Immigration Rally Draws Millions; Now What?

About's Deborah White offers a real-time report on the rally that took place in her community of Santa Ana, CA. Her view of what's going on in this country is both realistic and cynical, in the same breath. She saw families, who

... after years of living fearfully in the shadows [were standing] out in the open ... demand[ing] to be treated like human beings rather than economic slaves to US businesses....... cleaning homes and hotels, bussing restaurant dishes, constructing homes and buildings, manufacturing low-tech goods, picking strawberries and cutting lawns.

Report after report notes that illegal immigrants are drawn to the US by the promise of a paycheck. Once here, that paycheck is exchanged for grunt work that either keeps the economy moving or makes life easier for upper middle class America.

Don't want to believe it? From the (London) Times, which called this "one of the biggest protests since the Civil Rights era."

Tyson Foods, the world’s largest meat producer, shut five of its nine beef plants and four of its six pork factories. Perdue Farms, America’s third-largest chicken producer, closed eight of its fourteen plants...

In Union Square, New York, the open-air market operated at a fraction of its typical activity. On Broadway, the pavement shops were mostly shuttered.

We have a class system, we simply don't acknowledge it.

What Next?
Given that this was the lead story in today's Seattle Times (print and online), I was surprised to see relatively little US coverage when I searched Google News for Day Without Immigrants. Most coverage of the rally is from 'round the world. (Australia, Canada, China, India, Ireland, South Africa, Spain, Switzerland)

Domestically, the Christian Science Monitor focuses on "A Day Without Gringos" -- a protest in Mexico over things "American." Like Wal-Mart. The Washington Post? The Mexican race for president.

And Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid called on Republicans to "put aside their internal party differences and work for comprehensive reform for America's broken immigration system."

Prior Coverage:
Anti-Immigration Rhetoric At Odds With Data, US Immigration as Percent of Population - 1820-2004, US Immigration By Decade - 1820-2004, Specter Pledges to Complete Immigration Bill, House Bill on Immigration Was Republican-Driven

Technorati Profile
Technorati tags: Immigration, Politics
gada.be tags: Immigration, Politics