Few people turned out Saturday for a rally demanding amnesty for 11 million illegal immigrants, the latest sign of pro-immigrant groups' struggles to regain momentum after hundreds of thousands marched for the cause in the spring.Local bands played rock music, vendors offered chicken tacos and dozens of activists set up information booths in a downtown field. But only about 350 people showed up, and many were organizers and journalists.
Million-Hombre-March!
Organizers, who had expected about 5,000 participants, downplayed the low turnout. They said their point was made even with sparse crowds.
Speaking truthiness to power with a megaphone to 20 or so participants!
"This community has shown it wants a solution, so we shouldn't have to show it with half a million people each time we do it," said Maria Elena Durazo, secretary treasurer of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO.
Whoring to organize illegals in unions...
The rally comes as pro-immigrant coalitions try to re-energize their campaign after summer vacation and internal divisions have weakened a movement that brought hundreds of thousands to the streets in the spring.
summer vacations? What a dedicated and tireless group of activists
The rally culminated this week's National Latino Congreso, billed as one of the largest gatherings of Hispanic leaders in decades.
Sessions included speeches and workshops on registering Hispanic voters
how about all the trash, empty plastic bottles and used diapers, and environmental damage done by the flood of illegals?