Immigrants, Supporters March Pleasantly For Greater Rights

As promised, Bostonist attended our fair city's contribution to today's so-called "national day of action" to oppose a bill in the U.S. House of Representatives that would make illegal immigrants' presence in this country a felony, and to support legislative efforts to grant amnesty to undocumented workers. According to the Associated Press, there were between 5,000 (the police estimate) and 8,000 (the organizers' estimate) marchers. On the ground, with no crowd-counting skills and only the benefit of being 6'4" and standing on our tippy toes, Bostonist could only say with certainty that there appeared to be a wicked lot of people.

The rally started on the Common, where an assortment of everyman-type immigrants addressed the crowd in an assortment of languages (Spanish, English, Portuguese, Creole, and Arabic), telling their stories (I came here X years ago, I work in X industry, etc.) and urging the crowd to be optimistic and well-behaved. The tone of all the speeches did a remarkably good job of recognizing a fundamental truth about the protest: The marchers weren't demanding the enforcement of natural rights or exhorting others to respect some fundamental truth. Rather, there was a prevailing recognition, albeit tacit, that Congress has the right to make harsh laws, that some immigrants have come to the country illegally, but that it would be a nice and just thing to treat them better. The whole event seemed to be designed to present immigrants to the rest of the country and say, "Look! We're regular and nice, we wave American flags just like you do, and we pick up litter as we march off the Common." Admittedly, we're predisposed to the cause of the march, but Bostonist honestly thought that as a work of public relations, the whole thing was carried off flawlessly, and the boisterous mood of crowd, most of whom seemed at once passionate about the cause and optimistic about its chances, was contagious.

After many reminders from the assembled speakers to be well-behaved, the assembled crowd proceeded slowly off to the south toward St. James and up to Copley Square. This was a jolly affair, with many a child bounced along on a parent's shoulders while everyone chanted the Spanish words that all good young American idealists seem to know: "Sí se puede" (and don't let the Herald convince you that the accent on the i is disposable; with the accent, the phrase means "Yes, it can be done"; without it, you get the more dubious and slightly cryptic "if it can be done"). The large Irish contingent also found common ground with a largely Ecuadorean group, as all joined in the international soccer chant of "Olé, olé, olé, olé." Bostonist's friend, a lawyer at the Irish Immigration Center, claimed to spy an anti-immigration heckler along the route, but Bostonist (lazy pseudo-journalist that we are) must have been looking the other way.

When we arrived at Copley, it was fast filling with marchers. UNITE-HERE, the union representing hotel, restaurant, and garment industry workers, had a large contingent on the steps of the BPL at the west side of the Square, and all manner of organizations Bostonist had never heard of were representing with enormous banners. Predictably, there was a huge pro-Palestinian/anti-Israeli banner near Trinity Church, and communists, socialists, and crazy evangelists of all stripes were distributing their literature. Around 6:15, Cardinal O'Malley appeared on a raised platform near the east end of the square and did some kind of weird singing-praying business that perplexed (this) poor, Jewish Bostonist. He then impressively said some words to the crowd in English, Spanish, Portuguese, and Creole, all apparently without notes, and all in the same slow, plodding chant voice he used for the prayers.

Then, lamentably, Bostonist had to go attend to a different immigrant contingent: we were slated to have dinner with our Russian father-in-law. Did any of you dear, observant readers attend or see the rally and notice other interesting things? Do tell.

Photos (by Bostonist, of course), from top to bottom: A man's hybrid flag on Tremont Street on the way to the rally; the Irish Lobby for Immigration Reform represents with a huge banner; a young girl waves flags of the U.S. and Honduras; the crowd at Copley Square.