Signs declaring “We Are American” waved among the throngs of marchers, while declarations of “Si, se puede” echoed as the crowd, estimated to number in the hundreds of thousands according to cnn.com, marched on the national Mall Monday, April 10. The chant, translated as “Yes, we can,” originated in the Latin American labor rights efforts and has since entered the activist lexicon of chants relating to the right to dissent.
Joining Ted Kennedy, local DJs, and a diverse crowd of marchers, Georgetown students participated in a march and rally in protest of proposed changes to national immigration policy.
Legislation passed in the House intends to tighten border control and criminalize illegal aliens. The Senate is currently stalemated on a compromise on the legislation, a compromise that would add a path to legal status for undocumented immigrants.
Some of them had particularly personal reasons to attend.
Some members of Georgetown’s branch of the Movimiento Estudiantil de Chicanos de Aztlán, an organization dedicated to promoting awareness of Chicano history through political action and education, expressed special interest in the cause.
Susana Quintero (COL ‘08), next year’s Vice Chair of M. E. Ch. A. said that although she is an American citizen, she grew up among undocumented immigrants, including her parents. Though she has had extensive personal experience with the implications of illegal alien status, Quintero said that her perspective on the issue of immigration remains moderate.
“Obviously this is a great country. I guess I feel like, why are we going to put up walls when our country was established by immigrants?” Quintero said. “We don’t want to open everything or close everyone off. I’m still figuring it out.”
According to Quintero, last week’s march demonstrated general Latino pride in the context of a broader American identity.
“It really felt nice to be walking around the buildings here during the march and to see some people, who probably couldn’t get off work, leaning out of windows and waving American flags,” Quintero said. “Everyone kept repeating, ‘We are American.’”
Quintero said that some students were worried that the march and rally would turn into a riot.
“It was so peaceful, both in L.A., and here, too,” she said. “But for me, I was ready to cry, walking down the bridge and seeing just all of these people. There is power in numbers.”
Sophomore Emily Fishbein (COL ‘08) concurred that the rally was peaceful. She attended the demonstration because her anthropology professor, Denise Brennan, had told her that the day would constitute an important moment in the history of immigration in the U.S.
“There were lots of people — many children and families. It was not an angry rally,” Fishbein said.
Jason Resendez (COL ‘08), public representative for M.E.Ch.A., said he thought that the large and peaceful turnout underlines just how strongly very different people still feel a sense of Latino camaraderie.
Demonstrators wanted to ask for immediate and full amnesty.
He said that the march served a more socially meaningful purpose.
“People don’t want to be alienated,” Resendez said. “They are already ‘illegal aliens,’ the word says it. They are saying, even though we don’t speak your language perfectly, we are still American, would like to participate in American dream. We believe in it.”
Resendez also said that people cannot forget that the bill will affect more than just Latinos, though they did comprise the largest section of the crowd.
“I was marching next to Ethiopian protesters, and there were Pakistani supporters, and a lot of African Americans, too,” he said.
Resendez said he also spoke to two representatives from the Spanish Embassy, there to show their solidarity.
Student groups, including College Democrats and M.E.Ch.A. had organized departure times and meeting places to facilitate transportation to march sites. An estimated 40 students traveled with M.E.Ch.A.
