When Did My Immigrant Rights March Become a Race to Control?
story by La Marchadora
How do you measure the success of a march? Is it by the number of
people who come out? Is it by the number of media outlets that cover
it? Or the number of organizations you can list in support? I say that
gives you some kind of measuring stick, but the way you make people
feel says a lot more about your success than the 30 second mention on
the news. All I felt this year was that this march didn’t wait for
me, and I don’t think I was alone in the sense that as participants we
didn’t get fully taken into account.
May 1st in San Jose has become a day of taking the streets, where
during a three mile walk, we hold our heads high standing for
something greater than ourselves, and leading a movement that has
gained international notice. Our efforts have forced people to feel
their humanity by recognizing that these brown faces are human beings
worthy of respect. It has become a day to be heard, to raise our
voice, to raise our fist, and move our bodies in dance as we take the
familiar road from the east side to downtown San Jose.
But this march felt a lot different than previous marches. It felt
like we got gypped.
Far from the natural momentum of the marches in 2006 of folks heading
out together when they were ready, this march didn’t take a cue from
the people in the crowd. It started before many people got to the
corner and took off at a pace that seemed like a race to the finish.
And that distinction that something was different was hinted at with
the texts this year that had in parenthesis “meet in the target
parking lot,” and especially a sign that got hung up a night before
the march indicating the march started on a certain side of the
street. Since when do we need a sign to tell us where the march
starts, if in 5 years it has always started in the same place?
It is a disconnection that maybe isn’t noticed by all, but evident if
you have been there every year. The folks who have been claiming
leadership of the marches, of the movements finally positioned
themselves at the front. Starting with a program (on the Target side)
of Story and King and heading out at 4:05, only to gather folks with a
final program that didn’t reflect them or give them the customary
chance to take the mic and share what was on their minds. The groups
of people with instruments in the streets and people dancing around
didn’t form. Folks asking to speak on stage had no one to ask, and
could only turn back around.
This wrestling for “leadership” didn’t respect that folks have been
coming out for years, didn’t respect that they come out on and march
because their hearts and souls are in this cause and not because their
body guarantees that there will be big numbers. Our marches shouldn’t
loose their touch because labor can’t swallow its pride and get over
Mi Pueblo not getting unionized. If we all envision the same end of
just and humane immigration reform, why waste energy in drawing more
lines? In San Jose, we know the faces of the few folks on the ground
doing the work to spread the message of immigration reform and this
march ignored the contributions of the folks who marched by their
side, to finally be able to claim that they made May 1st happen.
However, as we learned in 2006 – this movement isn’t orchestrated by
paid organizers, it is moved by those under attack, who see it as a
necessity, not just another success to claim.
