May Day: Oregonians rally to support driver cards, immigration reform, civil rights

Article author: 
Yuxing Zheng
Article publisher: 
OregonLive.com
Article date: 
Friday, May 2, 2014
Article category: 
Oregon Issues
Medium
Article Body: 

 About 500 people gathered at the Capitol on Thursday for the annual May Day rally and march in support of driver cards, comprehensive immigration reform, civil rights, same-sex marriage and workers rights...

...Comprehensive immigration reform has stalled in the U.S. House. In Oregon, voters in November will decide whether to grant driving privileges to Oregonians who can't prove they're in the state (country) legally...

Thursday's crowd was about a quarter of the size of last year's rally, when Gov. John Kitzhaber signed the driver cards bill into law in front of a rapturous crowd of 2,000. Opponents gathered enough signatures to send the law to the November ballot.

Instead of celebrating a victory this year, many of the May Day speeches and signs focused on defending driver cards and rallying support for the November referendum. Supporters registered voters and recruited volunteers.

"This is a solidarity thing -- we're celebrating workers, immigrants and others," said Darlene Huntress, executive director of Oregon Action, a Portland group that works for economic and social justice. "We have a lot of work to do to engage our base and educate Oregonians about what this law is about: fairness and giving our economy what it needs by letting people get to work."...