AFL-CIO FREEDOM RIDE ORGANIZERS TURN AWAY ANTI-RACISTS

Okay, now let’s think about this for a minute. Immigration laws are rooted in racism. The Immigrant Workers Freedom Ride was organized to oppose that racism and change racist policy. The only people opposing the Freedom Riders during the Ride have been racists. So how in the hell did anti-racists trying to participate in the rally in Liberty State Park get branded the bad guys? That brand kept us and other anti-racists from being a part of the rally because we were deemed counter-demonstrators to Hal Turner’s group. Turner was contained in his own little area, so there was not any concern for him there, and we were concerned with supporting the Riders. We had our own plans to do so at his home, as many of you all know, but after this crap happened, we had to deal with this, so we cancelled that event. WBAI covered what happened, and this is our take.

One People’s Project

JERSEY CITY, NJ, Oct. 3-Anti-racist activists were barred from participating in the rally for the Immigrant Workers Freedom Ride in Liberty State Park. It was a decision made by the NJ AFL-CIO as a security move to protect riders after threats made by racist radio host Hal Turner who counter demonstrated against the rally.

An elaborate procedure of security was imposed to prevent any possible confrontations between Turner’s group and anyone who opposed him. Attendees had to obtain orange armbands to board a bus that would take them to the rally site somewhere in the sprawling park. AFL-CIO officials turned approximately 25-30 people away as “counter-demonstrators”, even though they obtained the armbands. They included members of One People’s Project, Anti-Racist Action, National Lawyers Guild and National Writers Union. The NLF and NWU were participants in the Ride itself.

There were no plans to confront Turner, who came to the park with an undetermined number of people and was pretty much contained away from the Freedom Ride rally. The anti-racists meant to simply support the Freedom Riders as they arrived. According to reports, the state, citing concerns for the safety of not only the Riders but also Gov. Jim McGreevey, who invited the Riders and was attending the rally, made the security measures a requirement. Some members of the AFL-CIO dissented, but reportedly the higher ups there went ahead with the requirement.

Other groups were barred as well simply because they were not part of a union, another security measure. A Palestinian group and some Jersey City residents were eventually allowed to participate after some intervention by AFL-CIO members.

The planned rally at Hal Turner’s home later that afternoon was cancelled after the events of the day as anti-racist groups and individuals worked to deal with what had occurred. There may possibly be a press conference later on next week.