Article Contributed on: 3/31/2006 4:21:13 PM
How a grassroots effort turned into a 50,000 person rally
Thursday, March 16th, was a typical night of salsa dancing at La Rumba. I was out dancing with friends, the regulars were out and the night was mellow. My friend
Carlos Arenas told me he had meant to call me to talk about a rally.
He said laws were being passed in Washington, D.C. that would make illegal immigrants felony criminals, and anyone helping these people, accessories to a federal crime. To be quite honest, I didn't believe him. I asked him repeatedly if he was sure and if the information was accurate. He said "Yes."
My immediate reaction was disbelief. I was so sure his information was inaccurate.
"Surely," I said to myself, "we would have heard about a law like this being passed. It would have been in the media and on the news."
Because English is not Carlos's first language, I was sure that he was misinformed and that I would get the story straight. I maintained my air of disbelief as he also told me he was telling people to gather in Civic Center Park on March 25.
So I asked him who was sponsoring the rally, his response was, "Just me. I'm asking people to go."
I should have known this
The next morning, bright and early, I hopped on the Internet and started searching. Within minutes I had my answer. The House of Representatives had passed HR 4437, Border Protection, Antiterrorism, and Illegal Immigration Control Act of 2005, known as the 'Sensenbrenner' bill. It passed the second week of December along with the renewal of the Patriot Act.
It passed silently, quietly under the cloak of this other bill which was much more know and publicized in the media, the Patriot Act. It passed by a lot of votes, and my own representatives from my state voted for it. I was stunned. I was shocked. I felt shame at my own ignorance and anger that I didn't know this information. I read the paper, I watch the
Today Show, I consider myself an informed American surely -- I should have know this.
The question to act was one I did not deliberate; instead, I brought up multiple browser sessions using Google and started my search. I was going to help Carlos with his rally, but I wanted to see what the local organizations in Colorado were doing.
Would they want to help? Did they have something else already planned? I found the American Friends Service Committee page, called, and left a message asking if they had anything planned. I also found the Web page for the Coloradans for Immigrant Rights, but noticed nothing planned on their calendar.
I also found time to write my state representative to express my displeasure and also found three national websites who were planning different events across the country set to take place the weekend of March 25th. By the time I was finished
Daniella Short from AFSC called and said that they were meeting today at 2 p.m. to discuss possibly doing something, could Carlos and I attend.
I guess from there it was history. We became fast friends with the leaders at AFSC, SEIU and RAP. In eight days we planned the rally. Our first meeting, we had the goal of 200 people attending. After putting out the press releases to both the English-speaking and Spanish-speaking media, we revised our estimates to 2000 people.
Carlos, thinking big, predicted 10,000
The Spanish media embraced our announcements. La Buena Onda 1150 AM and Radio Victoria ran the information constantly. We were featured on the Colorado Noticias on Univision.
During the planning I volunteered to be the MC of the event. Somehow I fell into the normal rhythms similar to my job as a project manager and was often documenting action items and following up at our meetings. Since I work with law enforcement agencies I worked closely with the Denver Police and had given our estimates of 2000-5000 people to the district command staff.
We had plans to have two stations' at the rally. One for writing letters to senators, the other a calling' station for calling legislatures. Our goals for the rally were three fold 1) To gain media attention and to galvanize awareness of in the community of these pressing issues 2) To educate about current national and state legislation 3) To call for action, by using current processes to influence state and national legislation.
The night before the rally, after staying up late to make signs, the team had sushi at Sonada's before the restaurant closed. We all took bets on the number that would be in attendance. The first bet started at 2,500, it moved up to 5,000 and Carlos, thinking big, predicted 10,000.
I showed up at 8:30 in white, bringing Starbucks for the team, and already the seats in the amphitheatre were full. By 10, the theater was full and I could see people teeming past the columns into the park. Oblivious to the full number of people that were arriving, I was immediately enveloped by the logistical coordination of the event, giving interviews, and finalizing my notes for the presentation.
I was charged with adrenaline and nervous about my role as the MC. Although from a Latin family, I speak passable Spanish (I call it survival Spanish, meaning I can survive in a Spanish-speaking country.) I am by no means fluent and most of my speaking would be in English, as we would have a translator there to assist.
My opening remarks referred to my personal situation and the words on the Statute of Liberty.
Excerpts from Ida Sandoval's opening remarks
My name is
Ida Sandoval and I'm here before you as a daughter of an immigrant family, a native Coloradan, and a human being, who's family is divided by borders, I have a cunada and sobrino in Mexico who I cannot see because of the injustice of our immigration laws and policies. I am sure you are here for similar reasons. Our borders keep getting bigger and bigger, and today we are here today to do something about it.
I have to tell you that I'm a volunteer who 8 days ago was uninformed about the current immigration issues facing our state and country. And in only 8 days time look what we have accomplished.
We are all driven by the same desire, the hope for a good life. Let us begin today with a Lady...Lady Liberty. We are a nation of immigrants - where the only difference is time. We come from many places, from many countries and are many colors, and our diversity makes us beautiful. But what unites us, what makes us the same, is the longing for a good, decent life. This country was founded on the ideas and principles that recognize that right and so I'll open with the words that our Lady holds at her feet:
"Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me;
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"
And so we are a light today, united together, to shine brightly for change and reform to immigration policy in this state and country."
Let us be that light today. |
The two hours on stage passed in a blink of time. While introducing the speakers, I was making announcements about the streets and crowds, I was encouraging the peaceful nature of the gathering, and I was thanking the list of many sponsoring organizations. In between introducing speakers and the bands, I was frequently approached by many people, asking to speak on stage, to tell their personal story of hardship, separation and immigration.
Sadly, I said no, already we had a full agenda. Often the crowd would break out in chant, Marcha! Marcha!' causing panic among the organizing team. We had not obtained permits to march the city streets, how would we handle it?
While I continued to work the stage and speakers, my fellow team members worked with Denver Police, who closed the local streets surrounding the park. We made an announcement that we could march around the civic center park at the end of the speakers, and we would then peacefully disperse.
Reverend Burleson gave his closing remarks and the crowd began to dissipate. Still buzzing from adrenaline, the people slowly began to leave the amphitheater.
We had peacefully gathered
Unbeknownst to me we had approximately 50,000 people attend. According to Denver Police, it was the most people in Civic Center Park since the Broncos won the last Super Bowl and the largest political gathering ever in the state.
After marching for approximately an hour, a large group of approximately 500 people wandered back into the amphitheatre, following a band. With the help of
Paul Lopez, I was boosted up on a pillar, and with him translating, I urged people to call their senators and make their voice known.
I will always remember the image of us reading off senator phone numbers and hundreds of people programming the numbers into cellular phones, promising to call that weekend and on Monday.
Friends and family later told me they were there, but could not get close to the amphitheatre. Outside the theatre where we could not be heard, groups had gathered on their own and were having mini speakers along the park and lawn of the capital.
We had peacefully gathered and marched the streets; we had made our voice known. The rally was a success. The team ate burritos around 3 p.m., in the sun, on the steps of the theatre. By then the people had cleared, and the park was empty. We expressed our surprise, joy and astonishment at what we had accomplished. Later that day, I had a beer with friends and we watched the news, I turned giddy when I saw the helicopter shot on the news. Truly, I had no idea so many attended.
Later I was interviewed by the
Denver Post, and when asked if the rally was a success, I replied yes. It was a huge success. So it's been a rapid turn, my life as a political activist.
The evolution in less than 8 days. In the meantime, my family and I have our own personal battle to fight. In February, my sister-in-law was denied entry into this country. She's in Guadalajara now with my 3-year old nephew. I've already written letters of hardship and we are seeking legal assistance.
On May 18, 1919, my great-grandfather immigrated to Colorado to work the steel mills in Pueblo. His name was
Entemio Beber and my family still has his papers from when he crossed the border. I picture him today and I think all he wanted was a chance. I live here, I prosper, everything due to the hard work of those who came before me.
Who am I to say that we deny that chance to others who are so like my grandfather? It goes against the foundations that this country was built upon. Truly we are a nation of immigrants, and the only difference between and many others in this country, is time.
I will continue in my efforts to educate my friends, family and others about these laws.
I'll continue to use my voice and actions to call for action and true comprehensive immigration reform legislation. I stand for peace, I stand for change, and I stand for the idea of a chance.
Ida Sandoval is a concerned citizen and volunteer who lives in Thornton.