Thousands of people clad in white shirts marched from northwest Denver to the state Capitol this morning as part of a national day of action to draw attention to immigration rights.
The group, estimated by Denver Police to be as high as 75,000 people, walked for more than 30 minutes from Viking Park at West 29th Avenue and Federal Boulevard to the Capitol.
The white that many marchers wore was intended to symbolize their peaceful march. Some pushed strollers and others carried backpacks and coolers filled with food and water as they headed for a noontime rally downtown.
Waving American flags, they chanted: “Si Se Puede,” (loosely translated as “Yes, we can”) and “Aqui estamos y no nos vamos y nos hechan nos regresamos,” (“Here we are and we won’t go and if they kick us out we’ll come back”).
Today’s nationwide call for a shopping boycott and walkouts from school and work is intended to draw attention to immigration-reform plans being considered in Congress and to underscore the role Latino workers play in the economy.
As they walked past apartment buildings and office towers, the marchers were occasionally greeted by cheers from onlookers. Other spectators simply took in the procession, which stretched for nearly a mile.
Doni Curkendall, 17, ducked out of the crowd with her family to grab some tacos at a makeshift tacqueria set up alongside the march route. Curkendall, who was born in Mexico City, said she was taking the day off school to support her immigrant family.
“I really care about my studies. We love it here. We don’t want to leave and we think we contribute a lot,” she said.
Curkendall said her family is in the country legally, but that she feels as though they are discriminated against, nonetheless. She said she was also standing up for relatives and friends who have been in the country illegally for years.
“I think the people who have been here for years deserve to get citizenship,” Curkendall said. “They’ve been here for so long and contribute so much, it’s not fair to send them back.”
Julio Fernandez Andrade, from Zacatecas, Mexico, said he has lived in the United State for 37 years without documentation. He said he’s worked as a truck driver and an oil field hand. He carried a sign that said: “Somos America” (We Are America).
“We do have the right to live wherever we decide,” Andrade said. “We are not criminals. We are not terrorists.”
Among the messages on signs: “We (Love) USA,” “We are human, like you,” “God loves the aliens,” “We don’t run the country, but we make the country run,” “Today we march. Tomorrow we vote,” and “No human being is illegal.”
The march went extremely well, according to Denver police spokesman Sonny Jackson.
“Overall it was a success.”
The only problems encountered throughout the day were related to traffic tie-ups, but Jackson said the police department and news media notified the public early on to expect delays through the streets.
“We knew traffic was going to be an issue and it was a frustration,” he said.
In some cases, motorists waited an hour and a half along barricades before the marchers passed on by.
Two juveniles were arrested by officers along the parade route for smoking marijuana, but Jackson said those arrests were not necessarily related to the march itself.
An argument broke out after the rally between members of the Minutemen, a group that opposes illegal immigration, and the parade participants.
“We put a police buffer between the two, but people respected each other’s rights to assemble,” Jackson said.
In Lafayette this morning, about 150 people rallied in LaMont Does Park.
It was an extremely calm event, said commander Rick Bashor with the Lafayette police department.
Groups gathered at picnic tables and listened to speakers for about two hours before dispersing around 10:30 a.m.
There was no marching or loud protesting.
“Ours was a very low-key, very peaceful event,” Bashor said.
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