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By Kerri Provost, November 6, 2011 10:15 am

Three police on horseback kept themselves at a respectful distance from activists near the Bank of America on Park Street. Saturday morning’s march had been billed as a family-friendly, law-abiding event, yet a speaker from Occupy New Haven threw around phrases that could be interpreted otherwise, at one point telling the throng to “seize the banks,” while the crowd stood opposite one. It is this uncareful rhetoric that escalates tense situations and alienates others who would have joined in. It makes one curious as to who this “99%” actually is if there is a lack of sensitivity toward those with children (this, in effect, primarily excludes mothers from the movement), those who can not risk arrest because they can not afford to be bailed out from jail, and those who can not risk injury because they lack health insurance.

Ignoring the weight words carry only further dilutes the message.

As the anti-Bank of America activists walked down Broad Street and Park Street, residents and shop owners, for the most part, looked puzzled. Sometimes the chants were about banks getting bailed out, but other times, the chanting called for an occupation of Hartford; little thought seems to have gone into what this might sound like in a neighborhood where many residents’ native countries have actually experienced occupation.

And this population along Park Street is not one Occupy Hartford activists should want to alienate. If anyone knows something about poverty, unemployment, rental housing, and medical bills, it’s Hartford locals. According to data from HartfordInfo.org, 42% of Frog Hollow residents live below the poverty line; the median household income for this neighborhood is just above $17,000. Almost all of the housing in this area is rental. The Park Street corridor might not have as much to say about student loans as some of the Occupy Hartford activists, but the residents could offer more insight about what it is like to live paycheck-to-paycheck and worry about whether or not the electricity will not be shut off that month.

Despite the lapse in judgement by a few, Saturday’s march remained peaceful. The police-to-activist ratio was something like 10-to-1, perhaps in part to the public announcement that civil disobedience was being discussed as a possible tactic. While activists stood across from Bank of America, one was inside closing her account, which was, after all, the purpose of Bank Transfer Day. Continue reading 'Occupy Hartford: Marching through el barrio'»

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By Kerri Provost, September 28, 2011 3:42 pm

“Isn’t this the happiest day?”

Nancy Wyman, the Lieutenant Governor of Connecticut, enthusiastically posed that question to the crowd at Tuesday’s naturalization ceremony, held in the atrium of the Hartford Public Library.

The 28 new Americans came from 18 different countries: Afghanistan, Albania, Argentina, Armenia, Chile, China, Colombia, Ghana, Guyana, Haiti, India, Indonesia, Jamaica, Mexico, Morocco, Nigeria, Poland, and Saint Lucia; the largest number of new Americans came from Poland. Continue reading '28 Immigrants Take Oath of Allegiance'»

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By Kerri Provost, July 20, 2011 5:35 pm

Image courtesy of Jenny W. at stock.xchng

Three hours later, the two dozen volunteer participants were asked to describe –  in one or two words — their experience with the pilot community dialogue. Feedback was overwhelmingly positive and several people were eager to put their ideas into action.

The National Leadership Grant from the Institute for Museum and Library Services provides funds ($637,896) for the Immigrant Civic Engagement Initiative of which this pilot dialogue was a part. Everyday Democracy is partnering with the Hartford Public Library on this three-year initiative. The hope is that the Immigrant Advisory Group will take a leadership role in continuing the Community Dialogue work after the grant dries up.

A cultural brokering program, which pairs a newcomer family with someone who acts as an advocate and mentor, is another component of this initiative The cultural brokers and families will meet for a minimum of three hours each week at the Hartford Public Library, over the course of twelve weeks. The library was selected as a meeting place because of its central location, neutral setting, resources, and history of serving the immigrant community. This service is for families who have been in the United States for less than two years.

The need for advocacy was spelled out by Homa Naficy, the Multicultural Education and Outreach Manager, and Nancy Caddigan, the Intercultural Liasion, at the Hartford Public Library. They spoke about newcomers who, though learning English, were still confronted with the daily challenge of language barriers. Some suffered health issues because they did not understand doctors’ diagnoses, or were unsure of what medication they were given to treat ailments. Continue reading 'First Talk, Then Action: Increasing Civic Involvement in the Immigrant Community'»

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By Kerri Provost, March 15, 2011 4:35 pm

State Rep. Vincent Candelora

A standing room only crowd wore yellow ribbons as they testified before the Higher Education and Employment Advancement Committee at the Legislative Office Building on Tuesday morning for H.B. No. 6390 An Act Concerning Access to Postsecondary Education. The bill was introduced by State Rep. Donovan, State Rep. Sharkey, State Senator Williams, and State Senator Looney.

Currently, students who are undocumented immigrants pay the out-of-state tuition fee, rather than in-state tuition, regardless of whether or not they actually reside in the state. When people think about “illegal” immigrants, they typically imagine adults sneaking across borders; what is often the case is that youth, who have no discernible free will, are brought here by their parents, often at such young ages that these individuals have no memory of their country of origin. It’s not unheard of for these undocumented individuals to reside in the state longer than their native-born peers who benefit from the reduced tuition.

There was some opposition to the bill. As one representative — Vincent Candelora — said, “we’re faced with the dilemma of federal law.” There was also concern about the budget deficit and how this “$30 million dollar expenditure” would affect that. The representative said, “We are going to be potentially educating a workforce that is not eligible to work in Connecticut,” referring to how it is illegal to employ undocumented immigrants in the state.

A college education does not guarantee jobs for anyone, though it certainly makes one more competitive; moreover, laws have the possibility of changing and students seeking higher education today may in fact find themselves with the possibility of legal employment in Connecticut a few years down the line. As any nontraditional (re: older adult) college student will attest, it’s easier to seek an education while young than it is to do so when burdened with responsibilities like full-time employment and children. Using the concern of employability as an excuse to not pass this bill is simply weak; currently, there are some students filling spots at every college and university who are there because it is expected of them, and not because they are driven to acquire the needed skills and knowledge for a future career.

Furthermore, the $30 million dollar estimate is not accurate. The $30 million dollar amount actually came from if all out-of-state residents were to pay the in-state tuition; the bill would not be allowing all out-of-state residents to pay the reduced rate, only in-state undocumented residents. Additionally, it is based on the assumption that all undocumented immigrants would be attending college; we know that many students, of all backgrounds, do not go to college for a variety of reasons. The discussion of the $30 million dollar expenditure produced a lot of confusion as there was no clear explanation for how that sum was decided on. State Senator Looney actually noted that there was evidence that there could be a revenue gain.

There was also a need to clarify the bill itself, which proposes that any student who has resided in this state for four years and who has attended high school in this state would be eligible for the reduced in-state tuition. In other words, nobody would be moving into Connecticut on Sunday and getting the reduced tuition on Monday. Yet, some speaking out against the bill seemed misinformed, saying that this bill would provide a kind of “aid” for students. Undocumented students can not receive financial aid. For more examples of sheer misinformation, read through what opposition to the bill have been writing.

State Senator Looney spoke in support of the bill, saying that “these young people are highly motivated.” He argued that we will have a more viable and attractive workforce if it is a highly educated one. Looney stated that “our nation should be a meritocracy,” and that the undocumented students would have to meet the same standards, with no special seats set aside for them. Continue reading 'Equal Financial Access to Higher Education is an Issue of Access'»

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By Kerri Provost, February 14, 2011 7:15 pm

Three values that seem to transcend all cultures are that of respecting one’s parents, working hard, and achieving an education. Despite doing all of these things, Mariano Cardoso is about to be penalized.

At the age of two, Cardoso was brought into the United States by his parents. As a child, he had no choice in the matter. While living here he has worked in order to pay for his education at Capital Community College, where he had planned to complete his Associate’s Degree in Engineering at the end of this semester. After living in the United States for twenty years, he is now facing deportation.

On Monday, about 25 activists gathered in front of 450 Main Street — the location of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services — to protest the return of Cardoso to “his country,” Mexico, where he lived for only the first two years of his life.  Cardoso’s supporters called for the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency to grant him amnesty, or at least defer the deportation until he has gained his degree. Such amnesty is not unprecedented. In 2010 a Harvard undergraduate who had been detained for his status as an undocumented immigrant was granted permission to remain in the United States. Like Cardoso, the Harvard student entered the United States with his family when he was a child.

Today’s protest was organized by Stop the Raids, an organization at Trinity College.

Contrary to other reports in the news media, activists included but were not exclusively students.

Continue reading 'Protesting Student Deportation'»

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By Kerri Provost, November 24, 2010 6:44 pm

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) — a nonpartisan and non-profit organization — is celebrating its 90-year-history with a traveling exhibit which is currently on display at the Hartford Public Library until December 1, 2010.

Each panel of the exhibit represents an issue that the organization has addressed since its inception in 1920. The ACLU describes its purpose and the exhibit:

The organization was established in response to the notorious Palmer Raids in which the Department of Justice, led by U.S. Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer, began rounding up and deporting so-called radicals because of their political views without warrants and without regard to constitutional protections against unlawful search and seizure.

The exhibit includes the stories of some of the courageous people the ACLU has represented, including John Scopes, a teacher accused of violating a Tennessee state law against the teaching of evolution in the 1920s; Ozzie Powell, one of the “Scottsboro Boys” sentenced to death in Alabama in the 1930s for allegedly raping a white woman, a crime he did not commit; Mildred and Richard Loving, an interracial couple charged in the 1960s with violating the state’s “Racial Integrity Act”; and Diane Schroer, an Army veteran whose job offer by the Library of Congress was rescinded when it learned that Schroer was in the process of changing gender.

The exhibit also highlights the ACLU’s key role in the passage of major pieces of legislation, including the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993, guaranteeing eligible employees with up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave for family responsibilities; the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, prohibiting discrimination based on disability in employment, public services, accommodations, transportation and technology; and the periodic reauthorizations of several provisions of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, protecting every American’s constitutionally guaranteed right to vote.

The exhibit is located to the right of the library’s main entrance; it’s hard to miss. But, if you do miss it, there will be an event co-sponsored by the Trinity Chapter of the ACLU-CT taking place on December 2nd in the Washington Room of Mather Hall on the Trinity College campus. Juan Roberto Meléndez-Colon, who was exonerated from death row after being on it for over seventeen years, will tell his story. A question and answer session will follow his talk. The event runs from 4:30-6:30 pm and is free and open to both Trinity Students and the general public.

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By Kerri Provost, November 15, 2010 10:54 pm

Tonight twelve people spoke in favor of the Hartford Civil Rights ordinance at the public hearing in City Hall; none spoke against it. Several organizations on board with this proposed ordinance include the American Civil Liberties Union, Council on American-Islamic Relations (Connecticut), National Lawyers Guild, and Bill of Rights Defense Committee.

Although nobody spoke against this at the hearing, the ordinance received some dissent from those who felt it would weaken the Hartford Police Department’s ability to fight crime. Others spoke in opposition because they feared that homeland security would be threatened.

Shahid Buttar — Executive Director of the Bill of Rights Defense Committee — told the three City Councilors present that “no one’s trying to tie the hands of the police department.” The ordinance, in fact, had been revised to include language found more suitable by HPD Chief Darryl Roberts, who was present for the hearing. During the hearing and before, at the press conference and rally on the steps of City Hall, several people told stories of how they had experienced or witnessed profiling. Mongi Dhaouadi — Executive Director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations CT — described several occasions on which Muslims had been “arrested under false pretense,” which he said wastes resources; one such case was of a Muslim cited for loitering while he was waiting for a bus. Mary Sanders, a resident of the South End, described how a few months ago she awoke to the sound of the SWAT team smashing windows of her neighbor’s house. She said that a young, black male who lived there had been tasered and spent a few days in the hospital as a result. During the raid, the police found a single marijuana joint in the home. Another resident spoke of the racial disparities of prisoners serving time for drug offenses. He pointed out that there are plenty of Trinity College students using illegal substances, but that drug busts are not happening on the campus. A West End resident said that she learned of racial profiling occurring in her neighborhood.

The common thread through these and other stories shared was that racial, ethnic, and religious profiling occur here, and that it is not happening in just one section of the city. The message of the press conference was that this ordinance, if passed, would focus “police officers on their core public safety mission” and that it would help Police Chief Roberts to enforce the current state law against profiling, which supporters of this ordinance describe as being weak. Supporters insisted that the police would still be able to fight crime, but that they had to do so with “reasonable cause” on a “behavioral basis.”

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By Kerri Provost, June 20, 2010 7:57 pm

The Hartford Public Library hosted World Refugee Day on Saturday. Continue reading 'World Refugee Day'»

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By Kerri Provost, May 10, 2010 7:29 pm

After a public hearing in which a few misinformed residents spoke out against the proposed City boycott and denouncement of Arizona, the resolution passed and awaits a signature from Mayor Perez.

The resolution to “denounc[e] SB 1070 and [...] boycott [...] discretionary City travel to Arizona and business with Arizona-based companies” was strongly supported by the City Council. Since the City has no apparent plans to travel to Arizona, and since it does no significant business with Arizona-based companies, this resolution is more symbolic than anything else. It is not an attempt to prevent residents from traveling to Arizona or buying goods from the state, as some believed it to be.
Continue reading 'Consider Yourself Denounced, Arizona'»

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By Kerri Provost, May 7, 2010 2:44 pm

Luis Cotto, the Minority Leader of Hartford’s City Council (Court of the Common Council) is introducing a resolution that calls for “denouncing SB 1070 and [...] a boycott of discretionary City travel to Arizona and business with Arizona-based companies.” Arizona State Senate Bill 1070 enables racial profiling and restricts the freedom of Americans to travel within the nation’s borders without being treated as guilty until proven innocent via the procurement of documents that normal Americans keep in safe deposit boxes, rather than in their wallets. This resolution, which Cotto says would ” exert pressure [on the Arizona government] by taking our business elsewhere,” is to come before the City Council on Monday, May 10th.