Join our 44th Anniversary Celebration!!!

Rochester Committee on Latin America – 29th Annual Rice & Beans Dinner & White Dove Awards

When:Friday, March 10th, 5:15 PM – 9:00PM

Where: Gates Presbyterian Church, 1049 Wegman Road, Rochester NY

Ticket Prices: Hero—$100, Champion—$50, Friend—$30, Student—$15 (but no one is ever turned away!)

Hurry up! Get your tickets online here!

 

For Reservations: Kathy Goforth; Kathy.goforth@rochester.rr.com. Make checks payable to ROCLA/Metro Justice Education Fund and send to: Kathy Goforth, 45 Lynbrook Drive, Rochester, NY 14609.

Featuring

Dance Performance by Afro-Latino Dance

White Dove Awards

The Rochester Committee on Latin America presents its 2017 International White Dove Award to El Pueblo Kichwa de Sarayaku, Ecuador, for their extraordinarily courageous years-long battle against oil exploration in their Amazonian community. In April 2012, this indigenous community of 1,200 was victorious in preventing the devastation and pollution of their territory when the government of Ecuador acknowledged responsibility for illegally licensing an oil company to do business on indigenous territory without the community’s consent. The Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR) later ruled that the government must consult with indigenous communities prior to such enterprises and pay for physical and “moral” damages to the community. The IACHR verdict is a major step forward in safeguarding indigenous rights—particularly the right to free, prior, and informed consent (FPIC) in development decisions that affect their territory—and sets a precedent for cases around the world.

The Rochester Committee on Latin America presents its 2017 Local White Dove Award to the Worker Justice Center of New York (WJCNY), which shares this year’s award with the Workers’ Center of Central New York (WCCNY), for steadfastly standing with farmworkers to facilitate dairy farmworker organizing and leadership. Through providing workers’ rights education, advocacy support and legal assistance, WJCNY has been instrumental in the formation of the Alianza Agricola, whose members are empowered dairy workers who have organized to advocate for their rights to workplace safety and drivers’ licenses. In addition, in 2016, the WJCNY joined the WCCNY and plaintiff dairy worker Crispin Hernandez as plaintiffs in an unprecedented lawsuit to challenge a Jim Crow-era New York State law that unconstitutionally denies farmworkers the right to organize without retaliation. The WJCNY and Alianza’s leadership on the Green Light New York statewide campaign to grant access to drivers’ licenses for all New Yorkers has also been critical.

The church is wheelchair accessible and looped for the hearing impaired.