Reminder: Chicago Families Protest Increasing Racial Profiling in the Era of the War on Terror 10/17/2003
From: Josina Morita of Applied Research Center, 773-844-7296; Nancy Bothne of Amnesty International USA, 312-435-6391; Saket Soni of the Coalition of African, Asian, European and Latino Immigrants of Illinois, 773-550-9339; Suzanne Adely of the Arab American Action Network, 773-580-4075 News Advisory: Reminder: Chicago Families Protest Increasing Racial Profiling in the Era of the War on Terror: Community Hearings to be Held on Anniversary of the Patriot Act Press Conference: Saturday, Oct. 18 9:15 - 9:45 a.m. New Covenant Missionary Baptist Church, 740 E. 77th St., (77th & Cottage Grove) -- Public Hearing 1: Saturday, October 18 10 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. New Covenant Missionary Baptist Church, 740 E. 77th St., (77th & Cottage Grove) Featuring testimony from people who have experienced racial profiling and unfair treatment. -- Public Hearing 2: Monday, October 20 10 a.m. - 1 p.m. DePaul University's Egan Urban Center, 243 S. Wabash (9th Floor) Featuring testimony from advocates, scholars and law enforcement representatives who can give an expert legal overview racial profiling policies and practices. --- PUBLIC HEARING No. 1 Moderator-Barbara Ransby: Executive Director of The Public Square and Professor of History and Black Studies at the University of Illinois, Chicago. Commissioners-Hayelom Ayele: Chairperson of the Chicago Commission on Human Relations Advisory Council on Immigrant and Refugee Affairs; Rey Colon: Chicago City Council, 35th Ward Alderman; Jesus Garcia: former State Senator; Executive Director of the Little Village Community Development Corporation; Grace Hou: Assistant Secretary of Illinois Department of Human Services; Kareem Irfan: Chairman of the Council on Islamic Organizations of Greater Chicago; Camille Odeh: Executive Director of the Southwest Youth Collaborative; Aaron Patterson: pardoned Death row inmate who was wrongfully convicted; Rep. Cynthia Soto, Illinois General Assembly, 4th District; Fred Tsao: Policy Director, Illinois Coalition of Immigrant and Refugee Rights Witnesses -- Nneka Alexander & Johnathan Whitlow: Their family member, Kenny, was shot in the back 7 times by Chicago police as he was entering his house. -- Ismael Cuauhtemoc Ruiz: 16 year-old Latino man who was racially profiled in a white Chicago suburb. -- Mrs. Verma of the IndoAmerican Center for Gurudev Singh Punia: a 77 year-old Sikh man who was forced to remove his turban to take an ID picture at the Chicago Department of Motor Vehicles. -- Elvira Arellano: worked at O'Hare Airport cleaning airplanes for six years. Because of Operation Tarmac, she was caught up post in post Sept. 11 raids. -- Yamira Pineda: Fired from her job at Suncast Factory along with 300 other workers after the company received Social Security Administration No-Match letters. -- Chiye Tomihiro: Japanese American woman whose father was detained in a prison camp for 3 years in Santa Fe, New Mexico during WWII. -- Najma Haq for Naveed Nazar: Naveed Nazar came to the U.S. seeking political asylum, but was later detained at Special Registration where he was denied medical attention for his kidney problems and then deported back to Pakistan after spending 3 months in detention. -- Anmol Chaddha for "Mohammed": "Mohammed" (name changed to protect identity) came to the U.S. seeking political asylum, secured a work visa, and worked as a taxi driver. In August of 2002, he was detained for 3 months after a police officer, who had issued him a ticket for double parking, reported him to INS. -- Ahmed Bensouda: a Morroccan activist who was arrested by the FBI in his Urbana home for an immigration violation. He was detained for 3 months and went through a secret hearing on the grounds of "national security." -- Donald Boyd: a 62 year-old African American man and community leader was arrested, abused and ultimately falsely charged with possession of a controlled substance. -- Kyungyi Kim for Mrs. Lee: Mrs. Lee's family was torn apart when her husband was deported, one year after September 11, the last time she and her 11-year old son has seen him. Kyungyi Kim, a social worker at Korean American Community Services, will be speaking on her behalf. -- Sofia Ahmad for Lina Daqa: Lina Daqa is a Palestinian mother who was seeking asylum. She was denied asylum and has been in detention for 4 months. She is now facing deportation. -- Manal El Hrisse for Sabri Samirah: Sabri Samirah, president of United Muslim Americans Association, was barred from returning to the U.S. after visiting his ailing mother in his native country of Jordan for "security reasons." -- Jowhara Yusuf: an Ethiopian mother applied to be reunified with her family who was living in Kenya in 1999. Two days before her family was to join her here in the U.S., they were denied entry and have not been given a reason. -- Public Hearing No. 2 Moderator: Nancy Bothne: Midwest Regional Director of Amnesty International Chairman: The Hon. Timothy K. Lewis: Retired Judge of the on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit and Of Counsel at Schnader Harrison Segal & Lewis LLP, a national law firm Commissioners: Gerald LaMelle: Deputy Executive Director for Advocacy, Amnesty International USA; LaShawn Warren: Legislative Counsel of the American Civil Liberties Union, Washington, D.C. National Office; Patricia Mendoza: Chief of the Civil Rights Bureau of the Office of the Illinois Attorney General; Hayelom Ayele: Chairperson of the Chicago Commission on Human Relations Advisory Council on Immigrant and Refugee Affairs; Kareem Irfan: Chairman of the Council on Islamic Organizations of Greater Chicago; Camille Odeh: Executive Director of the Southwest Youth Collaborative; Aaron Patterson: pardoned Death row inmate who was wrongfully convicted. Expert Testimony: -- Jim Fennerty - National Lawyers Guild; Topic: Patriot Act -- Emma Lozano - Executive Director of Centro sin Fronteras; Topic: Social Security No-Match letters -- Louise Cainkar - University of Illinois, Chicago; Topic: Arab and Muslim profiling -- Lydia Taylor - Executive Director of the Justice Coalition; Topic: Racial profiling -- Adam Schwartz - Director of the Racial Profiling Program at the American Civil Liberties Union; Topic: Racial profiling -- Ali Khan - Executive Director of the American Muslim Council, Chicago Chapter; Topic: Muslim profiling -- Florentina Rendon - HOPE Fair Housing Center; Topic: Housing discrimination against immigrants in the western suburbs -- Lok Lau - Former FBI Agent; Topic: Asian American profiling --- Contacts: Josina Morita of Applied Research Center, 773-844-7296, jmorita@arc.org; Nancy Bothne of Amnesty International USA, 312-435-6391, nbothne@aiusa.com; Saket Soni of the Coalition of African, Asian, European and Latino Immigrants of Illinois, 773-550-9339, saketsoni@hotmail.com; Suzanne Adely of the Arab American Action Network, 773-580-4075, suzanneadely@msn.com |