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Si, se puede: From the March in Los Angeles

by susie dow

Sat Mar 25, 2006 at 05:44:57 PM EST

What I saw today in downtown Los Angeles was the true beauty of our Constitution in action: the right to assemble, the right to freedom of speech.

The march was one of the most festive events I think I have ever been to. Parents brought their children, grandmothers carried toddlers, generations stood shoulder to shoulder with one purpose: stop HR 4437. This was very much a march about protecting one's family. And that's what HR 4437 wants to do: tear families apart.

Groups in opposition to H.R. 4437 state that the legislation would affect over 11 million immigrants and their family members and communities and, as such, represents the harshest anti-immigrant bill in over a century. -- wikipedia

commentary :: :: :: buzz-it!

HR 4437 is a nasty and mean spirited bill sponsored by Rep James Sensenbrenner Jr. (R-WI) that does little to address immigration reform.

Thousands Again Protest Immigration Bill
Tens of thousands of immigrant rights advocates from across Southern California marched Saturday in protest of federal legislation that would build more walls along the U.S.-Mexico border and make helping illegal immigrants a crime.
The march followed rallies on Friday that drew throngs of protesters to major cities around the nation.
Thousands of people stream into downtown Los Angeles for what was expected to be one of the city's largest pro-immigrant rallies, Saturday, March 25, 2006. Many of the marchers wore white shirts to symbolize peace and also waved U.S. flags. Some also carried the flags of Mexico and other countries.
On Saturday, demonstrators streamed into downtown Los Angeles for what was expected to be one of the city's largest pro-immigrant rallies. The crowd was estimated at more than 100,000, said police Sgt. Lee Sands.

As someone who was there, the officials have more than just underestimated the numbers. The march was intended to proceed down Broadway beginning at 10 am. The sheer volume of people pushed the march to start much earlier. Within a short time, the overflow took over the parallel side avenues. Hill Street, Spring Street, Main Street swelled to capacity as everyone made their way towards City Hall at Main and First Street. Many would never even make it the last 4 or 5 blocks over to City Hall to hear the speakers.

If I had to estimate the numbers based on past marches I've attended, it's a very safe assumption the crowd was much closer to 500,000 possibly larger.

Everyone marched with one message: NO on HR 4437.

Where were my Anglo brothers and sisters today?

I'm not comfortable pointing this out, but today I marched as the minority.

It was a strange feeling to be one of the few Anglos walking with my fellow Angelinos against a bill that is so clearly an assault on something I believe in my heart of hearts that America stands for: treating each other with respect and human dignity.

To give you an idea of just how unusual the presence of my distinctly Anglo face was, I was asked to have my picture taken, I was interviewed for my "Anglo opinion," I was thanked for supporting my neighbors.

Immigrants are not limited to just being from the Latino community. Boston still has new Irish immigrants. San Francisco has a large Chinese community. Oklahoma City has a large Vietnamese population. Detroit has immigrants from the Middle East.

Let me end with a question:

Where were the progressives from outside of the Latino community today?

Please see a recent related commentary by Man Eegee Gut Check Time on Immigration

Si, se puede: From the March in Los Angeles | 16 comments (16 topical, 0 hidden)

Susie (5.00 / 1) (#1)

Just caught the coverage of the March on ABC 7. The overhead shots showed people filling the streets as far you could see. They reported there were a half million people and everyone was very peaceful. One police officer said it was the largest demonstration he'd seen in his 40 years with the force.

Thanks for the write up and photos!

by standingup on Sat Mar 25, 2006 at 08:13:57 PM EST

Roles reversal (5.00 / 1) (#5)

I was interviewed for my "Anglo opinion"

It is not very often that roles are reversed. Oftentimes we are singled out to answer for a whole community. The strange feelings you encountered today is the same feelings we encounter in a regular bases.

That really is a great question you asked: Where were the progressives from outside of the Latino community today?

Truth be told, we often ask that question. This is one of many issues we encounter. Whenever a minority issue is raised, it is often dismissed as a single issue and self-serving.

What people don't realize this type of behavior is subtle discrimination. Subtle discrimination involves ignoring the ideas of some groups, and expecting women/racial/ethnic to take on stereotypical roles.

It is damaging because because if complaints are made, they are often dismissed as making something
out of nothing.
Corruption and hypocrisy ought not to be inevitable products of democracy, as they undoubtedly are today. - Gandhi
by XicanoPwr on Sat Mar 25, 2006 at 09:25:10 PM EST

Surprised (none / 0) (#9)

XP,

I was really surprised the first time someone walked up and thanked me for supporting the march. But then it happened again.

I want to think about today for a bit.

I can't yet put it into words, but I have this sense that we as a nation are missing something in our leadership that brings people together to care about each other. It's not a party thing or a liberal vs conservative thing...it's something else altogether. It would be easy to blame it on racism, but it's not that either.

There's something more to why there are so many divides across the nation today.

by susie dow on Sat Mar 25, 2006 at 11:21:13 PM EST
[ Parent ]

It is the 'isms (5.00 / 1) (#10)

You are right, it is not a party thing because minorities in the conservative party will say the same thing within the Republican Party.

The issue is racism, but it is also sexism and classism. The problem occurs whenever the issue needs to be addressed, we as individuals are more afraid to look at ourselves and admit we do have our prejudices when it comes to ethnic, race, gender and social economic issues.

But to address these issues, we need to get the source that is causing this divide. And the source comes from the messages we get from society itself. Let's take the immigration issue. You are correct, the immigration involves immigrants other than Hispanics, it affects other communities. But, the message that was given out was a Hispanic problem. The whole bill is aimed at people South of the Border. On my blog, I write about the America's cruel history of deportation in the 20th century, which is now into the 21st century. The bill talks about building a wall, where South of the border, yet, nobody feels threaten by Canadians even though the hijackers came through Canada. Some to someone like me, it is racism. But within the Hispanic community, it is not only precieved as racism, but classism.

Take a look at a study done done last year, "Network Brownout Report," by the National Association of Hispanic Journalists.

One out of every three Latino stories (34.7 percent) was about immigration in 2004. More than one hour of coverage was devoted to the topic, making up almost a third (31.6 percent) of the total time (three hours 25 minutes) devoted to Latino stories.

Half of all Latino stories (58 out of 115 stories) did not feature an interview with a Latino.

Latino coverage lacked depth, with one third (33 percent) of all stories lasting 30 seconds or less.

Out of 115 Latino stories, 47 (41 percent) featured visual images of groups of unidentified Latinos. Of the 47 stories, 31 (66 percent) featured immigrants, including images of illegal border crossings.

A significant proportion of Latino stories lacked diversity of opinion. Of 115 stories, more than one third (41 stories) did not cite a single source. Of the stories using sources, 40 percent (46 stories) presented mostly one perspective.

Immigration was a central theme in much of the networks' coverage, regardless of story topic. Most immigration stories focused on undocumented immigration. Many showed images of unidentified groups of undocumented immigrants crossing the border illegally or being arrested by the U.S. Border Patrol.

Overall, Latinos were viewed as problem people and burdens to society in 2004.

Stories on Latinos and politics focused on the use of Spanish by the presidential candidates and portrayed Latinos as a monolithic group of voters. Issues important to Latinos were virtually ignored.

Networks continued to use the theme of the American dream to frame stories about Latinos, without providing more substantive coverage.

The country is undergoing an historic demographic shift, yet network coverage has failed to explain this change and its impact on our society. We fear viewers watching the network news have learned very little about the Latino community since we issued our first Network Brownout Report in 1996.
What viewers have learned is that too often Latinos are portrayed as problem people living on the fringes of U.S. society. Rarely do we see stories about the positive contributions of Latinos.

It is classism because more affluent Hispanics separate themselves so they are not associated with "them." I wonder how many affluent Hispanics were there? I would imagine a few, it is not there problem. And yet it is. The same thing can be said on issues dealing with gender and any minority. But back to yesterday's rally, the message the Hispanic communities receives about Anglos is that Anglos don't care. Why do you think they thanked you.

They don't know you contribute to ePM, to them, they see you as the status quo. Some probably thought you worked for the government checking things out.

Until we fix the media and the messages they send out, we will always have this divide.
Corruption and hypocrisy ought not to be inevitable products of democracy, as they undoubtedly are today. - Gandhi
by XicanoPwr on Sun Mar 26, 2006 at 09:20:03 AM EST
[ Parent ]

: One more 'ism (none / 0) (#11)

Nationalism may have a partial role here as well.

by standingup on Sun Mar 26, 2006 at 03:56:02 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Great Commentary -- Susie! (5.00 / 1) (#6)

Excellent -- wonderful photos...

Also, in the Fall issue of QuakerAction there is an excellent article by Shan Cretin "Vigilantes at the Border."

Vivian, Man Eegee, XP or Duke may have already provided the link to the American Friends Service Community's web page on immigration, but here it is again:

Immigrants Rights

by Cho on Sat Mar 25, 2006 at 09:51:08 PM EST

What a beautiful surprise! (5.00 / 2) (#7)

Great diary, Susie!

Thanks for the coverage!

by Vivian Pettyjohn on Sat Mar 25, 2006 at 11:07:18 PM EST

: this anglo progressive had to work (5.00 / 1) (#8)

But I'm off on April 10th!

by Vivian Pettyjohn on Sat Mar 25, 2006 at 11:09:13 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Hi Susie! (5.00 / 1) (#12)

I've been away from the computer all weekend but wanted to thank you 1) for attending the march on Saturday and 2) giving a link to my diary :)

I was at the Tucson rally on Friday and even though we were smaller in numbers (about 1200), it was so energizing and a powerful display of community.

I couldn't help but chuckle to hear that you were interviewed for your "Anglo opinion". XicanoPwr said upthread about how he often gets the same thing as a Latino, I do too. Hilarious how we always try to find a token person when in reality our diversity is most defined by our environment than our race. I am thankful to you and others who came back and documented what you saw, it's important that the messages carried on those banners and in the chants are spread. "Giving voice to the voiceless" is what comes to mind.

by Man Eegee on Mon Mar 27, 2006 at 12:28:18 PM EST

: Diary at Kos (5.00 / 1) (#13)

Hi Man Eegee,
I was really surprised the diary stayed up on the recommend list as long as it did. Over 12 hours!!
I hope lots of people got a chance to read your commentary. You raised some really important points. To me, immigration reform affects all of us, not just some of us.
I really hope more and more people are starting to undersand that and that we'll start to see more healthy dialogue, not just knee jerk isolationism posing as legislation.

by susie dow on Mon Mar 27, 2006 at 07:06:56 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Update (5.00 / 1) (#14)

Senate Cuts Part of House Immigration Bill
The Senate Judiciary Committee adopted an amendment by Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., that would protect church and charitable groups, as well as individuals, from criminal prosecution for providing food, shelter, medical care and counseling to undocumented immigrants.
"Charitable organizations, like individuals, should be able to provide humanitarian assistance to immigrants without fearing prosecution," Durbin said.

Every little bit helps.

by susie dow on Mon Mar 27, 2006 at 07:14:36 PM EST

: Susie -- That's got to be important (5.00 / 1) (#15)

...the trial of Daniel Strauss and Shanti Sellz, who were volunteering with No Mas Muertes providing humanitarian aid to immigrants crossing through the Arizona desert is coming up soon.

by Cho on Mon Mar 27, 2006 at 07:28:27 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Cross post (none / 0) (#2)

I posted this also at Daily Kos though I think it will probably scroll off the page as there's another diary up with photos.

by susie dow on Sat Mar 25, 2006 at 08:38:22 PM EST

: I posted my comment over there (5.00 / 2) (#3)

I guess it didn't say much more than "thanks for this great reporting". But I'm happy to say it again here.

by Welshman on Sat Mar 25, 2006 at 08:49:45 PM EST
[ Parent ]

The Historic Immigration March in LA (none / 0) (#16)

Susie....just saw this writeup in counterpunch:
http://www.counterpunch.com/daveyd03272006.html

We Didn't Cross the Border, the Border Crossed Us
By DAVEY D.
Don't believe the hype I was in downtown Los Angeles on Saturday when the historic march to protest the racist anti-immigration bill HR 4437 took place. For those who don't know, this bill would make illegal immigrants felons as well as anybody, including family members who help them in any sort of way.
This means that if you have a cousin living in Mexico who comes over here and his paper work ain't right, even if you didn't know, you could face jail time. This means if you unknowingly hire somebody to haul away trash you could be in trouble. This is not about giving the government the power to build a wall at the border. This is much deeper then that..
As for the march, the mainstream news media claim there were 500 thousand people on who showed up. Keep in mind, this is after they tried to hate on the march and say only a few thousand were going to show up the night before. Trust me more than a million people showed up Anyone who was there could attest to that. All the blocks around the courthouse for as far as the eye could see was a sea of people. It was wall to wall. The rally started at 10 am.. Folks showed up in masse around 6 am and it stayed packed with people until 3 or 4 that afternoon.............read on>>

by avahome on Tue Mar 28, 2006 at 12:54:25 PM EST

: Estimates (none / 0) (#17)

I've heard that the "helicopter count" put the number at over 1,000,000. The "ground level count" put the number at 500,000.
The largest march I personally ever attended was 350,000. The largest march I've attended that followed the same route as Saturday's march was 50,000. (It was pouring rain that day so God knows how many would have been there had it been dry.)
All I know is that Saturday's march was much much much larger than anything I had ever been to before. Absolutely no doubt about it in my mind.
I could easily believe there were 1,000,000 people there.

by susie dow on Tue Mar 28, 2006 at 07:32:34 PM EST
[ Parent ]