“We have thousands of healthcare workers in our union who are of Haitian and Dominican descent, and we are deeply disturbed by the lynching of a Haitian man in the Dominican Republic. The lynching occurred in the context of a recent law that has essentially stripped the citizenship of 200,000 people of Haitian descent born in the Dominican Republic. This official stance has resulted in people of Haitian descent facing wide-spread prejudice, exploitation, violence and civil rights violations. We call on the government of the Dominican Republic to conduct a full, transparent investigation into the lynching to accurately determine the cause and culprits of this horrific crime. We urge elected officials in the United States, especially those of Dominican heritage, to support a full investigation and to speak out against the increasing discrimination against people of Haitian descent in the Dominican Republic. We support the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights, which has called for the protection of journalists covering this vital issue. The hanging of a Haitian immigrant in a public park with bound hands and feet is deeply troubling because of the associations with the mob justice carried out in the Jim Crow Southern United States. Lynching and anti-immigrant hysteria have historically been used in the U.S. to divide working people along racial and ethnic lines, and create an under-class of exploited workers. Just as we have always denounced these practices in the U.S., we denounce lynching and anti-immigrant policies in the Dominican Republic, and instead call for compassion, unity, tolerance, and human solidarity.” -Estela Vazquez, Executive Vice President, and Gerard Cadet, Vice President, of 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East, the largest healthcare union in the U.S.
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With over 400,000 members throughout the East Coast, 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East is the largest and fastest-growing healthcare union the nation. Our mission is to achieve quality care and good jobs for all.
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With over 400,000 members throughout the East Coast, 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East is the largest and fastest-growing healthcare union the nation. Our mission is to achieve quality care and good jobs for all.
