Monica Ivicevich – Record-Bee staff
LAKEPORT ? More than 1,000 people, including children, parents, grandparents and many other members of the Hispanic community walked from Lakeport Cinema 5, South Main Street to Lakeport?s Courthouse Square Monday morning, protesting the proposed immigration bill, HR 4437. The bill has not been passed but is being discussed in Congress. I was one of the walkers.
One of the march?s organizers, Luisa Acosta, spoke before the march began at 10 a.m. She said the walk was to emphasize ?Justice for all.? She added that the Hispanic community seeks to ?legalize illegal aliens already in the country who are working. Support them and don?t treat them like criminals,? she said, ?We are here and we?re not leaving. We want to work.?
Acosta also gave guidelines to the large group on how they were to walk on the street, so they didn?t interrupt the traffic.
One of the marchers, Ricardo Bautista, said, by marching he believes ?we?re letting people know our problems and why we are in this country. We came here to work. Don?t label us as terrorists, because we?re not.? One of the reasons some people want to close America?s borders is because they think terrorists are coming in from Mexico.
Bautista added America has traditionally been a welcome haven to immigrants from around the world, not just from Mexico. He mentioned the Statue of Liberty, which was given to the United States from the citizens of France. The statue celebrated its centennial on Oct. 28, 1986.
a plaque with a poem written by Emma Lazarus to help fundraising for the statue?s pedestal. ?The New Colossus? is as follows:
Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame, with conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand a mighty woman with a torch, whose flame is the imprisoned lightning, and her name Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame,
?Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!? cries she with silent lips. ?Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore,
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!?
As people walked on the route, the thing many people wanted was justice for all immigrants, not just the Mexican people.
Many of them also were chanting the traditional Spanish word, ?Si Se Puede,? which means, ?Yes, we can.?
Impacts on schools:
Every school receives money from the state for Average Daily Attendance ? ADA ? of students. Each day that a student is out, the schools lose money. Around Lake County yesterday, 10 schools, from elementary to high school, reported 506 students out for the day, noting that some were out for testing. One hundred and fifty students were missing from Kelseyville High School; the fewest number of students ? eight – were missing was from Middletown Middle School Monday.
Schools receive in the range of $25 to $35 per student per day ? which averages out to be approximately a loss of $15,200 to Lake County schools due to absenteeism ? just on Monday.
At Lakeport Elementary, they reported, ?twice the normal absentee rate,? on Monday, with Terrace Middle School reporting 45 absentees, a spokesperson said, ?and we?re a little school.?
Impacts on businesses:
Some local businesses, ranches and restaurants reported they were impacted by ?A Day Without Immigrants? as employees had asked for the day off last week to march in solidarity with others – but most businesses reported no problems and business was as usual.
Editor?s Note: Maile Field, John Lindblom and Robin Humphrey contributed to this report.
