HUNTINGTON PARK, Calif.—Increasing pressure from Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and local police forces in the southeast Los Angeles community of Huntington Park is leading to growing class consciousness and community organizing in the neighborhood. On March 22, hundreds rallied in Salt Lake Park in the name of solidarity with immigrants and Palestinians before marching down Florence and then historic Pacific Boulevard on the way to Huntington Park City Hall.
The Pacific Boulevard stretch is the third highest-grossing commercial district in Los Angeles County and one of the most heavily influenced by immigrant Latino culture. Huntington Park’s population is 97% Hispanic/Latino, with about half being born outside the United States.
The recently renamed Richard Castro Jr. Club of Southeast Los Angeles, Communist Party USA (CPUSA), joined over a dozen organizations to rally for “Grand March,” including Mexico’s Morena (Movimiento de Regeneracion Nacional) party, UTLA, Teamsters Mobilize, Youth for Environmental Justice Southeast Los Angeles, the Harriet Tubman Center, Communities for a Better Environment, Mobilize for Immigrants, Labor for Palestine, the Peace and Freedom Party, Midnight Books, the East Los Angeles Brown Bears, People’s Struggle San Fernando Valley, the Educators Defense Network, the Stop LASD Spying coalition, and Long Beach Banner Drop for Palestine.
Despite a lack of more substantial labor support, the march was co-organized and endorsed by supporters of Mexico’s ruling Morena Party, currently led by popular Mexican president Claudia Sheinbaum. Establishing organizational ties and practices across the US/Mexico border is a clear escalation of the international struggle in response to Trump’s fascist immigration policy.
It will have to be seen how activists in support of immigrants in America engaging in dialogue with progressive forces in the home countries of many immigrants will impact the struggle here, as the potential for such connections appears to be massive.
The rally took on more internationalist tones by connecting the struggle against immigrants to the genocide against Palestine. The slogans promoting the event featured “Stop deportations” and “Liberate Palestine.” Organizers called for an end to ICE presence in Huntington Park and the greater southeast Los Angeles area alongside calls for peace and an end to the genocide in Palestine.
Danny Lopez, with the Peace and Freedom Party and co-organizer for the rally, commented that he would like to “see more” labor participation in the southeast part of the county. When asked why Huntington Park was selected for the march instead of more traditional activist hubs like Boyle Heights or downtown Los Angeles, he responded that this area has been “historically ignored” by activists and organizers. However, he notes that “Trump’s moves at the national level are having [local] collaboration efforts [with] the Huntington Park Police Department.”
As the Trump Administration continues to escalate its war on immigrants—documented and undocumented—activists in the communities that will be hit hardest are already organizing the working class to combat the offensive. At the march, as at many actions recently, organizers handed out red “know-your-rights” cards to bystanders, which reminded individuals of their rights when dealing with federal and local officers.
The community received the march in kind, with many patrons, employees, and small business owners coming out to ring bells and wave flags in support of the march and of their fellow community members as they marched down Pacific, some even joining the demonstration.
Local educator and community organizer Aaron Reveles also spoke at the event, saying the “political corruption” of the smaller Los Angeles county cities can’t be ignored. He continued that the “political struggle” must be had in these smaller localities as well as in the Los Angeles metro or Long Beach areas.
Organizers continued to stress the importance of the southeast region of Los Angeles County, as a large swath of working-class and immigrant-descended neighborhoods typically forgotten by government and capital.
CONTRIBUTOR
