Happy Danbury Unity March Day!

Friday, June 12, 2015
Time: 3:12 PM

Advocates for the rights of immigrants will never forget June 12 2005!

It was on that beautiful Sunday afternoon, over 1,000 residents stood in solidarity with Danbury's immigrant population and stood against the anti-immigrant/racist policies of Mark Boughton, his chief of staff (and architect of many of the city's anti-immigrant policies) Mike McLachlan, and their extremists admirers within the city's nativist movement.

Here's a small sample of the how the march was reported in the press.

Hartford Courant:

Angered and energized by Mayor Mark Boughton's call for tougher enforcement of immigration laws, a new immigrant rights group announced Wednesday it would sponsor a march here on June 12.

The very existence of the group is one of the many unexpected developments since Boughton asked Attorney General Richard Blumenthal April 15 to seek federal approval to have state police enforce immigration laws.

The creation of the Danbury Area Coalition for the Rights of Immigrants marks the first foray into political activism for the growing local immigrant community. It is also the first time immigrants from many countries -- including Brazil, Ecuador, the Dominican Republic, Columbia and Argentina -- have worked together closely.

Leaders of the group said Boughton's proposal has aggravated fear among immigrants.

``It was not something that was here before,'' said Wilson Hernandez, coordinator of the group and a former president of the local Ecuadorian Civic Center.

Boughton's proposal drew national attention to Danbury, a city struggling to deal with a dramatic increase in immigrants in recent years. City officials say there could be 10,000 to 20,000 immigrants here, although immigrant leaders say the number is lower.

Coalition leaders said they need to respond to increasing anti-immigrant sentiments and show they are an important part of Danbury.

``We want all Danbury residents to know immigrants are not a threat,'' Hernandez said. ``The threat is intolerance.''

[...]

Shortly after the coalition held a press conference at her church Wednesday, Pastor Juana Jourdain Villavicencio of the Hispanic United Church of Christ said the unity within the diverse immigrant community would not have been possible if not for Boughton's proposal.

``God works in mysterious ways,'' she said.

Danbury News Times:

At 2:36 p.m., the silent march on Main Street was anything but silent. It happened as the crowd of 1,200 marchers went past Elmwood Park, just south of the police station on Main Street.

About 30 people, mostly Latinos, were in the park watching the procession pass. Suddenly, the marchers broke into a chant.

"Latinos! Unidos! Jamas seran unidos!"

It means "Latinos united will never be defeated."

The marchers flailed their arms wildly, urging the people in the park to join.

They did.

A man with a smiling toddler on his shoulders joined in. A few laborers got off a bench and joined in. They were smiling as well.

Anderson Andbade, 25, and Vanilde Cavacante, 28, joined in - and they were only in town for a day to visit friends.

"It just makes me feel good to see this," said Andbade, from Port Chester, N.Y., by way of Brazil.

Cavacante, meanwhile, recorded the whole thing on a digital video camera. She's going to send it back to her mom in Brazil.

So it went Sunday during the first "Danbury Unity March," an event organized by the Danbury Area Coalition for the Rights of Immigrants.

While some expected it to be a protest march, the event felt more like immigrant pride day. The crowd was large - at one point, it stretched from the Boughton Street intersection up Main Street for as far as the eye could see.

Flags from other nations were everywhere. Mexico, Brazil, Portugal, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Peru and Colombia were just a few of the countries represented.

Labor unions, local church groups and a large contingent of marchers from Hartford participated as well.

Some people rode bikes and plenty of young families brought their babies in strollers.

Everyone, it seemed had a camera.

A man videotaped the event from the roof at Pao Gostoso, a Brazilian bakery. A young Latina wearing a Dunkin' Donuts uniform snapped photos and waved from the balcony of her apartment above the old Palace Theater.

Organizers sold "Danbury Unity March" T-shirts for five bucks a pop. They sold hundreds of shirt at Kennedy Park. Men changed into the shirts immediately after buying them.

A boisterous group of young Puerto Rican men and women cheered loudly at the entrance of Rogers Park each time a flag representing a country from Central or South America passed by.

Kathiria Alba and Beberlee Maldonado, of Danbury, were part of the cheering crowd.

"This is the first time in history Danbury has had something like this," Maldonado said. "We didn't know the Latin culture was so big here."

Joseph Lopes, a 78-year-old World War II veteran from Bethel, stood at the entrance of Rogers Park applauding the marchers.

"I like to see the youth united and working together intelligently. This is very American," Lopes said.

Exavier Avaca, who came to Danbury from Ecuador three years ago, said the day was important protect the rights of everyone.

"We want to protect our opportunity to work in this country," he said.

Johanny Peimentel was born in the Dominican Republic, but has lived in the United States most of her life, believes it was important to for the community to speak on the matter.

"This is a free country and it is the first place that was started as an immigrant country," Peimentel said. "Illegal aliens, all they want to do when they get here is work. They're not coming to kill anyone or steal anything. They just want to work."

And here's how I reported on the march for my site, ConnecticutBLOG, back in 2005:
I first arrived at the rally on Kennedy Street around 1:00 and to my disappointment, there were under 100 people at the site but by the start of the march, the number of people grew to about 500 and took up all of Kennedy Street. While the people marched down Main Street and people saw that their was nothing to fear, what was once a modest crowd of 500 quickly doubled in size (news reports have the crowd estimated at 1,200) and took up a good portion of Main Street (if anyone knows Danbury, the size of the march at it's largest stretched from the corner of Main and White to the library on West Street.

Overall, the march made it's case but except for a couple of politicians, most Democrats were noticeably absent from the event which does not surprise anyone who lives in the Danbury area. Most Democrats have been silent on the issue of immigration and few have criticized the mayor in public. One would think that more democrats would stand up an go after the mayor and his policies and until liberals take a stance against the conservative mindset in Danbury, they will continue to lose elections.

Finally, for your viewing pleasure, here's video of the rally in full.

© 2024 Hat City Blog | READ, WATCH, AND LEARN.
No part of the content or the blog may be reproduced without prior written permission.
PEOPLE-POWERED MEDIA.

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License

INDEPENDENT PARTY OF DANBNRY
DATABASE COMING SOON


“Facebook”“Twitter”“Email”

trans_button
CITY OF DANBURY VIDEO ARCHIVE (Dec 2012-present)

The Mercurial (RIP)
Danbury News Times
Danbury Patch
Danbury Hamlet Hub
Danbury Daily Voice
Tribuna Newspaper
CT News Junkie
CT Capitol Report

10.03.18 (PDF):
"Approval of Danbury Prospect Charter School"

10.30.20 (HatCityBLOG VID): Charter School discussion during 2020 interview with Julie Kushner

2018 (RADIO): WLAD
"State Board of Ed signs off on Danbury charter school proposal"

08.20 (VID): CT-LEAD
"Stand up for Education Justice" Rally

08.20.20 (OP-ED): KUSHNER: "Charter schools are not ‘magic bullet’ to improving Danbury schools"

09.13.20 (OP-ED): CHAPMAN
Candidate for state Senate supports charter school for Danbury

01.15.21 (VID): CT-LEAD
Danbury Prospect Charter School press conference

03.19.21 (OP-ED): CT MIRROR
"Danbury leaders do not want a charter school"

04.01.21 (OP-ED): CT-LEAD:
"Why did Sen. Kushner vote against us?"

05.06.21 (VID): Danbury rally to fully fund public schools

10.07.21 (VID): Danbury City-Wide PTO "Meet the Candidates" education forum

10.07.21 NEWSTIMES
Danbury candidates quarrel over charter school, education funding

01.10.22 NEWSTIMES
"New operator named for Danbury charter school: ‘I’m a huge advocate for parent choice’"

01.10.22 NEWSTIMES
"Some Danbury Democrats ‘open minded’ about charter school after new, CT operator named"

01.21.22 (OP-ED): CT MIRROR
"Lessons from Danbury: Ending the dual process for charter school approval"

02.09.22 NEWSTIMES
"Proposed Danbury charter school won’t open in 2022, governor leaves funding out of budget"

02.18.22 NEWSTIMES:
Danbury residents plead for charter school funds in 9-hour state budget hearing: ‘Just exhausted’

03.05.22 (LTE):
Time has come for Danbury charter school

03.12.22 (OP-ED): TAYLOR
"Why I am excited about the Danbury Charter School"

03.16.22 (LTE):
"Why a Danbury Charter School?"

04.02.22 CT EXAMINER:
"Crowding and a Lack of Options for Danbury Students, But No Agreement on Solutions"

04.04.22 (OP-ED): DCS
"Danbury Charter School plans debut"

04.07.22 (PODCAST): (CEA)
"SENATOR KUSHNER DISCUSSES POINTS OF OPTIMISM FOR DANBURY PUBLIC SCHOOLS"

04.18.22 (VID): CT-LEAD
Protest press conference

04.25.22 (RADIO): WSHU
Latino group call on Connecticut lawmakers to open a Danbury charter school

06.03.22 (OP-ED): KUSHNER:
"Career Academy ‘a great deal for Danbury"

trans_button
On September 26, 2007, ten plaintiffs filed suit in response to an arrest of aday laborers at a public park in Danbury, Connecticut. Plaintiffs amended their complaint on November 26, 2007.

The amended complaint states that plaintiffs sought to remedy the continued discriminatory and unauthorized enforcement of federal immigration laws against the Latino residents of the City of Danbury by Danbury's mayor and its police department.

Plaintiffs allege that the arrests violated their Fourth Amendment rights and the Connecticut Constitution because defendants conducted the arrests without valid warrants, in the absence of exigent circumstances, and without probable cause to believe that plaintiffs were engaged in unlawful activity. In addition, plaintiffs allege that defendants improperly stopped, detained, investigated, searched and arrested plaintiffs. Plaintiffs also allege that defendants violated their Fourteenth Amendment rights when they intentionally targeted plaintiffs, and arrested and detained them on the basis of their race, ethnicity and perceived national origin. Plaintiffs raise First Amendment, Due Process and tort claims.

Plaintiffs request declaratory relief, damages and attorneys fees.

CLICK HERE TO READ/DOWNLOAD MAYOR BOUGHTON'S DEPOSITION

CLICK HERE TO READ/DOWNLOAD MIKE McLACHLAN (then MAYOR CHIEF OF STAFF) DEPOSITION

Danbury Area Coalition for the Rights of Immigrants v.
U.S. Dept. of Homeland Security
3:06-cv-01992-RNC ( D. Conn. )

(02.25.08) Court docket

(10.24.07) Memorandum in Opposition to Defendant's Emergency Motion for Protective Order

(09.26.07) Press Release

(12.14.06) Complaint


Barrera v. Boughton, No. 07-01436
(D. Conn. filed Sept. 26, 2007)

(02.25.08) Court Docket

Amended complaint

Defendants' Motion to Dismiss for Lack of Subject Matter Jurisdiction

Defendants' Motion to Dismiss State Law Claims

Plaintiffs' Opposition to Motion to Dismiss

Order on Motion to Dismiss

Defendants' Answer to Amended Complaint

NEW HAVEN REGISTER: Immigrant's 2006 arrest was flawed Danbury mayor testifies

(10.05.07 (VIDEO) Boughton mislead the public about Danbury's involvement in raid

(09.18.07) Yale Law Students expose Danbury involvement in raid

(12.14.06) VIDEO: Interview with Yale Law Students at FOI presser

(12.14.06) VIDEO: Danbury 11 FOI complaint media roundup

City Clerk Jean Natale standing next to skinhead sparks outrage

(10.03.06) VIDEO: Danbury 11 rally

(09.29.06) VIDEO: Danbury 11 case deepens

Word of raid spread across the country

(09/29/06) VIDEO: Danbury 11 protest news conference

(09/29/06) Immigrant newspaper "El Canillita" gives best account of ICE day labor raid at Kennedy Park


trans_button Santos Family Story
VIDEO: Tereza Pereira's ordeal with ICE agents

VIDEO: Danbury Peace Coalition Immigration Forum (April 2006)
featuring Mayor Boughton and Immigration attorney Philip Berns

VIDEO: 2007 Stop the Raids immigration forum at WCSU

2007: Community protest anti-immigration forum

A tribute to Hispanic Center Director and immigrant activist Maria Cinta Lowe

trans_button


trans_button
2023 MUNICIPAL ELECTIONS

Results:
11.15.23 Recanvass return
(Head Moderator Return Format)

11.07.23: Election night returns
(Head Moderator Return Format)

11.07.23: Initial returns


ESPOSITO FINANCE REPORTS:
Oct 10 2022
Jan 10 2023
Apr 10 2023
Jul 10 2023
Oct 10 2023

ALVES FINANCE REPORTS:
Apr 10 2023
Jul 10 2023
Oct 10 2023

CAMPAIGN SLATE DATABASE
Dem/GOP slate/ballot position

VIDEO: DRTC convention
VIDEO: DDTC conveniton


2021 (ALVES/ESPOSITO)

TOWN COMMITTEES
(VID) DDTC nomination convention
(PDF) DDTC campaign slate flyer

(VID) DRTC nomination convention
(PDF) DRTC campaign slate flyer

FORUMS/DEBATES
(VID) 2021 Danbury City-Wide PTO educational forum

CAMPAIGN FINANCE
First quarter
Alves Apr 10th SEEC filing

Second quarter
Alves Jul 10th SEEC filing
Esposito Jul 10th SEEC filing

Third quarter
Alves Oct 12th SEEC report
Esposito Oct 12th SEEC report

CAMPAIGN MAILERS
Alves "Jan 6th" attack mailer 10.21.21
Esposito "you can't trust Alves" attack mailer 10.20.21
Alves mailer 10.20.21
Alves mailer 09.30.21
Esposito mailer 09.28.21
Alves mailer 09.27.21
Esposito mailer 09.27.21


PAST CAMPAIGN COVERAGE

2005 (BOUGHTON/ESPOSITO)
Danbury 2005 election results
Newstimes Dean Esposito profile (10.25.05)

2007 (BOUGHTON/ABRANTES)
Danbury 2007 election results
(VID) Helana Abrantes TV ad
(VID) BRT tax deferral presser
(VID) Helena Abrantes "Community Forum" interview

2009 (BOUGHTON/GONCALVES)
Danbury 2009 election results
(VID) 2009 Danbury City-Wide PTO educational forum
(VID) 2009 Danbury Chamber of Commerce mayoral debate
(VID) 2009 DDTC nomination convention

2011 (BOUGHTON/TABORSAK)
Danbury 2011 election results
(VID) Saadi/Nero campaign kickoff

2013 (BOUGHTON/NO DTC ENDORSED CANDIDATE/MCALLISTER)
Danbury 2013 election results
(VID) 2013 DDTC nominaiton convention

2015 (BOUGHTON UNCHALLENGED)
Danbury 2015 election results

2017 (BOUGHTON/ALMEIDA)
Danbury 2017 election results
(VID) Al Almeida concession speech
(VID) 2017 Danbury City-Wide PTO educational forum
(VID) Al Almeida nomination acceptance speech

2019 (BOUGHTON/SETARO)
Danbury 2019 election results
(VID) 2019 NewsTimes Editorial Board interview with Mark Boughton and Chris Setaro
(VID) 2019 Danbury City-Wide PTO educational forum
(VID) 2019 Danbury Chamber of Commerce mayoral debate
(VID) 2019 convention endorsement speeches from Mark Boughton and Chris Setaro