FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE -- Click here to download as a pdf.
Contacts: Jazmin Morinigo, 240-533-5820, morinigo.j@husky.neu.edu and Nadav David, 408-306-3010, nadav.david10@gmail.com
Student Organizers to Host “Day of Culture and Action” on Thursday in Preparation for “Un Día Sin Inmigrantes (A Day Without Immigrants)”
Students Join Movimiento Cosecha to Stand for Immigrant Rights and Build Power for May 1st Strike and Walkouts
BOSTON, MA — On Thursday, April 13th, students, faculty, staff, and community members from Boston area colleges and universities will gather for a Day of Culture and Action at Brewer Fountain in Boston Common. After years of broken promises from politicians and targeted raids against immigrant communities, President Trump’s xenophobic policies and harsh rhetoric threaten our country’s values while isolating communities that are the fabric of our nation. In response, immigrants and allies will share their narratives through music, dance and poetry, celebrating the diverse cultures that are integral to our communities.
The Day of Culture and Action will build momentum and raise awareness for Movimiento Cosecha’s “Un Dia Sin Inmigrantes (A Day Without Immigrants)” national strike on May 1st. Thousands of members from organizations such as The Fight For 15, the Food Chain Workers Alliance, SEIU United Service Workers West, and UNITE HERE Tech Cafeteria Workers have also pledged to strike on May Day. Cosecha is a nonviolent movement working to win permanent protection, dignity and respect for the 11 million undocumented people in this country. Through boycotts and strikes, Movimiento Cosecha seeks to demonstrate to the American public that this country cannot operate without its workforce, which is primarily composed of immigrants and other marginalized folks.
Students will support the national strike on May 1st by participating in campus walkouts around the country. Students, faculty, and staff are organizing on their campuses and around the city to raise awareness for the Sanctuary Campus movement, a movement to ensure that colleges and universities will protect their undocumented students, faculty, and staff from arbitrary federal investigations and deportations. Participating colleges include Northeastern University, Harvard University, Berklee College of Music, Bunker Hill Community College, Emerson College and many others. Jazmin Morinigo, an organizer with the Sanctuary Campus Northeastern University Coalition and the Cosecha student circle, says, “As a member of the Latinx community, it hurts me to see xenophobic policies coming from the White House and hateful rhetoric spreading into our communities. The Sanctuary Campus movement is working to protect and support students and community members from all backgrounds, especially undocumented students, workers and staff. We demand that our institutions take immediate steps to protect and support all vulnerable members of our communities, as we stand with Movimiento Cosecha to fight for the permanent protection, dignity and respect of all immigrants in this country. Every immigrant must know that they are valued members of our communities.”
Organizers and co-sponsors include Sanctuary Campus Coalition Northeastern University, Movimiento Cosecha, the Student-Immigrant Movement (SIM), COMBAT (Coalition to Organize and Mobilize Boston Against Trump), EmersonUNITE, Berklee Activist Network, and Harvard Graduate Student Union-UAW Organizing Committee.
# # #