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Los
Angeles Community Leaders Hear Testimony
from Victims of the Domestic "War on Terrorism"
A panel of community leaders, including U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters
and LA City Councilman Martin Ludlow, will hear personal testimonies
from LA residents about the impact of the "War on Terrorism" on
their lives. Sponsored by the Applied Research Center and more than
two dozen local organizations, the Public's Truth will be held on
Saturday, September 13, 2003, at the First A.M.E. Renaissance Center
at 1968 West Adams Boulevard in Los Angeles from 12:30 - 3:30 pm.
What are the human costs of National
Security?
WITNESS THE PUBLIC'S TRUTH
HEAR PERSONAL TESTIMONIES ON HOW
THE DOMESTIC "WAR ON TERRORISM"
IMPACTS L.A. COMMUNITIES
IT'S ALL OF OUR STORIES
Saturday, September 13, 2003
12:30 pm to 3:30 pm
First AME Church
Renaissance Center
1968 West Adams Blvd.
To reserve
a seat or for more information, contact:
Koda Morse
Applied Research Center
888 / 287-3126
Co-Sponsors:
| Applied
Research Center, AGENDA, Council on American Islamic
Relations (CAIR), South Asian Network, CHIRLA, Korean
Immigrant Workers Advocate (KIWA) |
Endorsers:
| Senshin
Buddhist Temple, Rev. Leonard Jackson - First A.M.E.,
Rev. Norman Johnson - SCLC, Rev. Ignacio Castuera -
St. John's United Methodist, Community Coalition for
Substance Abuse Prevention and Treatment, Centenary
United Methodist Church, LA County Commission on Human
Relations, Interfaith Communities United for Justice
and Peace, Neighbors for Peace & Justice, Angela Sanbrano
- CARECEN, Korean Resource Center, African Legal Defense
& Education Fund, Muslim Public Affairs Council, Pilipino
Workers' Center, Progressive Jewish Alliance |
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"While Ashcroft goes around the country touting the effectiveness
of the Patriot Act, we've come together to tell a different story,"
declares Gina Acebo of the Applied Research Center. "Of families
rent apart, of surveillance and unwarranted interrogation of the
innocent, and the creation of a climate of fear and hatred that
has led to loss, injury, even death."
The personal testimonies conveyed at the Public's Truth tell of
secret surveillance of immigrant rights activists, hate crimes in
schools and businesses, discrimination at the workplace leading
to job loss and humiliation, indefinite detention and deportation
for minor visa violations, charging higher rents and denying work
repair orders from immigrant tenants, and increased racial profiling
of suspected gang members as "urban terrorists." Testimonies link
post-911 policies with pre-911 racial profiling of urban youth and
immigrants, and to policies that led to the internment of Japanese
Americans during WWII.
"Two years after 9/11, there is an undeclared war on our communities
where our basic civil rights are the first casualties," Kripa Upadhyay
of the Artesia-based South Asian Network. "The public is unaware
of what's going on. They have to know the truth about the impact
of the domestic War on Terrorism on families."
Los Angeles has been one of the flashpoints on the attacks on Muslims/Middle
Easterners after 9/11. According to Robin Toma, Executive Director
of the Commission on Human Relations for LA County, "There was over
1000%increase of anti-Muslim/Middle Easterner hate crimes in the
3 months after the 9/11 attacks over the previous year--the highest
ever recorded in the Commission's 21 years of monitoring incidents."
Other community leaders who will hear the testimonies include: David
Tokofsky, LA Unified School District Board member for District 5;
Maria Elena Durazo, President of HERE Union, Local 11; Rev. Norman
Johnson, Director of SCLC; Rev. Leonard Jackson, Associate Pastor
at First A.M.E. Church; Imam Saadiq Saafir, Co-Founder of the Islamic
Shura Council of Southern California; and Bishop Charles E. Blake
of the West Angeles Church of God in Christ.
Los Angeles is one of five cities that will host a Public's Truth.
The Applied Research center is working with labor, faith, civil
rights, immigrant and community-based organizations in Atlanta,
Georgia; San Jose and Alameda, California; and Chicago, Illinois
to reveal the human costs of national security and War on Terrorism
policies.
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For more information about the
Applied
Research Center
visit the website at:
http://www.arc.org/
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