A Day With 75,000 Immigrants

Andrew and I walked with our gardeners and day laborers and crop pickers today in Denver.

I've weighed in before on illegal immigration. Complicated and difficult stuff. Good and reasonable people can disagree on how to handle it.

But Colorado is home to some of the least enlightened voices. One of our congressmen leads the "make 'em all felons and deport the whole bunch" crowd. So we thought a show of support for our neighbors would be good.

Everybody gathered in the morning near North High School which is the heart of the Latino community in Denver. About 75,000 people turned out. We walked together three miles to the State Capitol for a rally against potentially inhumane and unrealistic immigration policies.

I've been involved in mass action before and have been arrested doing civil disobedience more than a few times in my past.

Compared to those previous experiences, the folks who organized this thing get high marks for sure.

The atmosphere was festive and positive. No violence and no knuckleheads.

The organizers here also downplayed the national economic boycott. I think they understood that the business community tends to stand for the most reasonable immigration policies.

One older marcher wore a t-shirt that said "I work cheap so you can eat."

These people are nobody's fools.

They know the business community here takes advantage of them but they also know this is their best shot at feeding their families and giving their kids a shot at something better.

If the minimum wage was $70 an hour in Canada (about the equivalent minimum wage difference between the US and Mexico) how many Americans do you think would be crossing the border to the north?

And everything was on time. We started the march at exactly 10:30 am and the rally at the capitol started at the stroke of noon.

Punctuality probably isn't the highest value among Latin American cultures.

Any organizers that can get 75,000 Latinos to be on time should be in charge of the reconstruction of Iraq :^)

Some people I know question the value of mass action or civil disobedience.

I understand why certain people feel that way. We're still living in the backlash against 60's style activism.

And it's true that major marches and protests and even civil disobedience are only one element of a much more involved equation for positive change.

But I'd say the last 15 years around the world have been the greatest era of effective non-violent mass action in recent history. More on that in the next post.

This type of mass action--particularly right now--may well be a two edged sword. Lots of folks who want to pass the harshest anti-illegal immigration measures will get busy.

But I think a whole lot of folks in Washington and in state capitols are paying close attention to millions of future potential Latino voters marching in the streets. Every new show of resolve increases the chances for reasonable legislation.



The Dude Gets Political