Rev. Al Sharpton to Join Fight Against SB 1070

Rev. Al Sharpton to Join Fight Against SB 1070 in
Phoenix with Candlelight Procession to State Capitol

Ecumenical unity service at Pilgrim's Rest Baptis Church will call for President Obama’s intervention.

Photos of demonstrations against SB 1070 Updated May 4, 2010

Phoenix, Arizona, May 3 2010 - For the third time in less than one year, Rev. Al Sharpton is returning
to Phoenix, this time to lead a candlelight procession to the Arizona State Capitol in opposition to the
new Arizona immigration law 1070. Organizers have confirmed that actor and film director Danny
Glover will not accompany Rev. Sharpton due to a conflicting schedule. Glover had been announced as
a participant. Sharpton will be joined by local politicians and activists like Maricopa County Supervisor
Mary Rose Wilcox, Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon, Vice-Mayor Michael Nowakowski, Councilman Michael
Johnson, as well as Bishop Alexis Thomas, Reverend Eva Nuñez, Danny Ortega, among others.

Building on the continued outcry against SB 1070 –signed into law by Arizona Governor Janice Brewer
on April 23– Rev. Sharpton and Danny Glover will be in Phoenix, Wednesday, May 5, for an Ecumenical
service that will call for President Obama’s intervention in Arizona.

With this action, the African-American community and faith leaders are joining the growing movement
against what organizers are calling "a hateful law". This is seen as another step in the historic
struggle for civil rights in the United States. The ecumenical service would be the next large event
after thousands of people rallied and held a prayer vigil at the State Capitol last Saturday, May 1.

The service will be followed by a candlelight procession to the State Capitol, the on-going scenario of
demonstrations, where participants will join the continuing round-the-clock vigil.

This event repeats the calls for federal intervention when states’ local laws trampled the civil rights of
families in the South in the 1950s. More than 52 years ago President Dwight Eisenhower intervened
in Arkansas to ensure the desegregation of schools. Today, community leaders from Arizona and
other states are calling on President Obama to assert exclusive federal authority to regulate
immigration laws and invalidate SB 1070.

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