Boycott or no boycott. American flags only or flags from all nations. A national message or one aimed at Colorado voters.
Local and national organizers of the immigration reform movement are taking a variety of approaches, but all agree they have the same goal: comprehensive immigration reform and human rights.
An economic boycott and massive rally planned for Monday to draw attention to the immigration debate and the role immigrants play in the economy is generating discussion about the most effective way for advocates to make their point.
Some groups support the work and economic boycott. Others support the economic but not the work and school boycott. And others are offering alternatives to the scheduled rally in Civic Center in the form of prayer services.
Organizers in Denver are discouraging the use of any flags other than American. Some activists, though, say flags of all stripes should be welcome.
“With half a million people out in Dallas and L.A. and thousands in Denver, you are going to find a diversity of opinion and approaches,” said John Trasviña, interim president and general counsel for the Mexican American Legal Defense Fund. “It’s a reality.”
In Denver, differences of opinion and strategy have been tempered with discussion. The Roman Catholic Denver Archdiocese does not support the boycott but will host a “Justice for Immigrants” Mass on the same day. Service Employees International Union Local 105 is not supporting the work boycott but is mobilizing its service workers to be there if they can negotiate time off with their employers.
“We’ve all come to a consensus that it is a good thing there are multiple strategies in play right now,” said Lisa Duran, executive director of Rights for All People. “Everyone has the same goal, which is to adjust immigration reform. I don’t feel we are divided; we just have different ways to get to the same goal.”
Weighing the walkout
Rights for All People supports the economic, work and school boycott. The group, like most others, is urging workers to talk to their employers before taking the day off.
The National Day of Action, as it has been called, is going to be watched by many on both sides. It’s already being dissected, said Doris Meissner, staff director for the Migration Policy Institute and former head of the Immigration and Naturalization Service.
“If people are saying we work hard and we want to participate in worker strike, it’s contradictory,” she said.
Organizers say the goal is to show the dependence of the American economy and labor force on immigrant workers, and the way to do so is to take a day away from work.
“We are emphasizing that this is an indicator of how desperately our economy needs immigrant labor, and it supports our view that we need to integrate undocumented immigrants into our economy and not isolate them,” Duran said.
Still, organizers are responding in small ways to the vitriolic reaction from critics about the use of non-American flags by demonstrators after the last few rallies.
The flags, organizers say, are symbols of heritage, not disloyalty to America, but since they cause people to miss the point – immigration reform – they are urging demonstrators to bring only Old Glory.
“Flags have become divisive symbols, and that is not the intent or people wouldn’t be in the U.S. asking for immigration reform,” said Ricardo Martinez of Padres Unidos. He has encouraged people to bring American flags and wave signs that say “We are America,” in English and Spanish.
“We know there will still be people bringing their own flags, but that should not burden the discussion of immigration reform. Unfortunately it does, so we are trying to avoid that and focus on the real discussion,” he said.
The presence of foreign flags tends to feed into the rhetoric from anti-illegal-immigration groups that undocumented immigrants don’t want to be part of the mainstream, said political scientist Anna Sampaio, a professor at University of Colorado at Denver.
“If you are going to do a protest, then don’t feed into the racialization of the debate,” Sampaio said. “Don’t have non- American flags, don’t have just Spanish chants, don’t just have Latinos there.”
An educational approach
For the National Council of La Raza, the appearance of flags from Mexico or other countries is not a concern.
“There is something of a double standard when you see celebrations of different ethnic days in this country and you see people waving an Irish flag or other flags,” said Janet Murguia, president of the group.
The organization does not support students leaving school or people jeopardizing their jobs to participate. Instead, Murguia said, it advocates a day of action that includes voter registration and education about naturalization for legal residents.
“We want to be respectful of local grassroots efforts and want to weigh in in other ways,” Murguia said.
Still, there are those watching the rallies nationally with an eye toward how they affect the overall effort. Trasviña, of the Mexican American Legal Defense Fund, is supportive but hopes it does not come across as punishing to schools, communities or businesses.
“If it’s threatening to shut down cities or industries, if it becomes ‘This is what we can do to you’ as opposed to ‘This is what we can do together as Americans,”‘ Trasviña said, he wants “to see that avoided.”
Political watchers say the different tactics can both help and hurt the goals of the organizers.
Rallies may help pressure the federal government for immigration reform but they do little to change state-level politics, especially in Colorado, because swing voters are moderate Republicans and independents may feel polarized or threatened, Sampaio said.
“Is the focus at the federal level? Is it at the state level? Are they working to try to enhance or prevent certain types of immigration reform at the state level?” she said. “There is a lot of debate about … ‘What kind of messaging do you put out there?”‘
Efforts to change the discourse about immigrants, which takes a long time, and efforts to affect state issues require different strategies, she said.
For instance, Keep Colorado Safe, which is working on a campaign to oppose a proposed ballot initiative that would curtail state services to undocumented immigrants, will spend more time reaching out to moderate voters.
But the different approaches, national and local, work as long as the end goal is the same, said Martinez, who calls this movement a continuation of the Chicano and civil rights movements of the 1960s.
“It’s the same issues: civil and human rights,” Martinez said.
Staff writer Elizabeth Aguilera can be reached at 303-820-1372 or eaguilera@denverpost.com.
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