New Orleans Workers' Center for Racial Justice

After a morning at the Southern Poverty Law Center’s Civil Rights Memorial museum in Montgomery, Alabama — and with their new banner — the workers were charged up more than ever before for a march through the heart of the Deep South.

After a few miles, Alabama’s finest made an appearance, first simply riding alongside, then making a brief stop to find out what the march was about, then finally stopping the group for a nice long chat.

The police claimed that Montgomery law required a permit any time more than four people walked together. Anywhere. For any reason. Unbelievable, maybe, but true, as our lawyers discovered. While the negotiations continued, a local TV news reporter happened to passing by on his way home from work and decided to set up.

(The news report that came out of it is here.)

Then came the strangest turn of all: At the very moment the satyagrahis were discussing which 4 should continue the march, the local police chief pulled up, had a little discussion with the other officers, and came to tell us they had decided to “revoke the permit requirement.” And off we went!

Spirits were so high that even at sundown the satyagrahis wanted to keep on marching, and only as night fell with the deepening shades of a beautiful sunset behind them, were the workers ready to call it a day.

We’re spending the night just outside of Atlanta. Check back for updates soon, and as always, drop in at www.flickr.com/photos/nolaworkerscenter for lots more photos!

After a full day walking east through Mississippi following their press event in Jackson yesterday, with honks and cheers of support from many drivers, especially African-Americans –

– the workers arrived by bus in Montgomery, AL, at the heart of the US civil rights fight, where the Unitarial Universalist Church of Montgomery fed and hosted them for the night.

On Friday the workers studied and discussed connections between the social movements of the 1950s and 60s in the US and India, and prepared to set out on foot toward their next stop: Atlanta, Georgia.

This morning the workers held a press event with allies on the steps of the Mississippi state capitol in Jackson:

Sabulal Vijayan said: “We thought we were coming to a country of liberty and justice for all. When we arrived, we found slavery still exists in this country through the guest worker program. Today we challenge Signal International: Don’t bring new guest worker slaves from India. Instead, hire poor and African-American workers from Mississippi to take our place. The Indian welders and pipe fitters will train workers from poor and black Mississippi if Signal will hire them.”

He presented a list of 10 certified Indian trainers from the Alliance of Guestworkers for Dignity willing to train MS workers.

“We don’t just want Signal to hire workers on Signal’s terms—we want Signal to hire workers from Mississipi with a union contract, with fair wages, with health benefits, with immigrant rights, with a chance to move forward and make life better for all of Mississippi,” said Saket Soni.

“We cannot demand dignity and respect for low-wage African-American workers and poor white workers without also demanding the same for all Mississippi workers, including our brothers who traveled all the way from India,” said Jaribu Hill, executive director of the Mississippi Workers’ Center.

After singing a song led by Hollis Watkins, whom the workers shared stories with the previous night, the workers headed off through Jackson on foot toward their next stop: Montgomery, AL.

More pictures up at www.flickr.com/nolaworkerscenter.

The workers prepared to cross on foot from eastern Louisiana to Mississippi Wednesday morning. After an afternoon walking through Mississippi, they will arrive in Jackson, MS, for an evening meeting with civil rights legend Hollis Watkins.Check out the flickr page of our good friend and ally Ted Quant for more photos from the start of the satyagraha and march through New Orleans:

Tonight the workers met civil rights legend Hollis Watkins in Jackson, MS.

Watkins, whose marvelous voice is as well-known as his passionate commitment to civil rights, taught the workers a freedom song he sang with anti-segregationists in the 1960s: “Ain’t Scared of Nobody.” Listen to them sing it together here.

The workers repaid the favor by teaching Watkins a Malyali song. Listen to him sing it with them here.

“The non-violent philosophy we used in our civil rights work we picked up from reading and studying Mahatma Gandhi,” Watkins said.

Watkins and the workers discussed how immigrants and African-Americans are taught to hate and fear each other in order to stop them from understanding their common fight against racism and exploitation and uniting in a common struggle.

One worker told Watkins: “When we arrived in the US, the [Signal] camp managers said: ‘Stay inside the labor camp, there are black people outside, they’re doing drugs, they’re going to rob you and shoot you.’ For a while we actually stayed put because they taught us to hate black people.”

Watkins said: “When you look at the Mississippi psychology they used 40 years ago, they said to poor whites here and all over the South: ‘See, all the black folks, they’re your problem. If they weren’t raising hell, we’d be able to really do something for you.’ Today they’re saying the same thing to black folks, especially in the South, about immigrants. ‘That’s what your problem is, it’s those immigrants crawling over the border. If it weren’t for them we could do so much for you.’”

“That’s why it’s so important for us to come together and share our different struggles directly with one another. If we do that, we realize that we’re two legs on the same body, facing the same puddle of earth.”

Sabulal Vijayan said of his fellow satyagrahis: “I am very proud of these workers for putting aside their jobs and coming out to tell the world the truth: the same experience black people in the US went through with slavery is going on in a modern form with the guest worker program.”

Additional pictures up at www.flickr.com/nolaworkerscenter.

Comments from the opening of the satyagraha this morning before the Department of Labor building at Lafayette Square in New Orleans:

Saket Soni, director, NOWCRJ: “The Indian government celebrates its non-resident Indians, builds airports out of their remittences, but turns its back on them when they expose the ugly reality of immigrant life in the United States. These workers are traveling on foot to Washington to tell the truth that they believe every Indian and every American should hear.”

Sabulal Vijayan, worker and Alliance of Guestworkers organizer: “The father of our nation, Mahatma Gandhi, broke the salt tax of the British government with his satyagraha. We are following in his footsteps with our guest worker satyagraha to get justice in this country. We are in a fight for our rights.”

Paul Konar, worker and Alliance of Guestworkers organizer: “I came here with dreams for my family, that I could do something for my parents. I was caught in this trafficking and couldn’t help them at all. While I was working here, my father died and I couldn’t even go see him because I was bonded to this company. I am marching to Washington because I expect justice.”

Tracie Washington, president of the Louisiana Justice Institute: “We stand supporting these Indian workers in their quest for justice, a quest for justice that we’ve known in the United States and struggled for so many years. We should not in 2007 and 2008 be fighting this same battle for human rights and civil rights anywhere in the United States of America. No person of color–no person in the United States of America–should ever feel they are bonded and indebted to employer such that the have to escape to find freedom. This is not what we stand for as a people in the United States of America.”

As the Indian workers began to march through New Orleans on their way to Washington DC, NOWCRJ received a copy of a letter from the International Trade Union Confederation wrote to US Attorney General Michael Mukasey:

“Together with the workers, the ITUC is very concerned that [their former] employer will retaliate by contacting Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and try to get the local law enforcement agency to cooperate with ICE in an attempt to have the workers deported and so avoid legal liability. We urge you to ensure that there is no retaliatory abuse of legal proceedings in this or any other manner.”

The International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), represents 311 affiliated member organisations, including the AFL-CIO, with a total membership of 168 million workers in 156 countries and territories.

Check back often over the next eight days for hour-by-hour accounts of the workers’ experiences, meetings with allies and supporters throughout the South, and plenty of photos, but for now, we’ll kick it off with the official US press release.

Welcome to NOWCRJ’s brand-new blog. Please check back on Tuesday, March 18 for the first entry!