It has been an intense 24 hours.  Wednesday night several hundred people gathered for a candlelight vigil for our friend and fellow activist David "Doc" St. Germain.  Many people spoke of his love, his passion for justice, his love of talking things through, and how we will all miss his wonderful bear hugs.  We were people from his church (First Unitarian), fellow activists, people who had been homeless, his family - all people touched by his generosity of spirit, his love (which meant action, not just some nice mushy feeling) and his determination that ALL people be treated with dignity.  It was a powerful gathering. 

This afternoon over 200 people gathered at Dexter Park in Providence to say NO to racism and racial profiling, to say NO to RI being like Arizona.  We have come close.  Governor Carcieri's Executive Order  implementing E-Verify and police participation in the 287 G program have put us closer that many are aware.  Though it is hard to document changes, many people of color are clear that there is increased racial profiling, more pretext stops (a broken taillight that leads to further questioning, including on immigration status) and more deportations, often of people who have been living and working here for years. 

Following the rally, over 100 people loaded onto buses for a trip to the Chaffee for Governor campaign office.  All candidates for Governor had been asked to fill out a survey of policy positions, ranging from their willingness to withdraw the Executive Order (stop insisting on the use of E-Verify for all state contracts and sub-contracts and withdrawal from the 287G program), support instate tuition for RI high school graduates, regardless of immigration status, drivers licenses based on ability to drive not proof of residency, and more.  Chaffee's office had not returned to survey, and as one of the top candidates, the group wanted answers.  100 people streamed into his office, and presented the list of questions, one by one.  Most of the answers were actually pretty good.  He has declared that one of his first acts as governor would be to renounce the use of E-Verify and he supports the in-state tuition bill and the bill curtailing racial profiling.  It was not clear that his office understood the 287G program and that there was hesitancy on the drivers license issue.  There will be more conversations!  But it was a strong visit, with the group making it clear that we expect to be consulted and listened to.