2/26/2009
Latinos march for unity, rights
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| Latinos march for unity, rights |
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ST. HELENS — About 400 Latinos and their allies marched through St. Helens last week to promote peace and unity in the face of a Columbia County ordinance targeting immigrants who have skipped the legal process.
Called the Procession for Respect and Dignity, it revealed the humans who are part of a hot political debate in rural northwest Oregon. In November, voters in the county decided to place fines on employers who hire immigrants who have slipped into the country under the radar. The ordinance is on hold during a court challenge.
The appeal was filed by a coalition of social justice activists and business owners backed by the American Civil Liberties Union.
One ballot measure, which failed, would have required worksite billboards that would read, “Legal Workers Only.”
“When these measures first appeared on the ballots, I felt as though I would have to leave the town in which I loved so much,” said Gretchen Ramos, who lives near St. Helens. “How could I raise my children here?
“My husband is now legal, but I want my children to belong to a community that is united.”
Latinos United for a Better Future, a new group, was part of the march. The idea is to reveal that Latinos are an important part of the community.
“We organized this procession because as Latinos we want to show a positive image of ourselves that we are hardworking, honest people who care deeply about our family and community,” said, Yesenia Sanchez, president of the group. “Human rights and dignity belong to everybody. It doesn’t matter where you come from, the color of your skin, or your documentation status. Everyone deserves to be treated with human dignity.”
Marchers said that since the ordinance passed with 57 percent of votes, Latinos have been subject to insult and discrimination. Some have been castigated to speak only English in public. Online commentators have issued threats to Latinos in the area, which has long suffered from the decline of the timber economy, but is increasingly a bedroom community for Portlanders.
One commenter skipped the insults and argued, “I’m sorry, it is not too much to ask you to be here legally. There are people who have waited for 10 years to come here legally. Get in line.”
At the close of the procession, members of Latinos United for a Better Future delivered a letter from the community to St. Helen’s City Hall along with a basket of white flowers, a symbol of peace.
The conflict over immigration policy is not unique to Columbia County.
“This country needs to fix its broken immigration system,” said Marcy Westerling of the Rural Organizing Project, based in Columbia County. “We need just and humane immigration reform. Lacking that we will see poor localized solutions like Arizona and now Columbia County. What we have seen in this community could happen anywhere else in the country if one person decides to go on a crusade.”
The nation’s Catholic bishops have asked Congress to pass humane immigration reform with provisions that will help reunite families.
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