It began four weeks ago. Thousands of students at campuses across Puerto Rico began a strike to demand their right to quality public education. After the University of Puerto Rico (UPR) instituted $100 million in budget cuts, and in part inspired by other student movements in California earlier this spring, students began occupying their campuses. Sustained by food and water tossed over fences by family, and encouraged by faith leaders and unions across the country, it appears that these students will remain committed into month two until the university agrees to come to the table. University professors and workers have declared their support for the student strike and are strongly urging the UPR administration to begin negotiations. Professor and dramatist Roberto Ramos-Perea has sent an appeal to the international community outlining the reasons for the strike and documenting the human rights abuses that are being committed in response to the strike, such as the refusal of light, water, and food to the students. Thus far, the university has refused negotiations and has only responded with the deployment of riot police. Curiously, coverage of this historic strike by Puerto Rican students has been virtually non-existent among U.S. media sources. Democracy Now, however, is one exception.

"University of Puerto Rico is Not for Sale"

This past Saturday, I had the opportunity to attend a welcome party for the four students who are marching from Miami to D.C. for immigration reform. It was a beautiful event filled with music, food, and people from throughout the Atlanta community. The event was organized by the Georgia Latino Alliance for Human Rights and the Georgia Association for Latino Elected Officials, among others. The four students shared with us stories of their march thus far, including a recent encounter with a KKK anti-immigrant rally in south Georgia. Luckily, the students were accompanied by local NAACP members, and were able to sing freedom songs together while surrounded by the KKK. As they move through Atlanta, supporters are worried for their safety as they pass through Gwinnett County, where Sheriff “Butch” Conway has instituted serious anti-immigrant measures in his police force. According to Georgia immigrant rights leader, Adelina Nicholls: “Sheriff Conway is one of the most dangerous figures in Georgia, who has turned Gwinett County into a place of fear, racial profiling, arrest, and deportation.” While the welcome party was a time of celebration and fellowship, there was also recognition that there may be further incidents of fear and intimidation for the students on their long journey to the capitol. However, the students shared their unwavering hope and commitment to their cause with the audience and will proceed north in the days to come…

In a post I wrote on January 1st, 2010,  I highlighted the effort of four immigrant students who intend to walk 1,500 miles from Miami to Washington, D.C. along a Trail of Dreams. Their goal? To inspire a nation to stand up for immigration reform that respects human dignity. With great enthusiasm for their continuation of a long tradition of student activism, mirroring the courage of the Freedom Riders (but this time traveling north), it is exciting to announce that these students, along with many others who have joined them along their long journey, will be arriving in Atlanta on Saturday, February 27. A festive welcome party hosted by the Georgia Latino Alliance for Human Rights will be held at the First Iconium Baptist Church.  To follow the Trail of Dreams, click on this map.

Fifty years ago today, on February 1st, 1960, four black students in Greensboro, North Carolina refused to leave a segregated lunch counter in a direct challenge to Jim Crow laws in the South. This tactic of civil disobedience spread like wildfire, especially among students- by the end of the year, more than 50,000 students defiantly and strategically used the sit-ins to protest racial segregation and injustice. A great article by Hasan Kwame Jeffries in Race-Talk rightfully highlights the importance of recognizing that the students were not only protesting against something, they were also positively asserting their human rights and actively living out their alternative visions of a free and just society. (Photo: Courtesy of Greensboro News and Record)

As many of us were preparing for festive celebrations on New Years Eve, a group of college students in Miami were preparing for a different kind of celebration: a 1,500 mile march from Miami to Washington, DC to highlight the dignity and rights of immigrant families in the United States. Inspired by the great marches of the Black Freedom Movement, such as the Selma to Montgomery marches in 1965, and the Farm Workers movement, which included a 340-mile march from Delano to Sacramento in 1966, these students are hoping to bring attention to the discrimination and human rights struggles faced by immigrants today. In reading an article in the LA Times, I was struck by a quote by the students’ legal counsel, who stated: “They really believe they can make a difference and are willing to put their lives on the line, but they are going to be walking through some very unfriendly places for immigrants.” The determination of these students to march for four months in the name of social justice (despite the very real risk of violence) is reminiscent of the courage held by the students of the 1961 Freedom Rides. This march may in fact demonstrate for this generation the power that youth have always had, however idealistic or naive they may first appear, in shaping the moral convictions of a nation.

(Photo: Jeffrey Boan, AP)

Students around the country who have mobilized with the United Students Against Sweatshops are celebrating as the target of their human rights campaign, Russell Athletic, caved to public pressure on Tuesday and moved to rehire more than 1,200 workers in Honduras who had been fired for organizing a union in order to collectively bargain for their labor rights. An article in the New York Times sheds light on this victory for global student/worker solidarity.

A teen in Cobb County, GA withdrew from his high-school after being told to dress “more manly.” Read the story here. The school says his mode of dress disrupted class. He says he won’t attend where he’s not allowed to express himself. Does the student have a right to dress however he wants? Is the school’s response smart policy or gender discrimination? Should the school have taken a position on the matter at all? If so, what do you think it should have been?

As highlighted in a recent blog by The Nation, farmworkers in Florida have much to celebrate. The migrant farmworkers of the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW) and their student, faith, and fair food allies have mobilized nationwide actions for more than a decade, making basic demands to the most powerful fast food corporations in the world: protect the human rights of farmworkers, put an end to modern-day slavery in the fields of Florida, and give farmworkers one penny more per pound of tomatoes they pick. This past week, East Coast Growers and the Compass Group (the world’s largest food-service company) have agreed to pass down the penny more per pound the farmworkers have earned in agreements with Taco Bell, McDonald’s, Burger King, and Subway. Although farmworkers and domestic workers are excluded from the 1935 U.S. National Labor Relations Act, which protects the right to fair working conditions, the right to join unions, and the right to overtime pay, these farmworkers have nonetheless fought for these inalienable human rights, and together with consumers’ demands not only for sustainable food, but fair food, they are successfully bending the arc of agriculture towards justice.

Photo by Scott Robertson:

As the state of California cuts funds in the face of the current economy and university regents meet to discuss drastic increases in student fees in the UC system, those most effected by these measures- the students themselves- are planning a walk-out today at 12:00pm. The students are exercising their right to peaceful assembly and freedom of expression in demanding that their right to affordable education be fulfilled. The students recognize the problem posed by the economy, but are criticizing the priorities the state and regents have made in making the students and lowest-paid workers in the university system pay for the deficit. Rights organizations such as the Student Labor Action Project have noted how the administration has tried to co-opt student mobilization by making these important budget decisions in the summer months. So far, fourteen students have been arrested in demonstrations earlier this week. How do tuition increases in public education system impact racial and economic diversity on campuses? Will actions such as these in California spread to other colleges and universities around the country facing similar challenges?