Photo Credit: Erin Bloodgood
Photographer
Christine Neumann-Ortiz is the epitome of an activist. She dedicates what seems like every moment of her time to fighting against political causes that hurt immigrant and Latino communities. She has become the leader of a movement that defends the rights of immigrants by organizing masses of people from those groups in solidarity. “For me, it’s making sure we keep that link with each other,” she explains, “and really beat back those politics of divide and conquer. That’s how we’re going to move forward.” Making a change is all about organizing groups of people from the ground up and building a community that is ready to put everything on the line for a new outcome.
Neumann-Ortiz got involved in activism in her early 20s—“late in life,” as she puts it. She began participating in social justice, organizing and realizing that there was “an economic structure that was benefitting from putting one group against the other.” That realization informed her approach to organizing and motivated her to dive deeper into social justice movements. In those early years, she learned the power a movement could have when unifying people from a grassroots level.
A few years later, in 1994, Neumann-Ortiz took her advocacy to a new level when she started the newspaper Voces de la Frontera, or Voices from the Border in English. She used it as a way to draw attention to the terrible conditions in Mexican factories and advocate for fair rights for the workers. The name of the newspaper references the voices of the factory workers in the maquiladora industry who were coming together to demand fair conditions.
Voces de la Frontera and Neumann-Ortiz continued to grow a larger support system of immigrants, refugees and Latinos. As she explains, “Voces draws strength from its members” and is “able to organize in ways that can scale up powerfully with tens of thousands of people.” Voces has always been a voice for those that don’t have one and has worked to change laws and policies that hinder the lives of their members.
Currently, Voces and Neumann-Ortiz are determined to change Act 126, a law passed by Wisconsin in 2006. Under the law, the state cannot not give driver’s licenses to undocumented immigrants or people without a social security number, but Voces has created the Driver’s License for All campaign to put power back in the hands of immigrants. For undocumented immigrants, no driver’s license could mean not being able to get to work, traffic fines they can’t afford or deportation. If Voces can get their plan for change into the state budget, “it’s the greatest protection for immigrant families in Wisconsin,” says Neumann-Ortiz. “We do need everybody’s help.”
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“Organizing is like gardening. It’s constant,” she continues. In conversation, Neumann-Ortiz is quick to talk about the next issue and how to improve policies because there is always more progress to be made. “We just have to make sure that we continue to be strong and unified and bold and the times require it.”
Learn more at vdlf.org/drivercards.
For more of Erin Bloodgood’s work and to find ways to get involved, visit bloodgoodfoto.com.
