More than 50 activist organizations call upon Angelenos to rally for workers and immigrants
Last year, the May Day march in downtown Los Angeles made a vociferous impact in its demonstration against the election of President Donald Trump and his policy proposals.
Joining other May Day marches across the country, the May Day Coalition of LA is once again hosting the city’s May Day march and rally on Tuesday, May 1 with a clear unifying message: “Together We Fight Back.”
Announced at a press conference on Thursday, April 12, the march has a three-pronged mission statement: defend and protect the rights of workers, combat the “anti-immigrant” agenda espoused by the Trump administration, and encourage more people to become more engaged in 2018 midterm elections.
“We are living at a crucial moment in our nation’s history when inaction is unacceptable. Our families, values and rights are under siege by an administration with a small heart, large ego and enormous cruelty,” said Angelica Salas, executive director for the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights (CHIRLA). “On May Day, we do honor the struggle of workers and families, whom this administration ignores and refuse to be silent and invisible.”
The May Day Coalition of LA is comprised of more than 50 workers and immigrants rights organizations, youth groups and labor unions, including several Asian American advocacy groups like the Pilipino Workers Center, Asian Americans Advancing Justice-LA and the Southeast Asian Community Alliance.
“I think it’s really great that there are so many opportunities to voice our concerns in such a big, impactful way,” Alexander Nunes, a Mexican-American English literature student at Los Angeles Community College, shared with the Asian Journal.
Like Nunes, many young activists have become more aware of a drastically shifting political climate and are, not only voicing their support for these causes but taking action and urging Americans to vote in the upcoming midterm elections.
“You know, a lot of us in LA are either immigrants or are children of immigrants or just know other immigrants. It’s deeply ingrained in our city’s culture, so it’s important that [the May Day rally] is here to really let people know that these are policies that actually would hurt a lot of people,” Nunes added.
May Day’s history stretches back to the late nineteenth century when the international working class began rallying against harsh working conditions and little to no protection for workers’ rights.
Workers then established May 1 as the International Workers’ Day of May Day as a way to honor the efforts of past laborers and to bring attention to the contemporary struggles of the working class, especially the immigrant working class.
“Whether it is workers in the public or private sector, mixed-status families speaking out against cruel and unjust [immigration] raids, or communities exercising their right to vote, we stand united in protecting the contributions of working families and fighting this Administration’s far-right, racist, xenophobic and anti-immigrant agenda,” said Rusty Hicks, president of the LA County Federation of Labor, in a statement.
The 2018 May Day march and rally will take place Tuesday, May 1 starting at noon on the corner of 6th Street and S. Olive Street in front of the Immigration Family Court building.
