Why We March for Immigration Rights

All across America today, May 1st, immigration rights advocates will be organizing to demand that illegal immigrants be granted a path to citizenship and that raids that tear apart families stop. In Chicago a peaceful demonstration is scheduled, including a march and rally at Daley Plaza.

Talking to friends and family this week about the issues surrounding immigration, illegal immigrants, and the nationwide boycott demonstrated just how far reaching the issues are. Everyone has their own reason for marching, their own reasons for caring, and their own reason to act.

So I asked everyone, 'Why are YOU marching?'
....and here are the responses that I think are worth caring about.

This is why America marches.

"I am marching because I fear that this is a topic that is being ignored and perceived as something of the past, a colleague of mine referred it to 'so last year'. It is still affecting all communities, it hit close to home with the raids and discriminatory policies passed in the area (e.g. Carpentersville policies allowing local authority to hold Federal responsibilities for undocumented citizens in the suburb); the Little Village raid incident was the spark that I hope lit up all people wondering whether or not to participate, the local and federal governments are trying to instill fear in those who cannot speak, by performing raids on 26th St., the state's second most successful business district, they are scaring away customers from patronizing the business (dominantly immigrant or offspring of immigrant owned), thus causing them to dissolve. I will NOT allow people to be scared into subjugation, therefore I have decide to again participate in an outcry against discriminatory actions. I am marching alongside Loyola University students (of all walks of life) and as a member of La Unidad Latina, Lambda Upsilon Lambda Fraternity, Inc."
-Alberto

"I am marching for my family and friends, for the family I left in Mexico and the family to come. I am marching for all the families that live with the fear that they will be separated from each other everyday. I march because I can, and someone has to, because I deserve to be heard."
-Carolina T.

" I will be marching in solidarity with the immigrants. This march is important to me for many reasons. Although I am not an immigrant, almost my whole entire family are immigrants. They came here from Romania to escape communism. I am a student at DePaul University and I am majoring in Spanish, so this is another reason this is important to me, considering the majority of immigrants are Spanish speaking. I also am a liberal activist fighting for human rights, primarily as a member of Act OUT at DePaul, which is a queer activist group. I am very concerned with rights for ALL oppressed groups. These are the reasons why I will proudly march on Tuesday. Thank You."
-David D.

"I am marching to make sure Congress wakes ups and does something. Millions of people are without a voice and I am hear to speak for them, I'm small but I will be heard."
-Sierra, 12

"For me marching on May 1^st is a way to make sure I do something to bring about change. I would no be able to look back twenty years from now and live with myself knowing I just stood by. I am not an immigrant, there are no immigrants in my immediate family so I had to decide for myself what was right, where I wanted to stand. The raids that are being carried out are wrong and need to end. I march because America will see, everyone will see and the issues will get the attention they deserve."
-Patrick V.

"I am marching for my future."
-Ryall

" I attend Roosevelt H.S. here in Chicago. I'm also with About Face Youth Theatre, an acting troupe that focuses on topics in the LGBTQA community. The reason why I am marching on May 1st is to support immigration. Not only that, as a Mexican-American Lesbian with a disability, I've been discriminated due to my gender, disability, and sexual orientation. There aren't any employment opportunities here in Chicago fit for mentally disabled Latino-American citizens like myself, nor are there policies that are supposed to protect us. So that's why I want to march. For the freedom to speak out and say that we're not going to take hate in the face anymore."
-Lucky M.

"Not marching would be like jumping in Lake Michigan and not trying to swim. I have to fight, have to fight for myself and my family so that we all have the chance. That is why I march."
- Anonymous

"I did not march last year and I was not going to march this year. I believe in legal immigration and doing things the right way, but at the same time I do not agree with the way the things are being done. The way the government is intimidating immigrant families is wrong, there needs to be a right way to handle it and I'm marching for that way."
-Mike

"I am marching for all the times I have been asked 'What are you?'. I am Puerto Rican and African American and white, I am American. I am what makes America, what makes an American, what the families that are to afraid to march today make America."
-Lesley A.