Alfredo Gutierrez, the former Az. Senate Majority Leader turned Spanish Radio Talk Show Host who will be the Leader and Public Face of the massive demonstration planned for Phoenix on Monday, says that Phoenix is "the tip of the arrow" in the quest for immigrant rights in this country--and he's right.
Phoenix has never been a place where people were inclined to take to the streets in any great numbers to voice their displeasure with War, Civil Rights, or anything else. But that changed last week.
When 25,000 people showed up on a Friday in the posh Camelback Corridor to demonstrate, in an entirely peaceful fashion, at the Phoenix office of Sen. Jon Kyl, everyone was shocked. It seemed to come out of the blue, as Phoenix was abruptly jarred from its normally-peaceful existence. Everyone had expected maybe 3000 people. Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon freaked out on the radio, upset that Phoenix PD was caught unawares and businesses in this high-rent district had called to complain. He called it "shameless". Alfredo impishly replied, "We didn't exactly request RSVP's!"
Monday will be different. This event (we believe) is well-planned, and there have been extensive preparations and consultations with local law enforcement. There are big maps of the route and lengthy discussions, even in the Arizona Republic. We have gone from "out of the shadows" to Primetime in a scant two weeks. Everybody throws around the number 100,000, which it could well attract. One reporter on the PBS Roundtable wryly noted, "Naw, I think it'll be 75,000, with 25,000 press making up the difference." You can bet there'll be lots of choppers in the air.
Insurance has been procured (the times they are a-changing!), water and port-a-potties prepositioned throughout the lengthy 5 mile-plus route of the marcha, and stages and sound equipment erected at the State Capitol, which is by no means looking forward to the largest crowd ever seen there.
While there are alarmists (the right-wing House Speaker wailed to Gov. Janet Napolitano that she should call out the National Guard, and State Education Head Tom Horne has recommended that schools lock students in (great, Tom, why don't u read the post on the poor 14-year-old, u idiot!), most folks are taking great pains to ensure we have a peaceful and worry-free exercise of our First Amendment Rights. Fools like Russell Pearce (our bloody shirt-waving state legislator) and the Minutemen are likely to keep their distance and fume and rail from the sidelines.
With all the Sturm und Drang we have seen here over this issue, and in anticipating this signal event on Monday, I just wanted to make a couple of salient points:
1) Blended Families--by no means will all of these demonstrators be "illegal aliens." Most (by far) at the first march were Latinos, but I expect we'll see more clergy and other activists this time around. And of the Latinos (mostly Mejicanos), many will be legal children of "illegal" parents or grandparents. Alfredo himself, though he first came to this country in his Mother's womb some 60 years ago and is a brilliant and witty political leader, noted that even his extended family includes members of every status category in the continuum--from citizen to migrante, with everything in between. One of his nephews, in fact, is a candidate for the Congressional Medal of Honor.
Easy slogans give way to the weight of reality as you look closer at the real human beings involved here. Will the "Family Values" Republicans really choose to cut the baby in half???
2) Workplace Reality--Many employers are giving workers the day off, many others have little or no choice in the matter. A very polite and respectful letter (in English) has been distributed for workers to present to their bosses informing them that they will not be at work on Monday and why. This is peak Tourist season in Phoenix--hundreds of fabulous resorts, extravagant restaurants, and other establishments of all kinds may have to shut their doors on Monday. I expect construction in this hottest-in-the-country market will grind to a halt for the day.
Immigrants, one by one, are indeed vulnerable in all the ways that have been described here. The sheer numbers involved in this positive assertion of basic human rights, however, has imparted a newfound confidence to these folks and their families. Employers aren't quite sure what to make of this, but they're equally unsure they want to piss them off, and will realize anew on Monday, I imagine, the impact on THEIR daily lives that these folks have in ways they never before considered.
Elaborate arrangements have been made for stages and sound equipment at the Capitol. The plan is for about an hour of speeches, from 3 to 4 pm local time, before marching back to the State Fairgrounds. But the real message will come from the audience, from the sheer presence of so many, young, old, Brown, Black, White, but all peaceful, all united in support of a very fundamental assertion: "We are people, deserving of respect and basic human rights!"
3) The Return of Nonviolence? One of the Spanish Radio Stations at the forefront of this movement, in fact the one that hosts Alfredo's daily program (Alfredo was a 'runner' for Cesar back in the day) is Radio Campesina, owned and operated by the UFW.
In a country now rife with warmongering, spying, and heavy-handed enforcement of all types, maybe these folks are showing us all a new path back to the power of Nonviolence, to the tradition of Gandhi, King, and Cesar. Maybe I'm waxing a bit optimistic, but didn't you feel the collective shudder down the spine of White America when thousands upon thousands of mostly Latinos suddenly appeared in the streets?
Kids in elementary, junior high, and high schools (the Phoenix Union High School District is 75% Latino) are studying civics and American history with a verve and a fervor never seen before. Many of their teachers are excitedly trying to stay up with the train, guiding their newfound enthusiasm into productive areas of exploration. They all know they are here at a special time, much as we did in the late 60's.
4) Let's Get Practical Now--Two things: a) Please join in supporting the DREAM Act, if nothing else. This would permit college attendance for immigrant children who have lived here almost all of their lives, and done everything America has asked of them. I will be marching w/the incredible Robotics Team from Carl Hayden H.S., who famously beat the team from MIT in a national competition, and has been featured in Wired Magazine and in a 20-minute segment on Nightline. The movie rights to their story have been purchased by Warner Bros.
b) The power of the Latino vote in Arizona has long been like Brazil-'a place of enormous potential, and it always will be.' That is changing, much like the Prop. 187 impact in California. The importance of political involvement for Latinos here is now both immediate and personal, no longer the stuff of boring lectures.
With much work and dedicated effort, Monday just might mark the political tipping point in Arizona, with thousands of people eligible to vote finally deciding to do so. The result can be huge--for starters, Jon Kyl can be retired from the Senate.
So please, keep us in your prayers on Monday--we're looking forward to a day of peace and unity, and just maybe, some brighter days ahead.
Si, Se Puede!!!