Mutual Aid Groups Meet the Migrant Moment
New York City has been a city of immigrants throughout its history. It’s what gives the city its unparalleled diversity and dynamism. It’s the reason that a certain statue stands in New York Harbor with a plaque affixed to it that reads, “Give me your tired, your poor/ Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free…”
Our city’s pro-immigrant ethos has been put to a test over the past 18 months. More than 130,000 migrants have arrived in New York, many in buses sent from Republican-controlled border states. This has strained city services, a situation exacerbated by the lack of assistance coming from the federal government. Worse, the mayor has repeatedly sought to scapegoat the migrants with alarmist rhetoric that is spread by clickbait-hungry corporate media outlets.
In our current issue, we invite migrants from Venezuela, Nicaragua and Mauritania to share their individual stories. The Indy’s Amba Guerguerian introduces us to the Mutual Aid Collective, a citywide federation of neighborhood-based mutual-aid groups that has filled the void created by City Hall’s lackluster response. And we also have a brilliant report from our Mexico correspondent Laura Carlsen on how the U.S. response to the migrant influx looks to our neighbors south of the border.
After Traveling Thousands of Miles, Migrants Find an Uncertain Existence in NYC
By Moses Jeanfrancois and Amba Guerguerian
Mutual Aid Groups Meet the Migrant Moment
By Amba Guerguerian
Mexico in the Middle: US Moves to ‘Externalize’ Border Crisis Instead of Addressing Its Root Causes
By Laura Carlsen
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INDY RADIO UPDATE
On Tuesday evening, we had another jam-packed edition of The Indypendent News Hour hosted by Indy Editor-in-Chief John Tarleton and Associate Editor Amba Guerguerian. We spoke with our criminal justice correspondent Ted Hamm about his latest article looking at a $40 million lawsuit filed against the FBI by the man who was falsely convicted of murdering Malcolm X. Amba Guerguerian gave us a fiery update about Wayne Gardine, a Jamaican immigrant whose murder conviction was overturned this week but remains behind bars in an ICE detention center. And radical theater creator Ashley Marinaccio talked about the Gaza Monologues which were staged around the world on Wednesday at the impetus of the Palestine-based Ashtar Theater.
If you want to hear more of John opining about the Indy's latest coverage of NYPD misconduct, Israeli apartheid and more, he was the guest for the full hour on WBAI's morning show on Monday morning. We're already planning our next show. So tune in on Tuesday from 5-6 pm on WBAI-99.5 FM and streaming on wbai.org.
UPDATE FROM THE STREETS
Yesterday, the news that Henry Kissinger died went public during a pro-Palestine protest at the Rockefeller Center’s annual first lighting of the Christmas tree. Click here to watch how demonstrators responded + more protest footage from our field photographer Neil Constantine.