May 1st A Day Without An Immigrant National Protest

I've been thinking a lot about May 1st. It makes me so angry it's hard to think. But I've tried. It's difficult for me to believe that there is even one person out there who doesn't understand that undocumented workers in the United States keep our economy going. And have since the beginning of our short time as a country.

In picking one subgroup, Mexicans, Latin Americans and Chicanos, I came up with these questions to raise awareness:

Have you ever drank Californian wine? Eaten at a restaurant? Thought cheffing was a glamorous profession? Considered what chemicals were used to grow your food? Noticed how clean your local eating establishment was? Been proud of someone who had beaten their personal odds and "made something of themselves" ? Eaten a burrito? Drank orange juice? Eaten at Taco Bell? Cleaned the school your children go to?

Have you ever rented an apartment or bought a house in "an up and coming neighborhood" ? Went to Mexico on vacation? Made guacamole?  Enjoyed strawberry shortcake?  Washed dishes for a living?  Bussed tables for a living?  Worked two jobs a day?

Have you ever showed up to work every day no matter what? No matter how boring and repetitive your daily tasks were?

Have you ever done your own landscaping? Cleaned your own 8 room house? 3 room house? Have you ever eaten chocolate? Artichokes? Cherries? Used vanilla extract? Have you ever worked the graveyard shift cleaning professional kitchens? Have you ever hired caterers? Tree trimmers? Bought silk flowers? Used cocaine?

Have you ever built your own house? Picked grapes in 100F weather? Grafted grape vines? Thinned orchards?

Have you ever had to learn how to read and speak three languages on the job that your whole family's life depended on?

Do you pay for your house-cleaner's health insurance? Add to their Social Security? Do you speak any Spanish? Have you ever personally advocated for any one else's rights but your own? Have you ever asked an undocumented person about their journey here? Ask them who they left behind? Where the money that person gets from  working 2 jobs 7 days a week goes?

Have you ever hired someones cousin/uncle/brother-in-law without question because that person had to go "home" and didn't know when they'd be able to get back?

Name me an industry which has not been built on the backs of America's newest sub-class.

Want to do something to support the people marching for their lives, for respect, for affirmation of their grand contribution to society?

Approach all the businesses you know who rely heavily on Mexican, Latin American and Chicano work forces. Restaurants are the easiest target. So are janitorial companies. Factories.

Tell them that, in support of the National May 1st action and protest you would like to work for free so that one or all of their workers can leave to join in the protest without threat of losing their job.

Standing in the street and protesting is a privilege so many of us have we forget that the "people" we are standing there for might never be able to personally effect their own change freely and without repercussion.

Ask the local businesses you use if they are allowing their workers to leave and march on May 1st without threat of termination. Support businesses who are allowing their workers to actively protest on May 1st. Continue to support these businesses, verbally acknowledging that you are supporting them for this reason.

Vote with your dollars. Either do not spend them on May 1st or spend them where businesses are allowing their Immigrant workers to protest.

On May 1st I will be working in the kitchen of Poulet on Virginia and Shattuck avenue in Berkeley, California. We will be open with a limited menu. We are allowing all of our Latin American workers the day off to protest. We will post a sign in the window letting everyone know these facts. We will be working harder than usual but we are not going to try and pretend that we could always do it without them.

I look forward to hearing what active activism you've thought to do on May 1st. How you are going to effect change with your own awareness, your own anger.

Comments

[roger]

Bravo Shuna,

Another thought provoking post that will motivate people to think, talk, and act. You have certainly encouraged me to participate. I'll keep you posted on my May 1st plans.

[shauna]

Shuna, this is gorgeous. Stirring. Exactly what I needed to read. You amaze me. That long list of questions is so damned good that I'm going to read it to my students this morning. You're going to change some lives in Seattle.

Well, you always do when I read your site.

[Nancy Ruiz]

Thank you for your support and the questions you have posted for every American, African American and every other culture in the United States! I will be protesting on May 1st not just for fun, but to exercise my rights as a Mexican-American and thank you for your support of our people!

[Luisa]

Thanks, Shuna. Wish there were more people like you in the world.

[maura]

Right on!

[beastmomma]

Very well put. I especially like this question: Have you ever personally advocated for any one else's rights but your own?

Indeed, if we all stepped out of our own world and cared for others by acting on their behalf, things would be different

[Chris]

Exactly - when the immigration issue comes up I just ask my friends do you like to eat? Not love to eat like people who read this blog , just need to eat everyday beucase without Mexicans, Latin Americans and Chicanos the food would not get picked, prepared, etc. and the country's food supply chain would screech to a grinding halt!!!

[shauna]

Dearest Shuna:

I did read your post to my classes. A group of senior creative writing students, some of the fiercest, most alive students I have ever had the pleasure to teach. They were rapt with attention, tears in their eyes. I could tell that your piece had put their swirling thoughts into order for them. Suddenly, they knew what to do. One of my seniors raised her hand and said, "I'm doing my senior thesis on immigration. And so I interviewed three illegal immigrants from Mexico, last night, in Spanish." She started to cry, as she told their story, how 24 of them had walked for 18 hours in the desert, and when they reached the border, they had to drag each other across concertina wire on the top of a wall to make it to the other side. Then, they walked to San Diego. There, they caught a bus to Los Angeles, a train to Oregon, and then a car to Seattle. One of them just got his first job: a dishwasher in a restaurant. She said, "I can't go to the protests on Monday. Could everyone in this class who can go please go for me? We have to do something."

That's what your questions engendered.

I also read it to my juniors, who are just about to launch into a study of Latin American literature and culture for the next week. Now, this is a school that sends its juniors every year on a three-day trip up to the Skagit Valley to help repair migrant farm workers' camp grounds. These kids come out changed. But this class hasn't been yet. When I read them your piece, they were quiet. Looked at me, in wonder. Teenagers are some of the most wonderful people in the world, because they need something to be tangible before they'll understand it. They need to feel it. They're more honest than most people I know. I could tell that they were moved. It led to a big discussion of the legislation impending. One of my students, a girl named Naida, has a Venezuelan mother, and she had the chance to speak in impassioned tones in a way that the rest of the class could understand. I could tell that she felt appreciated. And this is a new class to me -- we change sections among the 11th-grade team every two quints -- only the fourth day I had taught them. Your questions helped to set in their minds that I'm the kind of teacher who cares about these issues, and about them.

So thank you, my dear, for writing what was bubbling up from the surface. For putting your heart out there. For being out there.

[farmgirl]

"Tell them that, in support of the National May 1st action and protest you would like to work for free so that one or all of their workers can leave to join in the protest without threat of losing their job."

There are tears streaming down my face. The world needs more people like you, Shuna. Lots and lots and lots more. Thank you for this post. Thank you for you.

[tanvi]

I have goosebumps. I have been so angry about this, especially living in LA where there have been many protests, including a few on my campus. Thank you for verbalizing what I have also been feeling.

[alex]

excellent questions, excellent points. but i want to point out that something else you can do is go to the protests and participate in the boycotts yourself, regardless of your occupation, ethnicity, or immigration status. every group (and every movement for social change) needs allies. you can be one by standing with people at the marches and rallies, as well as standing in for people at their workplace.

[Lynn D.]

When my Mom had to go to assisted living/nursing home, the most wonderful Hispanic women changed her diapers, painted her nails, brushed her hair, bathed her, made her laugh. (I couldn't make her laugh.) They always looked terrific, nails, hair, teeth, lips, sparkling. Then they went home and changed their children's diapers. They worked swing shift, their husbands worked graveyard shift so they always had someone home with the kids, but when did they have time together? Do you even know what swing/graveyard shift is? My son worked for two summers canning green beans graveyard (midnight to 7, 7 days a week) and he was the only "American" on the shift. All his "peers" from high school quit after only one shift. Enjoy your green bean casserole on Thanksgiving!

[Patrick Guilfoyle]

No smart ass comments from me this time. You have struck me where I live. How blessed I am for the Latino’s in my life. They are the life blood of my business and of my life. Monday, a day without Mexicans is a huge celebration of existence for my Latin family. Us “white people” will close ranks and do the job’s that are normally done here. Not as well - not as efficient - but with incredible joy on my part. To somehow make a statement in my own way how terribly much I rely on them for so much in my life. They are the family that I have chosen, they seldom if ever disappoint me the way my biological family has.
Since everyone that is reading this is a foodie I wanted you all to know that Tomorrow will be an important cooking day for me. I will be making the best possible packaged lunches possible. Sandwiches made with bread baked by Eric Kayser of Paris fame. Salad from my early shopping at the farmers market and a recipe by Susan Goin, and yes, even baked goods Shuna - your very own Gingerbread. All tressed up in cool canvas bags and packaged with every ounce of love and carrying that I can muster to send them on their way. Monday morning when you wake up I ask each and everyone of you to say a prayer to whoever it is that you pray - first that they are safe, and that this somehow will make the difference that they so justly deserve. My Alma, my Temo, my Alonzo, my Maria, my Freddy, my Paco. That they will be blessed by change as I bless their collective illegal hearts.

[chronicler]

I applaud you and will be linking to your thread. You have said all I have been saying for years. Some people still won't come around to the knowledge of their own ignorance. My response is always "try saying that will a mouthful of salad".

Excellent as always Shuna.

[circulating on the net:]

Subject: Where will you be on May 1, 2006
On May 1, 2006 illigal immigrants are planning a boycot of all stores in
the USA. They are saying that without them our economy would collapse. My
question is this are we as Americans going to let them hurt our economy in
any way and make it look as if we don't care about our own country. This
is one time where each one of us can make a difference. On Monday, May 1st
go to your local stores and make purchases, even if it is only one item,
such as a candy bar. You will still be standing up for our coutry. We as
Americans need to show that we may be the silent majority, but we can
still make a tatement loud and clear, or we can sit silently by and let
our country become latino!! As of Friday April 28, 2006, they have even
come out with their own version of our national anthem, changing the words
to include latino culture. Is This what our forfather's fought for, us to
sit silently by and let someone else take over our country. I say No!!!
Let every American Unite on Monday May1, 2006 go shopping and show our
support for our country, no one else is going to do it for us, we must do
this ourselves.

Please pass this on to every American you know..... We can and will make a
difference.

[Marie]

My husband I and read your post together, and both of us were moved to tears. You put into words the way we feel about this issue, but that I had never been able to express. Immigrants are the backbone of this country, and it is shameful that we should want to punish them for having the same American dream the rest of us have the right to, but take for granted. Thank you for your passionate, insightful post! We will be participating in the day as best we can, showing our solidarity and expanding the struggle against the ignorance surrounding this topic.

[Kelley G.]

Thank God for the forces of nature like you - ones to be reckoned with. Should you ever consider another occupation, you could give Mr. Michael Moore quite a run for his money.

[Jill Nagle]

Thanks for waking me up. As a mama between child care gigs, I don't get to go protest much, though it might be time to explore taking Cainan with me. I appreciate the passion in your words. I was out of touch with the protest happening on this day, and called Isabel to see if she could come do child care. In the combination of English and Spanish we use to communicate, she told me about Monday but I didn't fully understand it. Now I intend to pay her for the day as if she had worked, so she can go protest. Thanks for the wake-up call, and the eloquent reminders about putting our bodies where our ideals go.

May 1st.

Shuna: Thank you for posting your passionate thoughts. I have read your words several times over and my consciousness on this issue has increased many fold from where it was yesterday. How I move through this day and forward is altered. Thank you.˙

[Doc]

You're an idiot. What makes you think those jobs wouldn't get done without your undocumented workers? There is a process to immigrate to the US. It's easier than any other country in the world. Try immigrating to a European country. They don't want you. No one wants to deny immigration to Mexicans. They just want them to follow the same law every other immigrant has to.

[Tea]

Thank you, Shuna, for your passion, intelligence, and eloquence.

[Garrett]

Grafitti this on a wall so everyone can read it. It'll do the world some good.
Shibby job, Shuna!

[LIZ]

I AGREE WITH EVERYTHING YOU SAID.. THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR STANDING FOR ALL OF US IMMIGRANTS. I WISH THERE WERE MORE PEOPLE LIKE YOU.... SOME PEOPLE DONT QUITE UNDERSTAND WHAT WE GO THROUGH JUST TO GET A PAY CHECK IT HURTS ME TO SEE PEOPLE WORKING IN FARM LABOR LONG HRS TO SUPPORT THEIR FAMILIES AND GETTING PAID MINIMUM WAGE, AND PEOPLE WANT TO TREAT THEM LIKE CRIMINALS JUST BECAUSE WE WANT A BETTER FUTURE FOR OUR CHILDRENS.

[Jhovana]

Hey thanks for understanding man thats messed up what would America be without us were the ones who do jobs that other people won't do tell me would you go out in the feid and pick fruits. Of course not.

[Will T.]

Awsome.