Two Reforms, One Day, One Broad Message: March 21st, 2010 and the Struggles for Immigration and Health Care Reform – Ruth Gomberg-Muñoz

Ruth Gomberg-Muñoz
University of Illinois-Chicago

On March 21st, 2010, I was one of more than two hundred thousand people who traveled to Washington D.C. to demand comprehensive immigration reform. According to one news report, this was the largest turnout for a political rally since the election of Barack Obama. Afterward, I heard one immigrant rights activist lament that the passage of the health care bill later the same day overshadowed media coverage of the immigrant rights march. There is certainly truth in his complaint. But there is also another, perhaps more productive, way to understand the relationship of simultaneous struggles for health care and immigration reform.

As I marched along D.C. streets that sunny afternoon in the company of fellow immigrant rights supporters, I passed many activists who––judging by their shirts and signs––were in Washington to advocate for health care reform.