Immigration March – Cultural Event #7

The May 1 march really was one of the first times in my life where I actually felt proud to be an American. Sorry to sound sappy, but it’s true. The diversity and multiculturalism we have here is mind-boggling. Yeah, it’s only really visible in big cities, and yeah, there are problems inherent with unfettered immigration.



But there are a couple glaring historical issues which people tend to neatly ignore when the immigration discussion comes up: 1. This country was founded by immigrants who ripped it away from its natural inhabitants and 2. Actually, #1 is probably enough. Why can’t we take this multiculturalism and just run with it? I saw a bunch of signs which stated some interesting ideas:

1. America – An Immigrant Nation Since 1776
2. We’re trying to “immigrate” to the United States (with a map of Mexico as it existed before we colonized… oh, oops, we actually took away a huge chunk of Mexico by force, including the entire area that the Bush clan claims to be from…. Guess we forgot about that)
3. A Day Without a Mexican is a Day Without Sunshine (Uh… OK, this one doesn’t make much sense)

I read an interview with a policeman that this was the largest march he’s seen in Chicago in the past 30 years. Supposedly around 500,000 people, but it’s hard to estimate when the numbers get that big. The aerial shots were really awesome. It was so great to march through the middle of downtown because the noise from all the protestors was reverberating off the buildings, along with the 10 or so helicopters overhead. It was not a normal Monday. Here’s a picture of the cutest sleepy Mexican baby.