Immigrants' rights protest report: live from Tucson AZ
Just returned from the immigrants' rights protest here in Tucson. Stay tuned for footage.
This movement is a force to be reckoned with: it delivered a crowd of 10,000 well-organized, upbeat, and disciplined marchers here, in a small city on a workday. Legislators should be paying careful attention.
We joined the protest at its origin in South Tucson, and marched north. The crowd was almost entirely Hispanic and represented a large cross-section of the community -- families, college students, professionals, older people.
People chanted "Si se puede" and "A people united will never be divided", while waving American flags and signs against HR 4437. Other signs read "Humane immigration reform", "Humanitarian aid is never a crime", "We are part of the solution" and "Liberty and justice for all". My favorite read "Where you came from?"
Police were out in force, and helicopters circled the crowd. We didn't see even the slightest hints of rowdiness, only a well-organized and media-savvy group. Most signs were in English, and large numbers of marchers wore white shirts, presenting a unified look.
My take: this makes the anti-war movement look like a joke. This movement occupies a moral high ground: they represent people trying to better thsemselves through hard work, and rhetorically evoke the American Dream.
Their opponents advocate the assasination of people attempting risky desert crossings, or paint immigrants as people who don't want to learn English. That's a tired old warhorse that's been dragged out for every immigrant group to come to these shores, and advocates of murder usually have trouble finding allies.
To someone from the East, this looks like it came out of nowhere. Right-wing politicians who thought they had the Hispanic vote in the bag probably feel the same way.
These people vote, and they're feeling the power.
[Update: some reports of police using pepper spray on protesters scuffling with counter-protesters at the far end of the march]
This movement is a force to be reckoned with: it delivered a crowd of 10,000 well-organized, upbeat, and disciplined marchers here, in a small city on a workday. Legislators should be paying careful attention.
We joined the protest at its origin in South Tucson, and marched north. The crowd was almost entirely Hispanic and represented a large cross-section of the community -- families, college students, professionals, older people.
People chanted "Si se puede" and "A people united will never be divided", while waving American flags and signs against HR 4437. Other signs read "Humane immigration reform", "Humanitarian aid is never a crime", "We are part of the solution" and "Liberty and justice for all". My favorite read "Where you came from?"
Police were out in force, and helicopters circled the crowd. We didn't see even the slightest hints of rowdiness, only a well-organized and media-savvy group. Most signs were in English, and large numbers of marchers wore white shirts, presenting a unified look.
My take: this makes the anti-war movement look like a joke. This movement occupies a moral high ground: they represent people trying to better thsemselves through hard work, and rhetorically evoke the American Dream.
Their opponents advocate the assasination of people attempting risky desert crossings, or paint immigrants as people who don't want to learn English. That's a tired old warhorse that's been dragged out for every immigrant group to come to these shores, and advocates of murder usually have trouble finding allies.
To someone from the East, this looks like it came out of nowhere. Right-wing politicians who thought they had the Hispanic vote in the bag probably feel the same way.
These people vote, and they're feeling the power.
[Update: some reports of police using pepper spray on protesters scuffling with counter-protesters at the far end of the march]
posted by $!# at 4/10/2006 06:22:00 PM
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