Sincere Communication: Indian workers on pilgrimage from Gulf Coast to DC

by the Beloved Community Center

Mar. 27, 2008

[This article was contributed to by Wesley Morris, Kyle Lambelet, and Rev. Nelson Johnson. You can see pictures of the gathering at our photo gallery. We invite your thoughts and comments at our discussion forum.]

At 2 AM in the morning, New Light Baptist Church Trustee R. C. Shoffner and Rev. Nelson Johnson of the Beloved Community Center greeted 68 exhausted workers fleeing what they called modern day slavery in Pasgalousa, Mississippi. Greensboro was a symbolic stop for these workers travelling from New Orleans to Washington D.C., a stop on an “underground railroad” of sorts as they make their winding way through the South with hopes of justice.

Leaving their homes in various regions of India nearly five-hundred skilled workers, primarily welders and fitters, were trafficked to the Gulf Coast to repair damage from Hurricane Katrina. Recruiters made promises of good jobs, permanent residency and a chance to bring their families to the U.S. In order to pay the fee of $20,000, a fee related to the H2B Work Program, workers sold homes, family valuables and took out high interest loans. Once in the U.S. the workers faced 24 men living in one room, being served rotten food and being deprived of life’s basic necessities. When workers began to speak up about their conditions, they were imprisoned and armed guards were hired to quell any dissent.

In courageous response, the workers collectively organized to grant the release of these protestors. Faced with the choice of continuing to work in the same dehumanizing conditions or leaving the job site and becoming undocumented immigrants in an increasingly hostile climate, all but a hundred of the workers left. Some have sought to blend into the underbelly of the U.S. economy that uses and abuses undocumented workers. Others have organized and filed a class-action lawsuit against their former employer Signal International. In addition to their lawsuit the workers have been on a pilgrimage across the South, raising awareness and support for their cause.

Throughout their pilgrimage, the workers have been subject to ICE officials who have surveilled their movements. The group was advised not to travel through Mecklenburg County, as well as other counties where sheriff’s departments have agreed to work with ICE, because of their status as undocumented workers.

The workers pilgrimage brought them to Greensboro at 2:00 am on Wednesday morning, delayed because of the weaving way they were forced to take. After a nights rest and breakfast at New Light Baptist Church, Rev. Cardes Brown (Pastor of New Light) and Rev. Nelson Johnson led a discussion about the connections that African Americans and the larger Greensboro community have with the workers in their struggle for justice. Also a part of the Greensboro group were five people who had heard about this gathering at the Truth and Community Reconciliation Project the night before. BCC intern Wesley Morris offered greetings and words of encouragement, “I see faith and expectation in your faces.” He went on to encourage them to put that faith not in the Justice Department or congressional representatives, but in God, the only one who could fulfill their hopes for justice. “Man will recognize God, and God will recognize man.”

Mrs. Joyce Johnson, director of the Jubilee Institute at the BCC, commented, “My heart grieves for you, but I am proud of you.” These sentiments were echoed by others as a woman began to sing, “Walk together children, don’t you get weary.” Showing solidarity, the Indian workers began to sing in English as well.

Rev. Gregory Headen, speaking on behalf of 100 ministers in Greensboro offered support and advice. Rev. Ernest Bradford gave wisdom on the nonviolent approach employed by Ghandi against inherited colonial pressures. The service concluded with a layout of the plan once the workers reached Washington. The workers planned to hold council with the Ambassador to India and to put political pressure on members of congress as well as the Indian government who stands to profit from this guest worker program.

The intimidation of being deported by Immigration officials has weighed heavily on the workers. The idea of returning to a country with no home, money or savings served as motivation for the Pulpit Forum to write to Rep. Mel Watt and the Congressional Black Caucus, calling on them to intervene as the Justice Department plans to detain and possibly deport the workers on their arrival in DC.

Although, the road to freedom is long, the workers were encouraged in Greensboro to fight for what they know to be right. This situation, which demeans all of our humanity, further deepens our concern for the how we treat immigrants and guests in our society. Away from the excitement of the political scene or the blossoming spring flowers, there is work to be done on behalf of those who struggle. These types of gatherings remind those who actively work for reconciliation and justice that music is not the only mode of communication that crosses all bounds, but sincerity and solidarity in struggle does as well.

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