Marchers Rally for Affirmative Action, Latino Rights

A small group of protesters marched through downtown Santa Ana on Sunday to rally in support of affirmative action and civil rights for Latino immigrants.

The event, organized by local university students, attracted about 70 demonstrators who marched down 4th Street--a major commercial hub for Orange County’s immigrant community--to the Civic Center Plaza.

Cesar A. Cruz, a UC Irvine student and organizer of the march, said he was not disappointed by the modest turnout on a warm and sunny afternoon.

“We knew that today we would see small numbers, but we know they [immigrants] are supportive of what we’re doing,” Cruz said. “Propositions 187 and 209 were major defeats for civil rights. But we’re not giving up. We’re taking the struggle from the poll booth to the streets.”

Several Latino onlookers who gathered at the corner of French and 4th streets, where the march began, said they agreed with the protest’s message. However, some were discouraged from marching when they noticed a Santa Ana police officer videotaping the gathering and march.

“That’s what the authorities do in El Salvador and Guatemala,” said Jose Manuel Villegas, who said he was Salvadoran. “Why are they taking people’s photographs if it’s a peaceful event? What are they going to do with the pictures?”

Santa Ana police, some in golf carts and others on bicycles, escorted the marchers to the Civic Center. The officers kept a distance but maintained a high-profile presence throughout the event.

Lt. Robert Chavez said some events are videotaped “in case something does occur. . . . It’s an investigative tool that we have if it’s needed. The purpose is not to gather intelligence.”

Chanting “no justice, no peace” and “we are a people without borders,” the marchers were led by students dressed in Aztec costumes dancing traditional Indian dances. The march ended at the Plaza of the Flags in the Civic Center.

“They want us to pick the strawberries and work in hotels, but they don’t want us to get an education,” one speaker said in reference to the dismantling of preferential student admittance by Proposition 209 at University of California campuses. “But we are the giant, and the giant has [awakened].”