Students March for Justice for Migrant Communities and Against Budget Cuts. 

When: Saturday April 12th at 4:30 PM
Where: March will start at JFK Park (4801 Ocean View Blvd) near  Lincoln High School   March will end at Chicano Park on Logan Avenue in Barrio Logan

Hundreds of university and high school students are expected to take to the streets of San Diego on Saturday, April 12th at 4:30 PM to protest the budget cuts in education announced by the State Government and to bring attention to anti- migrant policies and legislation impacting local communities.
 
The student led march is organized by community based youth group Somos Raza as well as the City College, USD, Southwestern College, SDSU, UCSD and Lincoln High School chapters of MEChA. The students will rally at JFK Park near Lincoln High School and will march to Chicano Park in Barrio Logan, where students and youth will give tribute to legendary Mexican revolutionary hero Emiliano Zapata on the 89th Anniversary of his death.
 
In April of 2006, students and youth held massive protests across the country, including San Diego, to rally against a polarizing federal initiative known as HR 4437 which sought to criminalize migrants and organizations that supported them. HR 4437 was defeated in Congress. Many of the students and youth that led those protests will be rallying again to continue to raise awareness about the growing anti Latino and Mexican hysteria in the United States.
 
“Two years ago, thousands took to the streets to denounce oppressive legislation aimed at separating and destroying two of our most precious social institutions: families and communities. As our communities continue to suffer hostility, we cannot allow our cries for justice to be suffocated or ignored,” stated Enrique de Haro, a San Diego State student and spokesperson for Somos Raza, one of the groups organizing the event.
 
Students and youth will also protest the announced budget cuts against education, which will impact thousands of teachers in the county, including several university programs.

“Education is the way for peace and social justice but it is evident that policy makers are more interested in funding ROTC programs and wars of aggression. We must protect our future, we are the future,” said Christina Lares  a public health senior at SDSU and President of MEChA on that campus. Prior to the march the Association of Raza Educators will be hosting in Lincoln High School a conference on education that will address among other themes the current state of public schools.