(Milwaukee, WI)- Today, Voces de la Frontera joined the 22nd annual Dr Martin Luther King Jr Birthday Celebration, organized by the Martin Luther King Jr. Justice Coalition. Participants gathered at the Dr Martin Luther King Jr. statue at 1740 N Doctor M.L.K. Jr Dr, in Milwaukee to collectively honor MLK’s legacy and offer continued commitment to social justice. The event was live streamed on the Voces de la Frontera Facebook page found here.
Christine Neumann-Ortiz, Executive Director of Voces de la Frontera, offered these remarks:
“It’s an honor to be here with all of you to honor Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. who was a powerful, inspiring, strategic and courageous leader who willingly sacrificed his life for all of us, in the struggle for justice.
We stand on the shoulders of Martin Luther King Jr. and all of the people that were part of the social movements for racial and economic justice, that preceded us and made such significant advances.
MLK’s vision of a beloved community was consistent and principled. He was relentless in putting his faith into action. Through collective struggle he exposed and organized against a system rooted in economic exploitation, racial oppression, and US militarism.
The best way to honor him is to follow his call of action to unite with others against injustice and never stop.
Today our efforts are more urgent than ever. Our generation is resisting the threat of an empowered violent and authoritarian white supremacist movement, unprecedented attacks on voting rights, women’s rights, historic economic inequalities, a global climate crisis and humanitarian refugee crisis, that is a product of global inequality.
It is not just the threat of the far right- the MAGA movement -within the Republican Party, but the larger political system that is unresponsive to the needs of millions of people.
As members and allies of Voces de la Frontera, in the struggle for immigration reform and humanitarian asylum rights, we know the resistance in U.S. Congress comes from three opponents: the private prison industry, the private military industry that benefits from border militarization, and lastly, party politics that caves to the dominant racist culture, aligning with the far right on immigration and asylum rights, despite broad public support.
To advance the struggle I believe we must:
Build and support local struggles that challenge racism and economic injustice.
Workplace struggles like those of our Essential Workers Rights Network (EWRN) during the pandemic, or community-wide struggles like the fight to restore driver licenses for all-for immigrants and those who are disenfranchised because of poverty, or youth-led struggles like our youth arm, Youth Empowered in the Struggle (Y.E.S.) that is fighting to win healthy and culturally appropriate school lunches at Milwaukee Public School.
Continuing to link and grow our struggles and join with other oppressed people in the struggles they are leading -will build a stronger and larger movement for justice that will achieve our aims; and when they say “you cannot”, we say, “we shall overcome” or as we say in Spanish “Si se puede”.
