Today's Boycott Expected to Have Nationwide Impact
El Conquistador, News Report, Posted: Apr 30, 2006
MILWAUKEE - Wisconsin Latino leaders and elsewhere are betting that the May 1 economic boycott will serve notice to America that the Latino working force is an essential cog in the country's business machine.
About 110 members of coalitions and organizers of marches in cities across the nation met April 22 in Chicago, Illinois to complete their strategy for the Great American Boycott.
Nelson Goodson and Ernesto Nava, both members of the March 23 Coalition, "A Day Without Latinos Peaceful March," that drew more than 30,000 people in Milwaukee attended the nine hour summit and voted in consensus to proceed with the one day boycott nationwide. Goodson went on record that the Wisconsin Latino community and its supporters are strongly participating on the economic boycott and other activities such as marches.
The May 1 one-day boycott is expected to have a nationwide economic impact and forever set a precedence that indeed immigrants do have an economic impact.
Famous Latino artists, singers, movie stars, entertainers, comedians, and other influential Latino people in the industry have endorsed the one-day boycott to protest against the discriminatory immigration legislative bill HR-4437 authored by Republican U.S. Rep. F. James Sensenbrenner Jr., from Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin.
The protests nationwide were ignited shortly after the U.S. Congress passed legislative bill HR-4437, which would criminalize undocumented workers and penalize those who help them.
The anti-immigrant proposed bill has united millions and millions of people from every ethnic group including Latinos, Asians, Anglo Saxons, Filipinos, Afro-Americans, people of Arab descent. Today, Sensenbrenner should recognize that his bill has unified millions of people, and that is itself a major historical victory for the people.
More than 2.9 million have marched throughout the nation in protest in the last two months. Local business owners and national organizations have also come together in an effort to defeat HR-4437 and have endorsed a one-day boycott. A strong message has been circulated by supporters of the boycott not to buy any products, gas, and other items from major stores and companies not related to or supporting the Hispanic community. The call for the boycott has reached every corner of America and is expected to create an economic impact, according to a Los Angeles Coalition working along with the National Immigrant Solidarity Network, League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) and other grass-roots organizations throughout the country.
Wisconsin played an important role during recent massive demonstrations in the last two months. On March 23, more than 30,000 people marched in Milwaukee. On April 10, more than 20,000 people marched in Madison, according to organizers in protest of HR-4437 and to advocate for an immigrant's right to citizenship.
Locally, the economic boycott could have significant effects. South side households in the predominately Latino community located inside Postal Zip Code 53204 in Milwaukee spend more than $91 million annually in retail goods, according to Department of City Development statistics. In one day, they spent approximately $249,315.06. The biggest tax-generating base for the city comes solely from the south side.
Immigrants contribute $7 billion in social security per year (National Immigrant Solidarity Network), and are a major boost to the U.S. economy with the combined value of their labor, their stimulus on our economy, and the taxes they pay exceeding $890 billion per year according to a University of California-Los Angeles study by Raul Hinojosa.
In contrast undocumented immigrants only use about $43 billion in public benefits per year primarily in education and emergency health care. They contribute about $850 billion more per year then they cost - a huge net gain for the United States.
On April 25, President George W. Bush made a moderate statement on the immigration legislation, "I will report to the American people that there is a common desire to have a bill that enforces the border, a bill that has interior enforcement - in other words, a bill that will hold people to account for hiring somebody who is here illegally - but a bill that also recognizes we must have a temporary worker program, a bill that does not grant automatic amnesty to people, but a bill that says somebody who is working here on a legal basis has the right to get in line to become a citizen."
Related Stories:
IMMIGRATION MATTERS: Unjust Deportation Policies Must Be Reformed, Too
Can the Immigrant Rights Movement Be Channeled into Votes?
Hispanic Media Split On May 1 Boycott
Immigration < NAM Coverage
Photo by Andrew Stern, courtesy of nyc indymedia
Page
1 of 1
|
