For workers, against injustice
Dear friend: Today is May Day, or International Worker’ Day! We take the rights of workers to be treated fairly for granted, but things like the eight-hour workday, weekends off, and basic safety were not freely given. They had to be fought for and won by workers. Today, across the country, millions of people are celebrating this struggle. More importantly, they are carrying it on. The American Dream is simple. Every person who is willing to work hard could get a job that paid enough to put a roof over their family’s head and food in their mouth, with some disposable income left for savings and life’s little pleasures – a dinner and movie night out, or a vacation. The dream is alive, but it is shrinking, not expanding. Amid extravagant wealth, too many people – of all races, colors, and cultures – have to struggle for even the basic necessities, and for fair treatment. Whether native-born Americans or immigrant, we all want a better tomorrow. Today, we celebrate those who helped build the present, and to those who are building an even better future. We’re all in this togetherToday, immigrants are under particular duress. We see it from the president, and we see it in the Texas Legislature. I filed a resolution in the Senate (SR 706) as a companion to Rep. Ramon Romero Jr’s HR 1839. It reads as follows: WHEREAS, From the founding of our country onward, generations The Capital of the Border leads on the issuesThe El Paso Times has chronicled the role of El Paso in the national debate. Our community is at the crossroads of the continent – its original name was El Paso del Norte. That means the Pass of the North. It is where the Rocky Mountains terminate, and a gap opens. This allowed trade and other traffic to move across the continent for millennia. El Paso as a modern city grew with the railroads, as they followed the beaten track west. Now we are the largest U.S. city that is directly on the border. It is up to our community to lead the fight to stop bad laws, such as SB 4 in the Texas Legislature, which deputizes local police to be the “deportation force” that already is sowing fear in immigrant communities – a desired outcome for the attorney general and others who make no bones about what they are doing. The El Paso Times wrote about the efforts of the El Paso delegation here. And it is up to our community to tell the truth about the border and immigrant communities. We are proud of our culture, and won’t stand for being denigrated. It’s sometimes frustrating, because the anti-border, anti-immigrant propaganda has taken its toll, but I have faith that eventually the truth will be heard. You can read more from the El Paso Times on that subject here. Sincerely, |
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