Author Archives: Josh Eidelson

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Congressman John Lewis, one of the original freedom riders, has a powerful piece in today’s Post calling for a national mobilization behind the modern freedom riders:

“Reward work,” they are saying, by enabling the millions of immigrants who are living here, working hard, paying taxes and pursuing the American dream to legalize their status. “Renew our democracy,” they urge, by creating a clear and smooth path to citizenship for all immigrants who wish to pledge their allegiance to our flag. “Restore labor protections” to give all workers, regardless of immigration status, the full benefit of labor laws, including the right to form unions. “Reunite families” by streamlining outdated policies that separate immigrants to our country from their families and loved ones far longer than is necessary or right. “Respect the civil rights and civil liberties of all,” so that everyone in America, regardless of our place of birth or our immigration status, enjoys equality before the law.

Like the Freedom Rides of 1961, Freedom Ride 2003 calls on ordinary people to do extraordinary things: to put their bodies on the line at a moment in American history when immigration is a volatile issue everywhere; to stand up for their rights and the rights of many others; to call attention to bad laws that harm good people; and to challenge the federal government to act where it seems determined not to.

You can also read thoughts from several of the riders on the Boston bus here:

So for these two days that we’ve traveled I have looked out and seen such a beautiful view. And I’ve been thinking about it and thinking how wonderful it is that so many people can come from so far away to Washington, DC, and speak with one voice, and say to the President, you have to make some changes. We need some changes and to me that means a lot, because I say that We the People are the ones that have the power to make some changes. We the People of the United States changed the country many years ago, and we can do this again. This is our obligation.

And Saqib Bhatti has a great piece in today’s YDN:

I am going to be there with them this Saturday because I cannot possibly be anywhere else. As a son of immigrant parents, I know firsthand of the difficulties immigrants in America face — from social stigma to systemic discrimination. As a Muslim, I feel Aleena’s and Asim’s pain and know that next time it could be someone I care for very deeply — perhaps even one of the international students here at Yale who went to Hartford just last week for registration. But most of all, as an American, I know that I value freedom and equality far too highly to sit idly by while my government makes a mockery of them in my name.

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There are moments when Yale’s leadership takes significant, even potentially unpopular progressive stances in line with the best values of the University. While they tend to be on symbolic issues – like reimbursing lost financial aid for students with drug possession charges – and exclusively on national and international debates rather than local struggles, they should be acknowledged, both because credit should go where it’s deserved and because it’s nice sometimes to be able to be proud of the leadership of this institution. While there’s certainly much more Yale could do to defend its non-discrimination policy, the letters released to the YDN, showing a nearly two-decade struggle with the Pentagon over the incompatability of the army’s hiring practices, Yale’s non-discrimination policy, and military recruitment on campus, are a nice break for those of us used to only seeing Levin directing pithy and blistering rhetoric at the working people of this University.

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President Bush on allegations that his staff punitively leaked classified information so as to discredit a man who questioned the empirical foundation on which the US waged war in Iraq:

“Leaks of classified information are bad things.”

At least in this case, I would have to agree.

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Arianna Huffington strikes the right tone in her speech withdrawing from the Governor’s race:

When this race started, Arnold Schwarzenegger was an unknown quantity. And a week before the election there is still far too much we don’t know about him.

If, as he says, he is going to balance the budget but raise no taxes, shouldn’t he have to tell us — before the election, not after — precisely what vital programs and services he proposes to cut to make that happen — and precisely who is going to feel the pain of those cuts?

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The most telling moment in Paul Bass’ latest follow-up on the Yale strike is his account of Levin’s attempt to field his question:

The road to a settlement proved that strikes do work. At least at Yale. Levin insists the two sides could have come to this agreement without a strike.

“Had we been able to sit down” sooner in a “small group” holding serious negotiations, the deal would have come sooner, he says.

But for a good year before the strike, union leaders argued that Levin, or another high-ranking administrator, needed to appear at negotiations for real progress. Levin denied it. Then, on the eve of the strike, he showed up at the table–and kept returning over 23 days, helping to crunch numbers and work toward compromise.

Asked whether he would have shown up without a strike, Levin at first offered pause and no answer. Then he said, “At the right time and place, I would have been there.” But before the strike, he denied repeated requests to do just that.

Actually, at a Master’s Tea in March, he told a group of undergraduates I was in that calling on him to come to the table was ridiculous. Once more, here’s hoping next time Yale’s leadership has an easier time recognizing the real interests of this University – and their resonance with the interests of this community.

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The YDN has a nice interview with Stephen Trask, the creative genius behind Hedwig and the Angry Inch and also the partner (how cool is this – too bad I only found out at the end of the semester) of my first English teacher from last year, Michael Trask.

Well, they did “Hedwig” here [at Yale], but I don’t get involved with “Hedwig” anywhere. Right now, I would love to meet with more students and see what they are doing…I’m always available for a cup of coffee. I’d go see “Hedwig”…When they were doing it here, I thought it would be funny to show up for the auditions for the music and play my role. But I didn’t do it…it was before the movie came out, so I didn’t know if anyone would recognize me.

His new movie comes out Friday.

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The Boston Freedom Riders were here in New Haven last night for a beautiful and inspirational service. As the YDN reported:

Immigrants like Vaquerano said they will try their best to promote freedom democracy, and that they need to see a change. “Everyday I cry, my heart cries,” Vaquerano said. “God made us all equal — we are all brothers and sisters. I look on our bus, and all of us are different colors, but when I look at us, how beautiful we are. That’s what God created.”

Tonight, these freedom riders had a potluck and celebration in Philadelphia with many of the people I was privileged to work with this summer. Tomorrow night, they and several hundred others will converge in DC to prepare to spend Thursday lobbying for a renewal of the vision which brought my grandparents and great-grandparents to this nation.

The students buses to New York for the culminating rally on Saturday are filling up quickly – now’s the time to reserve your ticket for Saturday. Or, as the Rev. David Lee would say, “10-4!”

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From the Onion…right?

“For generations, we’ve viewed spending on our nation’s young people as an investment in the future,” Snow said. “Unfortunately, investments of this type take a minimum of 18 years to mature, and even then, there’s no guarantee of a profit. It’s just not good business.” Snow compared funneling money into public schools, youth programs, and child health-care clinics to letting the nation’s money languish in a low-interest savings account.

“This is taxpayer money we’re talking about,” Snow said. “We can’t keep pouring it into slow-growth ventures, speculating on a minuscule payout some time in the future. Federal expenditures are recouped when a child grows up and becomes a productive, taxpaying member of society. But we don’t see a sizable return on our investment unless a child invents something profitable, or cures a costly disease, like cancer. The wisdom of making such long-range, long-shot investments is questionable at best, especially when you consider inflation. America would do better to invest in profitable business ventures. It’s just that simple.”

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A scathing critique of “How Yale Killed a Vibrant City Economy” – from a free-market Republican, and in the New Haven Register, no less:

Yale was not being targeted by unions because it is the only game in town. It was targeted because its labor relations, like its property management, are based on the university’s failure to grasp its responsibilities as the city’s largest employer and property owner.

As a responsible corporate citizen, Yale should understand, as Harvard does, that paying living wages and adequate pensions, curbing its physical expansion, and making contributions to municipal revenues commensurate to the demands made on them by non-taxpaying students, faculty, and staff, is far less costly than the ill will its current policies engender.

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Freedom riders from Minnesota and Washington are keeping on-line journals – check them out. There are pictures too.

We created a song for our bus called “Perigrinos De La Libertad”. Our group is in very high spirits and I saw the passion of their beliefs in their faces as they sang the song.

Our first stop for the day was in Rupert, ID. We pulled into Rupert Town Square and saw many people setting up lunch for us as we got out of the bus. Children from the elementary school sang songs. A speaker told about the man that was shot in the back by the INS about a year ago in Rupert. He is survived by a wife and young child.

As we left the park many people came and wished us the best and sent their prayers. We are getting many prayers for our safety…..It makes me realize the hopes that many people have for the for the success of the Freedom Ride.

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The first Border Patrol Stop of an Immigrant Worker Freedom Ride bus just took place in Texas, and fortunately was resolved without further incident:

A convoy of two busloads of people on their way to Washington D.C. to lobby for citizenship for illegal aliens working in the U.S. was stopped today by the U.S. Border patrol just outside El Paso in west Texas.

“They were asked for their identification after being stopped at the I.N.S. checkpoint on Interstate 10 near Sierra Blanca,” Leone Bicchieri, the leader of the convoy, which left Los Angeles earlier this week and is scheduled to arrive in San Antonio tonight, told 1200 WOAI news. It is one of ten bus convoys which are calling themselves Immigrant Workers Freedom Rides, after the Freedom Rides of bus passengers which helped integrate bus stations and other public facilities in the south during the civil rights movement.

Bicchieri says the busses were released following the intervention of El Paso Bishop Armando X. Ochoa and two members of Congress, who called on the Border Patrol, which is now a part of the Department of Homeland Security, to allow the passengers to proceed. The passengers were ordered to get off the busses and enter the Border Patrol offices, where they refused to provide the documentation officials were demanding.

“They were asked for their identification but the passengers felt it was racial profiling and exercised their right to remain silent,” Bicchieri said. “Almost everyone on both busses are people of color.”…Bicchieri said ‘if a group of Boy Scouts’ had been traveling down the same route, “they wouldn’t have been stopped and asked for documentation.”

The two bus loads of activists still plan to spend the night in San Antonio, although their arrival will be delayed several hours by the incident. They then plan to travel to Washington D.C, first making stops in Austin and Dallas to meet with supporters.

This underlies the bravery of these riders, and the urgency of their cause.

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From the Times:

The newcomer, retired Gen. Wesley Clark, was more affable than forthcoming about his unformed policy views. He insisted that he was a Democrat at heart, despite previous votes for Republican presidents, and would prove it in position papers. The Rev. Al Sharpton told him to relax because the panel had “a lot of old Democrats up here who have been acting like Republicans.”

Indeed.