On Sunday, March 27th, 2011, 250 people
gathered together for Jewish Community Action's 9th Annual Immigrant
Freedom Seder. The Seder brings people together from diverse backgrounds
to share the story of Passover and its message of freedom.
This year's seder
commemorated the 100th Anniversary of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory
Fire drawing on the connections to past and present immigrant and worker
struggles, and the search for justice as it continues today.
"Greetings Governor Dayton,
We are greeting you today from
multiple communities at Jewish Community Action's 9th Annual Immigrant
Freedom Seder; we are Jewish, Christian, Muslim, Native American,
Buddhist, Hindu and more. We are black, white, Asian, Indigenous, Latino
and more. We are workers, employees and employers. We are immigrants and
we were born here. We are Minnesota. We want to let you know that we
support immigrants' and workers' rights. We oppose any bills in the
state legislature that will harm immigrants and workers. We oppose
English only laws and laws that profile people based on the color of
their skin. We oppose the elimination and reduction of collective
bargaining and changes to workers compensation and safety rules. We ask
that you support immigrants' rights and humane federal immigration
reform instead of state level, enforcement heavy policies. We ask you to
support workers' rights and legislation that affirms and respects the
dignity and rights of workers. We are Minnesota."
