Who I Didn't See When I Was Marching
Story and photo by Seth Hemmelgarn

As I walked up King Road yelling “ Si se puede! ” during Tuesday's march, I was surrounded by hundreds of people carrying American flags and signs bearing slogans like “ Justicia Y Dignidad Para Todos Immigrantes. ” It was a beautiful day, and cars passing us on the street honked to show their approval. People clustered on the sidewalks waved and yelled to show their support.

I felt great, but I also felt a little awkward. As I yelled the popular slogan, I wondered if I was really qualified. Like the shirt I was wearing, I'm white. I've had a pretty comfortable life, and much of the struggling I've done has been my own fault. Throughout the march, I saw only a handful of other non-Hispanic people, and it bugged me.

My participation in Tuesday's march was not a huge, radical action. But I felt like there should have been thousands more non-Hispanic people out there to show our support. Thousands of people are simply trying to improve life for themselves and their families every day in our community, but through low wages and fear of the government (among other factors) they're being cheated. And way too many of us are just standing by, acting like it's got nothing to do with us.

I say “non-Hispanic” because I can't just say “white.” There are lots of other races and ethnicities in San Jose, and I'm not sure all of them were represented Tuesday. There are plenty of non-Hispanic immigrants, too.

When I checked with a few other people at the march, it appeared that nobody was expecting us. When I asked a couple people if they thought more white people should be there, they didn't seem to get what I was saying. I don't think it was just a language barrier. After I asked the question, I realized how ridiculously patronizing it probably sounded, as if I'd asked, “You need us here, don't you? How can you do anything without us?” A couple of the white people I asked about it laughed. Had I really thought more of us would be there?

I should've known better what to expect. I'd gone to a similar march in San Francisco in September, and that experience had been about the same. I admit I'm a bit late to this movement. I didn't go to last year's march – I was working. I imagine that's one reason a lot of people didn't make it Tuesday.

However, I think another reason is that too many of us just don't feel like we need to get involved. After I was complaining to a friend about this after the march, he said, “But they're here illegally.”

Maybe a lot of immigrants are here illegally, but what have they done wrong? As far as I can tell, all most immigrants want is a chance to improve their lives. And they're willing to work very hard for that chance. I imagine that's exactly what my ancestors were doing here after they came from Germany and Ireland. As far as I know, nobody tried to kick them out of the country. (And I've heard many of my ancestors weren't the type of people you'd want in your neighborhood. But that's another story).

Often, when people express sympathy for undocumented immigrants, they point out that if it weren't for them, the rest of us would have trouble finding people to grow our food, cook our meals and scrub our floors. Then where would we be? That almost implies the only reason to let people stay is because they serve us.

I know, a lot of people argue that illegal immigration is a huge drain on our resources. And if we let everybody who's here illegally now stay, won't more people come pouring in? I won't pretend to have any answers to these issues. But we're great at wasting resources in this country. How many hundreds of billions have we thrown into the Iraq war? I think if we spent our resources wisely, there'd be a lot more to go around for everyone.

I've worked hard for a lot of things, but I doubt that I would've been able to experience a lot of the joys I've had in my life if I hadn't been born here. I don't think we have the right to deny other people the opportunities that came to so many of us through sheer luck. Hopefully, more of us will get off our butts.