Civil rights activist ignites immigration reforms
Sasha Solomonov - April 3rd, 2008“The people united will never be divided!” echoed through the residential streets of Sunnyside on Saturday, March 29 in honor of Cesar Chavez’s commitment to migrant workers and labor equality.
Approximately 25 people gathered at Coconino High School to participate in the Cesar Chavez March, which concluded with a speech by Marina C. Vasquez, resident elder from the applied indigenous studies program at NAU, and a traditional Mexican dance performance.
Mark Montoya, professor of ethnic studies and political science at NAU, works as an advisor for M.E.Ch.A, the Chicano/a rights club that organized the event. Montoya attended the Cesar Chavez March for the first time to honor one of his heroes.
“(Chavez’s) works really laid the groundwork for what we can do,” Montoya said. “We’re able to march, celebrate his life, call for rethinking the immigration debate because of people like him. People like him — Martin Luther King, Malcolm X — were greeted by police and water hoses and they led that movement so that we could march the same way but not worry about that sort of corruption.”
While the march honored Chavez, a civil rights and labor leader who made numerous improvements to migrants’ working conditions and union laborers, it also brought attention to current border policies in Arizona.
“We have a lot of issues with immigration and the new laws going on and we are just trying to recognize everything and get the word out there,” said Celina Magana, a senior at Coconino High School.
Ruth Ayon, a junior criminal justice major, said Chicano/a activism in Flagstaff is not strong, noting the distance the city has from the border and demographics of the residents.
“The majority of the population is white and it’s kind of isolated and there’s just not that much attention to those issues here,” Ayon said.
M.E.Ch.A. chose to hold the march on the east side of Flagstaff in an effort to include the Latina population.
“It’s a push forward by M.E.Ch.A. to do community events — that’s why we are here on Sunnyside and not on campus,” Montoya said. “There’s a predominately Latina community here on this side of town in Flagstaff.”
Along with members from M.E.Ch.A., participants from NAU Peace & Justice, No More Deaths, and the San Francisco de Asis parish marched together to honor Chavez’s life and call for immigration reforms.
Jeanne Bret, coordinator for the Just Faith program at the San Fancisco de Asis parish, felt a personal obligation to attend the march.
“This is not just a Latino or Hispanic issue. This is a community issue; this isn’t a race issue,” Bret said. “Because anytime people aren’t treated with respect it is everyone’s responsibility.”
Last year, Arizona voters passed three propositions targeting undocumented immigrants: proposition 100, proposition 102 and proposition 300. The recent additions to Arizona law deny bail to undocumented immigrants charged with felonies, prohibit undocumented immigrants from being awarded punitive damages in any civil lawsuit filed in the state, and disallows undocumented immigrants from receiving in-state tuition, financial assistance or access to state-subsidized childcare and family literacy programs, respectively.
“I think they are looking at (immigration) in the wrong way, there can be other ways to solve this,” Ayon said. “All these measures that are being taken to prevent immigration are really negative.”
Along with the legislation, Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio has searched and arrested countless undocumented immigrants in what he told Fox News he equates to “the drug traffic.”
Bret said these types of policies only instill fear into innocent human beings.
“They’re afraid for their children, some of them are afraid to send their children to school,” Bret said. “So far, Flagstaff has put on the front that they deliberately would never go out and arrest someone because they weren’t documented. But with the pressures from Maricopa County and the publicity they get, we need to be much stronger in our voice.”
Chavez motivated his followers to stand up for their human rights and demanded respect for all workers. Bret said she believes that if Chavez was still alive he would stand up against Arpaio and his methods of indimidation.
“(Chavez) would be a great voice of peace against the radical people that just operate on fear,” Bret said.
Like other supporters of Chavez’s methods, the members of M.E.Ch.A agree that change should come from non-violent activism, such as marches, protests, sit-ins, rallies and demonstrations.
“What I admire most about him was that his movement was peaceful, was inclusive — first time we see a Chicano/a-base movement that included women and other identities,” Montoya said. “We can’t study the border without looking at issues such as labor, such as immigration, such as gender issues and sexuality issues, issues of identity. It has to be a very inclusive atmosphere.”
Bret said she found comfort in the coalition of progressive clubs who gathered to support immigration reform and to march for Chavez’s accomplishments.
“There’s good people out there who want to have good legislation and I wouldn’t be out here if I wasn’t hopeful,” Bret said.
On Monday, April 7 at 7:00 p.m., the Taala Hooghan Info Shop will host a public meeting to call for repealing the anti-immigration laws.