The Libertas Center was mentioned in a news article, “Half of NYC’s Immigrants are Unemployed because of the Pandemic” based on research conducted by the Center for an Urban Future.
Check out the article and study below!
Libertas Participates in 4th Annual World Refugee Day Event!
Hosted by our friends at the Brooklyn Conservatory of Music and Catholic Charities, Libertas participated in the 4th annual World Refugee Day Event - a free community celebration of the immigrant and refugee communities through music, theater, and art.
Missed the event? No problem! You can view the virtual event through this link:
Virtual World Refugee Day Event!
Check out Libertas’ video submission (below) made by our Program Coordinator, Sara Wagner!
Black Lives Matter
Black Lives Matter
We at the Libertas Center for Human Rights are heartbroken by the terror, injustice, and trauma inflicted on our black neighbors everyday and, in particular, the recent murders. We stand in solidarity with the families of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, Tony McDade, and the ever-growing list of black people killed by a system that denies their humanity. We stand with the protestors demanding accountability, a fair criminal justice system, and law enforcement that protects and unifies all of us rather than antagonizes black communities. We stand with all who are brave enough to stand up for justice, an example we learn from the clients we serve.
The Libertas Center for Human Rights serves people who have fled oppression worldwide, risking everything to seek asylum and safety in the United States. Many Libertas clients protested and stood up for their rights in their home countries, facing violent repression and torture by soldiers, police officers and government officials on the basis of their race, religion, gender, sexual orientation or membership in a social group. They left their homes because they believed the U.S. to be a democracy that protects the rights of minorities, accommodates dissent, and holds officers of the state and all accountable for their actions. Watching these ideals repeatedly sullied by the tragic legacy of violence and systemic, institutional racism in our country saddens us – it is unacceptable.
Founded to fight against persecution and towards equality for all humans, the Libertas Center is committed to learning and unlearning, and to most importantly listening to the black community, to support the structural changes and collective action needed to build a future of respect, dignity, diversity, and justice.
In Solidarity,
Team Libertas
Take Action
Nationally
NAACP
Posse
The Bail Project
Equal Justice Initiative
BlackLivesAction
Minnesota Based
Black Immigrant Collective
Isuroon
Minnesota Healing Justice Network
Libertas Participates in IRCT's Social Media Campaign on COVID-19
As a member center of the International Rehabilitation of Torture Victims (IRCT), Libertas’ Program Coordinator, Sara Wagner submitted a video to IRCT’s Social Media campaign explaining the challenges Libertas’ Clients have been facing since the start of the COVID-19 Pandemic.
Check out our video on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=673354506823988
Dr. Ben McVane Publishes, "I’m a Doctor at the ‘Epicenter of the Epicenter'" in the New York Times
Libertas Senior Medical Educator, Dr. Ben McVane publishes, “I’m a Doctor at the ‘Epicenter of the Epicenter’” in the New York Times.
Dr. McVane’s article explores the challenges the Elmhurst community is facing in the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. He says, “The people living around Elmhurst Hospital are both vulnerable and neglected: largely immigrants, poor, uninsured and dependent on a public hospital system that is already overstretched and underfunded. Elmhurst, Jackson Heights and Corona are the neighborhoods with the highest percentage of foreign-born residents in New York City, coming from seemingly every corner of the world.
These people work jobs that we now acknowledge to be essential — driving cabs, stocking grocery stores, making and delivering food. Many are undocumented immigrants and work off the books or as a part of the gig economy; their jobs don’t offer health insurance, benefits or employment protection. One in five people living in Corona and Elmhurst lives in poverty. Some who are sick or medically at high risk of becoming sick have continued to work because they can’t afford to lose wages or their jobs. These are the circumstances of the often invisible work force that continues to keep New York running now, in skeletal form.”