Low Turnout Clouds L.A. Latino Rally

A year ago, more than 70,000 Latinos staged one of the largest protests in Los Angeles history, marching Downtown to condemn the upcoming vote on Proposition 187 and Gov. Pete Wilson’s targeting of illegal immigrants.

But images of the protest--particularly its sea of Mexican flags--only seemed to inflame the anti-immigrant fervor that soon after swept the controversial ballot measure to victory.

So when many of the same organizers planned another march this year, they made sure not to give opponents similar ammunition: On Sunday, the flags in abundance were U.S. flags and the Downtown rally began with a moving rendition of “The Star-Spangled Banner.”

There was only one problem: Relatively few people showed up.

Although the “Call to Action” march passed through some densely populated barrios, police estimated that the crowd, which included some non-Latinos, numbered 1,500--far from the 40,000 to 50,000 sponsors predicted.

While the event’s organizers called the official estimate low, they acknowledged privately that the total number did not top 3,000, a bitter disappointment.

The leaders, drawn from numerous community groups, cited several factors, including the lack of a mass pre-march organizational effort compared to last year, when labor unions were heavily involved and busloads of protesters were brought in.

But the timing--and national mood--also appeared to be central factors, they conceded, underscoring how immigration issues so quickly have been eclipsed by other debates, most notably on race relations and affirmative action.

“People have a tendency to respond to things that affect them immediately,” noted Fabian Nunez, a Pomona activist and march coordinator. “They don’t have the same desire to go out and participate in a march when an issue is not immediate.”

Indeed, the sense of urgency was not nearly as pronounced Sunday as a year ago, when Election Day was fast approaching and the futures of Proposition 187 and Wilson seemed to hang in the balance. There was talk of mass deportations and immigrant roundups.

A year later, the proposition is tied up in the courts and Wilson’s presidential campaign--rooted largely in his tough stance against illegal immigrants--died a quick death. During Sunday’s rally, demonstrators gleefully hoisted a black coffin symbolizing the demise of Wilson’s presidential effort.

Still, a series of speakers reminded the crowd gathered a block from City Hall that, at a national level, crackdowns against illegal immigrants are intensifying and Congress is moving on plans to slash immigration levels and cut benefits for non-citizens.

And despite Sunday’s turnout, organizers said they plan to pursue ambitious plans for another demonstration in Los Angeles in May, and then a climactic march on Washington in October, 1996 Latino activists envision the birth of a full-fledged Latino and immigrant-rights movement, noting how the cause of black civil rights was galvanized after Martin Luther King Jr.’s 1963 “March on Washington.”

“This country has to learn that when we speak of race, we need to get beyond the black and white discourse,” said Juan Jose Gutierrez, the Eastside community leader who is a principal force behind the marches.

He, like other organizers of Sunday’s event, voiced frustration that the recent O.J. Simpson trial had reinforced the notion of a nation split between black and white, a perception, Gutierrez said, that had limited relevance in contemporary Los Angeles with its huge--and expanding--populations of Latinos and people of Asian ancestry.

“The O.J. case made Latinos seem invisible,” said Gutierrez, who is executive director of One Stop Immigration, an Eastside social service organization.

The much-publicized march on Washington today by African Americans only serves to bolster the preeminence of the black-white divide, according to Latino leaders at Sunday’s Los Angeles march.

“It brings about another black-white debate that almost overshadows the importance of another population, Latinos, whose problems are similar to those in the black community,” said Nunez, who heads La Alianza in Pomona. “We get left behind.”

While Sunday’s march wasn’t massive, participants said it served as a forum for the frustrations of many immigrants who are barred as non-citizens from expressing their discontent at the ballot box. Many complained that they are unjustly demonized and that their contributions to the regional economy have been ignored.

“We come here to work hard and we pay our taxes, so the least we deserve is health care and education for our children,” said Miguel Hernandez, a minimum-wage apparel worker from Mexico who carried his 2-year-old daughter, Maria Luisa.

Los Angeles County Supervisor Gloria Molina, the most influential Latino lawmaker in the area, skipped last October’s march and also did not show up Sunday. But Los Angeles city councilmen Mike Hernandez and Richard Alatorre did make it, both urging participants to become U.S. citizens and register to vote.

“These marches are very important,” Hernandez said afterward, “because they allow people who can’t vote to express themselves. This lets people know that we do have a voice, we can do something.”

Although march organizers attributed the low turnout in part to the lack of a galvanizing force such as last year’s opposition to Proposition 187, they also blamed themselves for putting less energy into passing out leaflets, recruiting door-to-door and other methods of encouraging participation.

“We obviously have to do a lot more work out in the communities,” conceded one organizer.

Last year’s march from the Eastside to Downtown--barely three weeks before Election Day--was pointed in its condemnation of Proposition 187 and Wilson.

This year’s message was more diffuse, championing immigrant rights, but also affirmative action, U.S. citizenship sign-up efforts, a higher minimum wage and preservation of public services.