Starving for Justice

Fast Brings Focus to Fight For Immigration Reform

by Sarah Curry, OneAmerica Research and Policy Manager

Mary Nguyen, a UFCW 21 organizer, gave her first testimony in front of a body of elected leaders a few weeks ago. Not the empowering civic process she expected, Mary walked away feeling like things were out of her control. That evening in Whatcom County she witnessed a room divided across racial lines—the people of color and immigrants in the room testified against e-verify, while a mainly white crowd testified in support. She says, “It was good that we were on record but our voices fell on deaf ears.”

After the Whatcom council meeting and with the passage of Arizona’s SB 1070 and other local councils in Washington considering e-verify, Mary had reached a point where she only saw and heard hate. “It felt impossible,” she said, referring to the struggle to achieve comprehensive immigration reform.

With the country so out of control, Mary decided that she would fast so she would feel more in control and gain her focus back.

For the next fourteen days she only drank water. The first three days were the worst with intense hunger pains. Then her body went into detox. She broke into a skin rash and some days her mouth tasted like medicine from all the chemicals that were surfacing. Sometimes she felt sick and tired, but she was sharply in tune to the pain and suffering of the millions of people impacted by a lack of comprehensive immigration reform. These people who were struggling lifted her up mentally and physically. She let herself gain strength from these workers, students, and families and let go of the feelings of impossibility and hopelessness.

Above: Mary Nguyen during a rally for healthcare reform

On her good days she was filled with energy like never before. Her mind was acute. She says, “Now I recognize that it’s a hard struggle and fight but I am ready for it. I have the energy for it. I have the motivation. I am rejuvenated.”

Mary has been surrounded by the struggles of immigrant communities her entire life. The first person in her family born in the states, she was raised by her mother and father, Vietnamese refugees, in a small log milling town in Washington State. When she was growing up her parents were in “survival mode,” working and going to school.

One incident stands out as a motivation for the work she does now. On Mary’s first day of school, a little boy asked if she was Vietnamese and that if she was he would kill her. She told the child “no” and immediately felt awful. She did not understand why this person hated her for what she looked like, and she could not understand how she had denied who she was so quickly. When she told her parents about the incident, busy making a living for the family, they did not react.

As a union organizer, Mary is tasked with working with many people in survival mode and helping them learn that they should not expect injustice. It is not easy. She works to connect people from all different types of backgrounds to show them that even if they do not realize it they are connected to the issue of immigration. With legal immigrants and refugees, this often means telling them about how there is no way for many people to come in the country legally and talking about how the process has gotten harder and more expensive since 9/11. With native born workers she also has long conversations about co-workers and about how employers sometimes use legal status as a way to divide workers. She says, “We are such a stronger union if we tap into the resources that all workers bring. We don’t care what your status is. We do not ask. Once you are hired it is our job to protect you. We can’t let the employer and management divide us.”

It was not until Mary began organizing for the April 10^th rally in Seattle that she understood how deeply the issue of immigration affected the union as workers she met told her story after story about their lives. This experience gave her both a close up and bird’s eye view of the broken immigration system.  She says, “It broke my heart to hear these stories of people struggling to get the right papers or to get their mother over here. It felt personal. It also felt bigger than ever.”

She helped one Cambodian woman with her individual struggle to sponsor her mother. Unable to obtain her father’s death certificate the woman did not know what to do. Mary says, “When your country is war torn and there’s massive killings and you’re from a rural village there are so many barriers to getting these documents. She felt powerless and I felt powerless.” Mary asked the local to pay for a consultation with a lawyer who was able to finish the visa process. However, the young woman is still waiting and family backlogs can be particularly long for Asian families. Mary says, “This woman needs her mother here. Waiting for her mom has hindered every part of her life. Stories like this are why the labor movement needs to be involved.”

Mary describes the moment when members join the fight for justice as a move from isolation to engagement. Members may march, write a letter, or make a phone call, but ultimately they join together in large numbers to show Congress that they care. Through that process Nguyen says, “They no longer feel isolated. They are not fighting alone. They are fighting with everyone else.”

Fifteen days later, her first day breaking the fast, Mary is ready for the fight. She is more able to pull the good out of the bad. She describes Arizona as “scary,” but talks about how Arizona’s law has meant that the movement for immigration reform has gained unlikely allies like the NBA’s Los Suns.

The fight for immigration reform continues June 23^rd in front of the federal building in Seattle. Mary and UFCW 21 members will be there alongside faith groups, immigrant service organizations, and other unions that are part of the Washington Immigration Reform Coalition. Why will they be there? Mary says, “Now is the time. We have to be there.”

 Do you have a story about why you're fighting for immigration reform? Contact Sarah Curry at Sarah@weareoneamerica.org.