New York Taxi Workers Association: When “rhetoric of hate is spewed from the bully pulpit, hate crimes increase”
February 1, 2017 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us
JFK Airport, January 28. (AP photo)
On Saturday night, January 28, thousands of people demonstrated at the JFK Airport in Queens, New York against Trump’s executive order to ban Muslims from traveling to the United States. To show their support for the protests, the New York Taxi Workers Association refused to pick up passengers while the protests were going on and they issued the following statement:
Professional drivers are over 20 times more likely to be murdered on the job than other workers. By sanctioning bigotry with his unconstitutional and inhumane executive order banning Muslim refugees from seven countries, the president is putting professional drivers in more danger than they have been in any time since 9/11 when hate crimes against immigrants skyrocketed.
Our 19,000-member-strong union stands firmly opposed to Donald Trump’s Muslim ban. As an organization whose membership is largely Muslim, a workforce that is rooted in the defense of the oppressed, we say no to this inhumane and unconstitutional ban.
We know all too well that when government programs sanction outright Islamophobia, and the rhetoric of hate is spewed from the bully pulpit, hate crimes increase and drivers suffer gravely. Our Sikh and other non-Muslim brown and black members also suffer from anti-Muslim violence.
Today, drivers are joining the protest at JFK Airport in support of all those who are currently being detained at the airport because of Trump’s unconstitutional executive order. Drivers stand in solidarity with refugees coming to America in search of peace and safety and with those who are simply trying to return to their homes here in America after traveling abroad. We stand in solidarity with all of our peace-loving neighbors against this inhumane, cruel, and unconstitutional act of pure bigotry.
This statement is available online here
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