SEIU: Today's SPLC Report Is "A Wakeup Call" For America

April 21, 2009 -- SEIU International Executive Vice-President Eliseo Medina released the following statement on today's report by the Southern Poverty Law Center examining the discrimination and abuse of Hispanic workers in the South:

"A basic moral test for our society is how we treat the most vulnerable in our midst. Today's report by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) is a remarkable indictment of the prejudice, racial profiling and outright abuse faced by hardworking Hispanics, some of our country's most vulnerable workers.

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"Thanks to widespread misconceptions, reinforced by right-wing propaganda, Hispanic workers--regardless of their immigration status-face workplace discrimination, hounding by law enforcement and are too often attacked by extremist hate groups. They too often know little if anything about how to exercise their legal rights to protection or how to stop being cheated out of wages or the denial of basic health and safety protections.

"We are judged by how we respond to discrimination of one neighbor by another so today's report should serve as a wakeup call that these despicable acts will continue until we pass comprehensive immigration reform."

Source: SEIU