Waving American flags, singing hymns in Spanish and English, and holding signs that declared “We struggle for what is right with dignity” and “I am an immigrant, not a delinquent,” about 350 local Hispanics and community members gathered outside the County Office Building on McIntire Road at 6:30pm on May 1 to tell Charlottesville loud and clear: “We’re here, and we matter.”
“Charlottesville needs to recognize that we have significant contributions to the economic and cultural parts of this community,” says Charo Mina-Rojas, who immigrated here from Colombia seven years ago and now works as a legal assistant at
Legal Aid. “It’s important for us to
be visible.”
The cause for this outpouring? A House of Representatives bill that would build a 700-mile fence along the U.S.-Mexico border, and that would make felons of all undocumented immigrants. The local demonstrators joined hundreds of thousands across the country. A reported 300,000 in Chicago and another 300,000 in Los Angeles marched in protest of the bill, along with smaller marches in other major cities from San Francisco to Atlanta. Along with demonstrations, many immigrants—particularly Latinos—boycotted work, school and consumerism in order to flex their economic muscle. This, however, was a controversial tactic that some thought would alienate potential supporters, and locally it did not have significant impact.
The Charlottesville demonstration was organized by Father Paul Brant and the Church of the Incarnation, a local Catholic congregation. Since the decision to demonstrate wasn’t made until three days before the event, the rally was announced at the church’s weekend services, and Brant did not have time to drum up greater community support. Only about 30 non-Hispanics came out in support, and there was no UVA presence to speak of, but Brant says he was encouraged by horn-honking as cars passed and the post-demonstration support of Mayor David Brown.
As for the conspicuous absence of other immigrant groups, “it’s not an open conflict,” says Brant, “it’s more passive in that [other immigrant groups] don’t step forward to support [Hispanics]. There’s no feeling of bonding. There’s no unified immigrant group. There’s more of a bond, a cultural bond, between the Hispanic groups that have legal status and those that don’t.”
According to Tim Freilich, an attorney with the Virginia Justice Center for Farm and Immigrant Workers who spoke at the rally, the May 1 rally was something of a coming out party for the local Hispanic population.
“They were stepping out as a voice,” says Freilich. “This marked the beginning of the area’s Latino community finding its own political voice and power.”—Nell Boeschenstein