Chicago: 35,000 immigrants, workers march on May Day

Chicago IL – Over 35,000 immigrants and their supporters filled the streets of Chicago on May 1, demanding an end to Trump’s attacks on immigrants and workers.

Led by the Consejo de Resistencia en Defensa del Inmigrante, the mass rally brought together over 150 organizations, mostly composed of Latino, Arab and Palestinian, Filipino and Korean immigrants and their supporters.

Consejo inherited the legacy of the March 10th Movement of 2006. That year, Chicago staged the first mega march in the country, with 300,000 marchers against the racist Sensenbrenner Bill, which would have made it a felony to be undocumented.

Of the four founding leaders of Consejo – Omar Lopez, Jorge Mujica, Martin Unzueta and Hector Rico – the first two were co-chairs of the March 10th Movement. A new generation of organizers joined them in organizing this march, including Vicky Lugo, Maria Bahena, Margarita Morelos and Jill Manrique, to name some of the most prominent.

Speaking as a member of Students for a Democratic Society – UIC, Ariana Vega stated, “Our schools should be sanctuaries – places where students can learn, grow and build better futures. That’s what we’re fighting for. That’s why we’re here today. In the face of Trump’s racist and reactionary administration, we must stand stronger than ever. We must build a movement that refuses to back down. We are not going back – and if we stand united, no one can stop us!”

Displaying the Black and brown coalition that exists in Chicago, speakers included Frank Chapman, executive director of the National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression; Chicago Teachers Union President Stacey Davis Gates; Service Employees International Union President April Verret, and Mayor Brandon Johnson, who has been targeted by the Trump administration for his continued defense of Chicago’s Welcoming City ordinance.

Nerissa Allegreti, president of the National Alliance of Filipino Concerns, blasted the U.S. empire for its colonization of the Philippines, along with Puerto Rico and Cub, in the early 1900s, making itself the common enemy of all immigrant working-class communities. Allegreti stated, “We will organize like all the other immigrant communities, we will organize and keep on fighting.”

Kobi Guillory, a member of Freedom Road Socialist Organization and the Chicago Teachers’ Union, gave a powerful closing speech on the strength of the masses, recalling countless victories of the organized people against their oppressors. He noted that May Day this year is seeing protests in over 700 cities – the largest number in modern U.S. history.

Explaining that Black resistance was stronger than slaveholders and segregationists, the movement for the eight-hour workday was stronger than the bosses, and the George Floyd Rebellion was stronger than Donald Trump, Guillory said, “Whether it’s five people or 5 million, when we come together in our numbers, when we come together in our solidarity, when we stand up and fight back, we are stronger than the people in power.”

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