Story Photos
 Photo by Roger Werth R.A. Long High School student Juriko Moreno, 17, shows her support for immigrants and a nationwide boycott Monday at an afternoon rally along Ocean Beach Highway. |
Hundreds rally at the lake
Monday, May 1, 2006 10:54 PM PDT
By Janine Manny
Printable version
E-mail this articleWhat started as a march around Lake Sacajawea to support immigrants turned into a rocking and rolling rally along Ocean Beach Highway on Monday afternoon.
About 100 students from R.A. Long High School gathered at the edge of the north edge of the park that fronts Ocean Beach Highway about noon. By 3:45 p.m., the people who had arrived at St. Rose Catholic Church for a 3:30 p.m. march around the lake had joined the throng.
By 4:15 p.m., the group had swelled to about 250 people waving American flags, balloons and signs reading "United We Stand" and "Honk if You Support Immigration." The giant pink flag that read "Paz" which is Spanish for "Peace" added to the color. Lots of people honked and the supporters cheered in response.
The rally was part of a nationwide boycott to show how much farms, factories, businesses and restaurants depend on immigrant employees.
Rally organizer Natalia Camba said there were some negative comments.
"Some people say 'go back to Mexico,' " she said. "That's OK, if that's what they think. But the majority of people (driving by) are showing support, and that pumps us up."
Many of the students skipped school for the rally --- but with parental permission.
"I don't want them to approve the legislation under consideration," 17-year-old Juriko Moreno said. "We want everyone to know that we aren't going to leave. We want the same rights as everyone else."
Moreno's sister, 16-year-old Rosa Moreno, said she did not want to see any more people die trying to cross the border.
"Let our families come," she said. "There is not enough food in Mexico and no work. We're human beings, too. We have a different language and color, but we're all the same. We deserve to be treated the same."
"Americans say Mexicans are taking their jobs, but they're not," Hilda Gomez, 16, another R.A. Long student said. "We're doing jobs they don't want to do. We make money to support ourselves, we contribute to the American economy."
Gomez said she would like to see the border regulations eased.
"It should be easier to become a citizen," she said. "That's why there are so many illegals, it takes years to become a citizen and lots of money."
The boycott had minimal impact on the Foster Farm poultry-processing plant in Kelso, which employs immigrants from South America as well as Eastern Europe and Asia.
Less than 5 percent of the plant's 800 workers missed work Monday, said Tim Walsh, the company's vice president of human resources. Walsh works in the company's Livingston, Calif. headquarters. Companywide, absenteeism ranged from 15 to 25 percent in some departments, Walsh said. No operations were shut down due to employee absences, he said.
Foster Farms sent a letter to all employees last week suggesting that contacting their lawmakers was a better way to bring about immigration reform, Walsh said, and supplied Congressional contact numbers.
Workers who were off Monday will have that day treated as any normal absence, Walsh said, nothing more, nothing less.
"A lot of people didn't go to work or school because this is important," said Bea Strader, an employee at Monticello Middle School. "But others did, because they were worried it would affect their employment."
Strader said the school had numerous calls asking if immigration officials could take their children from the school if the parents or students participated in the boycott.
"These immigrants feel blessed," Strader said. "They're grateful for teachers and for the education their children are getting, they don't want to make waves."
Strader said she knows that some people are insisting that supporting illegal immigrants is supporting people breaking the law.
"All we want is fairness," she said. "We are all from immigrant families. Everyone would like to be here legally."
Camba said she hope legislators made a wise decision regarding immigration reform.
"Everyone should support each other," she said. "I hope they make a smart decision, because it will affect a lot of people."
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