Union students, faculty rally for dignity and respect for immigrants
Irving Cortes, a Union College sophomore, had a message for President Donald Trump on Wednesday – and for anyone else who would listen.
“I am not a bad hombre but a hardworking student who just wants to pursue the American Dream,” said Cortes, who immigrated from Mexico as a 6-year-old.
Cortes joined around 40 Union students and faculty outside the campus library to stand in solidarity with immigrants across the country. Some of the professors shared their own stories of immigration or fleeing their home countries as refugees.
The group criticized the Schenectady City Council for not adopting “sanctuary city” status – the council this week instead passed a resolution calling on Congress to improve federal immigration laws. And the students and faculty, who were joined by local activist Jamaica Miles, said they need to do more to organize politically across Schenectady.
Read more: https://dailygazette.com/article/2017/04/19/union-students-and-faculty-rally-for-dignity-and-respect-for-immigrants
[font color=330099]Kudos for my friend, Ken, who is mentioned near the end of the article.[/font]
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Ken Aslakson, professor of early-American and African American history, didn’t mince his words as he took the microphone outside the campus library. He called Trump’s immigration and border policies “nativist” and said he was “done trying to convince crazy Trump voters… because they are not to be convinced of anything.”
“What he’s doing is fulfilling a campaign promise without affecting his own business interests,” he said. “These policies are based on lies… They are dividing America through fear and race-baiting, through trying to destroy communities, but we know better.”
He said Democrats and progressives need to organize among themselves and called on Union students and faculty to look outside the campus gates to the Schenectady community writ large. He said activism should strive for four things: truth, goodness, farsightedness and community.
“I’m asking people at Union to step out of the Union bubble and be active in the community,” he said. “Schenectady is small enough that we can make a difference and big enough that that difference can be seen.”