The May 1st call for immigrants across the nation to withhold their labor — as a means to demonstrate the value of the immigrant community’s daily contribution to the economy and the society as a whole — was respected in Immokalee…
… where, with an historic march of 2,800 that wound for an hour through the dusty streets of Florida’s largest farmworker community, Immokalee and the CIW answered “¡Presente!” loud and clear to the call for national action.
The march took over the streets of downtown Immokalee…
… growing with every step through the worker community, as people poured out of Immokalee’s labor camps and ramshackle housing and turned the town — which on any other day serves as a vast labor reserve for Florida’s agricultural industry — into a unified force for immigrant rights.
The march brought out families…
… and single men, alike, speaking with a single voice…
…some of the youngest members of our community…
… and some of the oldest…
… and all three of the communities that make up the majority of Immokalee — the Haitian community (the sign above, written in Creole, reads “Justice for Immigrants”)…
… the Mayan community (the sign in the foreground, written in Kanjobal, says “All immigrant workers deserve amnesty”)…
… and the Mexican community, who in this woman’s case didn’t need a sign to display her pride, just a flag and a couple of safety pins…
… but on this day, all of our communities came together under one banner, with one spirit, captured perfectly in this woman’s sign.
And all were brought together by a march to celebrate one of this nation’s fundamental principles — the promise written in stone on the Statue of Liberty, of a nation of immigrants that welcomes and recognizes the contribution of each new generation of immigrants, never closing the door to the flow that feeds our ever-expanding economy and rejuvenates our nation’s spirit, as each wave of newcomers brings its own unique character, language, and traditions to the mix that keeps this country from ever growing old and stale.
Community leaders from across Southwest Florida gathered, including (in order, from foreground to background) Lucas Benitez of the CIW, Father Hector Rubin of Immokalee and Father Victor Caviedes of Ft. Myers, and Juan Romero of Bonita Springs…
… and helped lead the march…
… in a joyous procession of liberation and pride through one of the country’s poorest — and hardest working –towns…
… a march that brought pride and smiles to hundreds of people along the route who for one reason or another couldn’t join the marchers in the street but showed their solidarity from balconies…
… and schoolyards throughout town, including these excited children and their teachers at the Redlands Christian Migrant Association, who left the building to chant “¡Si se puede!” (“Yes we can!”) to the passing marchers…
But it was clear that most people on this day simply couldn’t resist the call of the march, like the man in the apron who apparently came straight from work at the soup kitchen at the Guadalupe Center to join the march…
… and nearly 3,000 other Immokalee residents like him who gave up work and income for a day to make their voices heard in the national debate over immigration…
… braving the heat of a May Day in Florida (with some help from a well-stocked water truck, of course)…
… to tell their adopted country that they and the nation need each other, that their progress and the country’s progress are inseparable, that we are all endowed with certain inalienable rights — humanrights — and that, together, we can make those rights real for all who live and work in this land of immigrants.
