Spanish media played a key role in organizing protests

I know that in Houston one of the biggest complaints from the community was that the protests didn’t get any advance press and almost no mainstream press until highschoolers ditched school on Monday for an impromptu long-walk and protest. (That was a long sentence!)

Apparently, that wasn’t the case in other cities.

Spanish-Language Media Rally Immigrants
— reported by Yahoo News

The marching orders were clear: Carry American flags and pack the kids, pick up your trash and wear white for peace and for effect.
ADVERTISEMENT

Many of the 500,000 people who crammed downtown Los Angeles on Saturday to protest legislation that would make criminals out of illegal immigrants learned where, when and even how to demonstrate from the Spanish-language media.

For English-speaking America, the mass protests in Los Angeles and other U.S. cities over the past few days have been surprising for their size and seeming spontaneity.

But they were organized, promoted or publicized for weeks by Spanish-language radio hosts and TV anchors as a demonstration of Hispanic pride and power.

In Milwaukee, where at least 10,000 people rallied last week, one radio station manager called some employers to ask that they not fire protesters for skipping work. In Chicago, a demonstration that drew 100,000 people received coverage on local television more than a week in advance.

[snip]

Author: Paloma Cruz

Find out more about Paloma Cruz through the About page. Connect with her on Twitter (www.twitter.com/palomacruz) and (Facebook).

Leave a Reply

%d bloggers like this: