Image from El Pueblo, Inc.
The Raleigh march will begin at 5:00 pm at the corner of Dawson and Hargett Streets, and supporters will march through downtown Raleigh to the State Capitol, Thursday, July 29, 2010, to protest legislation that targets Hispanics and leads to police profiling.
Note: This article was written Wednesday morning prior to the News Break on the Judge's decision restricting some provisions in the Arizona immigration law from going into effect as planned.
CORRECTION;
El Pueblo is NOT organizing the march. The March is being organized by the NC ICE WATCH Group which includes members of the NC Justice Center, Black Workers for Justice, the Catholic Worker House, the Farm Labor Organizing Committee, El Pueblo Unido, The Southern Coalition for Social Justice, the Student Action with Farm Workers, the NC Dream Team.
El Pueblo is helping the cause of the March by distributing information regarding the event, according to a phone call from Pablo Escobar of El Pueblo.
According to an email sent from El Pueblo, it will be a “march to protest racial profiling and discrimination against immigrant and minority communities. Several states and local governments are considering passing laws similar to the one just recently passed in Arizona that allows law enforcement agencies to detain people based only on a suspicion that the individual does not have the proper documentation to be in the USA.”
Edward Rubio of Raleigh, a supporter of the march, was interviewed by phone Wednesday, and he gave his reasons for wanting to march on Thursday. Rubio moved from New Jersey where he grew up, to Raleigh over 15 years ago, and he is a small business owner in the construction industry. He sees the problems of the immigrants’ first-hand.
He estimates that 70-80% of local construction workers are immigrants. He points out that these workers are all over Wake County “including the building right in front of the Governor’s office in downtown Raleigh.”
Rubio also points out that the Obama administration's justice department has filed a lawsuit to overturn the law recently enacted in Arizona. The administration says states do not have the authority to enact laws on immigration, as this is a Department of State issue.
Rubio says the United State’s need solutions to its immigration and naturalization issues. “We need to document people so they don’t have to be in hiding and get hired illegally.”
When asked how he would respond to the criticism of illegal immigrants that they are breaking the law and should be arrested, Rubio replied, “Who made the law? Who voted the law in?
“Are they Hispanic American or Native Americans? Black Americans? What are their roots? They [the lawmakers] are European Americans. If you look at a Mexican, he has Hopi or Mayan ancestors—they are natives of the Americas. The only difference is they speak Spanish.”
"But, we are persecuting and suppressing these people. We will all be better off to put aside our differences and not use divisive tactics.”
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