No Papers, No Fear at the Democratic Convention

By Amy Goodman with Denis Moynihan

CHARLOTTE, N.C.—As the Democratic National Convention was gaveled into session Tuesday, outside in the rain, in the paramilitarized heart of Charlotte, democracy in its finest form found expression. Democracy, that is, if you believe that it’s built on a foundation of grass-roots movements: the abolitionist struggle, the fight for women’s suffrage, the civil-rights movement. In this city, where one of the first lunch counter sit-ins against segregation occurred, 10 undocumented immigrants blocked an intersection, risking arrest and possible deportation while calling on President Barack Obama and the Democratic Party to embrace the immigrant-rights movement and pass meaningful immigration reform.

“We are here to ask President Obama what his legacy will be,” Rosi Carrasco said as she climbed down from the “UndocuBus,” colorfully painted with butterflies, that the activists traveled in from Arizona. “What we want to say to President Obama is, on which side of the history is he going to be? Is he going to be remembered as the president that has been deporting the most people in U.S. history, or he is going to be on the side of immigrants?” Rosi’s husband, Martin Unzueta, said: “I am undocumented. I’ve been living here for 18 years. I pay taxes, and I’m paying more taxes than Citibank.”

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