Corvallis Rally Against HR 4437

Yesterday, an anti-4437 rally took place on the campus of Oregon State University and continued downtown Corvallis to the courthouse. As I approached the scheduled rally, I passed a group of students from Corvallis High School.


At first, I heard some cheering and quiet talk amongst the students. Near the front, some boys were waving a Mexican flag and yelling, "Beaners! Yeah!" It was all in fun, but would ultimately undercut any good that bystanders would get from the whole thing. I suggested to the one yelling the loudest that saying "beaner" is disrespectful to himself and maybe something else would be more appropriate. He took my suggestion without being sarcastic. Eventually, the crowd was chanting, "Si se puede!" (Yes we can!)

I diverted my course from the students to find the rally on campus, where small numbers were starting to gather. Once the school kids showed up, the numbers kept growing.








Members from the community, faculty and some OSU students began to show up in support of immigrant rights. The point of this rally and march was to say NO to the proposed HR 4437 bill from James Sensenbrenner(R). This bill would not only make it a felony to be in the United States illegally, it also criminalizes family, friends and others who may provide aid of any sort to an illegal immigrant. It has received mass protest across the country, in cities like Los Angeles, where over 500,000 people showed up. Yesterday in Corvallis, between 200 and 600 people showed up. There were several events in the span of time between 11 AM - 2:30 PM, each with varying numbers of people.

There was one counter-protestor. He held a sign that said "Illegal is illegal" which quickly drew disdain from ralliers.



Boys from the high school gathered around him and held up Mexican flags. "Why are you holding that flag when you're in America? Are you an American?" asked the counter-protestor. The boys exclaimed that they were proud of their heritage, followed by a cheer for "brown pride." He wasn't impressed.


A few more people surrounded him with signs that read, "No Human Being is Illegal" and "Not every Latino is Illegal... Today we march, tomorrow we vote."

A Native American woman walked up to him and reminded him of the illegal immigrants from 1492. She made some interesting points that left him without much to say. When asked by a reporter from the student paper why he was there, he stated, "People want to become Americans....right? But they want to bring their culture... here, and not assimilate into OUR culture." He also called the Mexican border an "open pipeline for terrorists." Shortly after the 8th, maybe 9th person had said their piece to him, he was "late for class."

The march began at around 12:30. The crowd went across campus, then about 20 blocks toward downtown.





Eventually, the crowd ended up at the Courthouse, where a few speakers thanked the crowd for showing up, and several people made impromptu speeches. About half were in English, the other half in Spanish. "We're all equal, nobody is illegal!" and "We want equality and justice for all people who live here!" were among the main messages of the various speakers. One student who made a speech indicated that his family was forced to come here because of U.S. foreign policy. "I didn't ask to be here. I came to this country... because of a war, my family had to come to this country and struggle to survive, thanks to the US Government...now they want to take that away from us." He also said, "We have a responsibility for those who can't speak!" The crowd responded with cheers and by chanting, "Aqui estamos, y no nos vamos!" ("Here we are, and we won't go!") Another speaker brought up names of civil rights leaders like Martin Luther King and Cesar Chavez. "Remember what they said, what they stood for!" We were reminded that Cesar Chavez lead a march from Delano to Sacramento, 40 years ago.






Very little media folk showed up. KEZI 9 from Eugene attended the initial rally on campus, but disappeared before the march started. Corvallis Gazette Times was there. A few students from OSU's student paper, the "Barometer," were there. The guy in the next photo with the video camera was part of a coordinated effort with some other leaders of the rally.



After the rally at the Courthouse concluded, the crowd dispersed and a group of about 50 marched back to campus. The drums rang out, occasional chanting was heard and passers-by in their cars honked in support of the marchers.


At the end, before a few of the protestors went to talk about the experience on OSU's campus radio station, this was what remained.


The march and rallies turned out a fairly large crowd, though small in comparison to the tens to hundreds of thousands who have gathered across the US. The energy made the crowd seem larger than it was. The people were peaceful, there were people with materials to write to members of Congress... there were even people there to help others get registered to vote.

As we look back on our history as a nation that built itself on slave labor and peasant wages for its immigrant working class, some look forward to a brighter future of liberty and justice for all. While that is laid out in the pledge of allegiance, no group has ever, or will ever, achieve that by sitting on their butts.