Marino Cordoba, a day laborer organizer for CASA of Maryland, declared, “Immigration raids and deportations divide families and deeply affect day laborers and workers in general. We need a federal law that protects families, recognizes immigrants’ contribution to the economy, and promotes family reunification. The artists and participants of the Festival are in solidarity with the families affected by recent immigration raids in the DC metro area and nationwide.
Reverend Whit Hutchinson, a leader in the Metro DC Sanctuary Network, believes that, “In the present climate of fear and intimidation, economic uncertainty, and what approaches repression by immigration authorities, nothing is more important than demonstrating that working people and people of good will across the economic spectrum stand together, stand against the scapegoating of the most vulnerable, and stand for an open, non-racist, justice-loving society. That is what I think the concert on October 5th is about.” Ruth Castel-Branco, an organizer with DC Jobs with Justice, a coalition of labor and community organizations in the District, added, “Raids and deportations have served to exploit and marginalize all working people, immigrant and non-immigrant. They have been used as a tactic by employers to bust unions, undermine worker organizing, foster terror and divide communities.”
“Concert For Peace: People in Solidarity” will feature live music from hip-hop, percussion, salsa, and rock groups. Artists include: Joseph and Latin Son, Chaquis Maliq, Nueva Cosecha, Uninterrupted, Trabajo Digno, Ardumus, Bassey Ikpi, and more. Community and religious leaders will send a political message about the unity between cultures and the effect on immigration raids in dividing families and peoples. This will be a family-oriented festival that will also host community organization information tables on safety, health, housing, youth programs, immigration, and services from organizations in the D.C. metro area.
Sponsors: National Day Laborer Organizing Network (NDLON), CARECEN, Tenants and Workers United, Legal AID Justice Center, CASA of Maryland, Liberated Muse Productions, DC Jobs with Justice, United Workers of Baltimore, Union de Trabajadores de Washington DC, Reston Interfaith, Metro D.C. Interfaith Sanctuary Network, Centro Manuel Zapata Olivella, Association Milpa, National Capital Immigration Coalition, Washington Metropolitan Council AFL-CIO, Jews United for Justice
