggy Buchanan,
Campaign Manager CT AFL-CIO
It is
an honor to receive this award. Thank you, all of you.
I want
to say how much I admire the other honorees Camila and Carolina
Bortoletto, and Representative Robyn Porter for their
courage and amazing leadership.
I would
like to congratulate ULA for 15 years fighting for human
rights and say to Local 33, you are just an incredible
inspiration.
And I
stand in solidarity with Nelson Pinos and Marco Reyes, their
families and the others and join the chorus saying” Not one more!”
Thank
you to my husband, whom I love dearly. I’d like to
acknowledge my union family at the Connecticut AFL-CIO, , the
Greater Hartford Labor Coalition and the Connecticut Center for a
New Economy.
And,
importantly, thank you, Joelle, for your leadership, for
weaving organizations together, for helping us to see our common
goals.I want to pay tribute to the 98th anniversary of the
Connecticut CPUSA and the generations who have worked to put people
and planet before corporate greed.
In
thinking about how we can move forward together, I have been looking
over my shoulder at the generations who came before us for
inspiration.
I recently spent time combing through archives of documents and decades of old pictures to honor the Connecticut AFL-CIO’s 60th anniversary.
Looking
through that full sweep of our history, it’s true what we say that
“progress comes from struggle.” Any benefit or right we have now
is because someone negotiated, protested, got arrested, campaigned,
picketed, starved or even died for it.
Our
long history gives us a distinct vantage point. In decade after
decade, we won significant victories - even when the odds were
stacked against us. When we fight together, we win together. This
is our strength and we should never doubt it.
This is
not the time to be cautious. At the recent national AFL-CIO
convention, Secretary Treasurer Liz Shuler implored us to be bold.
“Just protecting what we have is far more dangerous than taking
risks,” she said. Now is the time to harness the desire for
change, “to make unions relevant and indispensable to working
people’s lives.” I know this to be true from my decades in the
movement.
In the
early 1980s, I attended my first meeting of the Coalition of Labor
Union Women. We were the new wave of working women, eager to make
the house of labor our home, too. We created an ambitious agenda to
achieve pay equity and child care. It was bold for its time, but
especially so, since Reagan had just fired the Patco strikers.
Leading the meeting was a woman I had not yet met, Merrilee Milstein.
She would later become a mentor, a friend and her memory is forever
in my heart. To say that we left the meeting feeling empowered is
too mild, because with Merrilee, we left fired up - as if we can’t
take it anymore.
And
then Local 34 went out on strike, carrying signs demanding pay
equity. It was the militancy of working women that garnered national
attention and inspired us all. Community and labor joined the picket
lines in solidarity. This was the labor movement I wanted to be a
part of! It was a window into what we all could achieve together.
That
was over 30 years ago and that sense of possibility has never left
me. Today, more than ever, working families need that window into
what is possible, to see that the economy is not like the weather,
that we can change it. The organizing victory of the Stamford hotel
workers is a powerful demonstration of that window wide open.
To
build a massive movement of resistance, we need deep genuine bonds of
solidarity. It’s the emotional cement that holds us together. To
achieve it, we must address the fundamental obstacles that divide
working people and build unity. Nearly 50 years ago the Reverend Dr.
Martin Luther King, Jr. went to Memphis to join the sanitation
workers’ picket line, a powerful expression of how the fight for
racial, social and economic justice is intertwined. In that spirit,
let’s take bold, deliberate steps towards the Beloved Community.
Let’s
be strategic as Merrilee would say in how we “Move the movement
forward”.
We’ve
got to go all in on giving workers a voice on the workplace
including those who cry “Me Too”.
We’ve
got to go all in on passage of a clean dream act, extending TPS
and a path to citizenship for the 11 million who live and work in the
shadows.
We’ve
got to go all in pushing a broad working families’ agenda in
the legislative session, defending what we have, but – creating
excitement and involvement around issues we care about, opening a
window on to what is possible.
We’ve
got to go all in – all in - on the 2018 elections so we can
elect candidates who will stand for our issues and achieve an economy
that works for working families, not just for the wealthy few or
corporations.
Let’s
cherish and grow the progressive movement. Let’s help each
other take risks and be bold, let’s defend each other, open doors,
listen, and be mentors. Let’s lay the seeds for the next
generation as the preceding generations have done for us - so that we
can all live in a just and peaceful society, enjoying this beautiful
planet.
In
closing, I want to share with you a poem inscribed on a plaque given
to the Colt 45 when we were arrested at the Colt picket line, the
longest strike in our history. It goes like this:
Freedom
doesn’t come like a bird on the wing
Doesn’t
come down like summer rain
Freedom,
Freedom is a hard won thing
You’ve
got to work for it
Day
and night for it
And
every generation’s got to win it again….
But
every generation doesn’t have to do it alone. As a movement, we
link arms and together we ask that defining question, Which side are
you on? From the 1931 Harlan County miners who popularized it, to
the Dreamers who embraced it, “Which side are you on, my people,
which side are you on? We are all on the freedom side!
