On May Day in 2006, a human mass of white shirts stretched along downtown Denver’s Speer Boulevard in one of the largest mobilizations in the city’s history. An estimated 75,000 people skipped work and school to march and protest against federal legislation that would have further criminalized undocumented immigrants in the United States. Millions of others rallied in more than 25 cities.
Two years later during the Democratic National Convention, another group, estimated at 1,000, again took to the streets in Denver, demanding that immigration reform — hardly a front and center issue so far this year — isn’t forgotten when a new president takes office in January. But the event was marred with the somber memory of the past two years since the colossal May Day actions — during which immigrants in Colorado have witnessed a crackdown on the undocumented, a massive expansion of an immigrant prison, and a surge in raids and prosecutions by federal authorities.
In a state where the immigration issue directly affects the Mexican community, local activists are speaking out against what has become an increasingly hostile environment to both immigrants and those of Latino origin. Federal immigration reform is not only seen as an urgent step toward protecting undocumented families and workers in the United States but is also considered to be one of the surest ways to end a disastrous immigration legacy in Colorado.
Many who helped organize the May Day march in 2006 also took part in planning the most recent immigrant rights rally during the convention, which began at Denver’s Rude Park across from Mile High Stadium on the the last day of the convention, Aug. 28, a day that marked the 45th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have A Dream” speech.
Nita Gonzales, daughter of late Chicano activist Rodolfo “Corky” Gonzales and president of La Escuela Tlatelolco, a community-based private school with an emphasis on Chicano and Mexican culture, helped lead the rally, where people marched a short distance on Interstate 25 from Rude Park to Lincoln Park at Mariposa Street and West 11th Avenue.
“It’s worth the struggle,” said Gonzales, who donned a T-shirt with an image of her father, a Denver native and figurehead of the Chicano movement in the 1960s and 1970s. “I understand that immigration raids put a chill on people’s ability to stand up and have a voice, but that’s what we have to do. We’re the citizens, we have to walk our talk and get up and do it and march.”
Asked about parallels between her father’s community organizing work in Colorado and the struggles that are currently faced by immigrants now in the state, Gonzales said, “I think the energy in the 1960s and 1970s was amazing, for several groups and organizations including those in the Chicano movement. We were under so much oppression then because we dared to speak up, and I truly believe that there is fear now. People are fearful.”
Gonzales was quick to add that “We can’t tolerate that. We have to stand up.”
In May, Gonzales became a plaintiff in a lawsuit brought by the American Civil Liberties Union of Colorado against Denver officials and the United States Secret Service to disclose plans relating to parade routes and rally permits during the convention. At a press conference announcing the litigation, Gonzales stated that she had submitted a request for a parade permit in March and had yet to hear back from the city about where a parade would be permitted, how the parade permitting process would would work, or if she would even be granted a permit to hold a immigrant rights march while media and Democrats were in Denver for the convention.
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