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NEWS & LETTERS, June-July 2006Immigrant workers took to the streets on May DayLos Angeles--There were two May Day marches here--with about one million taking part in each--because of a disagreement by organizers on whether to boycott work and schools for one day. The noontime march through downtown, a primarily Mexican shopping area, was attended by overwhelmingly non-immigrant laborers and students who supported the school walkout and work boycott. The late afternoon march from MacArthur Park--primarily a Central American immigrant shopping area--through Koreatown and to the more affluent Westside, started after the school day was over. Though mostly Latina/o, there were more non-Latina groups visible than in the earlier march. The workers in both marches wore white and carried many U.S. flags, although a few Mexican, Guatemalan, and Salvadoran flags were also visible. One group carried a huge banner with a composite of about 15 flags from around the world. Many organizations and many individuals participated in both marches. At the end of the day, the division of whether or not to boycott work and school seemed forgotten because of the size and enthusiasm of the marches. The consumer boycott was successful as most small shops in downtown, Koreatown, and the west side were closed. The Grand Central Market and wholesale produce markets downtown were closed. Few port workers at Long Beach and Los Angeles showed up, and most truck drivers also honored the boycott. Most Korean businesses that depend on immigrant workers also closed for the day. The freeways were unusually empty in this city of cars. "Si Se Puede, Si Se Puede!" and "El Pueblo Unidos, Hama Sera Vencidao!" were chanted loudly throughout the day. --Basho * * * Memphis, Tenn.--This spring, Memphis has had three big rallies for immigrants' rights. The first one was stopped by the police before it started for lack of a permit, but many local youths and adults had been joined by people who came on buses from Nashville, Mississippi, Arkansas, even Illinois. The most massive rally was on April 10. The local daily newspaper said more than 10,000 were crowded into the plaza in front of the National Civil Rights Museum. Some of the speakers explicitly evoked Dr. King’s name and the spirit of the Civil Rights Movement, which seemed appropriate given the location. Our sign in Spanish and English proclaiming that "No human is illegal," was enthusiastically received and stood out in the sea of signs proclaiming that "We pray for America," and "We are all Americans." There was a perceptible hunger for ideas when we handed out NEWS & LETTERS. As we gave out copies, some around us requested more, breaking a language and cultural barrier just to see what we were all about. Some local Latino media also took on a positive role in the weeks leading up to the demonstrations. One radio station postponed regular programming to become a talk shop for everyone to call in with their ideas on the new movement, such as whether or not to make the decision to stay home from work on May 1. The day of the demonstrations, people were calling in to announce spaces in their trucks or cars leaving from certain areas, so that anyone who didn’t have a vehicle could attend. This self-organization of transportation from below resembled some aspects of the Montgomery Bus Boycott. On May 1 there was a large vigil at Nuevas Direcciones church, with several hundred present. The varied content of speakers’ messages reflected the contradictions within the new movement’s leadership. The "official" message from all of the community groups and churches was that everyone should go to work, and for the children to stay in school on May Day, international workers day. One speaker’s explicit encouragement to "work hard to earn the respect of Americans" sounded to me like Booker T. Washington’s ghost was present. The whole crowd didn’t necessarily share these views, as some had stayed home from work in protest, and some speakers demanded rights that they are due as workers and human beings regardless of nationality. Some African Americans were scattered in the crowd, which is important here in the South, especially since some are trying to divide them from the immigrants. There was also a group of immigrants from Mauritania who made no separation between their struggle in Africa and the Latino struggle. This spirit of universality and human solidarity can become the touchstone for the growing movement if it is not channeled into mere status-quo "respectability" by its leaders. --Participants * * * Los Angeles--For two weeks following the huge demonstration on March 25, students from various high schools walked out of their classes, forming rallies downtown in front of City Hall. This process culminated in a march of over a thousand, initiated by high school and junior high school students, on April 8. They had taken public transportation or gotten rides, from various areas in Los Angeles county, most without their parents, and expressed seriousness about the problems of immigrants. Some were children of immigrants from Ecuador, Mexico, Argentina, El Salvador, the Philippines and India. Some were supportive friends from non-immigrant families. These youth, who were mostly junior high students, said they were concerned with the different ways the U.S. government has been taking control of peoples' lives. One commented on how embarrassing it was for him to see recent TV interviews with students who were clearly uninformed. This event had no dress-code, and styles represented included hip-hop, Anarchist/rocker, Mexican indigenous, and various other genres and individual variations. One teenager told me, "White T-shirts are OK to show unity and to represent amnesty, but we should also show our variety." One slogan was "Migrant, Not Immigrant!" This was explained as differentiating between the human tendency to migrate from place to place according to need and desire, and the image of an unwanted individual crossing a national border. --Anna Maillon |
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