For the 79th yr, mariachi musicians, waving Mexican flags and shouts of “Viva Mexico,” flooded Cesar Chavez Avenue in East Los Angeles on Sunday for the annual Mexican Independence Day parade and celebration.
However this yr, within the face of the Trump administration’s relentless immigration crackdown — not too long ago bolstered by the Supreme Courtroom choice that enables federal brokers to restart their controversial “roving patrols” throughout Southern California — there was a renewed sense of defiance, and of pleasure.
For a lot of, it was much more necessary to point out up. To face tall.
“We’re here and we’re going to continue fighting for our rights and for others who cannot fight for themselves,” Samantha Robles, 21, mentioned as she watched the parade roll by. “I’m happy that many people are here so they can raise their flags — just not the Mexican flag, but also the American flag, because we’re both Mexican American.”
Members of the Mexican Consulate in Los Angeles maintain a Mexican flag on the East L.A. Mexican Independence Day Parade & Pageant on Cesar Chavez Avenue on Sunday in Los Angeles.
(Carlin Stiehl/Los Angeles Occasions)
However the parade was additionally a bittersweet second for Robles. This yr, her grandmother opted to remain dwelling, given ongoing sweeping immigration raids throughout the area. A brand new Supreme Courtroom ruling approved U.S. immigration brokers to cease and detain anybody they may suspect is within the U.S. illegally, even when based mostly on little greater than their job at a automobile wash, talking Spanish or having brown pores and skin. Immigration rights attorneys and native leaders have denounced that as discriminatory and harmful, and it has stoked fears in Robles, who describes herself as an East L.A. native.
“I have my brown skin, I have my Indigenous features,” Robles mentioned. “I’m afraid not just for myself, [but] for my friends who are also from Mexico and they came here for more opportunities, for a higher education. … I’m afraid for those who are getting taken away from their families.”
The Comité Mexicano Civico Patriotico Inc., which organized Sunday’s parade and celebration, addressed these fears in a press convention on Friday, however determined to maneuver forward with its celebration of Mexican independence from Spain, because it has accomplished so in September for many years.
That call appeared to drive a way of proud resistance on Sunday.
“Aqui estamos y no nos vamos!” (“We are here and we are not leaving!”) yelled Rosario Marín, the previous mayor of Huntington Park and the parade’s madrina, or godmother.
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass holds TJ’s parrot Pepe Hermon on the East L.A. Mexican Independence Day Parade & Pageant on Sunday in Los Angeles.
(Carlin Stiehl/Los Angeles Occasions)
When Mayor Karen Bass rode by the group, she learn aloud an indication from the sidewalk that mentioned: “Trump Must Go!”
The group cheered.
“I was just reading the sign,” she mentioned, with a smile on her face. However Bass reiterated her help for her Latino constituents, and her opposition to the continued immigration raids, calling them horrible.
“Our city stands united,” Bass instructed the group. “We are a city of immigrants. We understand that 50% of our city is Latino, and the idea that Latinos would be targeted is abhorrent.”
The Trump administration has insisted its immigration actions are merely an try and implement the regulation, and has blasted Bass and different metropolis leaders for stoking resistance. However many Latino leaders say the administration’s use of pressure is an abuse of energy, stoking fears which have harm folks and the area’s economic system.
Alfonso Fox Orozco wears conventional Mexican costume on the East L.A. Parade & Pageant on Sunday in Los Angeles.
(Carlin Stiehl/Los Angeles Occasions)
Such issues could have affected Sunday’s parade, which appeared much less attended than prior years. Anti-Trump and Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE indicators, lined the road. Organizations such because the United Academics Los Angeles yelled out “La migra no, la escuela si.” (“No immigration enforcement, yes schools!”)
Jenny Hernandez, a fifth-generation East L.A. resident, held up a do-it-yourself signal that learn “Crush ICE.” The 51-year-old has been disturbed by the current raids, lots of which have focused people within the office.
“What they’re doing is wrong,” she mentioned. “We are not criminals. We’re Mexican, Hispanic, Latino, Chicano, whatever you want to call it…. We do not deserve this treatment.… There needs to be a change.”
La Catrina Andante sits atop a automobile in conventional face paint on the parade Sunday in Los Angeles.
(Carlin Stiehl/Los Angeles Occasions)
However principally, the day emanated Latino pleasure, unseen in current months. Burnt sage crammed the air at one intersection, courtesy of a Danza Azteca group, whereas attendees — some in conventional embroidered attire and shirts — relished the cumbia track blasting from a close-by radio.
A younger woman, not more than 5 years previous, belted out a name for “fresas” alongside her mom, a avenue vendor. A grandmother sat along with her lap coated in a blanket, knitted with the colours of the Mexican flag. Politicians, youngsters, dancers and charros, or males driving dancing horses, shouted, “Viva Mexico!”
Ladies dressed as distributors from Patzcuaro, Michoacan, stability on pots on the East L.A. Parade & Pageant Sunday in Los Angeles.
(Carlin Stiehl/Los Angeles Occasions)
Different ethnic teams joined the favored celebration, together with waves of Puerto Ricans, Bolivians and Salvadorans. Notable faces included Snow Tha Product and Actual 92.3 FM radio host Large Boy, who at one level took the reins as an elotero vendor. Area shuttle astronaut José M. Hernández led the parade as grand marshal. , His journey from migrant farmworker to NASA astronaut was detailed within the Amazon Prime movie “A Million Miles Away.”
Giselle Salgado, additionally an East L.A. native, mentioned it was necessary to see a great turnout from her neighborhood, in addition to from public officers, although she seen a smaller crowd this yr.
“We’re not afraid,” she mentioned. “This is our tradition, we’ve always come out here. … I’m sure a lot of people are scared, but they’re still here. We’re not going to let fear and intimidation work against us.”
