Stand Up for Immigrants on May Day
A busy long weekend of activism is almost here! Hot on the heels of Saturday’s People’s Climate March comes the May Day Action for Immigrants and Workers, on Monday, May 1st. Rallies, marches and strikes are planned in more than 50 cities in 25 states.
A number of groups are coordinating the multi-city May Day Action (also referred to as Un Dia sin Inmigrantes/A Day without Immigrants), including Cosecha, Casa in Action, the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), and the Food Chain Workers Alliance (FCWA). After years of unsuccessfully pressuring lawmakers for immigration reform, May Day Action organizers have turned to non-violent actions such as strikes and marches to demand protection and respect for immigrants, and to highlight the economic and social contributions of America’s immigrants, whether they’re documented or not. This year, May Day Actions will also stand against the broadened scope of deportation and other anti-immigration actions of the current administration.
Cities in and around New Jersey hosting May Day Actions include:
- Washington, DC, 2pm at Lafayette Square
- NYC, 12pm at Union Square Park
- Philadelphia, 12 pm at City Hall
- Jersey City, 2:30pm at Liberty State Park
- Newark, 2pm at Broad Street Lincoln Park and Federal Building
Organizations sponsoring May Day Actions in New Jersey include New Jersey Alliance for Immigrant Justice, New Jersey Working Families Alliance, ACLU of New Jersey, Food and Water Watch, NJ Clergy Coalition, NJ Forum for Human Rights, American Friends Service Committee, Action Together New Jersey, Blue Wave NJ, Make the Road NJ, CAIR New Jersey, Statewide Parent Advocacy Network, Inc., New Jersey Policy Perspective and the UU Legislative Ministry of NJ.
How can you stand up for immigrants if you are unable to get to an event on Monday? Take to social media to share articles and photos of May Day Actions before, during and after the event. Fill in Casa in Action’s “I Stand with _____” page, take a photo and share on social media with the hashtags #maydayaction, #riseup, and #mayday.
But don’t stop there! Help increase the impact of the May Day Action by making some phone calls or writing some letters…
- to your local town council or county freeholders in support of Fair and Welcoming City policies, or for the ACLU’s 9 Freedom City policies.
- to your state legislators in support of bill S3005/A4742, which would prevent local law enforcement agencies from complying with ICE detention retainers or information requests unless an individual has been convicted of a serious crime, and bill A4611, which would prevent ICE from making arrests at schools, courthouses, health care facilities and shelters.
- to your House representatives in support of the BRIDGE ACT (HR 496), which would grant provisional protected status to undocumented immigrants who came to the U.S. as children, and the Recognizing America’s Children Act (HR 1468), which would allow permanent status to undocumented immigrants who are long-term residents of the U.S. or who were brought to the U.S. as children.
- to your Senators in support of the BRIDGE ACT (S128), see above.
Whether you are able to march on Monday or now, please take a moment in the coming days to voice your support for immigrant families and communities.
Next up….
The Ocean is Rising…and So Are We! People’s Climate March on 4/29
UPDATE, 4/27/17: Please note there is also a Climate March event happening in Maplewood, NJ! Details in list below.
For the third weekend in a row, thousands of people will gather at marches and rallies around the country, this time for the People’s Climate March, on Saturday, April 29th. In addition to the main march in D.C., there are more than 250 sister marches planned in locations around the world!
April 29th is the president’s 100th day in office. March organizers chose this date in order to shine a spotlight on the current administration’s stance on climate change — and to demonstrate mass support for climate justice and “an economy that works for people and planet.”
New Jerseyans have many options for participating in the People’s Climate March:
- Washington D.C. March. Line up starting at 11am in front of the Capitol Building at 3rd and Jefferson SW. March begins at 12:30, heading up Pennsylvania Ave, where at approximately 2pm, the march route will completely encircle the White House. Speakers and music scheduled at the Washington Monument grounds from 3-5pm. Small backpacks and bags are allowed. Bring refillable water bottles and light snacks. You can search for a bus to DC here.
- Philly People’s Climate March. From 1-5 pm, beginning at City Hall (1401 JFK Blvd).
- Walk for Our World’s Green Future, Princeton, NJ. 9:30am at D & R Greenway Land Trust.
- New Jersey People’s Climate Movement Rally, Roselle, NJ. 10:30am-12:30pm at Warinanco Park.
- People’s Climate March Staten Island. 12-4pm at the Boardwalk, Midland Beach/South Beach.
- Caldwell Huddle Climate Change Event, Caldwell, NJ. 11am-3pm, Caldwell Town Green.
- Stroudsburg’s Climate Movement, Stroudsburg, PA. 11am at Bryant Park.
- Climate Rally Bergen and Beyond, Hackensack, NJ. 10-11:30am at the Bergen County Courthouse.
- People’s Climate March, Queens. 10am-2pm, 50-19 Broadway, Woodside, NY.
- Leonia People’s Climate March, Leonia, NJ. 9:30am at Leonia Middle School.
- People’s Climate March SOMA, Maplewood, NJ. 11am-2pm at Springfield Ave. betw. Yale and Oberlin Streets.
The People’s Climate March is being organized by the People’s Climate Movement, a project shared by a coalition of 50+ organizations including 350.org, American Federation of Teachers, the Center for Biological Diversity, the Center for Popular Democracy, Color of Change, Earthjustice, the League of Conservation Voters, the NAACP, the Natural Resources Defense Council, Our Revolution, SEIU, Sierra Club, the Union of Concerned Scientists, and many more. More than 500 other organizations around the country are sponsoring events and local marches.
Groups sponsoring nearby marches and events include: Philly With Standing Rock, Sustainable Princeton, Climate Change Activists of Union County, Sustainable Staten Island, the Caldwell Huddle, the Ethical Culture Sociey of Bergen County, GreenFaith, Queens Action Council, the Leonia Action Alliance, and many more!
If you cannot attend a climate march, there are still many actions you can take to increase the impact of the People’s Climate Movement. In fact, you can also take these actions even if you are planning to march on Saturday. Before, during and after the event, you can share invites, articles and photos for the march on social media, to help shape public opinion. But don’t stop there!
- Call your members of Congress or write a letter to the editor explaining why you stand in solidarity with the People’s Climate March.
- Tell your members of Congress to protect the EPA and other programs (such as the Global Climate Change Initiative, the Green Climate Fund, the Strategic Climate Fund, the Clean Technology Fund, NASA’s Office of Education, and the Energy Star Program) that the administration is threatening with budget cuts.
- Call your state legislators here in New Jersey and urge them to support S3059/A4701, a bill that would bring New Jersey back into the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, and S1707/A2203, the Renewable Energy Transition Act. (UPDATE, 5/27/17: A4701 has now passed in the state Senate and Assembly! Thanks to everyone who made calls. Now the bill goes to the governor’s desk. Stay tuned for STAND CNJ call-to-action in the coming days!)
- Take part in the New Jersey March for Science’s first call-to-action, and tell your state legislators to implement a long-term state climate change plan as recommended by the NJ Climate Adaptation Alliance.
Everyone can participate in the People’s Climate Movement for climate and social justice, whether by marching or calling elected officials, on Saturday or the days surrounding the march. Please find time to pick up the phone for our planet!
And save the date for the next two nationwide marches:
Take to the Streets for Science!
Do you like antibiotics, GPS navigation, images from the Hubble telescope, hurricane watches and winter storm warnings, air travel, earthquake-proof building techniques, and the ebola vaccine? If so, then you like SCIENCE! Join STAND Central New Jersey, hundreds of other organizations and hundreds of thousands of other people in the March for Science this Saturday, April 22nd.
The main march will be held in Washington, D.C., but there are 517 satellite marches planned on six continents! Here in New Jersey, we can drive or take a train to the DC March, or we can choose to go to one of several nearby satellite events:
- The D.C. March. Begins north of the Washington Monument, with teach-ins from 9-10am, a rally from 10am-2pm, and the March itself, which begins at 2pm.
- Atlantic City March. Begins at the Boardwalk on Albany Ave. 2-5pm.
- March for Science Lehigh Valley, in Bethlehem, PA. At Payrow Plaza, 1-3pm.
- Doylestown, PA March. Begins at State & Main, 12pm.
- New York City March. Begins with a rally at Central Park West at 62nd St., 10:30am. March begins at approximately 11:30. March route ends at 52nd and Broadway.
- Philadelphia March. Start assembling at 10am on the South side of City Hall. March begins at 11. March ends at Penn’s Landing–Great Plaza, with speakers and live music.
- Princeton March. Rally at Hinds Plaza at 10am. March begins at 11am.
- Trenton March. STAND CNJ is proud to be a sponsor of the Trenton March for Science! Begins at 10am with a program of speakers at the War Memorial, followed by a March to the New Jersey Statehouse Annex.
You can find satellite marches in other states or countries here.
The goals of the March for Science include demanding evidence-based policy and regulations that serve the public’s best interest, ending gag rules and other restrictions that prevent scientists from speaking openly about their research, and increasing funding and hiring for scientific research.
A large coalition of partners representing scientific, education, advocacy and medical organizations have joined together to help sponsor the March in D.C., including the Union of Concerned Scientists, The Nature Conservancy, the National Science Teachers Association, the Center for Science in the Public Interest, and the American Public Health Association, among many, many others. In addition to STAND CNJ, local organizations sponsoring marches in New Jersey include Action Together New Jersey, American Federation of Teachers-NJ, New Jersey Education Association, Communications Workers of America, Hope Rises Up, NOW NJ, Sierra Club New Jersey, Working Families Alliance of NJ, Princeton Marching Forward, Young Democrats of Atlantic County, the South Jersey Democratic Women’s Forum and more! The complete list of sponsors for the Trenton march is here.
Even if you are unable to attend a March for Science on Saturday, there are still many ways you can help the event have a larger, more meaningful impact. Sharing information, articles and photos about the March before, during and after the event is always a helpful way to shape public opinion. But don’t stop there. Write a letter to the editor explaining why you support the March for Science. Write a letter to your representatives explaining why you stand in solidarity with those who march on Saturday, though you are unable to march yourself. You can take these actions on the day of the March, or at a different time that works better with your schedule.
A few more specific action ideas for everyone, whether you are able to attend a march on Saturday or not:
- NJ March for Science in Trenton organizers are calling on NJ residents to sustain the spirit of the march by asking their state legislators to create a comprehensive state climate change strategy, as New Jersey is the only state along the Eastern seaboard that has no climate change adaptation plan, despite our many miles of beaches and shore towns.
- Defend science-based policy and regulatory protections by urging Senator Booker and Senator Menendez to vote against HR 1430, the HONEST Act, and HR 1431, the EPA Science Review Board Advisory Act, which have already passed in the House. These two bills threaten to make it harder for evidence-based research and scientists to guide policy at the EPA. Call Sen. Booker at 973-639-8700 and Sen. Menendez at 973-645-3030.
- Take part in the Union of Concerned Scientists’ current priority action by contacting your 3 members of Congress and urging them to reject the many cuts in the president’s proposed budget to evidence-based, scientific programs and agencies.
- More broadly, organizers of the D.C. March for Science are encouraging supporters of the March to participate in a Week of Action from April 23-29. A description of daily actions can be found here.
Saturday is coming soon — get ready to march and/or take action for evidence-based government and scientific research!
And mark your calendars for the marches still ahead….
- The People’s Climate March (4/29)
- The Immigrants’ and Workers’ March (5/1)
- The Equality March for Unity and Pride (6/11)