Communities across the United States are waging struggles for social justice on a variety of fronts, including police accountability, racial justice, fair working conditions, and LGBTQ equality. The recent grand jury decision in Ferguson, Missouri, and the fights to increase the minimum wage and win marriage equality in various locations indicate the work that remains unfinished and must continue. This timely panel will bring together leaders from these battles to discuss the lessons they have learned, and how these lessons can be applied to the fight for immigrant rights and immigration reform. Speakers:
- Linda Sarsour, Executive Director, Arab American Association of New York -- Linda Sarsour is a civil rights activist, seasoned community organizer and social media maverick. She is the National Advocacy Director at the National Network for Arab American Communities and Executive Director of the Arab American Association of New York. Linda has been at the forefront of the campaign to end the NYPD's unwarranted surveillance of the American Muslim community, discriminatory law enforcement practices like stop and frisk and broken windows policing impacting communities of color in New York City. She is the co-founder of Muslims for Ferguson which was born days after the tragic murder of Michael Brown to mobilize American Muslims to support the incredible people of Ferguson and their pursuit for justice. She is a board member of the New York Immigration Coalition. Linda is well known for her intentional work to build coalitions across communities and issues. She has been recognized as a ""Champion of Change"" by the White House, received the Shirley Chisholm Women of Distinction Award from the New York City Council, and named American Muslim of the Year by America's largest Muslim civil rights organization amongst many other accolades. She is a Palestinian Muslim American born and raised in Brooklyn, New York.
- Marco Antonio Quiroga, National Field Officer, Immigration Equality Action Fund
- Tia Oso, Black Alliance for Just Immigration
- Shuya Ohno, Campaign Director, Advancement Project -- Shuya Ohno joined Advancement Project in 2014 to lead the Right To Vote Initiative as its Campaign Director. With over twelve years of experience in electoral and advocacy campaigns at the local, state, and national levels, Shuya brings commitment to movement building that integrates organizing and communications to build capacity at the grassroots to bring campaigns to scale.Before joining Advancement Project, Shuya worked at the Center for Community Change and the National Immigration Forum on national immigrant rights campaigns. Over the past ten years, Shuya traveled to over 27 states, working closely with dozens of grassroots and statewide community organizations. In 2007 and 2008, Shuya played a pivotal role in responding to crises in New Bedford, MA and Postville, IA respectively when communities of color suffered devastation from major immigration raids. In Arizona in 2010, Shuya worked with local organizations and communities of color to train over 100 young organizers, empowering them to drive a strategic response to the passage of the racist and anti-immigrant SB1070 state law. Those efforts helped build movement and lasting power in AZ for the immigrant and Latino community. Working closely with local organizations, Shuya also steered similar crisis to movement efforts in AL in 2011.Shuya was born in Tokyo, Japan, immigrated to the US at the age of 6, and grew up in New Jersey where he attended Rutgers College. He is now based in Washington, DC. - See more at: http://www.advancementproject.org/people/entry/shuya-ohno