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Valley coalition seeks a new look

Immigrant rights movement is working to broaden its appeal.


By Vanessa Colón / The Fresno Bee

11/13/06

Now that the marches and Election Day are over, the local immigrant rights movement has a new agenda: changing its image.

The Central California Coalition for Immigrant Rights and the Pan Valley Institute in Fresno are trying to shed the image of immigrant rights as a strictly Latino movement.

The institute is part of the American Friends Service Committee, a Quaker organization that works toward social justice, peace and humanitarian service.

The groups say the federal government and the media have shaped the way the immigrant rights movement has been perceived by the public.

"We believe, in the first place, that the immigration issue has focused on Mexicans as if the issue is just between the United States and Mexico," said Myrna Martinez Nateras, director of the Pan Valley Institute.

"The immigrant issue is a human rights issue. It's not just a Mexican issue," she said.

With Democrats taking control of Congress, leaders of the groups say they hope they'll have a more receptive audience for their message that undocumented immigrants should have a path to obtain legal status.

"We have to see what direction they will take," Martinez Nateras said. "We know there are Democrats who are conservative. ... We have to work much harder" to make inroads.

Meanwhile, the groups are trying to build more alliances with other ethnic organizations and unions. They want the local community to realize the immigration issue affects other immigrants and communities.

Last week, they met at the Islamic Cultural Center of Fresno to discuss immigration.

Groups such as the Islamic Cultural Center of Fresno and the local chapter of the National Action Network, a civil rights organization founded by the Rev. Al Sharpton, have formed alliances with those in the immigrant rights movement.

Kamal Abu-Shamsieh, director of the Islamic Cultural Center of Fresno, said many Muslims are immigrants and can benefit by joining immigrant rights groups. After the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, illegal immigration and terrorism became hot-button issues.

U.S. attitudes toward Islam as a religion were less positive than opinions about Muslim-Americans, with 39% of the public having a favorable view of Islam, according to a July 2005 survey by the Pew Research Center, a research group that studies attitudes toward the press, politics and public policy. About 55% of the public held favorable views of Muslim-Americans, according to the survey.

Abu-Shamsieh said this country's view of Islam was based on images in the media of extremists and it rarely included moderate Muslims.

He said some groups began linking Islam with terrorism even though the religion does not advocate violence.

"The same extremist voices that lobby for anti-immigration [legislation] are the same groups advocating Islamophobia," Abu-Shamsieh said.

Abu-Shamsieh said he hopes the new leadership in Congress changes the climate of fear that has affected many in the community.

Before joining the alliance, Abu-Shamsieh said he spoke at one of the immigrant-rights rallies at Fresno City Hall. He also participated in the Labor Day march at the Fulton Mall.

"When it comes to issues that deal with justice and equality, it's a religious obligation to stand in solidarity," Abu-Shamsieh said.

The movement began in reaction to a House bill that would make anyone in the nation illegally a felon. Thousands of people marched in the streets April 10 in the central San Joaquin Valley and thousands attended a rally in Fresno on May 1. They included U.S. citizens, legal and undocumented immigrants.

Some 54% of Latinos said they've felt more discriminated against as a result of the immigration debate, according to a July survey by the Pew Hispanic Center, a nonpartisan research organization.

The local immigrant rights movement shifted from marches to voter registration and now it's trying to reshape it's image, Martinez Nateras said.

By drawing other groups, the movement can grow stronger as more resources become available, she said.

For instance, the Islamic Cultural Center of Fresno offered its space to host the dialogue on immigration, she said. Months ago, the groups met to discuss immigration at the Fresno Center for New Americans, a nonprofit social service that mostly works with Hmong refugees.

One of the groups' goals is to change the perception of undocumented immigrants and legal immigrants as an economic burden on society. The coalition hopes to influence politicians to support legislation that offers undocumented workers a chance to obtain legal status and eventually become U.S. citizens.

Before the 2006 election, Congress and President Bush enacted a law to construct fencing along the U.S. border with Mexico.

Martinez Nateras said: "We would like people to understand it as a broader movement. ... We know we have a long journey."

The reporter can be reached at vcolon@fresnobee.com or(559) 441-6313.

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