02-05-06, 02:30 | #1 |
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I marched today with 400,000 people!
I marched in Chicago today with 400,000 immigrants. It was a grand success. It threatened rain all morning but we crossed our fingers, and it didn't rain. Thousands of people boarded the subway trains and everything went smoothly. There were helicopters everywhere and news crews and policemen, but not a single arrest was made; it was very orderly and peaceful - though quite loud! There was mostly American flags, I'd say 9 out of 10 were US flags. But there were also Mexican, Cuban and Brazilian flags. I think I even saw Polish flags. There were lots of chants of "Si se puede!" - Yes WE can! One man was carrying his little girl on his shoulder and she was asleep. My friends brought their little girls with them. One had a cough. But still they came out in the grey, damp air, with the cold wind blowing to march.
It is very clear, that if all these people were sent back to Mexico, cities like Chicago could not operate. I tried to buy groceries from the Mexican owned stores in my area but they were all closed. This shows you what an integrated part of the economy the immigrants - both legal and illegal are. It was nothing short of amazing, the power of so many people unified together. It was great feeling to contribute and be a part of such a positive movement to help people make better lives. Si, Se Puede! |
02-05-06, 02:43 | #2 |
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What was the rally actually for? Imigrant rights?
You should have waved to the cameras, we could have kept an eye out for you on the news! |
02-05-06, 02:49 | #3 |
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sounds like a once in a life time experience, nice to see somoene doing what they believe in.
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02-05-06, 03:02 | #4 |
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I should've explained because this is a world forum. There are perhpas 12 millions undocumented/illegal immigrants living in the U.S. now. Many have been here for 10 years or more. They don't have work permits and take jobs that pay them in cash - off the books so to speak. About 40% do get paid on the books and pay all taxes, though they are registered with forged Social Security cards and other forged documents. The majority of jobs they perform are the low-paid jobs that Americans don't want to do - picking lettuce or tomatoes, heavy construction labor, or service industry jobs - wrapping raw chicken, assembly work or restaurant work, washing dishes. Many are full-time house-keepers or babysitters.
To make a long story short - A lot of Americans blame them for taking jobs away from US workers and resent them for crossing the border illegally. However, the economy here has grown to depend on their work. Many believe that it is time to legalize them so they can move up and become U.S. citizens. Very importantly, many of the children of illegal border crossers were born here in the US and therefore are legal US citizens, even though their parents are not. There have been cases where the father was deported and the children remain here without a father. A very tragic situation that makes matters worse for everyone. I don't believe that splitting up familes because of a legal infraction is a good thing, and it actually is harmful to everyone. It is always better to keep a family together. Legalizing these people would make their lives better and benefit the US, IMO. To me it's a humanitarian issue. I believe in giving people a chance, even if they broke a law. These are not violent criminals, bank robbers, drug pushers or kidnappers. They were just people desperate to escape poverty and that's why they came here. |
02-05-06, 03:08 | #5 |
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i saw this on fox news!!! perhaps i saw u
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02-05-06, 03:10 | #6 |
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Joined: Aug 2005
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cool!! so did I but in California for about more that two hours, the chants were really fun though and we kept seeing lots of sighns saying "today we march and tomorrow we vote" we just had a huge constuction paper that had the mexican flag and wantafanta did you go with someone or yourself? cause i went with all my family (but i stayed in school because alot of people in my school ditched)
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02-05-06, 03:13 | #7 |
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Joined: Jul 2002
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the one thing i dont get is if they want to leave their countries, why wave those flags?
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