Columnist
It’s no secret that oppressed groups in the United States and abroad have borrowed the tactics of the modern Civil Rights Movement to advance their cause. And most groups are quick to acknowledge that debt to Black America.
But Monday’s “Day of Absence” by Latinos took it to a new level. “Day of Absence” was the title of a 1965 play by Douglas Turner Ward, founder and artistic director of the Negro Ensemble Company. The play, set in a small community in the South, explores what would happened if all of the town’s black disappeared for a day.
So when I heard Hispanics discussing “a day of absence,” I realized that they had not only studied the Civil Rights Movement, they had paid attention to every detail. I ain’t mad at ‘em, as we like to say, but I am impressed that they had really did their homework.
Initially, Monday was to be a day that Hispanics boycotted work, stayed out of school and refused to go shopping in order show the importance of Hispanics to the American economy. However, that was modified because of dissention over whether undocumented workers would risk losing their jobs and keeping students out of school would send the wrong message.
The League of United Latin Americans (LULAC), one of the key organizers, helped revamp effort.
“We are asking individuals to keep from spending a penny that day,” LULAC National President Hector M. Flores said in a statement. “We are also asking students to stay in school on that day and not make any purchases. We do not want children out of school or people missing work without permission from their employers. We ask that people be disciplined and responsible and to show our respect yet make a clear statement.”
Monday was also International Workers Day, a holiday that began in the 1880s. Flores said it is celebrated in every country except the U.S., Canada and South Africa.
Latino leaders point to a UCLA study by Raul Hinojosa that shows the combined value of undocumented immigrants labor, stimulus to the economy and taxes exceeds $890 billion a year. According to the study, those immigrants use only $43 billion in public services annually, most of it in education and emergency care.
“Undocumented immigrants contribute about $850 billion more per year than they cost – a huge net gain for the United States,” said Brent Wilkes, national executive director of LULAC. “It’s about time that we provide a legal avenue for them to come here in recognition of their tremendous contributions to our country.”
While Monday’s modified “Day of Absence” was met with mixed results, there is no doubt that Latino street demonstrations in more than 75 cities on April 10 showed that old civil rights tactics can still be effective. I emphasize the word can. Sadly, on the same day at least 500,000 were marching in Los Angeles, less than 10,000 – possibly less than 5,000 – African Americans were marching in New Orleans to protect the voting rights of displaced residents. Even with Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton and the heads of the NAACP and the National Urban League present, the turnout was a disappointment. If we can’t do any better than that, it’s time for Act II.
I don’t know what should constitute Act II. That should be a community decision. But I do know what it should not be; it should not be an over reliance on press conferences and street demonstrations. It’s time to develop some different approaches. It is our job to stand up and be counted. This is not about being the flavor of the month, but, as Dr. Martin Luther King put it, collecting on the bounced check that our nation has given its black citizens.
Act II can begin by doing what we can do as individuals and groups to uplift the people who need it most. Sometimes that might be through organized civil rights groups and at other times it may mean an individual act. Whatever we do, we can’t afford to be absent from the struggle.