This past March marked ten years since the historic march against House Resolution 4437, which was a bill passed by the 109th House of Representatives in late 2005 during the Bush administration’s tenure. Also known as the “Border Protection, Anti-Terrorism, and Illegal Immigration Control Act,” the proposed legislation sought to make undocumented immigrants into felons for lacking citizenship and criminalize organizations offering assistance to them, including clinics, churches, and other non-profit organizations.
I was fifteen years old in 2006, and I walked out of school with my peers to march alongside other students and workers across Los Angeles and the country in solidarity with immigrant families. Schools were on lock-down all across the city, but the voices of the students would not be repressed. The walk-outs culminated on Saturday, March 25, 2006, when an estimated 500,000 to 1 million people stormed the streets of downtown Los Angeles to protest. This historic day would also come to be known as a “Day Without an Immigrant” or “The Great American Boycott.”
What a marvelous time it was to be a teenager! The massive, nationwide marches pressured Congress so that H.R. 4437 would ultimately be shelved by the U.S. Senate. Moreover, the marches created momentum for pro-immigrant organizers and their allies that would last for years. Most of all, their energy would inspire a generation of new leaders who saw how the power of their pueblo was truly a formidable force when united; students linked arms with their parents, workers with allies, and so much more.
Today, Jimbo Times the L.A. Storyteller still owes its foundations to a chant I first heard when marching with the people on the streets of L.A for “A Day Without an Immigrant”:
El pueblo unido, jamas sera vencido!
The people united will never be defeated!
J.T.
[…] ten years ago, it was also one of the major sites of L.A.’s biggest march ever, the 2006 Marches in support of protections for so-called undocumented immigrants. I took part in those […]
[…] largest marches in L.A. history, which took place during March and May 2006 in fierce opposition to House Resolution 4437. It was quite the time to be a teenager, and looking back at the political landscape of the time […]
I remember me and my partner, wearing our white shirts and getting on the bus to get to DTLA on that day. When we got on the bus we all looked at each other and started smiling and laughing when we realized EVERYONE on the bus was wearing white and clearly going to the protest. I’ve never seen such a massive crowd of people before or since. As far as the eye could see down every street in DTLA, a sea of white shirts everywhere. The mainstream media likes to down play social justice movements. And I would say that this was not only Chicanx/Latinx people who protested. There were allies too. I saw an intergenerational mix of black, brown, asian, white; people of many different ethnicities and backgrounds. We ALL wanted immigration reform. I would say that the amount of people that attended where closer to 2 million people that day.
Amazing!!