LIVE! from the May Day march

Photos taken at the UCLA Labor Center pre-march rally. American Apparel's "Legalize LA"
and MIWON (the Multi Ethnic Immigrant Workers Organizing Network) were represented by hundreds of protesters. A live band played raggaeton for an hour before the crowd gathered to march down Beverly Blvd. (1st St.) towards Broadway St. downtown, the epicenter of this year's May Day immigration march. By the way, the dude with the alien is wearing a shirt that says, "I don't want to be an alien. I want to be legal."


Close your eyes and you would think you were at a futbol match at the Estadio Azteca with all the whistling and the Spanish chants in unison.

Cover your ears and you would think you were at a city-wide picket. There are tens of thousands of screaming, singing, dancing, passionate people in front of you, all gathered in a single mass of angry solidarity.

If you took the latter choice, you'd pretty much have it nailed, although the former isn't that far off in terms of spirit. Instead of "Ole, Ole, Ole!" the chants here are "Si Se Puede! (We can do it!)"

The May Day march, an annual Los Angeles event, has been the largest immigration reform protest in the country, probably the world the last several years. Last year, the march ended in violence, as many protesters were beaten and shot with rubber bullets by members of the LAPD riot squad. The fallout caused a public protest and the LAPD (and Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa) had to stage another more peaceful rally a month later.

By all accounts, the events of last year are a thing of the past, as police have been acting nothing but courteous (if not, too
courteous) for this year's marchers. Some of them are in skin-tight 70's style NBA short shorts and smiling. It's kind of surreal.

It would also seem that last year's events have made this year's march even bigger. I would estimate that several thousand more have crammed their way onto Broadway this year. Even more are expected to come to the 4 p.m. rally as many will be getting off of work or school then.

This is also an election year, and immigration reform is one of the hot button issues, making this rally a bit more involved.

Organizers of the march have not lost sight of the importance of the rally in an election year.

"I think [immigration reform] is very important this year," said Strela Cervas, a community organizer with MIWON and the Pilipino Workers Center. "The candidates have proposed some comprehensive immigration reform. It depends on our mass movement to push the issue further. We need to show them this immigration system is broken and it effects everyone."

She said that there are 12 million undocumented workers that are paying taxes and boosting the economy. But they have been afforded no status and therefore cannot participate in the economy they contribute to.

As of now, there has been no appearance by Obama or Clinton, although John McCain was loudly presented at the UCLA LC rally by a man identifying himself as Melrose Larry Green or the Howard Stern Show fame. Who knows if it was really him, but he was certainly crazy enough to fit the part.

"You're much prettier than Hillary Clinton," he cooed to a police horse at the rally. "Much prettier."