May Day 2017 March in Santa Cruz

On May 1, 2017, May Day demonstrators marched from the Post Office in downtown Santa Cruz to the Beach Flats neighborhood. The march visited the Beach Flats Community Garden before continuing on to Beach Flats Park.

Watsonville Brown Berets carried a colorful banner stating, "Santa Cruz Stands in Solidarity with International Workers." More beautiful people carried awesome banners, handsewn at The Fábrica, declaring, "All Are Welcome", "Capitalism Is Killing Us", and "The Future".

A family that lives in the Beach Flats led the march with a child's sign proclaiming, "Fuera Trump! Viva La Raza! Viva Los Trabajadores!" They used a megaphone to keep demonstrators energized while calling for justice, including migrant rights. Meanwhile, Brown Berets from Salinas and Watsonville helped maintain the good vibes with a megaphone at the back of the march.

Elsewhere in Santa Cruz County, community members rallied at the plaza in Watsonville and the clock tower in Santa Cruz. Students at UC Santa Cruz were up well before the break of dawn to successfully shutdown the only two vehicle entrances to the campus until 5:00 PM. Only health center workers were allowed to pass in their vehicles. After shutting the campus down for over ten hours, more than 150 students marched to the Beach Flats.

In a call-to-action for the East Bay, Oakland Sin Fronteras explains: International Workers' Day has been a time to uplift the struggles, honor the sacrifices, and celebrate the triumphs of working people across the world. As we stand on Ohlone Indigenous land this May 1st, we march in celebration and in resistance with our families, friends, neighbors, and co-workers in our communities, and in solidarity with working people across all borders, to continue the historic struggle against economic and social inequity. With a Trump administration in power, a rising fascist tendency, and growing economic and political oppression of people everywhere, this May Day we march in the spirit of organizing and defending our communities from state violence and capitalist exploitation, and toward liberation and self-determination.

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