So tens of thousands of people turned out for the immigration reform march that took place this past Sunday in Washington, D.C. They were there demanding a reform to the nation’s current immigration laws from President Barrack Obama and members of Congress. Meanwhile, here in Houston, organizers also put together a similar march down Canal Street in the East End, with one salient difference – significantly fewer protesters.
Chanting the same message as their counterparts in D.C. (si se puede, yes we can), considerably fewer marchers convened at the intersection of Cesar Chavez Drive and Canal Street just before 2 p.m. To say that approximately 1,000 individuals showed up for this march is a very generous overstatement because had it not been for the buses that drove people in from other areas of town, not even half of that number would have been achieved. There were almost more police cars and officers than protesters.
In a city as large as Houston, with so many Hispanics, what does that tell us about our community?
Are we to assume that not enough Latinos in our city care about immigration reform to march in support of its implementation; that word of mouth did not get around as it should have; that most of our protesters were actually in D.C. participating on a national scale; or that more people did not come out because they were afraid of being deported as The New York Times reported today? Whatever the reason, it was discouraging not to see more familiar faces.
What do you think?
