May Day: On Broadway and Temple Street in Los Angeles

Jesus Garcia may need a wheelchair, but he didn’t let that stop him from marching in support of immigrants and workers in downtown Los Angeles.

The 51-year-old Pacoima resident was at the front of the procession as the multitudes moved south along Broadway.  “I’m here to support this with all my heart,” the 52-year-old Garcia said as people cheered and whistled from a second-floor apartment balcony. 

The procession reached Temple Street about 45 minutes later. A band played as speakers addressed the crowd.

-- Robert J. Lopez

Video: Robert J. Lopez / Los Angeles Times

Please click and drag within image to explore scene.

Photo by Bryan Chan / Los Angeles Times

Comments

[braaad]

I didn't know May Day was big in the Latino community- cool! I really liked that panoramic image too.

[MARIA won't be in your Times stories]

Your report says Jesus Garcia is 51 in one sentence and in literally the next sentence as 52. Which is it? NOT that it's relevant to the story anyway -- I'm personally offended that all subjects are labeled by age as though that's the most important thing about them when the reporters don't give their ages and in fact try to hide them. As do radio announcers and tv talk show hosts who LOVE to give everyone's age.

I for one am that age but everyone assumes I'm in my 30's, so the idea of having the whole world find out otherwise would be a huge negative in our age-consious and biased society. Publicizing someone's age is as bad as giving their weight. It does NOT define a person any more than it's appropriate to say "Jesus Garcia, brown-skinned."

IF it's a story where age or skin color or race ARE relevant, and the subjects agree (excepting where the person is a criminal suspect and readers are urged to turn them in) only then is giving someone's age appropriate. Otherwise, details like "lived in the country for several decades," is a grandparent, a college student, has young kids, paint enough of a picture and are MORE relevant. MEDIA NEEDS TO RESPECT PEOPLE'S PRIVACY AND AGE AND DIGNITY.

[kevin jones]

I feel sympathy for some of these people, the ones who have been here for years and worked honestly and show respect for our country which gave them this opportunity.

But some say things that make it sound like they're owed amnesty just because they showed up here illegally to get the full rights and opportunities that citizens have. THAT makes me mad -- people from all over the world can't come here just because they feel like it. When Obama and reputable politicians talk about "immigration reform" they mean get to the end of the line and follow the rules, do NOT expect that coming illegally will be automatically rewarded. Many don't acknowledge the different between legal/illegal immigration when they say things like "we're all immigrants."

My parents from Russia despite communist oppression had to wait years to get on the quota for our country and needed to meet other criteria, evaluations, etc. Many East European visitors today must even undergo checks, to prove they'd not be a risk to overstay their tourist visas. Like prove assets and money enough to keep them tied to their home country. However the other side blaming everything on illegals and getting racist and xenophobic is really repulsive.

One argument in favor of legitimizing many (maybe with a path to greencards/ work papers, not full citizenship) is to keep track of them. Without status and some sort of licenses, when they commit hit-and-runs or fraud or ID theft, we can't find them. So some sort of formalization is to our benefit too. I also think more emphasis should be on employers.

[stevo]

Boy, am I confused. They are here "ILLEGALLY!" I find any bill advocating thier rights RIDICULIOUS.

WHAT PART OF ILLEGAL DO YOU NOT UNDERSTAND? Our forefathers came in the right way! They have to do the same!!!!

1. $11 Billion to $22 billion is spent on welfare to illegal aliens each year by state governments.

http://tinyurl.com/zob77

2. $2.2 Billion dollars a year is spent on food assistance programs such as food stamps, WIC, and free school lunches for illegal aliens.

http://www.cis.org/articles/2004/fiscalexec.html

3. $2.5 Billion dollars a year is spent on Medicaid for illegal aliens.

http://www.cis.org/articles/2004/fiscalexec.html

4. $12 Billion dollars a year is spent on primary and secondary school education for children here illegally and they cannot speak a word of English!

http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0604/01/ldt.0.html

5. $17 Billion dollars a year is spent for education for the American-born children of illegal aliens, known as anchor babies.

http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0604/01/ldt.01.html

6. $3 Million Dollars a DAY is spent to incarcerate illegal aliens.

http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0604/01/ldt.01.html

7. 30% percent of all Federal Prison inmates are illegal aliens.

http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0604/01/ldt.01.html

8. $90 Billion Dollars a year is spent on illegal aliens for Welfare & social services by the American taxpayers.

http://premium.cnn.com/TRANSCIPTS/0610/29/ldt.01.html

9. $200 Billion Dollars a year in suppressed American wages are caused by the illegal aliens.
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0604/01/ldt.01.html

10. The illegal aliens in the United States have a crime rate that's two and a half times that of white non-illegal aliens. In particular, their children, are going to make a huge additional crime problem in the U.S.

http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0606/12/ldt.01.html

11. During the year of 2005 there were 4 to 10 MILLION illegal aliens that crossed our Southern Border also, as many as 19,500 illegal aliens from Terrorist Countries. Millions of pounds of drugs, cocaine, meth, heroin and marijuana, crossed into the U. S from the Southern border.

http://tinyurl.com/t9sht

12. The National Policy Institute, 'estimated that the total cost of mass deportation would be between $206 and $230 billion or an average cost of between $41 and $46 billion annually over a five year period.'

http://www.nationalpolicyinstitute.org/pdf/deportation.pdf

13. In 2006 illegal aliens sent home $45 BILLION in remittances back to their countries of origin.
http://www.rense.com/general75/niht.htm

14. 'The Dark Side of Illegal Immigration: Nearly One Million Sex Crimes Committed by Illegal Immigrants In The United States.'
http://www.drdsk.com/articleshtml

The total cost is a whopping $ 338.3 BILLION DOLLARS A YEAR.

More simply put, in just over 2 years without the illegal alien stranglehold on our economy, the $700 billion bailout would be paid for, without a cent of tax of US citizens!

Are we THAT stupid?
on the other
hand, it does raise the hair on the back of your neck, I hope you forward it
to every legal resident in the country including every representative in
Washington , D.C. - five times a week for as long as it takes to restore some
semblance of intelligence in our policies and enforcement thereof.

WATCH THIS~!: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jeYscnFpEyA
Stop the invasion

[San Diegan]

Rreealy cool 9 people taking out of the system that only one is paying into,triing going up to ucsd and seeing what im talking about ,too bad I paid 39 years as as tax payer not a leach,

[Eddie Brown]

Odd, One writes "I feel sympathy for some of these people, The ones who have been here for years and worked honestly and show respect for our country which gave them this opportunity"...Um, first of all, if one sneaks into a foreign Nation and is illegally employed, that is not called "working honestly" ...secondly, if one disobeys a foreign Nations immigration law that millions of other people did, do, and will follow, that is not called showing "respect" for that Nation or it's people... And lastly, If one disobeys a foreign Nations immigration law by sneaking into the country, then disobeys a foreign Nations labor law by illegally obtaining employment , That is not called being "given an opportunity"...that is called, Breaking the law.

[borderraven]

I agree with Maria, where a story is about age and race, please mention it in the photo caption. Where a story is about immigration, then please mention a person's immigration status in the photo caption. May, the May Day Workerts Marh has been hijacked by the Latinos and the open borders lobby, in a sad attempt to market illegal aliens as being beneficial to the USA. NOBODY comes to my country illegally and DEMANDS CITIZENSHIP. Also, thank you LA Times, for introducing the panoramic camera, I want one, but must ask if I can borrow yours sometime. Google mounted panoramic cameras on cars an traveled our roads to bring "street view" to Google Maps. You can travel the world in Google, and never leave home.

[steve rodriguez]

How many Americans are unemployed and looking for work? Too many! Then why is it OK to cross the border illegally into this country and then demand your rights as citizens? You're an illegal, that's why!

[Ricardo Gomez]

The founding fathers did not come here "legally" they came here after the first Europeans came here illegally and killed virtually all of the Native peoples on the continent.

May Day has ALWAYS been a migrant/immigrant workers issue. The first people to organize successfully in this country were immigrants from Italy, Ireland, Poland, etc. It's the cruel captains of industry and strike-breakers who pitted immigrants vs. union workers.

NO ONE IS ILLEGAL. We (humanity) will come here, and we will fight your oppressive laws. And we will win. Not just for ourselves, but for everyone. When one group is oppressed, we are ALL oppressed.

[MaryJ]

Mexican flags. Bandanas over the face like banditos. Slogans screamed in Spanish in a country where 89 percent of the people speak English. Typical. They never even bother to learn that these things are deeply insulting to most Americans. Is it because they are clueless, or because they have such a deliberate lack of respect for our culture? Either way, this march to me says "I don't want these people in my country."