We Are Florida!

Tallahassee, May 6th, 2011 - Tonight, the “We are Florida” campaign gathers throughout the state with a deep sense of relief and accomplishment at defeating racial profiling Arizona copycat bills. Despite the considerable threats of unconstitutional, costly and mean-spirited proposals, and the assurances of our strongest allies that “something must pass” the session ends with no such legislation. This is due in great part, to the formidable campaign engaginghundreds of groups and thousands of families. We are grateful for the courage of some of our elected leaders whose hearts where touched by the humble andpersistent presence of immigrant families who have made their way to the seemingly impenetrable walls of the state capitol, resisting dehumanization and rescuing democracy. We had to overcome so many barriers—distance, resources, fear—demonstrating how much it means to us to have Florida as our home. We fought hard, and not only for immigrant rights. This effort is about the inclusive and welcoming Florida we seek to build, where we all belong.

At the end of the day, regardless of the public rhetoric, we won’t truly know what has saved our state from approaches that are misguided at best and hateful at worst. People will ask: Was it the power of the wealthy or the prayers of the poor? Was it the persistence of the people or the paid ads?  Was it a sincere belief that this was the wrong approach for our beloved Sunshine state or the threat of the $45 billion pricetag?  No matter the reason there is growing consensus from the most unlikely places that strictly punitive immigration measures are bad for Florida.

A consensus is also growing from virtually every part of the State that the Federal Government must assume its responsibility to develop a truly comprehensive fix to our broken immigration system.  Change takes courage. Until that relief truly comes, the everyday people of our State will continually brace for divisive debates.  After the end of the session today, the real work begins building bridges between neighbors and creating dialog where there is division.

Moving forward, we ask concerned Floridians to join the We Are Florida! Campaign and the members of the Florida Immigrant Coalition increating that dialogue so that we may create real solutions to the problems that Floridians face everyday.

In the past two months, we have seen what it means to deepen democracy.  We would like to thank the all of the members of the Black and Hispanic Caucus and all of our elected officials that helped us in that deepening.  But we would primarily like to thank the families that joined us in taking time out of their daily work of sustaining our state to help us strengthen its democratic process, often with little more than their personal testimony and powerful prayer.

We truly believe that our fight is a fight for the future of Florida.  And we will continue that fight with dignity, integrity, and respect.  And we welcome everyone who wants to join us in that path.