Presentation by Dr. Kerby Neill at The CKCPJ Annual Dinner
2015 Lifetime Peacemaker Award
Freddy Peralta was born and educated in the Dominican Republic. He and his wife, Maria, came to the United States in 1985 and Freddy enrolled in graduate school at the University of Kentucky. Freddy began his computer sales and repair business in 1989 which currently thrives as Kentucky Trade on Virginia Avenue. I assumed his UK degree was in computer science, but recently discovered his masters degree is in economics and his computer skills are self-taught. This hints at Freddy’s enthusiasm, energy, and intelligence, but it doesn’t capture the trait that most defines him, and which his other skills serve so well—his compassion. Kentucky has been the fortunate recipient of Freddy’s compassion, especially our Latino community.
Through the 1980s, Latino refugees fled murderous oppression in El Salvador and Guatemala to our Southern border. Central Kentucky was not a destination for many of these refugees. That was not the case with the wave of migration triggered by the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) of 1994. The importation of cheap American corn and the end of traditional communal land ownership deprived thousands of Mexican subsistence farmers of their livelihoods. As NAFTA continued to play out, factories that initially flourished in Northern Mexico proved unable to compete with cheaper Asian labor. They closed in bunches and more displaced Mexican workers gathered up their families to migrate to the U.S.
As early migrants found work and opportunity in Lexington, other Latinos began to join them. By 2000, Lexington had a significant Latino community. Many of us were proud of Lexington’s welcoming response to these new members of our community. Mayor Pam Miller even sent a number of Lexington police and firemen to Mexico for intensive Spanish training. Still, like our own immigrant forbearers, Kentucky’s new Latino community faced many adjustment problems, problems seriously compounded by their undocumented status. Living in fear of deportation, they were often victims of exploitation, and tended to avoid authorities and what limited services were available in Spanish. They sorely needed advocates and Lexington provided a number of them, but few like Freddy Peralta.
We lack time and space to recount all Freddy’s efforts, but we must mention several. Freddy founded the Kentucky Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights (KCIRR) bringing together concerned citizens of Central Kentucky and members of the immigrant community. Through KCIRR, he labored to educate service providers, to organize and educate the immigrant community, and to confront the backlash that saw the Latino community only as a threat and to be denied and deported. Freddy wisely cast the problems of the immigrant community in broader terms than only Latinos. He organized rallies, picnics and conferences to advance the cause of the immigrant community. In collaboration with the Central Kentucky Council for Peace and Justice, KCIRR produced a policy paper detailing the problems of Latino immigrants and providing data to debunk rumors and negative stereotypes alive in the anti-immigrant movement. The paper was presented to a committee of the U.S. House of Representatives that was considering an extreme deportation bill.
When a young Latino woman committed suicide while languishing without counsel or support in a Franklin County jail, Freddy organized challenges to our jail and deportation practices. When new opportunities became available for Latino youth who entered the United States as children, Freddy helped organize Lexington’s OISI office on Alexandria Drive. Here members of the Latino community learned of changes in immigration regulations and what procedures and forms were necessary to allow youth to pursue their lives and educational goals free s of the threatening cloud of deportation.
For this work and more, and for the promise of his continuing passion for justice, the Central Kentucky Council for Peace and Justice is honored to award Freddy Peralta our 2015, Lifetime Peacemaker Award. While there might be a small voice inside Freddy’s wife, Maria, that says, “Don’t encourage him!” We also know that, in fact, she has been his ally, co-worker, and partner throughout this endeavor. We cannot honor Freddy without also saluting Maria.
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