One sunny morning in Phoenix, Arizona, in the parking lot of a Home Depot at 36th Street and Thomas Road, dozens of men sit on the outskirts waiting for someone to hire them as laborers. Salvador Reza approaches them. They look at him and begin asking him questions about immigration.
Reza, an immigrant rights activist, community leader and now celebrated author in Arizona, is a man who transformed a childhood wound into a collective insistence on dignity. At 73, he’s committed to informing day laborers about their rights and fighting for an end to the harsh immigration enforcement that President Donald Trump is carrying out against the migrant and Latino community across the U.S.
When he was still elementary school-aged and had just arrived in Texas from his native Mexico, he was beaten by his school principal for speaking Spanish. The episode left a mark on him and became the driving force behind his activism, he told CALÓ News…