Image: Voces de La Frontera
May Day march illustration
Milwaukee has a deep history of working-class immigrants etched into the walls and streets of our neighborhoods. The story of America is written with the voices and words of people that traversed dangerous paths to give their children and themselves something off limits for them because of where they were from, and this small Midwest city is brimming with that influence.
Nobody knows this better than the labor unions that have represented these workers, as well as Voces de la Frontera, a group that since its inception in 1998 has always amplified the voices of the immigrant and undocumented community.
Historically, the first May Day was celebrated in 1889 to commemorate the historic struggles made by the labor movement, including battles fought to end 12-hour workdays and implement weekends, as well as fair wages with yearly increases to reflect the cost of living.
“Everyone should view the immigrant community as the backbone, the driving force of labor in the United States,” says Primitivo Torres, deputy director at Voces de la Frontera. “We are the machine that upholds the economy and keeps everything moving and that is what the May Day march is all about.”
Truly, the immigrant community makes up a large portion of the workforce in America, yet very few are members of a union. What makes the undocumented and immigrant community so reticent to join unions, is of course, fear of reprisal by way of deportation or firings. “We can overcome this fear by constantly communicating with and educating our community. We have to let them know that we are here for them, and they have millions behind them in their same situation and express how real change comes from strength in numbers.” Torres adds. He has helped to organize every May Day march since 2006, when 30,000 people were in attendance.
2006 (“A Day Without Latinos”)
The march is one of the most successful in Milwaukee history and revolved around worker’s rights and immigration reform. Of concern at that time was an immigration bill known as the Sensenbrenner Bill, passed Dec.16, 2005, named after Wisconsin Republican Congressman Jim Sensebrenner. The bill sought the construction of a 7,000-foot fence along the southern border, immediate deportation of any immigrant caught with a DUI and—most importantly—prohibiting aid to undocumented immigrants, terming it as “aiding and abetting of criminals.”
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The passage of this bill sparked national outrage, and thankfully it did not pass the senate. During this time Voces del la Frontera decided to take up the mantle of expressing outrage and fighting back through helping organize a big May Day march in Milwaukee. Says Christine Neumann-Ortiz, executive director of Voces de la Frontera, “In the beginning we did not have support from radio stations and depended completely on people to people organizing. Like a beehive, people came to our office to pick up flyers and distribute them in the community at businesses, churches, schools, workpaces, and other cultural and sports events, to spread the word.
"In a small amount of time we were able to escalate boldly because of the trust that had been built up with Latinxs and immigrant workers and their families; assisting them on workplace issues, the fight for the Dream Act and instate tuition, and the fight for immigration reform. ‘Day without Latinos & Immigrants’ became a call to action—a community wide general strike of ‘no work, no school, no shopping’ to show the important economic contributions that immigrants make to our community and a day of solidarity with all workers against those trying to pit us against each other.”
Image: Voces de la Frontera
Voces de la Frontera logo
Originally, Voces de la Frontera began as a newspaper that brought immigrant workplace issues along the U.S.-Mexico border to the forefront, advocating for solidarity across borders, urging immigrant workers to organize against problems such as unpaid hours, sexual harrassment in the workplace, and overall unfair treatment. Neumann-Ortiz identifies as Chicana, the daughter of immigrant parents who always urged activism and community solidarity in her upbringing. She was inspired to start a worker’s center when she moved back to Milwaukee in 1998, having left briefly to work on the paper. “Milwaukee has always had a progressive and socialist legacy, created by German immigrants, and one that was recognized nationally. This was fertile ground to spark a conversation about immigrant rights,” she says.
2011
The marches soldiered on throughout the years, and many developments came about in the immigration reform movement. “2011 was the year that Act 10 was introduced by Scott Walker and when the labor movement became the focus of what was happening within the community,” Neumann-Ortiz says. This was also the year that Voces organized striking workers at Palermo’s, a frozen pizza manufacturer in the Menomonee Valley, holding rallies and meeting with workers.
2016
The year culminated with the election of Donald Trump as President of the United States. During his campaign, he created a sense of fear about the immigrant community, famously calling them “rapists” and vowed to swiftly act against them. He imbued racists with a sense of newfound boldness.
The focus of the 2016 march was to act against those sentiments, as well as a protest against Sheriff David Clarke, who wanted to allow local law enforcement to cooperate and work with ICE to detain immigrants.
Trump and his supporters vowed to end DACA, which would repeal in-state tuition and status for immigrant students, furthering the anti-immigrant posture in the U.S. “As a DACA recipient, it was important that I got everyone involved to understand what a path to citizenship meant,” says Fernanda Jimenez, who was a member of Youth Empowered in the Struggle (YES). “I organized kids in my high school, and we brought 200 people up from Racine. We reached out to businesses and made announcements at churches and stood outside of grocery stores to stress the importance of the march. We are still fighting for citizenship and to repeal 287G, and we have to continue,”, she says. Her first May Day march as in 2015 when she was 15 years old. Jimmenez plans to keep marching every year.
2021
The immigrant community breathed a collective sigh of relief when Trump was voted out of office in 2020, but they knew there was still much work to be done. The May Day march was canceled that year by the pandemic and came back in full swing in May of 2021 with the message strong and clear.
Communities of color were affected deeply by COVID-19 because many had to keep working at “essential jobs” while the virus spread. Those communities kept going, wages remained stagnant and time off was seldom granted with the same lenience as other professions. This was all too apparent when workers at the Strauss meat packing plant in Franklin rallied around workplace issues that dealt directly with the pandemic. They demanded proper PPE, time off and restrictions in place that would curb their vulnerability to the virus.
The workers’ demands were met with immediate firings, including employees who had been there as long as 12 years. This was an example for Voces del la Frontera of how the immigrant community was treated during the pandemic, and became a vehicle for expressing what “essential” really meant in the eyes of corporate America.
Karina Hinojosa Zavala, a canvas leader for Voces de la Frontera action, was heavily involved in this action, which happened in 2020. “My father and cousin were both amongst the workers that were fired, and I felt a particular calling to be part of this struggle,” she says. Prior to this effort, Hinojosa Zavala had been a manager at a big-box retail store. Her passion for immigrant’s rights coupled with her skills to manage teams led her to Voces.
“My first May Day march was 2006, when I was 6 years old!” she laughs. “I have been present at almost all of them and will continue to do so. I see my parent’s spirit in the face of all the immigrants that march. Even though I am frustrated by what is happening every year in the community, I am always overwhelmed by the collective positivity we hold. It’s emotional, it makes me tear up.”
The 2022 May Day march will carry on for the first time for two days, in Milwaukee on Sunday May 1 and in Madison on Monday, May 2. The Milwaukee march will start at the Voces office (733 W. Historic Mitchell St.) at noon. The march will go up Mitchell, swing a left on 6th Street and proceed to Wisconsin Avenue, where it will take a right and end at the Federal Building (517 E Wisconsin Ave.).
