I just ran across this article regarding Maria Cinta Lowe, former head of the Hispanic Center (you know, that place rumored to be FIREBOMBED according to the hate-mongers on BigT's profanity-laced, moronic, bigoted cable show that should be ripped off the air A.S.A.P).
I thought this piece would be of interest for those who only hear the misinformation, lies and distortions from the anti-immigrants who don't like Lowe because she stood up for those who were too intimidated by the voices of hate to stand up for themselves.
Spring 2007 marks 35 years of community service for Maria-Cinta Lowe, a long-term Danbury resident and community leader. Born in Tortosa, Spain, she attended Teacher’s College before coming to the United States with her husband. She has lived in Connecticut for thirty-six years, is the mother of five children, grandmother of 12, and boasts one great-grandchild. Maria-Cinta has worked on behalf of Latino immigrants, both professionally as well as on a volunteer basis and is perhaps best known in the public eye for her professional affiliation as Executive Director of the Hispanic Center of Greater Danbury, a position she held from 1990 to 2007.
But her community work and activism started long before that. Beginning in 1972, Lowe began translating her goals and beliefs into action. Teaching and tutoring Spanish-speaking individuals learning English or helping them to prepare for the GED were contributions that spoke to her strong belief in the power of education to help individuals realize their potential.
Lowe first became involved with the Hispanic Center through its summer programs. Established in 1967, early on the Center was more like a civic group for co-ethnics to meet and to feel connected to their roots. But Danbury’s Latino community grew steadily, coming from Puerto Rico and other U.S. places, from war-torn El Salvador, Guatemala, and Nicaragua in the 1970s-80s, from economically devastated Mexico, South and Central America in 1990s-2000s, and the mission began to shift. Lowe has seen the change in focus to more language instruction, citizenship education, job-seeking skills, and immigrants’ rights advocacy.
Throughout her career, Lowe has remained a volunteer and activist in other areas, especially that of children’s rights, education, and childcare. She has worn many hats - from the municipal level - including the Danbury School District’s Board of Education meetings and working with special education and ESL coordinators – to the non-profit sector. She has worked with various state and local agencies, among them Danbury-based Children First, a local non-profit dedicated to early childhood issues. Always, she maintains a firm commitment to working at the grassroots level – working with parents’ groups and one-on-one with individual families and students.
The organizations that Ms. Lowe works with today reflect the diversity in her values and commitments – as a civic-minded community leader, as an advocate for immigrants and for children, and perhaps most strongly, her passion for human and civil rights, especially the protection of newly-arrived immigrants.
She is an active board member for: Community Relations Board of the Danbury Federal Correction Institution; the Danbury ConnCAP Collaborative; Community Health Center Board; Community Development Board; CAUSA (CT Assoc. of United Spanish Agencies); Danbury Health and Housing Partnership; GDCCU (Greater Danbury Coalition for a Community United); Blue Ribbon Commission on Immigrants; and DACORIM (Danbury Area Coalition for the Rights of Immigrants).
She is also an advisory member of ASPIRA (An investment in Puerto Rican/Latino youth, Bridgeport, CT); The Latino Scholarship; Regional Commission Child Care Rights and Abuse; and Habitat for Humanity.
Lowe is type of individual thats rarely see nowadays in our country. Never one to hold back her feelings, Lowe has been a symbol of immigrant rights in Danbury (to the displeasure of those who rather immigrants be silenced) for years and was recently thrown under the bus by those who wanted her to STFU.
Lowe's strength and determination in the face of blind racism and bigotry that has infested are area should be admired and I'm sure we haven't heard the last from her as the fight against the anti-immigrant community continues.
As a bonus for those who only know about Lowe from those who simply hated her because she wouldn't bow down to the anti-immigrant b.s., here's a video clip of Lowe's offering her support at last year's immigrant-rights march. ...developing.
04.25.22 (RADIO): WSHU Latino group call on Connecticut lawmakers to open a Danbury charter school
06.03.22 (OP-ED): KUSHNER: "Career Academy ‘a great deal for Danbury"
On September 26, 2007, ten plaintiffs filed suit in response to an arrest of aday laborers at a public park in Danbury, Connecticut. Plaintiffs amended their complaint on November 26, 2007.
The amended complaint states that plaintiffs sought to remedy the continued discriminatory and unauthorized enforcement of federal immigration laws against the Latino residents of the City of Danbury by Danbury's mayor and its police department.
Plaintiffs allege that the arrests violated their Fourth Amendment rights and the Connecticut Constitution because defendants conducted the arrests without valid warrants, in the absence of exigent circumstances, and without probable cause to believe that plaintiffs were engaged in unlawful activity. In addition, plaintiffs allege that defendants improperly stopped, detained, investigated, searched and arrested plaintiffs. Plaintiffs also allege that defendants violated their Fourteenth Amendment rights when they intentionally targeted plaintiffs, and arrested and detained them on the basis of their race, ethnicity and perceived national origin. Plaintiffs raise First Amendment, Due Process and tort claims.
Plaintiffs request declaratory relief, damages and attorneys fees.
I thought this piece would be of interest for those who only hear the misinformation, lies and distortions from the anti-immigrants who don't like Lowe because she stood up for those who were too intimidated by the voices of hate to stand up for themselves.
On September 26, 2007, ten plaintiffs filed suit in response to an arrest of aday laborers at a public park in Danbury, Connecticut. Plaintiffs amended their complaint on November 26, 2007.
