On Saturday July 26, the Los Angeles chapter of Refuse Fascism organized a march from downtown Los Angeles to the barrios of Boyle Heights just across the river in East Los Angeles. 150 people took to the streets of LA in a defiant and boisterous “March for Humanity.” This march happened in a moment when Trump has turned the city into a test case for full-blown fascism, with the National Guard continuing their occupation and the regime’s escalating massive funding for ICE to terrorize communities across the country. This came after a week of escalating attacks on all fronts by the Trump regime. In the face of this Refuse Fascism called on people: “We are in an Emergency situation! No more business as usual!”
People gathered at Placita Olvera in Downtown LA to hear Jaime Gutierrez, immigration attorney who co-MCed the rally and guided the multinational march to the community he grew up in. Reverends Oliver Buie and Frank Wulf and Richard Rose as well as social media influencer Flor Martinez (flower in Spanish) spoke to the urgency of this moment, why this is fascism and why people need to act and join with Refuse Fascism in raising the demand “Trump Must Go Now!”
The march took off with people in a collective act of defiant non-compliance—stepping into the street without a permit and remaining there for the full route of the march. We stopped and held the street for half an hour in front of a federal detention center where dozens of large reproductions of “the disappeared” were raised and the stories of who these people actually are were read. The march continued over the 1st Street bridge that connects downtown LA into East LA and the historic barrio of Boyle Heights, a community that has been targeted by ICE terror. Life in immigrant Los Angeles has vanished from the streets with many people unable to safely leave their homes even to go to work or shop. As we marched through the residential streets of Boyle Heights, we could see people poking their heads from their windows as the march chanted “Salimos sin miedo, la humanidad primero” (We come out without fear, Humanity First) and “Trump must go now!” People came out to watch and take posters and significantly a number of people threw away that fear to be part of the closing rally at Hollenbeck Park, leaving with stacks of posters and leaflets for their neighbors.
The march ended with a powerful speech by Sunsara Taylor on the need for resistance to take a pivotal turn towards protest that has its clear aim to remove this fascist regime from power, creating the kind of political crisis where its ability to implement its fascist program is ground to a halt. Sunsara put to the people there and everywhere a challenge to change their lives to make this their number one priority.
Then people gathered with food donated by nearby restaurants, to get to know each other and make plans for July 28th “No business as usual, Blow the whistle on ICE” for different parts of the city.
Click here for some background on the military occupation of Los Angeles.