La Gente Unidos

Sunday I attended my first protest march with my friend Shanali in Jackson Heights, Queens. It was protesting police brutality against the local street vendors. Apparently they have been harassing the vendors with excessive tickets and in one case attacking one woman.
We took to the streets and marched down Roosevelt Avenue (a major road in Queens) all the way to the police precinct. Our slogans were "Si se puede, Arriba, abajo, la policia tan carajo! What do we want! Justice! When do we want it, Now!"
The energy was amazing and the people on the street who were watching us voiced their approval. The police had denied our group the use of bullhorns but you know when you get a group of people together we can yell in one loud voice and get our point across. They even threatened the organizer of the march with arrest merely because he was a few inches outside the police barricade. I think they were more angered at the words he was saying. The truth hurts sometimes. I was proud to see young people from the Filipino community as well come out to support the Latino community. Many have this image of Filipinos that we are go along with the status quo and are conservative. They forget the Filipino rebels who fought against American imperialism at the end of the 19th century.

Here is Shanali's commentary on the march.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xghmau14S94