It was the chant I heard as I was driving downtown early this morning. Hundreds of people marched down the sidewalks chanting "Si Se Puede"...."Yes we can". The individuals represented the hispanic population of the community. The young and old were equally represented as they requested the right to be a citizen of the United States.
Today's protest was part of a national movement - The National Day of Action. A protest in response to the push for immigration reform.
I was especially struck by the number of children in the sea of white shirts. Should these children have been in the classroom today? Or, was this education a intimate look into the political realities of our nation.
Once I arrived at my destination (unfortunately in the middle of the protest) I had the opportunity to speak with a few people about the events of the morning. One of the gentleman I spoke to was the construction manager. He explained that without the use of illegal immigrant labor, his current project would have a completion price of over 60 million dollars rather than the estimated 30+ million. True, he is not allowed to directly hire illegal immigrants. But he is not able to control what each of his subcontractors does on the project. Is our economy really ready for such an impact?
True, there are problems with immigration in the US. Is a guest worker program the answer? I don't think so. Is building a wall across the southern US an answer? I don't think so.
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