¡Todos a la calle! - March for Immigrants' Rights

In case you didn't figure it out, the white girl in the photo at right is me

WOW! What a day! Ten thousand people in the streets of Madison—usually that doesn't happen unless there's a football game or block party with free beer. (Madison's total population is 200,000). The weather even cooperated—it was just gorgeous, not too hot, not too cold.

I was glad to see so many different nationalities represented, including plenty of non-Latinos. The organizing committee (Comité 10 de Abril) did a fantastic job getting everyone out. I heard that four busses came from Whitewater (a small town)!

We even had a surprisingly positive response from people driving past in cars and otherwise observing/passing by. The best reaction was from a group of (mostly white, from what you could see at a distance) construction workers, who were banging their helmets on a scaffolding—playing percussion to the chants—and cheering!

When we all reached the capitol square and crowded into it, and everyone was chanting "sí se puede," the noise was so thunderous that it echoed off the buildings in a huge crescendo. It gave me shivers!

It was really a wonderful day and I was honored to be a part of it.

One man looked at my pale face and said "thank you for coming, thank you for your support." I understood what he meant, but I thought about that for a while. I didn't feel I was there only to support him and his family etc.—I also felt I was speaking up for what kind of society I want to live in. This isn't about him, only, it's about all of us.

Another way to look at it: someone said the same thing to my friend D, who is US-born white & Jewish but lived in Nicaragua for years, married to a Nicaraguan man with two Nicaraguan children. She isn't just supporting other people's families, either. This really is about all of us.

This photo (yes, that's me! yes, I obviously know my picture is being taken!) was taken by K.E. Walsh and can be found at Madison Indymedia and at this web page.

Here are my other faves of Walsh's pix—visit my Flickr site for larger versions and some more info. (You'll notice that substantially the same text as above is posted with the same photo on the Flickr site. So sue me.)

"¡No soy terrorista—tampoco criminal!"	A group of over a hundred students from a nearby high school joins the main march