April 11th, 2006
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| “The law is clear that the right to petition one’s government for the redress of grievances may be exercised in large groups…,” |
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| Cutting through all of the complexities and contradictions in proposed laws, what is clear is that, once again, it is open season on immigration and immigrants in the United States. Xenophobia is back after a decade-long hiatus following the anti-immigrant upsurge of 1994-1996, which saw passage of the anti-immigrant Proposition 187 in California and three pieces of federal legislation targeting immigrants. The anti-immigration camp, which saw its hopes of riding the nationalistic wave following 9/11 dashed, is now optimistic again. |
| We have seen all this before, or have we? There is a new element now, and that element is an unprecedented level of power, presence, and mobilization of the Latino community, especially at the grass-roots level. The Latino population is reading this new anti-immigration campaign as a direct attack, and they are raising their voices in opposition – on the street and beyond. |
| The size of the peaceful street protests carried out in several cities in recent weeks has stunned many, including Latino organizers and authorities. In Chicago, 100,000 people marched on March 10 to protest anti-immigration legislation in Congress. In larger-than-expected numbers, they marched in the old industrial city of Milwaukee and in the Sunbelt metropolis of Phoenix. And, in Georgia, many Latino businesses closed, and thousands of workers stayed home, as part of a “day of dignity” called to protest anti-immigration legislation in that state. Los Angeles, where 500,000 took to the streets on March 26 in the largest march protest ever in that city, was the culmination of a movement that has come together with astonishing speed and momentum. |
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Captured somewhere in time: The lonely gringo standing on a rickety wooden box with power fading quickly from his antiquated kmart-brand megaphone… screeching-pleading “No se puede, No se puede” while the waves of peaceful marchers pay him no heed at all.
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Posted in Red-State America | By Willie Buck Merle