60,000 march in Milwaukee for immigration reform

Sparky, 01.05.2007 17:09

Organizers estimate that over 60,000 marchers from South East Wisconsin took to the streets today - with similar events planned across 70 US cities.

For the second successive May Day, Milwaukee's streets came alive for ‘A Day Without Latinos’ – a mass work stoppage to show the centrality of Latino workers to the local and national economy.

The huge contingent that had assembled on 5th Street soon displaced city traffic for well over 90 minutes as it headed down 1st Street, Water Street, and turned onto Wisconsin before making for a rally on the lakefront at Veteran's Park.

Addressing the crowd, folk and labor singer, Utah Phillips, recalled that it was the mass action of European immigrants in the 1880s which first established May 1st as Workers’ Day. He went on to praise the new immigrant workers’ movement for carrying the fight for justice and equality into the twenty-first century.

Christine Neumann-Ortiz, of Voces de la Frontera, had earlier described the day as “a critical moment in the civil rights struggle for immigrants. The people are sending a strong message that we need and want a law passed this year that will address an outdated and discriminatory immigration system that is hurting and terrorizing working class families."

Final numbers may exceed last year - VF 01.05.2007 - 18:17 A Voces de la Frontera press release has revised the initial figure for today's march upwards to 70,000 - comparable to last year’s record turn-out. Many coordinators on the route believe that the numbers broke those for last year - the largest march in Wisconsin’s State history. Speaking after the march, Christine Neumann-Ortiz hailed it as a huge success: "This massive turn-out on a work-day was a clear statement to Congress and the President that the immigrant community will not be intimidated and driven back into the shadows. Earlier, Ricardo Chavez, a key leader of the United Farm Workers Union and brother of Cesar Chavez, had told the marchers: “I bring you greetings from California. The farm workers struggle is the same struggle of the immigrant rights movement. People take for granted who picks, processes, and packages their food to get it to our shelves. We can achieve our goal this year. ¡Si se puede!” Craig Oliver, State Chair of the NAACP, told the rally: “I stand before you today as a soul whose people have endured the same inhumane treatment used against you and your people. The same dogs, chains and whips used against African-Americans to preserve what is now called a democracy are now transformed into border patrols, traveling papers and midnight raids.” Sparky> buy zoloft 14.08.2007 - 19:37 nice news thanks!Avandia buy zoloft> e-mail:: idfo@dssewt.net Homepage:: http://flonase buy citalopram 14.08.2007 - 20:23 nice news thanks!Xatral buy citalopram> e-mail:: idfo@dssewt.net Homepage:: http://allegra xenical 14.08.2007 - 20:54 nice news thanks!Spiriva xenical> e-mail:: idfo@dssewt.net Homepage:: http://flextra sirdalud 15.08.2007 - 12:28 rivotril sirdalud> e-mail:: hf@jofdke.com Homepage:: http://mircette