March to Stop the Hate

Downtown Phoenix Arizona was the place to be on Saturday, February 28, 2009 to fight against white supremacy. Thousands attend the "March to Stop the Hate" to bring attention to the racist illegal-immigration tactics being implemented by Sheriff Joe Arpaio.

An estimated figure of 3000-5000 people has been estimated by various media. The people of Phoenix and other people of good conscience are outraged that Sheriff Joe Arpaio can racially profile all who his officers “Think” may be here illegally.

As if that were not enough, the image of Mexican/Central American men, walking in shackles, black and white striped uniform with pink thermos and socks, have completely demonstrated Arpaio’s racism against Mexican/Central American people.

Joe Arpaio must go.

The march was organized by NDLON (The National Day Laborers Organizing Network), El Puente Arizona and Zach de la Rocha, the lead singer of Rage Against the Machine. Other organizations included The Mexica Movement, and University of Arizona, MeCha.
The march was heavily promoted on face book, myspace, and the you tube video done by Humanleague002.

The march started in Indian Steele Road park shortly before 11am and continued straight to the downtown federal building. The crowd was very diverse and prepared with great creative posters. The original plan was to have everyone walk in pairs on the sidewalk until the final destination was reached, however with the great number of people that arrived the police had no other choice than to allow the march to continue spread across the whole street.

As the march smoothly made its way through the streets, you can hear the chants of the Mexica Movement in unison , saying, “hey Joe! Remember 1492.” “Joe! Understand! This is our land.”

The events received a lot of media and was very well documented by grass-roots organizations.

Keep your eyes open for more events and actions.


For more information:
http://www.aznetroots.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=700

http://www.azcentral.com/community/phoenix/articles/2009/02/28/20090228arpaioupdate-ON.html

http://www.ndlon.org/

www.mexica-movement.org