Many Mendocino Coast residents are planning to take part in a national boycott May 1 to demonstrate the economic power of immigrants.
The boycott ? which follows up on local and national April 10 demonstrations in favor of comprehensive immigration reform and against more punitive measures proposed in Congress ? was originally to be a day in which Latinos and other immigrants would abstain from spending, according to the San Diego Union Tribune. But it has expanded to include staying home from work and school, a controversial idea that has split the movement nationally.
Locally, some people have mixed feelings about school and work boycotts, said Lucresha Renteria. She hoped that nobody would feel pressured to stay home from work and hoped all would participate in not making purchases on May 1.
There is also a local effort on the opposite site of the ledger, involving locally-raised senior citizens who are concerned about illegal immigration.
Vernon Atkinson of Fort Bragg has organized the “Americans for America, no amnesty-secure our borders” demonstration at 1 p.m. at Laurel and Main streets on Saturday, April 29. Atkinson has said the demonstration is not a counter-protest but a reaction to the issue of illegal immigration.
The May 1 boycott, dubbed “A Day Without An Immigrant” by a variety of immigrant rights organizations, is being held on International Worker”s Day, commonly called May Day.
Some are predicting local hotel and restaurant closures, but the effort will potentially impact areas of civic and business life as well.
For example, a number of staff members at Mendocino Coast Clinics have indicated they will be participating in the Fort Bragg events planned for May 1, which include a 9 a.m. march from La Bamba grocery store on Franklin Street to Town Hall on Main Street. Contingency plans at the Clinics are being implemented to assure that all services will be available to patients on that day, a press release from Coast Clinics said.
“While we respect our colleagues who feel compelled to express their freedom of speech that day, we are also committed to living our mission of providing quality medical, dental and behavioral health care to all of our patients, regardless of immigration status, so we will be open May 1,” said Paula Cohen, executive director of Mendocino Coast Clinics.
Renteria, director of administration services at the Clinics who is planning to stay home from work without pay, says the message being sent is that real immigration reform is needed, not criminalization measures. Her three children will also stay home from school.
“Much of our state”s economy, our businesses, agribusiness in particular thrives because of illegal immigration and could not do so through the current system of legal immigration. That system needs to be reformed to recognize the true need for immigrant workers,” she said.
The idea of staying home from work and school has caused disagreement among some of the groups that worked together to arrange massive rallies in San Diego, Los Angeles, New York, Chicago and other cities, according to reports in the national media. Many church and labor leaders, who were supportive of previous actions, have openly questioned whether skipping work and school sends the right message to Congress and the general public.
Renteria said the April 10 march organized by Fort Bragg High School students invigorated the current effort. Those involved in that protest were mostly all legal residents, acting to support undocumented friends and family members.
Renteria said that the upcoming boycott has spread by word of mouth and also mentioned the efforts of Spanish language radio disk jockeys, who have been credited by the national media with spreading word of the protests.
“That may be why so many young people are involved. They listen to a lot of music,” said Renteria.
Renteria said those involved are determined that the May 1 boycott will be peaceful, just as the April 10 march was.
“People were just making their voices head. We want to let our neighbors know what the impact of immigrants is on our community,” she said.
According to the national media, the boycott has spread to Mexico, where there is an effort not to purchase from businesses based in the United States.
Conservative Internet bloggers have proclaimed May 1 as a day of shopping. Blogs are Internet Websites where people (bloggers) can log on and exchange ideas.
“The communist pro-illegal alien crowd is planning a boycott!,” declared a headline in The Minuteman blog.
“Make sure to save up any big shopping you”ve got planned in the future for May 1st,” the blog enthused.
