A delegation of Bay Area African-American clergy and community leaders - many from Oakland - is on the ground in Phoenix right now! They're marching with thousands from across the country against Arizona's harsh new anti-immigrant law, SB1070. The law will damage public safety and unleash a wave of racial profiling and harassment.

(Originally posted at workingeastbay.org)

What inspired these clergy leaders to raise their voices?

Pastor Brian Woodson of Oakland's Bay Area Christian Connection and the Interfaith Committe for Worker Justice told KGO Channel 7: "We don't need laws that separate us. We don't need laws that federalize out police forces, making all of our communities less safe. What we need to do is to come together and find reasonable solutions to very real problems." The pastors held a blessing ceremony and send off for the delegation at Woodson's chuch on Thursday.

Rev. Phil Lawson of Oakland's East Bay Housing Organizations - and co-founder of the Black Alliance for a Just Immigration - said: "SB1070 harkens back to the worst times in our nation's history. This law targets Latinos, but who will be next? The same legislature that passed SB1070 also passed a law requiring President Obama to show his birth certificate to be on the ballot in 2012; and we cannot forget that Arizona long refused to honor the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. I firmly believe the Black and Latino quest for liberty and justice is one, and that's why, just as we rode to the south so many decades ago, I'm proud to go to Arizona."

Hear more from these pastors at KCBS radio.

Birth of a new freedom summer

In a text message update this morning, Pastor Woodson reported that the California contingent has been joined by three former freedom summer organizers, and that veterans of the Mississippi freedom summer are hosting a reception for Arizona organizers tonight.

The delegation is co-sponsored by the Interfaith Committee for Worker Justice, the Black Alliance for a Just Immigration (BAJI), and the East Bay Housing Organizations.

Participants include:  Rev. Lawson, Pastor Woodson, Rev. Gregory Brown of Miracles of Faith Community Church in Oakland, Rev. Jethroe Moore, President of NAACP's San Jose/Silicon Valley Chapter; Gerald Lenoir, Executive Director, BAJI; Linda Burnham, activist and writer.