As a matter of history, May Day was initiated to commemorate the
Haymarket Massacre in Chicago in 1886 when a bomb blast broke up a rally for the eight hour day and both police and demonstrators died in the ensuing gunfire. Socialists internationally adopted the observance while it was suppressed in the US.
But since the vast immigrant marches of 2006, May Day in Oakland has been going strong. The holiday takes its culture from the working class as the that class really is in California: heavily immigrant, low wage, and female.
It's still about traditional labor demands ...
... but it's always also about the security of our undocumented work force.
Sadly, too many working people of color are not secure from trigger happy police.
Placards carried the names of some victims.
For all the seriousness of the cause(s), marchers had a good time.
There's a lot of joy in marching for justice.
Church is boring.
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