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Watch Live As Civil Rights Leaders Call on Hyundai to Take a Stand Against H.B. 56 in South Korea

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A delegation of civil rights leaders — including Wade Henderson (The Leadership Conference), Eliseo Medina (SEIU), and Dae Joong Yoon (National Korean American Service and Education Consortium — NAKASEC)  —  are in South Korea, where they will be protesting Hyundai for the company’s decision to stay quiet on Alabama’s anti-immigrant law.

Hyundai has an aggressive marketing campaign underway targeting Latinos — the same community bearing the brunt of HB 56. It also has two huge manufacturing plants in Alabama, both subsidized by state taxpayers. Since Hyundai started operations in the state back in 2002, the company has used its influence to score hundreds of millions (of dollars) in tax breaks. Through that process, Hyundai has developed very close ties to politicians in the state. In 2007, when the company wanted to expand, the Governor called a special session of the legislature to approve a $400 million deal — and there was not one vote against Hyundai.

Despite these facts, a Hyundai spokesperson told CNN that the company  wasn’t going to take a position on H.B. 56 — the anti-immigrant law that is terrorizing the same community that Hyundai is trying to market to.

Last week, these same three groups were marching in Alabama for voter and immigrant rights, and this week, they’re taking the fight against H.B. 56 to Seoul, in time for Hyundai shareholder’s meeting. 

Tonight, the delegation is going to deliver close to 30,000 petitions from immigrant rights advocates in the US, to tell Hyundai that the movement is growing and that it’s waiting (and watching) for Hyundai to do the right thing. My colleague, Adam Luna, is traveling with them. He’ll be providing updates along the way, too.

The petition delivery, which is part of a larger press event, is going to U-Streamed, live, here at 10:00 pm, Thursday, March 15 (tonight). We’ll be live-streaming here, below:

 

In addition to this event, on the day of Hyundai’s shareholder meeting, (Friday morning 11 AM EST), the delegation will be hosting a press call from the Hyundai shareholder meeting. Wade, Eliseo and Dae will give a report on their request to Hyundai to stand against Alabama’s anti-immigrant law, H.B. 56. We’ll have more on that tomorrow, but for now, tune into the press event today. And keep checking our regular channels for live-updates.