Una marcha por la gente

Yesterday, I was part of a march in San Antonio.  On May 1st, there is a national movement to march for immigrant rights - a day to bring awareness to the struggle and the hope.  The march in San Antonio was also for domestic workers, to shed light on unfair treatment and wages.  I joined the march by myself, and was surprised at the lack of people standing in solidarity with the marchers - as we gathered in the park with our signs, there were only 4 white people.  This was my first ever march, and I was excited to be participating, but I was also a little nervous.  I was accutely aware of my whiteness, and as we started marching and chanting, I remembered something empowering my old proferssor and friend Kristen French told me.  A few years ago, when I was working at a bilingual school, I was teaching Spanish speaking parents how to advocate for themselves in the school system, and how to support their kids coming home with English homework.  After a few weeks, I went to Kristen and told her how I was feeling off kilter.  I felt out of place - as a white person,with no kids of my own, teaching these Latino parents about advocating for their kids.  Kristen told me "You're a sister in the struggle."  She talked to me about not being in the struggle myself, but being a person who can open the door, and walk through it with whomever is on the other side.

Yesterday, when I felt out of place for a minute, I remembered that I may not be personally experiencing the struggle that we were marching for, but I am a sister in it.
Half way through the march, I took up step with a really neat activist named Javier.  Together, we held a banner that read "Demandamos Justicia - We Demand Justice."  As we marched, he quoted Martin Luther King.  "Whatever effects 1 directly, effects all indirectly. I can never be what I ought to be until you are what you ought to be.  This is the interrelated structure of reality."  So true!  What effects one, effects us all. And so, in the end- it is my struggle (and yours!) too.  As we marched, people came to the sidewalks and cheered, clapped and joined us.  By the end of the march, I couldn't even count how many white people had joined.  So many people marching in solidarity - "Ain't no power like the power of the people, cause the power of the people won't stop."