Greetings!
Merry Christmas and a Prosperous New Year!
On behalf of the Mexican American Political Association (MAPA) and Hermandad Mexicana Latinoamericana, we wish you a Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and a Prosperous New Year in 2008.
This year, 2007, was extremely challenging for immigrants and their extended families - comprising literally tens of millions of citizens and residents in the U.S. We fought as hard as we could on many fronts to realize the dreams and wishes of millions of Americans, in fact the majorities, but we came up short. The opposition in the U.S. Congress and the White House was still too powerful, notwithstanding a significant shift in the balance of legislative seats after the November 2006 elections.
Immigrant families are under seige without any exaggeration - in the workplace and in their homes and neighborhoods. The country hasn't witnessed the number and character of immigration raids conducted by the Department of Homeland Security - Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) since the early 1980s and before. It truly is a new day.
To close the year, I invite you to read the information below that reveals a different side of the immigration situation from the perspective of an employer, one of the largest in the country, in fact, the largest apparel company west of the Mississippi River. Employer sanctions are a farce and we predicted that they would not only not work to stem the flow of undocumented immigration to the U.S., but that in fact they would truly result in sanctions against the workers.
We are not insensitive to the peculiar situation faced by employers who employ immigrants, only to those employers who exploit the immigrant worker with low pay, precarious working conditions, staunch opposition to worker organization, and abusive treatment.
We call for the immediate repeal of employer sanctions and demand that the government not interfere in the hiring of workers by employers except in cases of clear discrimination based on race, national origin, gender, age, language or other factor violative of constitutional and civil rights of the individual. This is a private domain.
The new year will bring tremendous uncertainity to all in the U.S., and the world for that matter. The war in Iraq continues with no end in sight; an economic recession is looming and job loss is not far behind; the greatest housing debacle and financial loss resulting from the same since the 1930s; budget deficits are again at their highest level along with the greatest military budget in U.S. history; the national debt continues to climb and the U.S. dollar continues to decline. All of these factors are impacting the world economic situation. And, all of this is occurring in the midst of a frantic election period to determine which political party will reign in the White House for the next four years.
This is the economic and political landscape within which we will attempt to add our little grain of sand to a titanic struggle to improve the living and working conditions of the majorities in our country.
We wish you the best.
Muchos Saludos,
Nativo V. Lopez
National President
Doing the Right Thing
Friday, December 28, 2007
When American Apparel founder Dov Charney placed a quarter-page ad in the business section of The New York Times on Dec. 21 stating the plight of an estimated 12 million illegal immigrants in the U.S., he knew he would get a lot of bang for his buck. But he wasn't quite prepared to deal with the resulting attention. "We didn't want to spend a lot of money on [the ad]. We might be doing more, but one ad in The New York Times goes a long way. I think a lot of people are going to find it historical because not many retailers speak out on this issue," Charney told WWD.
But he wasn't willing to verbalize any concrete plans for proposed action or legislation, locally or nationally. "I am thinking it through. I want to see if I can play a role in bringing some intelligence in this issue," he said.
When pushed about specific action, Charney added, "I'm just a 38-year-old guy in the schmatta business here trying to figure out how to do something."
The ad, which pictured a 24-year-old American Apparel employee of Hispanic descent, didn't say whether the firm has illegal immigrants among its 7,000-person worldwide workforce. "I'm not making any statements or assumptions about my employees. This could be any employer in Los Angeles," said Charney, though he added, "One of the major stakeholders in my company is my employees and we want to make sure we do the most we can to advance their condition."
The purchase of the Los Angeles-based American Apparel by Endeavor Acquisition Corp. became final earlier this month, but Charney, who has said in the past that politics don't sell, said he didn't know yet what impact the ad would have on his business or what his shareholders would think. "I am not at all worried about my ability to sell T-shirts now or two years from now. But one can't just crawl into a shell. It's important that business leaders and celebrities start talking about this issue. From an academic, human and economic point of view, this is good information to put out there on behalf of our corporation."
It remains to be seen whether "Mr. Charney Goes to Washington," to paraphrase the Jimmy Stewart film. But the long-controversial apparel figure aims to make an impact in his hometown, pointing to the example of Levi's desegregating its factories in San Francisco during the civil rights movement. "Why did Levi's do it? Probably because it was the right thing to do at the time. And they became known as a company that represented what America was all about," said Charney. "What Levi's was to San Francisco, we aspire to be to Los Angeles," said Charney.
Join us in this prolonged campaign for driver's licenses and visas for our families. The first step in making change is to join an organization that pursues the change we desire. We welcome you to our ranks.
Other organizations leading this movement include: Hermandad Mexicana Latinoamericana, Mexican American Political Association (MAPA), MAPA Youth Leadership, Liberty and Justice for Immigrants Movement, National Alliance for Immigrant's Rights, and immigrant's rights coalitions throughout the U.S..
CONTACT:
Nativo V. Lopez, National President of MAPA (323) 269-1575
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