Mar 25 '06 - 837 W, 2 I - Vote Good + 8 :: Bad - 9 More Than 500,000 Rally in L.A. for Immigrants' Rights
Published March 25, 2006 by The LA Times
Joining what some are calling the nation's largest mobilization of
immigrants ever, hundreds of thousands of people boisterously marched
in downtown Los Angeles Saturday to protest federal legislation that
would crack down on undocumented immigrants, penalize those who help
them and build a security wall on the U.S. southern border. Spirited
crowds representing labor, religious groups, civil-rights advocates and
ordinary immigrants stretched over 26 blocks of downtown Los Angeles
from Adams Blvd. along Spring Street and Broadway to City Hall, tooting
kazoos, waving American flags and chanting "Si se puede!" (Yes we
can!). The crowd, estimated by police at more than 500.000, represented
one of the largest protest marches in Los Angeles history, surpassing
Vietnam War demonstrations and the 70,000 who rallied downtown against
Proposition 187, a 1994 state initiative that denied public benefits to
undocumented migrants.
The marchers included both longtime residents and the newly arrived,
bound by a desire for a better life and a love for this county.
Arbelica Lazo, 40, illegally immigrated from El Salvador two decades
ago but said she now owns two business and pays $7,000 in taxes
annually.
Jose Alberto Salvador, 33, came here illegally just four months ago to
find work to support the wife and five children he left behind; in his
native Guatemala, he said, what little work he could find paid only $10
a day. "As much as we need this country, we love this country,"
Salvador said, waving a stick with both the American and Guatemalan
flag. "This country gives us opportunities we don't get at home."
Saturday's rally, spurred by anger over legislation passed by the U.S.
House of Representatives last December, was part of what many say is an
unprecedented effort to organize immigrants and their supporters across
the nation. The U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee is to take up efforts
Monday to complete work on a comprehensive immigration reform proposal.
Unlike the House bill, which beefed up border security and toughened
immigration laws, the Senate committee's version is expected to include
a guest worker program and a path to legalization for the nation's 10
to 12 million undocumented immigrants.
In recent weeks, hundreds of thousands of people have staged
demonstrations in more than a dozen cities. The Roman Catholic Church
and other religious communities have launched immigrant rights
campaigns, with Los Angeles Cardinal Roger Mahony taking a leading role
in speaking out against the House bill and calling on his priests to
defy its provisions that would make felons of anyone who aided
undocumented immigrants. In addition, several cities, including Los
Angeles, have passed resolutions against the House legislation and
some, such as Maywood, have declared itself a "sanctuary" for
undocumented immigrants.
"There has never been this kind of mobilization in the immigrant
community ever," said Joshua Hoyt, executive director of the Illinois
Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights. "They have kicked the
sleeping giant. It's the beginning of a massive immigrant civil rights
struggle."
One of the marchers Saturday, Jose Alberto Salvador, 33, left his wife
and children behind in Guatemala four months ago to cross the border
into the United States so he could earn enough money to return home and
buy a house.
Jorge Valdovinos, 43, is a legal immigrant from Mexico who has three US-born children and works as a financial advisor.
Amid a sea of American and Mexican flags, protesters chanted "Si
Se Puede!" and waved banners in Spanish that read, "We aren't
criminals" and "The USA is made by immigrants."
"I love this country as if it were my own, for the opportunities
it has given me," said Laurentino Ramirez, an illegal immigrant from
Mexico who works at a garment factory. "The law is unjust for those who
don't have papers. We come to work. We don't come to do harm to anyone."
Many of the marchers were immigrants themselves — both legal and
illegal -- from Mexico and Central America. Some had just crossed the
border, while others had been here for decades. There were construction
workers and business owners; families with young children and people in
wheelchairs. Throughout the afternoon, protesters heard speakers demand
a path toward legalization and denounce HR 4437, which would tighten
border enforcement and crack down on employers who hire undocumented
workers.
The rally was organized by numerous unions, religious
organizations and immigrant rights groups and publicized through
Spanish-language media, which encouraged participants to wear white to
symbolize peace and bring American flags. The mostly peaceful march
stretched over 26 blocks, shutting down streets and tying up traffic
around downtown for hours. Police estimated the crowd at 500,000, more
than five times the size of the 1994 rally against California's
Proposition 187, which would have denied services to undocumented
immigrants. Participants said the massive mobilization shows that
immigrants' voices must be heard and that they are contributing to the
country's economy.
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This was an incredible turn out! Riding a “Bad Idea” all night into the wee hours of the morning I was anticipating a quiet train ride home towards Downtown LA after having a greasy breakfast in Long Beach. The train didn’t even have a direct route that day into Downtown due to maintenance, coincidently. The train operator instructed everyone to take a shuttle or wait for the connecting train. Waiting for the next train and the shuttle didn’t seem logical but when you have been riding all night with no sleep it would’ve been nice. I was on the train with a gentleman from the same ride that early morning so we headed towards the next major train terminal, Rosa Parks. There we really saw the mass transiters heading to the demonstration in full effect. The entire platform was crowded so we had to maneuver our way to the very end of the platform that nobody really goes to but even there it was starting to crowd. We saw 3 trains go by all packed liked sardines with everyone wearing there white tees of solidarity. Finally we said screw it. There was no way we were going to squeeze ourselves plus our bikes on the train. The train belonged to the demonstrators so Mr. Waters and I had no choice but endure and ride it all the way to Downtown with no sleep. The good conversation and the traffic sped things up and kept us alert. We made our way towards Fig and once into Downtown a mile line of cars were crawling looking for parking and to get closer to the event. The drivers were envious of us as we split them like a hot butter knife. Once at 7th and Fig we shook hands and parted ways. I headed for Union Station via Pershing square. Approaching Pershing square I began to see the marchers. What a huge unexpected surprise for me. As a native of LA I’ve never seen a demonstration this big. It looked like a giant army of people were going to have Downtown LA for lunch as they made there way towards City Hall.
Viva La Marchers!
ACJ (Email) - March 25 '06 - 23:35
What does immigration have to do with cycling? I respect and admire people who come here, legally or not, to work hard and support their families. I also believe the dirty secret of the immigration debate is that business really wants illegal workers, because they depress wages and are allow business to abuse labor laws easier. If we were serious about stopping immigration, we would enforce punitive laws against employers.But what does this have to with cycling. I don’t bikes in this story. This isn’t cycling advocacy. This isn’t bike culture. This isn’t about alternative transportation. It doesn’t belong here.
Besides the fact that cycling does not necessarily mean your are liberal, a major failing of progressive movements, I think I mixing issues. When I march against the war in Iraq, I doesn’t mean I want to march for Palestine, for instance. When I ride my bike, I’m not supporting immigration.
This is a great site, but please keep it related to things on two wheels.
BJ (Email) - March 26 '06 - 11:49
We are well aware of the fact that we made a brief departure from the standard protocol here—in fact, we included a notice within the introduction to the article on the front page.Yesterday’s march was a historic event in Los Angeles, and we chose to honor it by running the story.
Many of the people directly involved with C.I.C.L.E, and many (not all) of the people who come to this site have a very progressive or leftist political orientation. Many of us feel that bicycling, as it relates to sustainability, is intimately connected to other issues, whether they be social, environmental, and/or other. In fact we regularly republish articles that do not directly concern the bicycle—such as articles about pollution, traffic calming, urban(suburban) sprawl, global warming etc… And while we feel these topics are related to bicycling, many people do not share this sentiment at all. That’s okay, but that’s not what this site is about. Very occasionally we might peer out from our bicycle universe and publish something that we feel is particularly interesting or noteworthy—especially subject matter that appeals to many of the folk within the local, progressive cycling community here in Los Angeles.
As a cycling advocacy group working within Los Angeles, some of what’s on the table regarding HR 4437 could potentially affect our community outreach effort. Many of those cycling here in Los Angeles are immigrants. We (C.I.C.L.E.) are not concerned with the legal status of these cyclists, our primary objective is that they are cycling in a safe manner. HR 4437 could in fact criminalize our actions if we should happen to work with an individual who happens to not be of ‘legal status’. We feel that if someone comes to us asking for assistance with cycling and/or street safety—they deserve to know how to be safe, ‘legal’ or not. HR 4437 could endanger this effort.
But have no fear, beginning Monday sometime during the am, we will be returning to the standard two wheel conversation—Monday—Friday morningish—mostly about bikes, all of the time.
C.I.C.L.E. (Email) - March 26 '06 - 16:26
I have to agree… what does this have to do with cycling?Jeff (Email) - March 27 '06 - 09:13
Aside from the aforementioned reasons, the article has absolutely nothing to do with cycling.C.I.C.L.E. (Email) - March 27 '06 - 10:58
Well, for something that has nothing to do with cycling, I sure recognized a lot of LA bike culture people at the destination (City Hall area) of the march.Also, I think it might behoove some folks to read more carefully, or perhaps just more slowly. The phrase “We just had to interupt our normal bike-specific news…” signaled pretty clearly to attentive readers that the material following it was not going to be bike-specific.
A. Bici - March 27 '06 - 16:00
500,000 law breakers …Jimi (Email) - March 29 '06 - 20:53
OMGz!!!!11!!! Lawbreakers!!!!!@@ 500,000 of them downtown, 500 of them at Midnight Ridazz, and one of them every time I go to my friend’s house and he sparks up a doobie. Lawbreakers!!!IMBG - March 30 '06 - 17:28