Washington Week: Student Voices (O)

Protestors unite across nation
By Dejuan Atway & Michael Phillips
University Daily Kansan (U. Kansas)
05/02/2006

(U-WIRE) LAWRENCE, Kan. — Diego Frazier gave his Spanish students an assignment Monday afternoon that had little to do with vocabulary and plenty to do with politics. He asked his students to voice their opinion on the immigration battle, attend one of Monday's rallies in Lawrence, Kan., or research the topic if they did not know much about it.

"It's easy to see the theoretical side of things," he said. "This is a great opportunity to participate in a movement."

Demonstrations were held across the country Monday as pro-immigration leaders urged immigrants to skip work and demonstrate their influence on the American economy.

In the afternoon, about 100 people, including Frazier, gathered at Ninth and Massachusetts streets in Lawrence for the opportunity to contact their representatives. That night a candlelight vigil was held for people who could not make it to earlier demonstrations.

At the downtown rally, a table was set up in front of U.S. Bank, 900 Masschusettes St., with cell phones and scripts for people who wanted to call their representatives. It ended with a march to Rep. Dennis Moore's office.

Lydia León, Lawrence resident, took the day off work to help hand out pamphlets to passers-by.

"The immigration system is broken at this point," she said.

She supported the bill currently being proposed by the United States Senate that allows workers currently in the country to remain as citizens.

Edna Delgado, a GTA in the Spanish department, agreed. She came to America with her mother when she was seven years old.

"Sending people back is not the answer," she said.

She did not take the day off of work, but substituted for professors who did.

As the lunch hour wound down, organizers made sure everyone had signed the petitions and contacted their representatives, then began the march to Moore's office.

Many of the marchers held signs, including one that read, in Spanish, "The borders only protect the bosses."

The day of demonstrations in downtown Lawrence was capped off by the candlelight vigil outside of city hall, 6 E 6th St.

Some protestors held candles while others held signs that read, "No human being is illegal," "Justice for all," and "We are not criminals."

Ray Rojas, one of the coordinators of the event, said the candlelight vigil was a way to get people involved in demonstrations that did not necessarily want to miss school or work but still wanted to participate. He said the candlelight symbolized peace and the message of unifying people in the fight for equal rights.

The civil rights that immigrants are fighting for today bears a comparison to the civil rights that African-Americans fought for during the 1960's, Rojas said.

"They want to prevent you from going to school, getting any medical services, from voting. They want to prevent you from doing a lot of things," Rojas said. "And they do that in the name of immigration, which is just a facade for the racism surrounding the issue."

Rojas, León and other organization leaders of the event passed around a petition asking Kansas Representatives Moore and Jim Ryun and senators Pat Roberts and Sam Brownback to help immigrant workers and protect their individual rights.

The protestors chanted "Si se puede," which translates as "Yes we can," to passerby cars and speakers from numerous organizations promoted a message of unity, inclusion in both English and Spanish. Carlos Urquilla, a Topeka, Kan., resident originally from El Salvador, said the message for all of the day's demonstration was to promote unity amongst all people and have equal rights for all citizens.

"Any time you treat people differently because of where they are from is unfair. I think an attack on one minority person is an attack on everybody," he said. "And if we keep on fighting each other today it's Hispanics, tomorrow it will be Asians, the next day it will be African-Americans. If we don't back each other up we're in trouble."

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