Hundreds Attend May Day March

On May 1, in commemoration of International Worker’s Day, over 300 community members took to the streets marching from MacArthur Park to City Hall to defend workers and immigrant rights and demand Long Beach become a Sanctuary City for all. The march was organized by the May Day Long Beach, a coalition of over 20 social justice groups, non-profits, labor unions, and other grassroots organizations. The theme was “Sanctuary City for All” to demand the city to pass a policy that prohibits city employees including police officers from funding, cooperating, and participating in deportations and other

forms of immigration enforcement.

 

Speakers challenged local government officials to take urgent action to stop deportations. “We have gone to Sacramento, to Los Angeles, people in power to demand protections for our immigrant communities but our local representatives are silent.” said Elisa Gomez, from St. Athanasius Catholic Church and a member of Greater Long Beach Interfaith Community Organization. Gomez also criticized the new budget proposal under Trump that would increase ICE and immigration enforcement funding by $600 million and may increase new deportations by 400,000 people.

 

The program featured a diverse set of speakers including undocumented youth, immigrant mothers, hotel workers, women’s rights organizers, and disability rights activists who highlighted the need for a sanctuary city for undocumented immigrants while showing the connection to state violence and poverty that forces millions to migrate to the U.S. “We know that militarization impacts communities, destroys them, and affects women and children and all oppressed people living in those communities. This is why we need to build international solidarity.” explained Gabrielle Sibal of GABRIELA, a local Filipino women’s organization.

 

The crowd stopped in front of the Westin and Renaissance hotels, both of which have a long history of mistreatment of their workers including cases filed on issues such as wage theft, sexual harassment , and union-busting. The crowds began to chant “Westin, Westin you’re no good! Treat your workers like you should!”

 

Hotel workers in Long Beach have long been pushing the city to pass “Claudia’s Law,” a policy designed to protect women hotel workers from abuse and sexual harassment in the workplace.

 

“We’ve been waiting for 2 years. And still we have heard nothing from council,” said Nereyda Sotto, a hotel worker and organizer. The May Day contingent marched down Ocean Avenue and ended in front of Long Beach City Hall where speakers discussed issues such as indigenous rights and ancestral land, privatization of education, ending labor exploitation, U.S. imperialism, and the need for all communities to unite and fight oppression.

 

Bruce Jefferson, a warehouse worker at Cal Cartage spoke about issues of wage theft, favoritism, lack of healthcare, and racial discrimination committed by the company. “How does this affect our community? The school to prison pipeline, the immigrant deportation, we are all in the same boat! No more sitting around complaining. Do something! On behalf of all warehouse workers we stand united together to end all of the discrimination!” Jefferson said.

 

Sergio Gonzales, a truck driver for K&R Transportation also commented on the issue of wage by pointing to the systematic misclassification of truck drivers and urged the community and local elected officials to continue to support truck drivers. “ I thank you guys for supporting us, for a better future, not for me, but for our kids”.

 

Jedi Jimenez from Anakbayan Long Beach, a Filipino youth organization, criticized the Trump’s proposed military budget increase of $54 billion that would slash the budget for social services like art programs, housing, environmental protections, and education. “It’s up to us to build a strong resistance and defend our communities against their attacks. Organizing means joining an organization and building collective power.” Naida Tushnet of Long Beach Area Peace Network also called for peace instead of military spending, "It's important to have Long Beach as a sanctuary city. But, in the long run, there is no sanctuary without world peace."

 

The program also included performances by local Long Beach artists Vanessa Acosta, Patricia Poston, Cheyenne Phoenix, Sandra Acosta and Veronica Acosta. The May Day march closed with marchers writing messages onto a “Sanctuary for All” banner. The marchers ended the night by chanting Assata Shakur’s famous quote “It is our duty to fight for our freedom. It is our duty to win. We must love each other and support each other. The only thie have nothing to lose but our chains.”

 

May Day Long Beach calls on all Long Beach residents to educate, organize, and mobilize to resist the Trump administration’s attacks on immigrants, Muslims, workers, people of color, women, youth, LGBTQ folks, and other marginalized communities. We demand that the City of Long Beach become a Sanctuary City now that protects undocumented immigrants and all marginalized communities.

 

 

May Day Long Beach includes: Anakbayan Long Beach, Black Lives Matter Long Beach, California Faculty Association (CFA), Clergy Laity United for Economic Justice (CLUE), Coalition for Latino dvancement at LBCC, DAYS, Filipino Migrant Center, Gabriela Los Angeles, Greater Long Beach Interfaith Community Organization (ICO), Housing Long Beach, Justice for Port Truck Drivers Campaign, Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy (LAANE), Long Beach Residents Empowered (LiBRE), Little Brown Church, Long Beach Area Peace Network, Long Beach Coalition for Good Jobs & a Healthy Community, Long Beach G.R.R.R.L. Collective, Long Beach Immigrant Rights Coalition, Palestinian Youth Movement, Semillas de Esperanza, Stop Fracking Long Beach