By A. David Dahmer

“Si, se puede!!!”

Taking a day off, for Latinos, many of whom have two or three jobs, is a huge ordeal. But thousands upon thousands did just that April 10 as they marched to the Capitol Building in “A Day Without Latinos” rally protesting anti-immigration legislation.

Alfonso Zepeda-Capistran, former president of LUCha and one of the organizers of the rally, said they well exceeded their 5,000-person goal.
“We were happily surprised at the show of force from all parts of the state,” he said.

“We weren’t expecting it. The New York Times reported it to be 25,000. We’re not exactly sure how many people were there,” Zepeda-Capistran said. “[The Capital Times Editor] John Nichols said it was comparable to the [John] Kerry [presidential] rally, which would be amazing, because there were no national or presidential figures here. It was a great show of force, and we hope that politicians at the state and national level took notice.”

Hundreds of thousands of protesters turned out April 10 in small towns and big cities throughout the United States, demanding that undocumented immigrants get a chance to live the American dream.