Pulpit Forum letter to Rep. Mel Watt on behalf of Indian Workers

by Revs. Cardes Brown, Gregory Headen, and Nelson Johnson

Mar. 28, 2008

[[To learn more about the Indian Worker's visit to Greensboro read "Sincere Communication." We invite your response to this letter and the workers struggle on our online discussion board.]]

The Honorable Melvin T. Watt
U. S. House of Representatives
2236 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515

Dear Congressman Watt:

Representatives of the Pulpit Forum, an organization of more than 100 churches and pastors in Greensboro, NC, are writing you and copying other members of the Congressional Black Caucus on what we consider to be an urgent moral and human rights issue.

On Wednesday, March 26, we received and provided food, shelter and general hospitality to 68 Indian workers at one of our churches. These workers were fleeing what they termed “modern day slavery.” We were pleased to learn that another African-American church had given hospitality and sanctuary to them before reaching Greensboro. This is a request to you and other members of congress to intervene on behalf of these workers to bring a measure of relief.

We sat with these workers for several hours as they shared their experiences. We were deeply moved by their stories. They stirred up deep emotions within us because their experience reminded us so much of what we as African-Americans have experienced in America. We felt that we were talking to our brothers in a common struggle.

These Indian human beings were recruited in India and made promises that gave them hope in America. They were required to pay $20,000.00 to come. To realize this sum, they had to mortgage homes, take out loans and lay on the line what amounts to a life’s work and savings. They were promised the opportunity to work and eventually bring their families to America. Upon arriving and since being here, they have been treated as human chatell, proscribed to a “man camp” with armed guards keeping them in check. When their leaders tried to protest and organize, they were locked away in a room and denied the opportunity to excercise their rights in America.

In order to free their leaders, others walked off the job in protest. The choice they had was to stay in a situation of virtual slavery or to leave. When they walked off, this placed them in a situation of violating their HB2 Guest Worker Visa that binds them to a single employer. This gives that employer great power over them. The treatment they have endured from Signal International (the employer) has caused them to see the company as engaging in human trafficking.

These workers have filed an anti-racketeering class action lawsuit. On March 18th, they began a pilgrimage from New Orleans to Washington, DC to plead their case. They have been surveiled and harassed on this journey. They have had to take a winding route, greatly extending the miles covered, in order to avoid counties that might lock them up for being illegals. Their journey against fear and intimidation in quest of freedom reminds us of the underground railroad of the pre-Civil War days. We have been impressed with the courageous and civil manner in which these workers have attempted to get redress through our Justice System but to no avail. The legal system seems to be structured against them. We as blacks remember a time when even the law itself was against us. Human beings can endure much if their dignity is left to them. These workers have refused to give up their dignity.

As spiritual and moral agents, we are compelled to use our influence to help them receive some redress in this democracy. First of all, we are asking you to meet with them and hear their stories. Secondly, we want you to intervene with the Justice Department on their behalf to prevent them from becoming criminalized for standing up for their dignity. Thirdly, we urge you to investigate Signal International to see if they have overstepped their power in locking up those who protested conditions of over-crowded and inhumane lodging (24 to a room), bad food, and threatening deportation for anyone who protested these subhuman working conditions. Fourthly, we urge you to re-evaluate the entire Guest Workers Program to see if there are structural flaws in that program that invite this kind of employer abuse.

We are deeply concerned and afraid that these human beings who have stood up for the best in the American Dream will be arrested as violators of their H2B Guest Worker Visas and deported before this matter is properly addressed. This reminds us of the Fugutive Slave Law in which Negro slaves were tracked down because they stood up for their freedom. These workers have given us a great gift to the extent that they are exposing something that we desperately need to see and change. Their reward should not be the label of “criminal.”

It is our intent to share this concern broadly through our networks across the nation. Our conviction is that when any human being is treated in a non-human way, all of us are diminished. We, therefore, see this as our sacred duty to inform people across the nation, especially those in our church networks. We will be counting on you to give this matter your very best as you continue to serve the cause of human dignity.

This delegation arrived in Washington on March 27th. Contacts for the group are Saket Soni (504/881-6610) and Jacob Horwitz (504/452-9159).

Yours truly,

Rev. Gregory T. Headen
President, Pulpit Forum and Senior Pastor, Genesis Baptist Church

Rev. Nelson N. Johnson
Vice-President, Pulpit Forum and Senior Pastor, Faith Community Church

Rev. Cardes H. Brown
Executive Committee, Pulpit Forum and Senior Pastor, New Light Baptist Church

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