Page Title

MIWON
Multi-Ethnic Immigrant Workers Organizing Network

You need Java to see this applet.

Join us for

May 1st International Workers March on Super Thursday

MIWON Route- begins at 2pm - MacArthur Park

March 25th Coalition Route- Begins at 3pm- Olympic and Broadway

Join us to demand:

Legalization for All, Stop the Raids, and Peace and Dignity for all
Communities!

Mayday is just around the corner .Learn how you can help!!Email
outreach@miwon.org If your organization would like to endorse Mayday
2008 and want to participate in the planning as well email Bethany Leal
To learn more about Mayday click here

Thanks -Jonathan

Multi-Ethnic Immigrant Worker Organizing Network
(MIWON)


LAPD must take Responsibility
as the only instigators of the violence on Mayday

Chief’s Bratton’s Rerport does not address the systemic and cultural changes needed in the
LAPD to counter racist and anti-immigrant sentiment plaguing the department.

(Los Angeles, Ca) One month after the violence inflicted on the public by the Los Angeles Police
Department at Mac Arthur Park on May 1st, no officers have been disciplined. The Multi-Ethnic Immigrant
Worker Organizing Network (MIWON) stand with other community groups and union to demand a full-
scale review of internal procedures within the LAPD as well as concrete policy changes to counter the
blatant racism and anti-immigrant sentiment within all ranks of the police force. Chief William Bratton
preliminary report to the Los Angeles Police Commission and City Council reflects the department’s
unwillingness to take full responsibility for the unnecessary attack on the crowds of families, youth and
marchers
on May 1st.

MIWON demands:
·        LAPD uphold Special Order 40 which would prevent the use of police as immigration agents;
·        to stop any policy to create a database of activists which would criminalize people exercising their
first amendment rights;
·        to have a community-appointed community and/or labor representative on the head police
commission;
·        and to drop all charges and investigations against any participants in the May 1st march and rally.
“We will seek justice for the violence that was caused by the LAPD on innocent families, children and the
elderly on International Workers Day,” said Aquilina Soriano, Executive Director of the Pilipino Workers
Center (PWC) a member organization of MIWON. “There was sheer panic and fear as many of us were
running away from rubber bullets and the sounds of shots being fired. Mothers were separated from
their families as the LAPD closed in on all of us in the park. It is clear to us that
this action by the LAPD was premeditated.”

MIWON’s call to action for May 1st were:
1) Living Wages and Better Working Conditions for All,
2) Legalization and Human Rights for All and
3) Peace and Dignity for all communities: Stop the Violence and Harassment by the Police, Military and
ICE (Immigration and Citizenship Enforcement).

MIWON was the main organizer of the May 1 March and Rally ending at Mac Arthur Park. MIWON has
organized peaceful marches and rallies on May 1st for the past seven years without incident. This year,
MIWON created a festive atmosphere in Mac Arthur Park so that families could celebrate International
Workers Day with music, speakers and entertainment. This year, MIWON added an arts table for children
which was located on the corner where LAPD entered the park. Almost 25,000 participants gathered for
the march and rally.

“There was no need for the LAPD to be in riot gear throughout the day. Their aggressive behavior
caused unnecessary tension and intimidation. The police escalated the situation and were out of
control,” said Kimi Lee, Executive Director of the Garment Worker Center (GWC) and a member
organization of MIWON. “I am seven months pregnant and was running away in fear alongside mothers
with strollers who were trying to get their families to safety.”

Los Angeles has had a history filled with public eruptions of police brutality and violence but police
presence in low-wage communities of color create a daily tension. Just in the last year shootings by
LAPD have made front-page headlines such as the shooting of 13-year old Devon Brown in February
2005. Communities like Mac Arthur Park, South Los Angeles and many others face a constant insecurity
caused by heavy policing.

Police brutality has taken a new direction as Angelenos perceived as undocumented immigrants are
harassed by police for identification so that they can indirectly find a person’s documentation status. In
the last couple years, there has been a move by to create more collaboration between law enforcement
and immigration.

“There is no coincidence that just as undocumented immigrants are being harassed, raided and
detained that the police felt the right to invade Mac Arthur Park on Tuesday,” said Angelica Salas,
Executive Director of CHIRLA and member organization of MIWON. “Communities of color and especially
the Black community has been under siege by police misconduct. For us, it is clear that only the LAPD is
to blame for the violence and atmosphere of fear that day. We cannot let the LAPD blame anyone within
our community for what happened. We stand united together for institutional reform in the LAPD.”
                                          ###

MIWON is an alliance of the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of L.A. (CHIRLA), Garment Worker Center (GWC), Instituto de
Educacion Popular del Sur de California (IDEPSCA), Koreatown Immigrant Workers Alliance (KIWA), and the Pilipino Workers Center
of Southern CA (PWC

Last Update: Sat, 4/19/2008

You need Java to see this applet.