[Mb-civic] REport from L.A. immigrant marches

[ean at sbcglobal.net]

  Date: Mon, 1 May 2006 20:50:27 -0700
   From: "Walter  Lippmann" <walterlx at earthlink.net>
Subject: Los Angeles immigrant's rights marches

I'm too tired to write any kind of detailed report this evening, but here
are some notes from a participant in both marches today. There were to be
two marches, one starting at noon at city hall, organized by the Latino
Movement USA, the Mexican American Political Association and other 
groups.
Another was set to begin at 3 PM some miles west of downtown, organized by
the Catholic Church, organized labor and a number of politicians.

When I arrived at city hall around noon, there was a veritable sea of
people there, an endless sea which continued to come and come and come as
long as I was present. This see was still coming when I left around 3:30
in the afternoon with no end in sight. The crowd was almost entirely
Latino in composition, well over 95% I would guestimate. Spanish was the
principal language spoken among participants and from the platforms which
I heard. There were other side rallies which developed spontaneously since
it simply wasn't possible to have everyone stop and listen all at the same
time. Most participants were probably from Mexico or of Mexican
background, though there were some Guatemalans and Salvadorans present as
well and a sprinkling of Filipinos and even a little sprinkling of Cubans,
too! What left presences I saw was basically literature tables and
distributions.

Following the guidelines of the organizers, nearly everyone wore white.
Similarly, the great majority, maybe 80 or more per cent of the flags I
saw were American flags. This was an astute political judgment in my
opinion, though it was perfectly obvious to everyone that the overwhelm-
ing majority of demonstrators were Latino and Spanish-speaking. I saw a
large number of signs made by organizing groups which had demands for
either legalization, amnesty, no more enforcement actions and so on. Many
people carried hand-made signs reflecting a range of views which are of
interest. There were quite a few Che flags or shirts, and some people
carried Che flags with American flags. I saw a pair of signs pointedly
asking Jewish people to support the progests since they had their own
experiences with oppression. Organized labor seem not to be overly
present, though I saw a few union signs saying "Liberty and Justice for
All" and a few union banners. Many people brought hand- made signs among
which some reflected their faith in God, and many other ideas. Here are
some of the signs, mostly hand-made, I saw:

No Somos Crimales. Ustedes nos hacen criminales.
(We're not criminals. You make us criminals)

We must all learn to live like brother unidos (on a U.S. flag).

It is not a crime to want a better life. (Daughter of immigrant
parents.)

We are not criminals.

United We Stand (U.S. flag on T-shirt, with upristed fist breaking
through star in the middle of the flag.)

Dios bendiga este pais. (God bless ths country.)

Mi hijo esta in Irak. (My son is in Iraq.)

I have a dream that all man should be created equal.

We shall overcome.

Don't call me an immogrant or a criminal while we both have the
same dream to give our family better life. We are both Americans.
No to HR 4437. We are honest hard working Americans.

The USA is made by immigrants...$ That's it!

Let's make America Stronger. NO on HR4437. Amnesty for all.

Hoy marchamos. Manana votamos. (Today we march. Tomorrow we vote.)

We only want work. We are not criminals.

Todos contra el muro. (Everyone against the wall.)

We didn't cross the borders, the borders crossed us.

Nigun ser humano es ilegal. (No human being is illegal.)

To contribute to the U.S. economy isn't illegal.

We stand together. We're all Americans.

Unidos estamos. Unidos no quedamos. (We're here. We're not complaining.)

Pueblo unido. Gobierno confundido. (People united. Government confused.

Our citizenship wasn't a problems when you sent our children to war.

Are our troops in Iraq illegal too?

Legalicen a los esclavos del Siglo XXI. (Legalize 21st century slaves.)

I speak better English than Arnold and I came from Mexico.

May 1, a day to create consciousness. Don't bite the hand that wipes your
ass."

United States not divided States.

United we stand. No on HR 4437. Who gave the legal permission to the first
people who came to settle on the land of native Americans and claim it as
theirs? This country is built by illegally and illegally immigrants. Hasta
la victoria siempre. (Ever onward to victory, Cuban slogan.)

USA we are not criminals. We are not taking anybody's job. All we want is
to be able to be legal in this country.

Filipino Coalition. Family Unity. Swift family reunification.

Lelgalize. Don't criminalize.

US land of dreams. One nation under God, indivible. With liberty and
justice for all. We love America.

Si por que soy Mexicano dicen que soy "ilegal", revisa la histora real
pues estoy en mi tierra natal. (If because I'm Mexican they say I'm
illegal, read the real hstory because this is the land where I was born.)

1 de May0 2006. Historica march de trabajadores en EEUU. Exiendo justicia
cual martires de Chicago. May 1, 2006, Historic workers march in the USA.
Demanding justice like the Chicago Martyrs. (Hand made and carried by a
long-time local FMLN activist.) Indeed, the FMLN of El Salvador had a very
vivid presence at the march.

Who says we are terrorists if our sons and daughters are giving their
lives for this country. We (heart graphic) USA.

Jose called in today. Make your own taco, USA.

Land of the greed. Home of the snake.

THE WORLD'S BIGGEST ILLEGAL (graphic of Bush with dune cap) and:
ILLEGAL election
ILLEGAL presidency
ILLEGAL war
ILLEGAL occupation
ILLEGAL no bid conracts
ILLRGAL renditions
ILLEGAL detentions
ILLEGAL tortures
ILLEGAL prisons
ILLEGAL wiretaps
THE WORST PRESIDENT IN HISTORY

Never justice on stolen land.

We work like slaves and we live like criminals. We do the dirty work.

They use our sons for war and call us criminals. If the minuteman are
patriot, go to Irak.

One nation under god indivisible with liberty and justice for all.
We are America for Americans.

South Central Farmers. Aquie estgmos y no nos vamos.
(A group is occupying vacant city land and farming it and fighting
for the right to keep it, or at least keep growing food there. Most
of them are immigrants. Great slogan: We're hear and we're not leaving."

Education not deportation.

Soy estudiante no criminal. (I'm a student, not a criminal.)

We are not a Minority. We are the MAJORITY.

Jewish people, you know the needs of immigration. Don't turn your back on
us.

Please don't practics hate on us. Equal rights 4 all.

Weren't you illegal in 1846? Who are the real ilegals? USA invaded Mexico
1846. You stole our border to Texas, New Mexico, Arizone, Nevada,
Colorado, California, and you call us illegals. Throw us out and we will
take the heart of California with us.

We are hard working people, not terrorists.

Good enough to die in combat, not good enough to live here.
(In red-green-white, Mexican colors on man in wheel chair.)

After over three hours I felt wiped out and decided to go home, but the
subway train stopped at MacArthur Park, so I got out and spent some time
there. Another sea of immigrants were arriving there, looking much like
the folks at city hall. It's not possible to know how many came from city
hall to the park, but when I got home, around 5PM, it turned out that the
3 PM rally hadn't started, and didn't get going until 6PM. Cardinal Mahony
and a raft of elected officials spoke there. Coverage from the local TV
stations was almost entirely positive. Not a single arrest was reported
and the cops were present in uniform but not in riot gear. As I walked
from downtown to the subway station I walked through Little Tokyo and was
pleased to see perhaps half of the stores there were closed in recognition
of the boycott as well.

That's it for tonight.


Walter Lippmann
Los Angeles, California.

***



-- 
You are currently on Mha Atma's Earth Action Network email list, 
option D (up to 3 emails/day).  To be removed, or to switch options 
(option A - 1x/week, option B - 3/wk, option C - up to 1x/day, option D - 
up to 3x/day) please reply and let us know!  If someone forwarded you 
this email and you want to be on our list, send an email to 
ean at sbcglobal.net and tell us which option you'd like.


"A war of aggression is the supreme international crime." -- Robert Jackson,
 former U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice and Nuremberg prosecutor

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://www.islandlists.com/pipermail/mb-civic/attachments/20060502/cb09e851/attachment.htm