May Day Rally
January 24, 2022
May Day, also known as International Workers Day, is celebrated world wide as a time that honors the working class as they rally for better labor rights.
Hundreds of people marched from the old Dollar Tree store on Sebastopol Road to Old Courthouse Square in Santa Rosa on May 1 to recognize workers’ rights for International Workers Day and to call for immigration reform. Activists lugged signs of all sizes that said, “Luchando Juntos Por Justicia, Respeto y Dignidad” (fighting together for justice, respect, a dignity) and “La Lucha Obrera No Tiene Fronteras” (The workers struggle has no border).
Before the march commenced, activists, farmworkers and community members spoke in front of a Teamsters’ semi-trailer truck. Daisy Careño, Immigrant Defense Task force coordinator, greeted those in attendance.
“With this walk we’ll be making very important demands for our immigrant working community,” she said. Demands include: immigration reform, five for farmworks in fires, respect and dignity for Amy’s Kitchen workers, Hyatt Hotel workers, and for an end of sheriff collaboration with ICE.
Santiago, a farmworker who works closely with animals on a ranch, attended the May Day march. In 2017 during the Tubbs fire, he said his employer didn’t seem to care about him. “They didn’t provide me with a mask, they evacuated all the animals and left me there to work. They left me to watch over their ranch,” Santiago said.
Attending with Santiago was his friend Lidia, who said, “I’m here today to support our farmworks so that they can be given a liveable wage as well as immigration reform.”
Supporters chanted as Careño spoke. “Those chants need to be heard up to heaven where all the workers who have fought and perished are and are hoping that all of us who have stayed will have justice for all,” she said. ¡Se Puede!”
The crowd answered, “¡Si se puede!” After the speeches, participants marched in a line that stretched 1.4 miles, led by a group of Aztec dancers to Old Courthouse Square. Passersby on the streets and some in their vehicles cheered and honked their car horns. Once they arrived, many sat on the lawn as people read aloud poems and watched a theatrical performance.