I had the good fortune of attending an immigration reform rally yesterday in Philadelphia, on the lawn right by the Constitution Center in the historic district. The rally was organized by Reform Immigration for America. It was one rally in a series of other ones that took place yesterday across the country, including in Las Vegas, Chicago, El Paso, and Lakewood, NJ.
I was extremely excited, especially after seeing the scores of people that gathered at the National Mall in DC the same weekend that the final version of the healthcare bill was passed in the House. I didn't think we could get 200,000, but maybe 10,000? 5,000?
I would estimate that we probably got around 100, but I was not the least bit disappointed.
All of the photos below are pictures that I took and are being displayed via my Photobucket account.
When I first arrived, the crowd was gathered around a stage, and the PA system had just been set up. I couldn't get a good shot of it, but the festivities began with drummers and dancers in tribal gear doing a musical routine. I couldn't identify exactly what was happening, but if I had to go with the description in the official blog entry of the event, I would say that it was probably Kyo Taiko drumming and Aztec dancing.
Apologies for this blurry shot taken by my Blackberry minimal-megapixel camera, but this really caught me by pleasant surprise since I am an American Jew. The woman on the right is a rabbi who told the story of Passover, which retells the Jews' escape from slavery in Egypt. She likened the story to all of the undocumented workers who should have the opportunity to escape from the captivity that comes with hiding in the shadows.
The man on the left is her son, and he was translating her words into Spanish as she was speaking.
You probably know this already, but don't listen to anyone who tries to tell you that immigrants are trying to take our country away from us and turn it into their own version of whatever. American flags were being waved and handed out, and they are just as proud as we are of American ideals and what we believe in and stand for.
The SEIU was in the house, with two members speaking to the crowd: an African-American woman and a Hispanic man. Immigration reform isn't just about giving those living in the shadows a path to citizenship, it also contains an element of workers' rights. Those who live in fear of deportation can get paid wages below acceptable levels and can be otherwise exploited.
Being a hip-hop music fiend for the past 20 years, I was glad to see the performance of Spanish language rappers Kicio and Legendario. They mentioned the influence of the politically-charged Mexican rap group Control Machete, which was a pleasant surprise since I'm familiar with their music. In addition to leading the crowd in a chant of "Si, se puede!" (Yes, we can!), they also chanted "Somos humanos y nos llaman los Latinos" (We are human, and they call us the Latinos).
I can't speak to their specific meaning behind that chant, but I interpret it as validating the fact that they are human beings just like the rest of us and not just some group of people. I could be wrong, but that's how I see it.
A group of children put on a rousing Irish dance performance. This was to remind us that immigration reform is a multicultural effort and is important to immigrants from all countries.
My rusty Spanish was able to identify the announcer introducing the dances in the above picture as "Bailes Jaliscos". At the time, I could only identify it as "dancing using a multicolored dress." Now that I looked it up, Jalisco is a state in Mexico, and the dance that was being done is a folkloric dance.
Overall, it was great to be in the city on a gorgeous day rallying for immigration reform. I had the privilege of broadcasting the pictures I was taking as it was happening via my Posterous blog, which auto-posted my entries and pictures to my Facebook and Twitter accounts.
The size of the crowd was not a disappointment because we have only begun organizing. The next Philadelphia event is Wednesday, April 21, which is a trip to Senators Casey and Specter's offices to lobby for immigration reform. I will not be able to attend this event, but I certainly will give a call to their offices.
The more we organize, the more people we can recruit to the cause, and the more firepower we have to accomplish the objective at hand: get Congress to pass comprehensive immigration reform this year.
Are you organizing for immigration reform? Did you attend any of the rallies yesterday or the first one in DC? What are you doing in your community?