Location
2008 NACCS Conference: Opening Plenary Speaker
Abstract:
As the most draconian legislative bill in modern immigration history, the Sensenbrenner Bill (H.R. 4437) aimed to criminalize the eleven million people living in this country without legal documents. What was intended to be the last nail on the “illegal alien” coffin instead generated a political blowback—it set in motion mass protests on a scale which had no parallel in American history. What began in Chicago on March 10, 2006 became contagious, spreading to the rest of the country at a speed that caught all by surprise. Millions participated in dozens of events in what came to be known as “la primavera del inmigrante.” This paper examines the relationship between media, especially Spanish-language radio, and voice (the mass mobilizations) in Chicago’s two earliest marches. On July 1, 2005 50,000 people marched to protest the Minuteman Project while the March 10 (2006) event was the first national mass action against the Sensenbrenner Bill. Using video, photographs, press clippings and field notes, I argue in this research project that the Spanish language media played a crucial role in both mobilizations, not only in promoting the events but also as main forum where people, mainly immigrants, waged their many concerns regarding all issues related to immigration. On the other hand, people (regardless of legal status) came out by the thousands because the Sensenbrenner Bill affected them in one way or another.
Included in
“La Primavera del Inmigrante”: Media and Voice in the Making of Chicago’s Immigrant Rights’ Movement, 2005-2006
2008 NACCS Conference: Opening Plenary Speaker
Abstract:
As the most draconian legislative bill in modern immigration history, the Sensenbrenner Bill (H.R. 4437) aimed to criminalize the eleven million people living in this country without legal documents. What was intended to be the last nail on the “illegal alien” coffin instead generated a political blowback—it set in motion mass protests on a scale which had no parallel in American history. What began in Chicago on March 10, 2006 became contagious, spreading to the rest of the country at a speed that caught all by surprise. Millions participated in dozens of events in what came to be known as “la primavera del inmigrante.” This paper examines the relationship between media, especially Spanish-language radio, and voice (the mass mobilizations) in Chicago’s two earliest marches. On July 1, 2005 50,000 people marched to protest the Minuteman Project while the March 10 (2006) event was the first national mass action against the Sensenbrenner Bill. Using video, photographs, press clippings and field notes, I argue in this research project that the Spanish language media played a crucial role in both mobilizations, not only in promoting the events but also as main forum where people, mainly immigrants, waged their many concerns regarding all issues related to immigration. On the other hand, people (regardless of legal status) came out by the thousands because the Sensenbrenner Bill affected them in one way or another.
