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Immigration Rally in San Diego

Sunday afternoon, tens of thousands marched through downtown San Diego. The news wires report over 50,000 attended, while others estimate the count at over 80,000. I was at the march to gather sound for NPR’s Morning Edition, KQED’s California Report, and KPBS News. On site, people were saying 15,000. I have no idea how they estimate these things, and I’ve never been in a crowd that large, so I can’t really say how may people were there. Here are photos I took:

Immigration Rally in San Diego

The march was completely peaceful. The organizers handed out free bottled water. The police presence was very low. Most people wore white to symbolize peace and unity. People shouted “Si se puede,” “El pueblo unido jamás será vencido,” and other chants. I spoke to a journalist who writes for the media in Mexico City, an actor from the film A Day Without A Mexican, local residents, and several undocumented immigrants. I met a husband and wife who held a sign that read, “My wife is not a criminal.” The man served in Iraq and the woman was undocumented. She was brought to the U.S. at an early age and spoke perfect, unaccented English. She said she considers herself an American.

Immigration Rally in San Diego

6 replies on “Immigration Rally in San Diego”

Good stuff, Nathan!

I was near the front of the main march, but stayed back to wait for the second march to join up on 4th & Broadway. We headed down to the county building, listened to some of the speakers, the headed back to Broadway because we were thirsty and starving at that point. The march was still arriving, and we could see people all the way back to 6th ave. It was massive and amazing.

Bunch of my photos here: http://www.chrisnelson.ca/gallery/2006/04/09/

It’s great to see your photos! Thanks for the link. It’s funny to see so many of the same peculiar people I saw like the lady with the “Canada” sign written in lipstick and the poodle carriage. Overall I agree it was a ton of people, more than I’ve ever seen on the street.

Hey I’m all for legal immigration, but whats the deal with the Mexican flag? Seriously, this is the United States, at least kiss our ass if you want to get in.

The people waving Mexican flags use it as a cultural symbol of pride in their heritage. They wave a U.S. flag in the other hand and it isn’t a contradiction. The U.S. flag is their national identifier, and the Mexican flag is the cultural icon. Most of the anti-immigrant groups have been using the presence of the Mexican flags at rallies to say that we’re at war and this is an invasion. The truth is, the U.S. and Mexico have a common history and share a land mass, but the northern one looks down its nose at the southern one. I honestly believe the immigration “problem” will only reach a true resolution when the U.S. accepts the unique relationship it has with Mexico (physically, culturally, economically) and adjusts its policies accordingly.

Hey Nate, I think I should just talk about this with you in person, anything I’ll write here will come out wrong. I would appreciate some views you have on it, but I know we see this totally differently.

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