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GUEST: Gerald Lenoir, Coordinator of the Black Alliance for Just Immigration

This past weekend, a 14-member delegation of African Americans toured various border towns around Tucson, Arizona to investigate human rights abuses on both sides of the border. The delegation was sponsored by the Black Alliance for Just Immigration (BAJI), an organization founded to educate the African American community on issues of immigration. In doing so, BAJI hopes to connect African Americans’ struggles with the present-day struggles of immigrants. The “Braving Borders, Building Bridges” tour traveled to three different towns to meet with local community leaders. The group heard first-hand testimonies about the impact on migrants and residents of increased U.S. militarization of the border. Many of those accounts point to racial profiling and abuses of Mexican Americans, Latin American migrants, and Native Americans.

Reminder – there will be several May Day immigration events happening in Southern California today:

– The Multi-Ethnic Immigrant Organizing Network has a May Day event at MacArthur Park on the corner of Wilshire and Park View, starting at 5 pm. For more information, visit www.pwcsc.org or www.chirla.org.

– Groups from the March 25th Coalition are organizing an event in Downtown LA starting at 12 noon on the corner of Olympic and Broadway. There will be a march and rally. For more information, visit maydaymovement.blogspot.com.

– Union del Barrio is calling for marchers to begin gathering at the corner of Washington and Broadway in Los Angeles beginning at 10 a.m. For more information, call (323)-860-9870

– There will be a May Day event put together by various groups in Orange County including Hermandad Mexicana, the Mexican American Political Association and others. It will start at 3 pm on the corner of Broadway and Flower in Santa Ana, in front of the Courthouse.

– In Riverside, marchers will gather at the UCRiverside flagpole, located at 900 University Ave, Riverside Ca, starting at 3pm and will march to Riverside City Hall where a rally will begin at 4pm.

KPFK will be doing a live broadcast from 1-6 pm from the downtown march. Uprising will be broadcasting a special May Day edition from 2-3.