May 1st in LA Was a Beautiful 250,000 People March. A Brief Report via Javier Rodriguez

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May 3, 2010 1:16:31 AM
From: javier rodriguez ~ bajolamiradejavier@yahoo.com

To all

At about a third of the program it was obvious we had filled downtown LA. From the stage to as far as the eye could see, to the starting point on Olympic and Broadway, the total route of the march, it was filled to capacity and it looked larger than the recent March 21 mobilization in Washington DC. After consulting with several of the key organizers, we called it at 250,000 people. I made sure then to convey it to Mayor Villaraigosa and the head of the LA County Fed of Labor Maria Elena Durazo and they officially announced it, at 250,000.

It was a beautiful and powerful site. As in Washington, the people stayed for the whole program, and rightfully so, it was their day. At about two thirds of the program the reports on the crowd said the mass was over flowing on the side streets, while Broadway and the starting point were still fully carpeted. It was amazing.

This is an important detail, when the march officially began, the leading part was a sound truck and at that point, about 10:30 AM, from Olympic north to the stage on the hillside of Broadway, parallel to the Criminal Courts Building, it was already full. That means that from the kick off point to as far as the eye could see, at the end where the stage was set, it was carpeted with people. 

Unbelievable. We had not seen that since 2006 and to a lesser degree in 2007 when we hit 100,000. If a digital count is done using the aerial photos as we did for the March 25, 2006 1.7 million people event, I speculate we may have reached 350,000.

The crowd was multinational, but to be true, it was 95% Latino, working class, overwhelmingly young, with many students, families, full of energy and power, and they knew they had fulfilled their commitment, “se las jugaron”. The most important points on the minds of the people when they connected to the speakers was Arizona's SB 1070, reform and legalization, and the condemnation to the unfulfilled promises of the Obama administration.

It should be noted that the unitary process of the four LA coalitions, with some not minor problems, was an important determining factor in the success of the march. Totally different from 2009, we had only one march, with one major unified message to the nation and Congress. Then of course Arizona's SB 1070 hit the national news and in LA as in the rest of the country, the rage set in along with the need to express the solidarity to the people of that backward state. By far Arizona was the strongest motivating force, the detonating spark, for the people to hit the streets and protest on International Workers Day. Another was the last two weeks of real organizing and intense media contact with the people. At one point we had three press conferences in one day. The closing and major media event was held on April 27 and it was big with ten cameras, about twenty other journalists and radio reporters. My respects and kudos to the media team made up of Carolyn, O’Connor, Dawn Page, Celina Benitez, Hlee, Jorge Mario Cabrera and this writer. I will estimate that in this campaign, there must have been close to one hundred individual local, national and international interviews adding tremendously to the hype. While on this subject the knowledge and skills of the veteran leaders was also another strong factor in building the momentum. From the two hour interview with DJs Gerardo Lorenz and Mirthala Salinas all the way to the April 29-30 “En Contexto” news hour with Ruben Luengas at 11 PM and televised from Olympic and Broadway, the hype accumulated intensely. Furthermore a barrage of paid ads were aired on Spanish language TV and radio that complemented all the organizing and media work of the coalition. By April 27 we knew we had 100,000 people, you could feel it. What we didn’t was how much it was going to increase to in the next three days. Now we do.

With two exceptions the program flowed steadily. Security did a good job, but nothing personal, at a certain point the authoritarian mind set got out of hand. Especially when the popular DJ/Locutor "El Mandril", who is one of our the strongest supporters on the national airwaves, was refused entrance to the back stage. Our deepest apologies to him. The other was when a key leader and speaker was actually called out by a security member for physical violence “on the stage”. There has to be a better and more sensitive human relations training for this or any other security team for the next events.

Another exception, the LAPD reneged on its promise to refer all questions on the size of the crowd to the organizers and again as in previous years, they erroneously put out 60,000 in attendance. To be objective though they also did a good job of policing the march. As far as we know there was only one light incident with the LaRouchites.

This is only a provisional brief report, not an analysis, to assure that the count of 250,000 for the LA May 1st March is known throughout the universe of activism and the media. Also to let all know the United for Immigration Reform 2010 Coalition successfully fulfilled its part to continue the push for immigration reform and legalization be placed on the floor of congress to begin the legislative process and the national debate.

Best, Javier Rodriguez March 25 Coalition
May 1st 2010.

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