I feel incredibly fortunate to live in a city where immigrant workers have combined with the best elements of the labor movement to invigorate what much of the world celebrates as International Workers' Day -- May Day.
A crowd of at least 1000 marched down Mission Street to Civic Center on Wednesday afternoon.
The glorious sunny weather helped evoke broad smiles to go with political demands
Comprehensive mmigration reform was the agenda.
Around here, borders seem just impediments to our humanity. Marchers want a real reform based on stopping deportations, a path to citizenship for all the 11 million undocumented, and full workers' rights for the immigrant, mostly low wage, work force.
Folks knew there was one vulnerable population whose immigration needs aren't even recognized in the legislation that may be considered in the Senate.
What anti-immigrant agitators never understand is that there is no meaningful difference between folks who happened to successfully navigate the legal immigration maze and their relatives and friends who cross borders without permission. They all come for work and a better chance for their children, just like those of us whose ancestors have been here for a long time.
Like everyone else, they need legal rights in the workplace.
No comments:
Post a Comment