Stephany Mayer was among the protestors who filled the streets of Los Angeles on Feb. 2 with dancing, gritos (exclamation or shout-cry), flag-waving, and mixed emotions. Thousands rallied in response to President Trump’s immigration policies.
Two of the protest’s organizers, Emily Tovar and Jocelyn Lazardo, worked alongside others who had the same goal of bringing attention to immigration reform and uniting in solidarity with the undocumented community.
“I was motivated by anger,” Tovar said. “I am the daughter of two Mexican immigrants, and I didn’t see anyone with a platform doing anything about the situation.”
Tovar had organized a protest once before. “Seeing so many people using their voices and doing the right thing made me emotional. I feel proud of our people,” she said.
Organizations such as Peoples Struggle SFV, Socialist Alternative LA, Centro CSO and PSL Los Angeles participated in the protest to stand in solidarity.
The protest started at 9 a.m. with plans to reach Los Angeles City Hall, but the crowds eventually moved onto the 101 freeway. Due to the protest’s blockade, the highway was closed. Organizers stated that marching onto the freeway was not planned; however, the crowd grew so large that it split into several groups.
Lazardo said it was incredible to see the streets of LA filled on a united front to protest for those who could not or did not feel safe to do so.
“Even the people who were there, they knew that they might have encountered the police or I.C.E, but some of them were still very brave to be there– and [to] know their rights as someone being undocumented,” Lazardo said.
For many, this protest hit close to home. Protestors sang, played music and honked their car horns to the chant, “La raza unida, jamás será vencida,” which translates to “the people united, will never be defeated.”
Community member Jasmine Pedroca attended the protest with the motivation to go for a family member and became emotional at the show of support from so many people.
“I wanted to go support this protest because of my mom. I wanted to be the voice that she never had due to her being scared,” she said. “There was a point where we were standing outside of the Metropolitan Detention Center, and I noticed that the people inside were cheering for us. At that point, I knew we were making an impact on people. That part got me emotional.”
According to Mayer, the protestors all shared one common goal: to show up and prove they mattered.
Mayer had attended another protest before heading to LA and explained how this rally was different and more empowering than the first one.
She said, “I have been so politically exhausted that being there with the entire LA community [and] fighting for our people was a huge relief. I saw people of different races, ethnicities, genders and ages show up to speak up.”
She described her experience as eye-opening and emotional, both in positive and negative ways. Although Mayer began the protest with excitement and pride as a Latina, there were moments when she feared for her life.
“There were a few times we almost got hit by a couple of cars [and] motorcycles, passing out from exhaustion [and] dehydration and especially during the time we had to run away from the cops since they were starting to corner us and were shooting rubber bullets at us.”
However, after spending hours walking the streets of LA, Mayer heard many stories, including fear, anger, cries, laughter and love. She explained the importance of continuing to fight for a cause and expects more discussions about what is to come next.
“It’s critical that we be the voice not just for our generation but also for those who came before us and those who will come after,” Mayer said.
