Andre Banks

Did We March for This?

This week we spent a lot of time documenting the May 1st immigration marches. From a reflection on Western Union and remittance to a recap of the police violence, we followed the demos from coast to coast. (Check out some footage below of Ron Dellums going the hell off in Oakland and declaring the city a sanctuary — Thanks to Tracy and Alfredo for the footage!)

But now that we’ve moved on from the frenzied moment of a smaller but significant May Day, I’m going to close out our coverage with some analysis on what’s coming next on the policy end of things.

Like, is anything really happening on Capitol Hill around immigration?

Are the Democrats making moves now that they’re in control?

What type of draconian hate legislation is the White House trying to sneak through these days???

Well, I don’t have the answers. But thankfully our friend Avideh Moussavian at the New York Immigration Coalition was kind enough to offer some thoughts:

House leaders, despite the recent introduction of the STRIVE Act, are making every effort to protect new representatives from a vote by hiding behind the Senate, instead of rising to the urgent challenge of moving the debate forward….After the historic mobilizations that showed the strength of immigrant communities, and the votes that proved that strident anti-immigrant candidates would not succeed at the polls in 2006, immigrant communities and their supporters are left asking: Did we really march for this?

Check out Avideh’s full piece: Did We March for This? over at COLORLINES.

Posted at 10:48 AM, May 04, 2007 in Immigration | Permalink | View Comments