"The Immigrants' Rights Movement Is in Good Hands": An Interview with Nativo Lopez

By Ron Jacobs

A conference titled Build the Left, Fight the Right was held in June. The speakers and workshops included discussion of the immigrant rights movement in the United States.

One of the most interesting (and there were many) and hopeful (in terms of a brighter future for the world's majority) was a well-attended presentation by Justin Akers Chacon, co-author (with Mike Davis) of No One Is Illegal, and Nativo V. Lopez, the National President of the Mexican American Political Association, and National Director of the Hermandad Mexicana Latinoamericana. In the conversation with the audience afterward, the two covered topics ranging from immigrant organizing to the Democratic Party and union sellouts and working-class solidarity. Ron Jacobs recently exchanged a series of emails with Nativo Lopez, who has been touring the United States.