Resource Center of the Americas:
playing a vital role for Latino immigrants

BY CHARLES DAVIS

A woman in a local Minnesota county was assaulted in the parking lot of her workplace by a coworker a few weeks ago. The police responded to her phone call, but after arriving at the scene of the crime they told the bleeding woman that they would not file a police report because she was an undocumented worker. The woman could have let fear and ignorance trump her human rights, but instead she went to the Workers’ Rights Center at the Resource Center of the Americas on Minnehaha and Lake Street in South Minneapolis.

Irene Rodriguez, the director of the Center, heard the woman’s story and placed a phone call to the county sheriff. “I personally called the sheriff and said, ‘We got a report of an incident that happened there and I’d like to know the officer’s name and I would like to have a meeting with you and your partner, in particular because we feel this woman’s civil rights have been violated.’”

According to Rodriguez, the Resource Center may further pursue this particular case by scheduling a workshop relating to immigrant rights and law enforcement with the sheriff’s office. This is one step in the uphill battle that is not limited to one county in Minnesota, but includes millions of undocumented Latino immigrants facing discrimination across the United States, a demographic group that some estimates place as high as 11 million. Rodriguez explained that police-immigrant issues are some of the biggest facing the Latino community, along with immigration reform.

The Workers’ Rights Center (Centro de Derechos Laborales), a part of the Resource Center, deals with cases such as the woman assaulted in the parking lot, accounts of unpaid wages, unjustified dismissals, unpaid workers compensation and general discrimination. Teresa Ortiz, the director of the Workers’ Center explains jokingly that there is no need to advertise the center, as there are many more cases than they have a capacity to deal with. The Workers’ Center is one of only two in the Twin Cities, and it holds workshops three days a week with graduate law students at the University of Minnesota. According to Ortiz, the goal of the Workers’ Rights Center is to provide the resources for Latino workers to help themselves, rather than walking them through the entire process. The workers thus do not become dependent on the center for help, but are able to carry out the fight for fair treatment on their own.
The grassroots focus of the Workers’ Rights Center generally reflects the mission of the entire Resource Center. The official purpose of the Resource Center of the Americas is to educate, inform and organize “to promote human rights, democratic participation, economic justice and cross-cultural understanding in the context of globalization in the Americas.” The Center was formed in 1983 on the campus of the University of Minnesota, and was run almost entirely by volunteers and maintained a stronger focus on issues related Central America. Since that time, the Center has moved to a new location and expanded its program to include all of Latin America. It is supported by 1,500 members, 275 volunteers and 21 staff members.

One of the most striking aspects of the new location is the expansive tile mosaic mural, reminiscent of Diego Rivera, located on the west wall of the building. The mosaic was created and designed through a collaboration of local artists, volunteers and two visiting artists from Morelia, Mexico. The mosaic depicts the struggles of Latinos throughout the world, from maquiladora workers speaking the words of Victor Jara to those who have died crossing the U.S.-Mexico border. The community outreach coordinator, Rosita Balch, explained the depiction of a condor and an eagle at the top of the mural, flying above a masked horseman attacking a group of birds and people. “According to an ancient myth, when the condor and the eagle fly together, the North and the South will have peace,” offering a more hopeful image for the future.

Balch coordinates the “Padres Bien Informados, Niños Bien Educados,” to help Latino parents understand the school system in Minnesota, and to make sure that their children are receiving the best education possible. School is very different in many of the countries of Latin America, Balch explained. She helps parents understand the different expectations for them in Minnesota as opposed to their home countries, and the importance of finding time in an often busy work schedule for parents to spend time with their children. This is an issue for many parents, but the issues that Latino parents face such as wage discrimination, undocumented status, and poor police relations make things even more difficult.
The work done at the Center is partly supported by the Café of the Americas, a restaurant that offers a variety of Latin style food and fair trade coffee. Additional support comes the Americas bookstore, which is the only independent union bookstore in the Twin Cities. Members support the Center as well, and receive free access to the Latin American resource library and discounts on Spanish classes that are held in the community rooms. Free English classes are open to the public and are offered throughout the week. The Center also holds coffee hours featuring speakers on various issues related to the Americas, as well as book discussions and activities for children in Spanish and English on Saturday morning. Additionally, the Center publishes a bi-monthly newsletter called Connection to the Americas that has won awards from the Utne Reader and has an international distribution.

The work that the Resource Center does is increasingly important in the context of globalization and a more diverse Twin Cities than has ever existed. “It’s important to look at the contributions that immigrants make, not only the Latino immigrants, but all immigrants to our country,” Rodriguez declares. Both culturally and economically, immigrants have a major impact on our lives and our environment. “In particular with Latino businesses—look at Lake Street, the investment that has been made by the new businesses in this area … I owned a house five blocks from here for 30 years and I can recall a time when I wouldn’t walk up and down certain parts of Lake Street. Now we see the reinvestment, the redevelopment, the pedestrian traffic.” Rodriguez makes a strong case for the importance of Latino immigrants in the Twin Cities, and the need for more work to be done with this vibrant community. According to the most recent census data, the Latino population in Minnesota increased 168 percent during the 1990s, rising from 54,000 in 1990 to 143,000 in 2000, while Minnesota’s population as a whole grew just 12 percent. Immigration reform has been a decisive rallying point over the past year for the Latino community across the country, and as the Latino population continues to grow, the Resource Center of the Americas’ mission to educate, inform, and organize will become even more important. As Rodriguez explains, “This is our system that’s broken.” Visit the Resource Center to see how you can get involved to help fix it.