Somewhere on the top of the list of things not to be in an equal rights rally surrounded by a hoard of Latinos there is me: The white girl wearing a tiara. I learned this the hard way when a man behind me started to mock me, in Spanish to the man standing next to him. “She wants to be a princess!” He said. Sheepishly, I took the tiara off. Though that probably goes without saying. But, anyhizzle…

¡Viven Los Inmigrantes!

Today: May 1st, 2007, I attended the Amnesty for Immigrants rally at Delores Park. It was sunny, hot, and most of it was not in English (somehow the white girl with only four years of Spanish under her belt survived). There were about two hours of speakers which I sat through, listening incredibly intently so I could catch what they were saying. I caught very little of any of it, and most of what “caught” were sun rays, landing me with a fairly impressive burn.

There were some amazing dancers there. One, a group of locals, performed what I gathered to be an Aztec dance. The details were sketchy at best, as all I had to go on was their introduction. In Spanish. But there they are, pictured below.

The overall message of the rally was Amnesty for immigrants. As one speaker said, rather powerfully, “We are the people who put food on their tables, we are the people who take care of their children, we are the workers.” The cost of our fruits and vegetables would skyrocket if it weren’t for immigrant workers. Personally, I believe this is an unjust treatment of said workers, but it is something that a lot of ignorant American’s need to consider. Were it not for these workers, our modern society couldn’t function; respect and acknowledgement, I believe, is long overdue.

My personal reason for attending today’s protest was to stand in place of my girlfriend. My girlfriend is a Mexican-American (I’m not quite sure how far removed from the immigrated generation), and I know that if she weren’t in another country going to school right now, she would’ve been out there screaming with everyone else. So I stood out there for her, getting my scrawny white butt sunburned. But it felt good. It was good to be out there with a purpose.

Something I saw that saddened me beyond anything else were the kids from my school, Latinos, who decided to take this walkout day as a chance to skip school. Instead of going out there and fighting for the rights of their own culture, they go shop and eat, but I’m standing out there, listening to the amazing songs and ideas. It just struck me as so wrong. The youth of today have something to give to the world, so go out and give it,don’t just perpetuate stereotypes of urban youth.