L.A.’s week of pro-immigration protests
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Sitting down in my Boyle Heights home to write this newsletter on Thursday morning, I was quickly distracted by a steady stream of car horns honking from nearby 1st Street. I got up from the table and walked to my porch to see what the commotion was all about.
A group of about a hundred or so Latino students, many of them wearing hoodies and with their backpacks in tow, was marching on the westbound lane of the street on their way to City Hall for a third straight day of pro-immigrant rallies. The distracting cacophony I heard, it turns out, was coming from drivers heading in the opposite direction displaying their solidarity.
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Since taking office, President Trump has taken several actions to crack down on immigration, from declaring a national emergency at the southern border to issuing an executive order ending birthright citizenship for children of undocumented immigrants (an effort that, for now, has been blocked by the courts).
In turn, Angelenos have responded with a series of weeklong demonstrations.
On Sunday, thousands headed to downtown Los Angeles to protest Trump’s actions and show their support for an immigrant community that is very much woven into the fabric of the region. Many of them carried flags — from Mexico, El Salvador and other Central and South American countries — and signs with messages like “MAGA—Mexicans always get across” and “I drink my horchata warm because f— I.C.E.” The protest was peaceful but also disruptive; demonstrators blocked traffic at Spring and Temple streets before eventually shutting down the 101 Freeway for several hours.
On Monday, in addition to protests, several businesses across the region closed up shop in observance of “A day without immigrants.”
It wasn’t just Southern California. Over the last week, anti-Trump and pro-immigrant protests have popped up in places like Cincinnati, Atlanta, Houston, San Antonio and Montgomery, Ala., to name a few.
In L.A., despite the rain, the kids have kept the momentum going. On Thursday, for a third day in a row, students walked out of their classes and marched downtown. The multi-day protests have resulted in a significant decrease in school attendance — according to the local new outlet Boyle Heights Beat, some Eastside schools reported a 32% drop. But for many students, these attacks on immigrant communities are personal.
“I’m trying to defend my parents, who immigrated here to get me a better life,” one student told De Los contributor Sarah Quiñones Wolfson. “How are people going to hate when they don’t even know the real us.”
“I cry at night thinking that my dad won’t come home,” Johanna, a student whose family is from El Salvador, added.
The protests are yet another episode in Los Angeles’ long history as a center for pro-immigrant action and youth activism, from the Chicano Blowouts of 1968, when thousands of students walked out of school to demand equal education, to the student-led walkouts against Proposition 187 in 1994, to the 2006 May Day rally when hundreds of thousands of people marched downtown to demand immigration reform.
While Sunday’s protests brought Angelenos from all walks of life, the last few days of demonstrations have very visibly been carried out by the youth.
“This week, students have once again assumed the leadership to send a strong message that they, their families and their communities must be honored, respected and supported,” said Paula Crisostomo, who helped organize the 1968 East L.A. student walkouts.
These days, the majority of Latinos in the U.S. are native born, but these demonstrations prove that the immigrant experience is still very much a major aspect of Latinidad. The student protesters have also made it clear that while some of their parents and family members might be unable to demonstrate freely because of their immigration status, they have no qualms being twice as loud on their behalf, and have made it clear that they don’t plan on quieting down anytime soon.
“I definitely want to preface that this is a movement, not a moment. It’s not a trend, and it’s something that will keep going until we are protected by laws that protect our rights and basic human needs,” Bella Gomez, 16, told The Times.
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Watch “In the Summers”
Latinx indie queer drama “In the Summers” is finally available on streaming.
The film, which won the U.S. grand jury prize in the dramatic competition at last year’s Sundance Film Festival, centers on the uneasy and messy relationship between two sisters and their father (played by René Pérez Joglar, better known as Residente, of Calle 13 fame). Despite being praised by critics (“Coming-of-age dramas may be a dime a dozen at Sundance, but one this tender and truthful can make an entire subgenre feel shimmeringly new,” wrote my former colleague Justin Chang), “In the Summers” had a very limited theatrical release. It became available on Hulu and Disney+ on Wednesday. Here’s hoping the movie finds the audience it so rightfully deserves.
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