Labor Seder Celebrates Immigrants' Roots & Rights

(Metropolitan Washington Council, AFL-CIO)When Ilir Zherka arrived in this country, the two-year-old Albanian immigrant didn’t speak a word of English. “Legal or illegal, it’s hard to live somewhere and feel left out,” Zherka said at Jews United for Justice’s (JUFJ) annual Labor Seder – which remembers the ancient Jewish story of liberation from slavery in Egypt while connecting it to modern social justice struggles – on Sunday night. “Immigrants really provide a lifeblood to this country,” said Zherka, who’s now Executive Director of DC Vote, the leading advocacy organization for voting rights in the nation’s capital.  Like many of the nearly 300 attendees at the 11th annual gathering, Zherka had a powerful personal story that vividly brought to life the seder’s theme of “Immigrant Roots, Immigrant Rights.” Though they came from all walks of life – from first generation immigrants to Native American descendants, and from young students to longtime DC activists, artists and organizers – the seder participants found a common path Sunday night. As usual, JUFJ tweaked the traditional seder format, reworking the “four questions,” the songs, and even the ten plagues to focus on the plight of local immigrants. Instead of the traditional plagues of blood, frogs, and pestilence, for example, the attendees contemplated oppression in countries of origin, poor access to education, and unemployment. The crowd also heard from speakers Prerna Lal, co-founder of Dreamactivist.org, and from Sarahi Uribe, the National Campaign Coordinator for the National Day Laborer Organizing Network – both of whom have experienced hardship due to the United States immigration system. Lal publically fights for immigrants, despite her own status as an undocumented immigrant. The DREAM Act in her home state of California enabled her to attend college there and she’s now working to get similar legislation signed into law in Maryland. Uribe’s father was taken away early in her life when he was deported to Mexico. She says the Secure Communities program “is actually making communities less safe” because immigrants are now in danger of being deported for even reporting a crime. She’s working to pass a bill in the DC City Council that would stop this program in the District. At the end of the seder, participants took action by writing letters to local officials calling for more immigrant-friendly policies. Metro Council President Jos Williams, himself a first-generation immigrant who faced discrimination as a child in Little Rock, thanked JUFJ “for reminding me that I am not free as long as there are others around me who are not free.” - report by Jews United for Justice's Sam Jewler; photos by Chris Garlock