The billboards are here!

It’s a great day at Uniting NC. We unveiled the billboards that many of you helped pay for at a press conference in Raleigh. We had lots of media there, and we have been getting calls from reporters around the state. We’re thrilled that so many people are hearing the message that the majority of us in North Carolina value and respect immigrants — and believe they enrich our great state. Thanks to all of you for making this statewide billboard campaign possible, and for believing that we can make a difference.

Below are the remarks I made at the press conference, because I think they sum up what this campaign is all about. At the bottom of this post is the press release that we are sending to news outlets across the state.

I’m Kristin Collins, director of Uniting NC, a non-profit that works to help immigrants and natives see their common humanity — and to make North Carolina a place that sees cultural diversity as a strength.

As we head into the holiday season, the news is mostly bad. The economy is still limping along. Tens of thousands of people are unemployed. State and national politics seem hopelessly polarized.

In times like these, we often react by demonizing immigrants. Look at Alabama, the latest state to pass laws intended to crack down on illegal immigration. They have resulted in children — many of them US citizens —being afraid to go to school, accusations of racial and ethnic profiling by law enforcement, and crops rotting on the vine because of a shortage of workers. A Mercedes Benz executive from Germany, who was visiting a Mercedes plant in Alabama, was thrown in jail because he couldn’t produce a passport during a traffic stop. He had left it in his hotel room. This kind of climate doesn’t just hurt undocumented immigrants; it hurts the entire community.

We don’t want to see North Carolina go down the same path. This holiday season, let’s heed the instructions in all faiths to welcome the stranger and to treat our neighbors with kindness and respect. Our neighbors aren’t who they used to be. Now, they may be people who speak different languages or were born in other countries. We live in a global society, and we have to learn to live together — to see ourselves as allies rather than enemies. We can all help each other through hard times, rather than sinking into blame and scapegoating.

Today, Uniting NC is announcing the start of a statewide billboard campaign intended to create a vision of a united, inclusive North Carolina where all people are given a fair chance, no matter where they were born. Before the end of the year, these two images will be on billboards in Raleigh, Durham, Mebane, Charlotte, Asheville and Goldsboro. They were paid for with donations from more than 250 community members — people from all backgrounds, faiths and walks of life who want to live in a state where a vibrant and growing immigrant population is seen as a strength.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 13, 2011

FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Kristin Collins, Uniting NC Director, 919-791-7976

Faith leaders unveil billboards that put a human face on immigration

Raleigh, NC — Faith leaders and community members came together Tuesday to announce the beginning of a statewide billboard campaign in support of immigrants.

The billboards are part of a grassroots initiative — led by the Raleigh-based nonprofit Uniting NC — to put a human face on immigration and change the negative rhetoric that has poisoned public discourse on the issue.

“We’ve watched states like Alabama and Arizona be torn apart by fear and anger about immigrants,” said Rabbi Eric Solomon of Beth Meyer Synagogue in Raleigh. “Here in North Carolina, we have an opportunity to do better than that. In this holiday season, let’s remember that when we talk about immigration, we are talking about human beings who have the same hopes and desires that any of us do.”

Solomon joined Christian and Muslim leaders in publicly supporting the billboard campaign and imploring North Carolinians to “welcome the stranger” this holiday season. Reverend Diane Faires, of St. Paul’s Christian Church in Raleigh, and Fiaz Fareed, outreach coordinator at the Islamic Association of Raleigh, also spoke at Tuesday’s press conference, held at the site of one of the billboards on New Bern Avenue.

The billboards were paid for using a grassroots method called crowdfunding. Uniting NC proposed the project online, and more than 250 people contributed toward the cost of buying billboards in Raleigh, Durham, Charlotte, Asheville, Mebane and Goldsboro.

Fareed, an immigrant from India, said members of the Muslim community often feel that they are looked at with suspicion or negative stereotypes. That’s why hundreds of members of area mosques contributed toward the billboard campaign.

“I moved here because I wanted to live in a country where all people are treated equally, and where everyone has a chance to work for the American dream,” Fareed said. “Let’s make sure we remain the land of opportunity for all people.”

Faires said her church has been deeply affected by a growing number of refugees, who fled harassment and violence in countries such as Vietnam and Pakistan.
“Many of them have been through horrific experiences, but they are amazingly resilient and courageous. They come here from refugee camps, speaking little English, and before long they are contributing to the community as they join churches, find jobs and enroll in school,” Faires said. “We have been enriched by their presence and the new perspective they offer us.”

Uniting NC is part of a national movement, led by the Atlanta-based group Welcoming America, that works to build understanding between natives and new immigrants. Uniting NC is one of 19 state affiliates working to build communities that provide fertile soil for all people to achieve their potential.

Chris Liu-Beers, chairman of the Uniting NC Board of Directors, said Uniting NC is about culture change, not policy advocacy.

“Our goal is to invite people outside the polarized policy debate on immigration,” Liu-Beers said. “We want to help people see that immigrants are not frightening invaders. They are our neighbors. They are people with stories much like our own, who are trying to make a good life for themselves and their families. The fabric of our state is stronger when we engage with everyone in our communities to see the values that bring us together.”

Kristin Collins, Uniting NC’s director, said the billboards are a tangible sign that many in North Carolina believe in building an inclusive community that values cultural diversity.

“We told people that, if they wanted to see these messages in North Carolina, they had to pitch in — and they responded,” Collins said. “It was so exciting to see that many people don’t buy into the negative rhetoric about immigrants. These billboards showcase the positive, humane voices that are not usually heard in this debate.”

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Uniting NC is a nonprofit that works to make North Carolina a place that respects and values immigrants, by telling immigrant stories and bringing people of diverse backgrounds together in dialogue. We believe that, when people of different backgrounds get to know one another, they realize that we are all human beings who want the same things: safety, happiness and opportunity. Only after we understand our common humanity can we work together to build stronger, safer, more productive communities. See www.unitingnc.org for more information.