Chanting slogans and waving banners, several hundred immigrants and their supporters marched along Broadway from the Lower East Side to City Hall on the morning October 15 to protest Mayor Bloomberg’s proposed budget cuts and call for protection of immigrants’ welfare. City Council members John Liu, Robert Jackson, and Charles Barron were there and spoke in support of the protesters.
The rally, organized by the advocacy group Make the Road New York, attracted several hundred protesters, primarily Latinos. The organizers called this rally a struggle for equality, arguing that if publicly-elected officials use $700 billion to bail out Wall Street firms, then they should also come to the aid of New York’s most needy immigrant communities. In September, Mayor Bloomberg proposed reducing the scale of city government by 2.5 percent to save $1.5 billion. The Department of Education alone would lose $580 million. Make the Road New York predicts that these reductions would have a vast negative impact on childcare, legal services, higher education, housing, immigrant services, services for the elderly, and many other programs.
Holding signs that read: “No Cuts to Vital Services” and “Increase Taxes for the Very Wealthy,” marchers protested that ordinary taxpayers should not have to bear the burden of rescuing Wall Street’s failing firms and that the government should instead provide aid for ordinary people who have suffered as a result of this financial crisis. The protesters’ specific demands included: renovate dilapidated residences that cause asthma in children; provide translations on medicine-labels; provide legal assistance for laborers; increase funding for adult education programs; protect scholarships for English learners; increase parents’ and students’ participation in policy-making and budget-allocation; and to better the treatment of students in the public school system. In addition, the protesters called for higher taxes on the rich.
On stage, Councilman John Liu yelled in Spanish, “What do we need?” and the crowd roared in response. Robert Jackson introduced himself in Spanish, inspiring a great show of enthusiasm. Gesturing in the direction of Wall Street, Liu said, “The government can spend $700 billion to save a few extremely wealthy people, but it must not stand by as hard-working immigrants suffer injustices, students are unable to go to school, parents worry for their children’s health, and immigrants lack English services.” He encouraged immigrants to come to City Hill more often to air their complaints and make their elected officials hear the voice of the people.
Jackson said that he heard the protesters’ shouts from his 18th-floor office and came down to lend his support. A while ago, he said, he had been discussing the budget with City Council Speaker Christine Quinn. He said that 25 percent of city government’s funding comes from Wall Street, and that the government must diversify its funding sources lest its budget be affected by stock market downturns in the future. Barron, however, criticized the government for dedicating such a large sum of money toward rescuing a minority of wealthy people while the majority suffers.
