The March for Immigration reform in Kansas City, May 1st, 2007

I just got back from the March at Washington Square Park.

It was pretty inspiring but sadly it occurred to me that this jokey, bad humor blog might not be the best place to share how enthusiastic I am about a community that's far more politically active and socially conscious about issues that effect people right here in the metro than the apathetic voter base in Kansas City proper.



When I first showed up I was bummed because I didn't see anybody there . . . I had forgotten or was busy playing online poker when the details about the March were conveyed to me. My bad.



So there I was, standing around an empty park and dicking around with my camera (no homo) when at least one thousand people filed down Grand carrying signs, holding American flags, and chanting "Sí se puede!"

I expect the local news stations to provide more links and information on the Internet as the night goes on . . . But for this town, for a Tuesday afternoon . . . The turnout was more than impressive . . . It was amazing and the "Sons and Daughters of Immigrants" did an excellent job in pulling the thing off (no homo). What I found most intriguing was that so many young people participated in the event right along side their parents. Really, half the crowd must have been under 18 and I realize that the youngsters were are most likely American Citizens who will eventually be confronted with a political environment that really doesn't have the attention span to realize how diverse even the local Latino community happens to be and the fact that so many voters (Democrats and Republicans alike) would rather formulate ideas and even legislation guided by pundits who rather deport people en masse than work to find a comprehensive solution.

Still, I have faith not in the system but in the fact that preventing people from making a buck by bending a few rules is probably the hardest thing to do on the planet and the reason why Wal-Mart and prostitution are still the biggest businesses around.



In the end I'm not sure if protests and mass movements are the way to go (even though they're pretty fun and make for great media events).

I think of the long term history of Latinos in the Americas and what has proven most effective at keeping the culture/people intact over the past 500 years and I believe it's groups of folks who haven't changed the way things are done but have adapted, evolved and yes exploited the very same people who want to put them under their thumb until the dominant culture is nearly indistinguishable from their own. I guess you could call that assimilation if you want . . . But I've always thought of it as the American way.



Update: Here are some local news stories regarding the event . . .

Marchers Demand Immigration Reform

Immigration rally draws smaller crowd . . . True, the protest this year wasn't as big as last year but I wouldn't call it small by any stretch of the imagination. There were a thousand people there MINIMUM and that nearly triples the turnout of the anti-immigration march I went to on the Plaza last year.

Hundreds turn out for immigration march, rally . . . The Star puts the number of people there at 350 which is such an embarrassingly lowball number that it shouldn't be called reporting and instead should qualify as an op/ed piece. I was there . . . Don't trust me, look at the photos and you can clearly see that 350 isn't even close. Sure, to me it felt like 1000 but I'm not saying I'm unbiased . . . Just count the people in the photos and it's still well over five hundred. Thing is, I don't get why the local media would want to lowball the numbers. It's not like people are going to stop watching or reading the news if they don't like what the content . . . On second thought . . .