VIEW FROM THE HILL - #9; May 5, 2006 A Monthly E-mail Update Highlander Research and Education Center www.highlandercenter.org >---<>---<>---<>---<>---<>---<>---<>---<>---<>--<>--<>--< We' ve been so busy doing the work that we haven't had time to tell you about it. We're sorry about that, and to make up for it here's a double issue of View from the Hill. >---<>---<>---<>---<>---<>---<>---<>---<>---<>--<>--<>--< CONTENTS 1. Building a Youth Movement for Fair Immigration Reform 2. May 1st - A Day without Immigrants 3. Highlander Supports the Immigrant Rights Movement in the South 4. Workshop on the Reauthorization of the Voting Rights Act 5. Workshops on the Lessons from Katrina 6. Highlander Social Change Workshop 7. San Francisco Benefit for Highlander 8. Wheelchair Lift Installed at the Workshop Center 9. Volunteer Gardening Days at Highlander >---<>---<>---<>---<>---<>---<>---<>---<>---<>--<>--<>--< 1. BUILDING A YOUTH MOVEMENT FOR FAIR IMMIGRATION REFORM This weekend, May 5-7, Highlander staff member Paulina Hernández, coordinator of our Young and the Restless program, will help facilitate a regional training in Nashville on immigration reform issues for youth activists from around the South. Over 150 young people from immigrant and allied communities are expected to attend. The goals of the training include broadening youth activists' understanding of immigration issues, encouraging them to become involved in the growing immigrant rights movement, and helping them gain skills to advance their work in local communities. A particular focus will be on building coalitions to overcome divisions between immigrants, African Americans, and white people. To achieve these goals, the training will include background information on immigration issues, skills-building exercises, and other activities. The Nashville session is the fourth in a series of regional training workshops organized by the Fair Immigration Reform Movement (FIRM) and the Center for Community Change (CCC), and is co-sponsored by Highlander and the Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition (TIRRC). Previous trainings have been held in Chicago, Newark, and Phoenix, and a final session will be held in Portland, OR, in mid-May. Highlander is excited to be working on the Nashville training, which connects our work on immigrant rights and our work with young people, and which will strengthen both the immigrant rights movement and the youth organizing movement in the southeast. Additional information about immigration issues, including a link to FIRM, can be found on our Web site at www.highlandercenter.org/r-immigration.asp. >---<>---<>---<>---<>---<>---<>---<>---<>---<>--<>--<>--< 2. MAY 1ST - A DAY WITHOUT IMMIGRANTS On May 1st, millions of immigrants across the country, from coastal cities to small towns, participated in a day of action that included a work-stoppage and economic boycott to protest proposed anti-immigrant legislation and demand fair, comprehensive immigration reform. In Knoxville, over 1,000 immigrants and allies gathered at the World's Fair Park. The event included speeches, music by local artists, a voter-registration table, a tent with children's activities, and more. Highlander staff coordinated a mural- painting project for high-school students, organized educational workshops, and prepared a timeline display of immigration history. Highlander staff member Monica Hernandez, president of TIRRC's Board, spoke at the event. The May 1st event was organized by the Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition (TIRRC), supported by a number of local allies. It was the fourth in a series of marches and rallies that TIRRC has held in Knoxville since February, including a rally on April 10th that was attended by over 3,000 people. Pictures from the Knoxville event on May 1st are available on our Web site: www.highlandercenter.org. >---<>---<>---<>---<>---<>---<>---<>---<>---<>--<>--<>--< 3. HIGHLANDER SUPPORTS THE IMMIGRANT RIGHTS MOVEMENT IN THE SOUTH Over the past several months, immigrants throughout the South have joined millions of others across the nation in protesting anti-immigrant legislation and demanding fair, comprehensive immigration reform. These protests have included marches, demonstrations, rallies, and vigils in small towns like Jonesboro, TN, and Dalton, GA, and in cities like Nashville, Atlanta, and Houston. Highlander has been supporting these efforts in several different ways: a. Through work with local organizations participating in our Pueblos de Latinoamérica program and its immigrant leadership development institute (INDELI), a two-year training program for immigrant activists that currently includes twenty-four participants from eleven organizations in five states across the region. Most of these organizations have organized or participated in local protests in their areas over the last several months, including Louisville and Bowling Green, KY, Siler City, NC, Memphis, TN, and Houston, TX. b. Through support for the Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition (TIRRC), the first statewide, grassroots, immigrant-led coalition in the region. Highlander was one of the founding members of TIRRC, and TIRRC staff and Board are participants in INDELI. c. Through dialogue with members of a southern caucus that formed at the emergency meeting on anti-immigrant organizing held at Highlander last summer. These are exciting times with such vast numbers of people in immigrant communities standing up so strongly for justice. We are committed to continuing our support for these efforts. Information about immigration issues is available on our Web site at www.highlandercenter.org/r-immigration.asp. >---<>---<>---<>---<>---<>---<>---<>---<>---<>--<>--<>--< 4. WORKSHOP ON THE REAUTHORIZATION OF THE VOTING RIGHTS ACT Highlander Cultural Organizer Tufara Muhammad is in Anaheim, California this weekend at the 2006 Assembly of United Methodist Women facilitating workshops on the reauthorization of the Voting Rights Act. Twelve thousand women from the US and around the globe, including Bolivia's new minister of Justice Casimira Rodriquez, are attending the event which meets every four years. Highlander is working with the Racial Justice Department of the United Methodist Women on education and organizing efforts around the 2007 reauthorization of the Voting Rights Act. The Voting Rights Act is permanent, preserving the rights of minorities to participate in the political process. However, three important provisions of the Act will expire if not renewed by 2007, including: Section 5, which requires states with the worst histories of racial discrimination in voting to seek approval (or "pre- clearance") from the federal government before implementing any voting change. Section 5 applies to all or part of 16 states, most of which are in the South. Section 203, which requires certain states and counties with significant numbers of citizens with limited English proficiency to provide voting assistance in languages other than English. Section 203 offers assistance to four language minority groups: American Indians, Asian Americans, Alaskan Natives, and Latinos. Sections 6-9, which permit the Attorney General to appoint examiners and send federal observers to monitor elections where an anticipated Voting Rights Act violation may occur at the ballot box. For more information about the reauthorization of the Voting Rights Act, see our Web site: www.highlandercenter.org/r-vra.asp. >---<>---<>---<>---<>---<>---<>---<>---<>---<>--<>--<>--< 5. WORKSHOPS ON THE LESSONS FROM KATRINA On March 28 - 30, Highlander convened a small group of organizers, cultural workers, academics and popular educators from across the south to develop workshops on the lessons from Katrina for use in local communities. With brutal clarity, Hurricane Katrina exposed structural racism, environmental degradation, failing infrastructures and government neglect based on corporate greed. There are many educational opportunities that can spur action as people from the area share their experiences and stories and for people from other areas to explore and apply the lessons from Katrina in their own communities. Highlander staff Caitlin Breedlove, Paulina Hernandez, Pam McMichael and Susan Williams were joined by Eunice Cho (National Network on Immigrant and Refugee Rights), Stephanie Guilloud (Project South), Kara Keeling (Faculty in Media and Culture, University of North Carolina), Saad Muhammad (People's Hurricane Relief Fund), Cara Page (Committee on Women, Population and the Environment), Saket Soni (People's Hurricane Relief Fund), and Angela Winfrey-Bowman (People's Institute for Survival and Beyond) in discussions and planning to develop and pilot the workshops. Tomas Aguilar (Colectivo Flatlander) and Rhea Williams-Bishop (Children's Defense Fund) were originally scheduled to be part of the team but were unable to travel to the gathering and joined parts of the planning by conference call. The team is continuing to work together and is collaborating with others to hold an initial workshop at the southeast gathering of the US Social Forum in Durham on June 16-18. Highlander Director Pam McMichael secured funding for this collaboration through a leadership network of which she is part called Next Generation Leadership. NGL was founded by the Rockefeller Foundation to engage a diverse set of community leaders in study and action to preserve democracy for the next generation. The program is now housed at the New York University Wagner School Research Center on Leadership and Action. >---<>---<>---<>---<>---<>---<>---<>---<>---<>--<>--<>--< 6. HIGHLANDER SOCIAL CHANGE WORKSHOP On March 17-19, twenty-four people from around the country gathered at Highlander for a Social Change Workshop. The workshop included sessions on Highlander's history, popular education, and how social change happens, as well as an evening of cultural sharing. There were also small group discussions that gave participants a chance to share their own experiences of social change. On Saturday afternoon, members of the group attended the East TN Rally for Real Immigration Reform in Knoxville, organized by the Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition. One participant appreciated how the workshop "[opened] up the room to show different perspectives and world views, and [built] conversations across these." Another noted that the rally was "eye-opening and life-changing" and added "My 1st rally. NOT my last." Highlander will hold another Social Change Workshop on October 13-15, 2006. More information and an application form are available on our Web site: www.highlandercenter.org. >---<>---<>---<>---<>---<>---<>---<>---<>---<>--<>--<>--< 7. SAN FRANCISCO BENEFIT FOR HIGHLANDER We would like to thank Pat Wynne and Bernard Gilbert and all those who performed in and attended the Bay Area Rockin' Solidarity Labor Chorus benefit for Highlander in San Francisco on April 22nd. We hear it was a wonderful event, using music and drama to tell the Highlander story. We deeply appreciate the $2,000 that was raised for Highlander. Thanks again to everyone who organized, participated in, and attended the event. >---<>---<>---<>---<>---<>---<>---<>---<>---<>--<>--<>--< 8. WHEELCHAIR LIFT INSTALLED AT THE WORKSHOP CENTER On March 30, 2006, Highlander celebrated the installation of a wheelchair lift in the Workshop Center, which will enable people with disabilities to move more easily between the first and second floors of the building. The inaugural ride in the lift was taken by Kristen Moody, granddaughter of Betty Hickman, who has worked part-time at the Workshop Center for the past six years. Earlier this year, we also created an accessible full bathroom in the Workshop Center, adjacent to the main meeting room and the sleeping quarters. These upgrades are part of our 75th Anniversary Capital Campaign and reflect our commitment to making Highlander accessible to all members of our constituency. They were made possible in part by a grant from the Ford Foundation and by other contributions to the capital campaign. We appreciate this support. Pictures of the lift installation are available on our Web site at www.highlandercenter.org. >---<>---<>---<>---<>---<>---<>---<>---<>---<>--<>--<>--< 9. VOLUNTEER GARDENING DAYS AT HIGHLANDER On March 25th and April 15th, members of the Good Karma Gardening Circle gathered at Highlander to help prepare our gardens for the spring. They weeded, raked, mulched, and planted new flowers in the gardens at the Horton House and the office. Thanks to all who volunteered their time, and to those who donated flowers as well. The gardens look beautiful, and we appreciate all your help. >---<>---<>---<>---<>---<>---<>---<>---<>---<>--<>--<>--< To unsubscribe from this e-mail list, or to add someone new, send an e-mail to hrec@highlandercenter.org. Past issues of View from the Hill are available online at www.highlandercenter.org/n-view.asp. To make an online contribution to Highlander, go to our Web site: www.highlandercenter.org, and click on the "Donate Now" button. Highlander Research and Education Center 1959 Highlander Way New Market, TN 37820 Phone: (865)-933-3443 Fax: (865) 933-3424 www.highlandercenter.org