At The Reform Immigration For America Summit

By kyledeb on June 3, 2009 12:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I am currently sitting amidst a group of over 700 screaming migrant advocates at the Reform Immigration for America Summit. I came here with the Student Immigrant Movement, and will be working with America's Voice to help mobilize people to push back against hate online. I believe it is important to state my organizational affiliations for the sake of honesty, but anyone who knows my blogging knows that I write unfiltered.

I was just setting up my video camera and my audio equipment where Ali Noorani of the National Immigration Forum was set to take the stage. I know him from my time at the Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition. I shook his hand and said hello and then got out of his way to set up my digital voice recorder. It wasn't a few seconds before I turned away that he started ribbing me for calling out "D.C. orgs." He asked if I was setting up the audio equipment so that I could call out "D.C. orgs" on my blog.

I've been vocal about my disagreements with "D.C. orgs" behind the scenes, through email lists and personal communication. But it's not something I've been public about...until now. I hope that answers your question, Mr. Noorani :). I state all this not to be confrontational, but to make a point about where I stand as this summit begins. I'm not afraid to speak the truth.

As always, I will be posting at Citizen Orange and The Sanctuary. Twitter is also a good place to stay up to date on what I'm up to, especially during public events that are open to the press.