Pages
Stay In Touch
More
© 2021 The Somerville Times. All rights reserved.
Hundreds gather at Foss Park in support of fair immigration reform
Mayor Curtatone: This is your city. It doesn’t matter where you come from
By Benjamin Witte
Hundreds of people collected in Foss Park Monday in a show of local support for a one-day, nationwide protest dubbed “A day without Immigrants.” Like other demonstrations across the country – there were some 30 in Massachusetts alone – the Foss Park gathering provided participants a public opportunity to demand fair and humane immigration reform, and to protest against proposals in Congress that call for criminalizing all undocumented, foreign-born workers.
Waving and wearing American flags as well as banners from their native countries, participants in the predominantly immigrant crowd also hoisted placards with messages such as “Today we march, tomorrow we vote” and “E.T. is an alien, immigrants = humans.” Organizers led the crowd in trilingual (English, Spanish and Portuguese) chants of “yes we can,” and “the people united will never be defeated.” And participants were treated to several musical performances, including a moving rendition of “God Bless America,” plus short speeches by local community leaders and political representatives.
“We are here to demonstrate that as immigrants, we have the unity. We are trying to ask the Congress to support our mission. We are here because we have the power. So that’s why you see the numbers of people you do,” said Ismael Vasquez of the Community Action Agency of Somerville.
Monday’s “Day without Immigrants” was the latest and most-coordinated manifestation of what has been an ongoing national movement. Last December, the U.S. House of Representatives passed HR 4437, a highly controversial bill that among other things, looks to criminalize undocumented immigrants, upgrading invalid immigrant status from a civil to an aggravated felony violation. The loosely worded legislation, known formally as “The Border Protection, Anti-Terrorism and Illegal Immigration Control Act of 2005,” also proposes that anyone who knowingly helps an undocumented person stay in this country can themselves be subject to felony charges. Currently, there are an estimated 12 million undocumented immigrants living in the United States.
The issue has since been taken up by the Senate, which is embroiled in an ongoing and stalled debate over just how to proceed on immigration reform. Meanwhile, over the past several months, pro-immigration (and anti-HR 4437) rallies have taken place across the country. In March, an estimated 500,000 people took to the streets of Los Angeles. Hundreds of thousands more have protested in other major cities, including Boston, which has seen two major rallies in recent weeks.
This time around, however, organizers tried not only to coordinate demonstrations to take place on a single day, May 1, but to make immigrant voices heard in other ways as well. “A Day without Immigrants” participants were encouraged not to work, not to spend money and in some cases, to close businesses.
“It’s to show the importance of immigrants,” said Aru Manrique, City Hall’s multicultural director. “We’re trying not to spend any money… The feeling a lot of immigrants have is that America doesn’t care about them. If we don’t work for one day, you’ll feel the difference. We’re hoping for a big standstill. We’re hoping that this will be a big blip on the radar.”
Many Somerville businesses – particularly along lower Broadway in East Somerville – heeded the call and closed their doors Monday. The Brazil 2000 shop, which according to neighbors doesn’t even close for Christmas, stayed shut, as did Escritorio Carminati, a Brazilian owned multi-service (money transfers, tax preparation, etc.) business. It was the first time owner Neide Carminati has ever closed for political reasons.
“We want to be with them,” she said, referring to the hundreds of thousands of people participating in the one-day nationwide effort. “Not necessarily something in the street, but we need to do something. The government needs to do something.”
“The people who are immigrants are scared all the time,” she added. “They want to be here working, they want to get drivers licenses, pay taxes and buy homes. They want to be able to visit their home countries and then come back. They want to be a little free… We have to do something. We have to wake up the government, the senators.”
Monday’s demonstration did not go unnoticed by City Hall. In fact, Mayor Joseph A. Curtatone himself made a brief appearance at the Foss Park rally, delivering a decidedly pro-immigrant – and well-received – message to the multinational, multigenerational crowd.
“Let me be very clear,” said Curtatone. “This is your city. It doesn’t matter where you come from. In this city, where over 30 percent of our residents were born in another country, including my parents, we recognize that immigrants are vital to our economy and our civic life. Our law abiding, hard working immigrant neighbors, no matter what their citizenship or national origin, enjoy the same rights and are entitled to the same services as any other resident in the city. If you need city services, you can come to us without fear or hesitation.”
“In the national debate on immigration policy,” he added, “there are important questions to be answered, and difficult problems to be solved. But whatever the outcome of that debate, one thing will not change. Here in this city of immigrants, we will defend your rights as residents, and we will honor your contributions to this community.”
Not everyone in Somerville shared the same enthusiasm for the afternoon rally. At nearby Tony’s Barbershop the “Star Spangled Banner” blasted from a speaker positioned toward the street. “And it’s in English too!” a man working there told passersby. “We’re just celebrating our patriotism. That’s all,” he said. “Turn it up, we can’t hear it,” said a woman leaning out of Leone’s Subs and Pizza, right next door.
The date for Monday’s nationwide protests – May 1 – was by no means a random choice. Although in this country Labor Day is celebrated on the first Monday in September, in much of the rest of the world, Labor Day, also known as International Workers’ Day, is May 1. The date, which has ironically been all but forgotten in the United States, has everything to do with American labor history. In 1884, the Federation of Organized Trades and Labor Unions demanded that U.S. authorities pass legislation in favor of an eight-hour workday. The law, the unions argued, should go into effect May 1, 1886. A general strike ensued, followed by the bloody 1886 Haymarket riots in Chicago. Eventually, at the cost of many lives, an eight-hour workday was established.
“Nothing could be better to honor those who fought for the eight-hour day,” said community activist Tito Meza, one of Monday’s principal organizers. “This day is being reborn, a historical day that has been buried.”
If you found this article of interest, please consider sharing it.
Reader Comments