April 7 Coalition March Rally in Los Angeles Draws 75,000

Unlike the disparate and fewer numbers of mobilized activities last March 25, 2007, the April 7 Coalition march for full rights for all immigrants became one of the largest to be held in Los Angeles after May 1, 2006. This brings a new momentum for the immigrant rights movement in California. The conservative L.A Times estimated the crowd as 10,000 while the Latino Channel 34 estimate of the crowd was 50,000.

The march lasted for one hour started at 12:00 PM from Olympic and Broadway. The march and wound up at Spring St. in front of the City Hall building where the marchers held a program at around 1;30 P.M. marchers were calling for a pathway to citizenship for illegal immigrants; an expedited and less expensive naturalization process; education for all; and a stop to racist immigrant raids throughout the United States.

April 7 Coalition members and supporters include Confederacion de Organizaciones Mexicanas, Latino Movement USA, Hermandad Mexicana Nacional, Alianza de Hondurenos de Los Angeles, United Farmworkers of America, ANSWER Coalition (Act Now To Stop War & End Racism), Alliance for a Just and Lasting Peace in the Philippines (AJLPP-USA), United Farmworkers of America (UFW), Casa Nicaragua, La Casa Del Mexicano, Federacion de Clubes Michoacanos en California, Central American Round Table, National Lawyers Guild (NLG), Youth and Justice Coalition, Councilmember Jose Huizar, United Teachers Los Angeles (UTLA), People's CORE, United Students, National Council of Arab Americans, Youth & Student ANSWER, Justice for Filipino American Veterans (JFAV), Pilipino Workers Center (PWC), Frente Amplio Progresista-LA, ChicanoForums.com, Peace Bakersfield, Topanga Peace Alliance, Palisadians for Peace, The Immigrant Magazine, and other pro-immigrant rights individuals and organizations.

source: Justice for Filipino American Veterans (JFAV) @ :: la.indymedia.org

History of Racist Immigration Laws

Mexica Movement joined the march and protest against the white supremacist immigration laws of the "United States of America" with new tools. We need to reframe all of this "illegals" and "immigration laws" into their proper white supremacist context of European illegal entry onto our continent, slavery, genocide, racism, ethnic cleansing, land theft, and the ongoing possession of all of our stolen property. Europeans have no right to tell us where we can go on our continent. We have a right to be everywhere on our continent. They have no right to be anywhere on our continent.

source :: mexica-movement.org

Masses of Immigrants Demand Amnesty

A big crowd of determined, joyful people marched down Broadway to peacefully demand amnesty for undocumented immigrants, and to public show their committment to justice for immigrants.

The turnout for the April 7th legalization-for-immigrants march was inspiring and awesome: The river of people on Broadway flowed on and on. There were disciplined contingents with thousands and thousands of marchers headed by groups like Hermandad Mexicana. The crowd overflowed onto the sidewalk and was so large at Olympic and Broadway that hundreds walking south on Broadway to join the march could not get through the mass of people congregated at the "beginning" of the march and ended up walking half a block ahead of the main march.

The "giant" had re-awakened and put to route any thought that its energy was spent. While smaller than last spring’s mega-marches, it was still far larger than any protest marches seen in L.A. since then: At least 40-50 thousand people marched down Broadway. Yet, local media seemed determined to underplay and undercount the march. TV stations estimated the crowd at anywhere from 5,000 to 15,000, or quoted the police "estimate" of "7-8 thousand".
There were very few media reporting along the march. Given the modest turn-out at the last two immigration marches downtown, it must have seemed to news directors that this one would be more of the same. I know I did. As I walked south on Broadway I figured I would reach the march and then easily find some people I was supposed to meet. No way! At about Fourth and Broadway I came upon the march, or should I say, the march came upon me and overwhelmed me in a giant festival of love and unity. There is something astonishing and magical about taking to the streets and peacefully marching by the tens of thousands to demand one’s human right to live "legally" and be recognized as a productive, valued member of society. The marchers were saying and demonstrating that no more will the "mexicanos", "salvadoreños", "guatemaltecos", and others in the crowd meekly acquiesce to living in the shadows, or gratefully accept punitive "guest worker" or similar programs being proposed.

The joyful, determined people striding down Broadway were a revelation: This is how street protests are supposed to be done! The crowd was disciplined, purposeful, and enthusiastically roaring "¡Sí se puede!" or "¡Arriba abajo, la migra al carajo!", or the ever popular call and response with the questioner using a megaphone and the crowd thunderously responding: "¿Qué queremos? "¡Legalización! ¿Cuándo la queremos? ¡Ahora!" . Hundreds and hundreds of marchers carried signs demanding: "Amnistia". Dozens carried signs criticizing local radio dj "Piolin" for not supporting the march. Some groups had dramatic, brightly colored banners that stretched across Broadway: "Legalización. ¡Ya!" or "¡Alto a las Redadas!" There was a 30 by 40 ft. quilt made up of flags from dozens of countries. A Brazilian man and others carried a 15 by 25 foot banner reading: "The sun shines on all people."
Most popular by far was the red, white, and blue USA flag: flags on sticks, huge flags held by five people, flags worn as capes, flags on shirts, flag hats, and flags for sale from vendors pulling carts festooned with flags. The flags disarm critics who complain that immigrants somehow do not have the same ideals and values as "Americans" and refuse to fully participate in U.S. institutions.

The masses of immigrants marching April 7 may be the most "American" of all. One could sometimes hear the chant of "USA! USA!" coming from the marchers, but it was not the xenophobic cry of the Minutemen, it was the heartfelt sentiment of those who demand that the U.S. live up to those self-evident, inalienable rights of all people which are enshrined in its Declaration of Independence: " the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness."

source :: Cliff Olin @ la.indymedia.org (with more photos)