May 1st, 2009. I was confundida as to where I should go on this day. Madison, where I have implemented some roots already during this school year, or Milwaukee...where I have put my time, heart and soul? Milwaukee is where my passion & dedication is. I made my way to back at 8 in the morning, for some reason, I found myself nervous. I could not and still can not explain why I felt this rush from the top of my head to the tip of my toes. Parked on 10th & Washington, & made my way to 5th. Confusion hit me...where was the chanting? Why is there so much parking space around UCC? I made it to Voces, 100+ people were there. "VOCES DE LA FRONTERA- WORKERS CENTER", "LATINOS EN ACCION" signs were being held by 3 people. Mujeres gritaban "¡Comida! ¡Tortas! ¡Aguas!" We were there for a good 45 minutes waiting for more community members to arrive....casi nadie estaba. Familiar faces glanced back at me, I felt at home.
El programa empezo, easily, 300 miembros de la comunidad were there. As we started marching, it was a complete snowball effect. By the time we hit Veteran's park, 30,000 personas were there. It was inspiring to see abuelas y abuelas marching hand in hand. Mamás, papás, trabajadores, estudiantes, LGBTQ de la comunidad. The "popo" was there, but they were well behaved.
May 1st has been for the past 4-5 years historical for acciones de la comunidad inmigrante. Demandas de licensias, in-state tuition for estudiantes, un alto a las redadas, humane legalicasion. Nuestro movimiento seguira creciendo, y seguira demandando hasta que el ¡YA BASTA! sea entendido por tod@s, sobre todo por l@s politicos.
Las fotos que ven, son personas que drew me in, algo en los ojos, algo en la forma en la que estaban parad@s, una connecion bella que tubimos.
Jeanette Martìn, a Madison Y.C.L.er originally from Milwaukee, writes about her experiences on May 1st and shares some of her photos. Wanna get connected up with the Y.C.L. in Madison or the Y.C.L. in Milwaukee? email ursula@yclusa.org for more info.
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