I’m about to board a 14 hour flight to Seoul, South Korea, where a delegation of national civil and labor rights leaders will tell Hyundai shareholders that their company’s decision to brush aside requests to help repeal Alabama’s anti-immigrant law is unacceptable. A few weeks ago, civil, human rights, and labor organizations sent a letter to these auto giants, and asked them to take a stand against H.B. 56. None of them have. In fact, a spokesperson from Hyundai flat-out said to CNN that “the company does not take a position on the immigration law one way or the other.”
That’s pretty outrageous. Hyundai has a big manufacturing plant in Alabama and is a political powerhouse in the state. The company has a major interest in marketing their cars to Latino, African-American, Asian-American, immigrant and labor households – the very constituencies they’re turning their backs on now.
On this trip, I’m going to be accompanying Eliseo Medina, SEIU, and Wade Henderson, The Leadership Conference. Just last week, the two of them were marching in Alabama from Selma to Montgomery. This week, they’re keeping the drumbeat on H.B. 56 alive by flying all the way to Seoul to protest Hyundai’s decision to stay quiet about this clear violation of civil rights.
There’s a growing movement watching and waiting for Hyundai to do the right thing. We’ll hand-deliver petitions from our networks on Friday in Korea to ensure that they get the message. If you haven’t yet signed, please take a minute to add your name.
I’ll be updating you from South Korea as the week goes on. Please check back here and on America’s Voice’s twitter account for more from me.