Thousands of people took to the streets in Los Angeles on Saturday in protest of the new Arizona state law signed on April 23.
Immigration reform took center stage on May Day, which is a day affiliated with political protests and rallies around the world, as people of all races and age groups met on the corner of Broadway and Olympic and began their march to city hall.
Mayor Antonio Villaragosa was at city hall to greet protestors who marched for nearly four hours waving American flags.
“Every one of these American flags represent that for over 200 years of history, our great nation was built and continues to be built by the immigrants who come here with a dream from all over the world,” Villaragosa told the crowds.
Students donning graduation caps and gowns called for passage of the Dream Act, which would allow alien minors who graduate from US high schools and are in good standing to receive conditional permanent residency.
“Students are practicing what it means to be part of a democracy by taking action against something that is very oppressive and very undemocratic, said Estela Bensimon, Co-director of the Center for Urban Education at USC who was accompanied at the march by a group of USC students.
Telemundo reporter, Ruben Luengas, who was on the scene covering the protests, told Talon Marks that what is happening in Arizona is becoming the fuel for many other immigration issues across the US. He hopes that once the protests are over that the movement doesn’t end there.
“The marches are very important but we need something more creative. We need to do it through painting, through the arts and music. We can’t let the moment come where we say ‘a so and so number of people came’ and then disbanded. It has to be a constant movement. It’s not all about asking for things, but also adding to the culture,” Luengas said.
Although police on the scene commented that the protest was peaceful and the organizers did a good job of making sure that everyone was respectful, tensions escalated when a man carrying a sign that read, “If you’re illegal, get out now” was confronted by a group of men who called themselves “warriors” dressed in military garb.
The man was allowed to stand behind police lines which only further infuriated the group.
“None of our body language was threatening at all. If he’s got the right to spew his rhetoric from behind the cops, I have the right to oppose that rhetoric from behind the cops, too” a man, who would not disclose his name but goes by the name of “X,” said.
“We want a nation of our own. We want America to give us what is rightfully ours. We want what they promised us through treaty because obviously they don’t want us here and obviously we’re so separated. We’re thrown in the ghettos and we’re thrown on the reservations and we’re long forgotten,” X, who is of Apache and Mexica native descent, said.
*Additional reporting by Rebeca Vega.
