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Oakland May Day March Brings Out Thousands to Advocate for Immigrant Rights (Community Voices)

Matt Werner Thu, 3 May at 1:44pm
May Day March for Dignity and Resistance in the Fruitvale District

May Day March for Dignity and Resistance in the Fruitvale District

May Day is traditionally a holiday celebrating springtime where people in many countries take to the streets to celebrate spring. In Oakland, California on May 1, 2012, thousands of Bay Area residents and progressive organizations turned out in an impressive march full of people celebrating their backgrounds and cultures while pushing for social change.

The march from Fruitvale BART at 3pm, ending at Frank Ogawa Plaza in Downtown Oakland at 7pm was distinctly nonviolent and upbeat. Among the crowd were all cross-sections of the Bay Area, from Asian senior groups to Latino day laborer groups, from white hipsters and hippies to black youth on scraper bikes.

With thousands of demonstrators marching, police presence was heavy, but non-confrontational. Over a dozen law enforcement vehicles followed behind the march (including Oakland Police, Alameda County Sheriff Dept, and other unmarked police vehicles).

Many of the marchers were marching to raise awareness about immigrant rights and rallied around the theme of "Dignity and Resistance - Papers for All." The organizers' demands are to stop political discrimination against immigrants in the Bay Area and to welcome them as our neighbors. Their requests include the following:

  • Abolish E-Verify 
    • E-Verify is a US Citizenship and Immigration Services program that requires employers to electronically verify whether or not an employee is eligible to work in the US. Learn more about E-Verify.
  • Eliminate S-Comm
    • S-Comm is the "Secure Communities" program that requires state and local law enforcement agencies to submit fingerprints of all arrested persons they book into jail to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Learn more about S-Comm.
  • Stop all raids and deportations

The crowd marched to San Antonio Park in Oakland. Speakers in the park addressed topics like labor rights, immigrant rights, and how to improve Oakland's public schools. One mother got up and spoke out against Oakland Unified School District's plans to close Sante Fe Elementary.

Oakland and East Bay organizations were joined by San Francisco nonprofits including the Living Wage Coalition. Many progressive San Francisco organizations who participated in the San Francisco rallies earlier in the day, took BART over to join and support the Oakland organizations. The March for Dignity and Resistance served to highlight the disparities and second-class treatment of immigrants in the Bay Area.

Despite the afternoon march being the most popular event on May 1--bringing out thousands of people--it was the least reported on. Instead, the mainstream media chose to focus on covering the small groups of protesters who got in violent clashes with the police.

There were thousands peacefully marching from the Fruitvale District to Downtown Oakland, gathered by mutual interests and celebrating the equality of all people. These different groups rallied together as one voice calling for social change, racial equality, and labor and immigrant rights. It's unfortunate that these thousands of voices were drowned out in the media coverage by a few dozen people who clashed with police. Here are photos from the May Day March in Oakland from 3pm to 7pm.

By, Joe Sciarrillo

---
Joe Sciarrillo is a San Francisco-based photographer from Novato, California. He studied at the Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University majoring in Culture and Politics. He's co-founder of the African Advocacy Network, a San Francisco nonprofit, which provides culturally competent social services to African and Afro-Caribbean immigrants and refugees. His photography is featured in Oakland in Popular Memory, being published on May 15. This blog post is cross-posted here.

About Matt Werner
Deborah Acosta commented on Thu, 3 May at 12:13pm:

What the press DID report was that thousands of people were convering on Frank Ogawa Plaza, without connecting it to this May Day March -- as I watched the news that day and was unaware of the intentions of these marchers, I was concerned about the potential violence that could result.  This is the first I am learning about the focus of the march -- thank you Oakland Local, and shame on the Chronicle and Tribune for focusing on the Occupiers.

Susan Mernit commented on Thu, 3 May at 6:08pm:

Thanks Deb--this is a valuable point.

Eric K Arnold commented on Thu, 3 May at 6:27pm:

Deborah,in all fairness to the Chron and Trib, the city of Oakland sent out a notification via e-mail that between 3000-5000 people were headed toward the Plaza, just prior to their arrival. So that may have added to the confusion. Also, the D&R march was listed as an "official" action in OO's promotional materials and on the Web.

Boots Riley commented on Thu, 3 May at 6:42pm:

Eric- it was something that was co-ordinated with OO, as much as the "Anti-Capitalist" Strike station was co-ordinated with OO. One of the organizers of the D&R march, for instance, was Jack Bryson. It was focused around the goals that are listed above and no matter who it was organized by, it would be good journalism to list the intentions of the march.

Peter S. Lopez commented on Thu, 3 May at 8:07pm:

In the context of connected reality, all social justice issues are interconnected. It is obvious that we need to have strong unity among those of us who seek social justice and settle any petty differences. Now when we speak of 'social' we need to see that we are now living in one vast global society. Thus, we need social justice on a global scale.

It is up to the oppressed to liberate themselves, it cannot be done for them by others, no matter how well-intentioned. Much remains to be done to organize unity among La Raza AKA Latinos and between those who are U.S. citizens of La Raza and those who are undocumented non-citizens. The Immigrant Rights marches of a few years were great but strategic omissions occurred by vanguard elements and the on-going momentum of a developing movement was not maintained. We can speak of the mass deportations of the Obama Regime. It is up to use to continue the struggle for the rights of immigrants as part of the overall struggle for humane rights for all peoples.

The beauty of Occupy Wall Street (hashtag #OWS) is that it identifies who the true culprits are who rip us off in a zillion ways. Naturally, there are criticisms that can be constructed about #OWS and some who think this or that issue or interest group should be emphasized. In it all, let us not lose sight of the need for unity based upon shared principles and our common purpose in coming together.

The Government of the USA must be transformed. @Peta_de_Aztlan

Casey.P commented on Sun, 6 May at 10:53am:
Immigrants should have rights and actually do, but if illegal immigrants can get away with breaking the law by being in a country illegally then the fear is that it will set a precedent for everyone to be allowed to break laws.

 

I guess there are many people who believe that virtual games were made to be broken and that people need to give away what they work hard for to those who break the law.