A lesson in democracy

Last night I went to an action outside of the Aurora City Council building. My friends at Iliff work at "El Centro," which is a resource center for day laborers in downtown Denver. El Centro is trying to open a second site in Aurora, the largest suburb in Denver, but City Council is trying to pass an ordinance that would make it illegal for day laborers to be present. Here is the video from the action. (I am wearing a bright red shirt and am in the background!)

You can't tell in the video, but the sign I am holding says "Workers who feed their families are our heroes."

I sat in on the city council meeting because I wanted to hear some of the workers and clergy speak. At the meeting, Aurora was given the "All-American city" award, which some of us thought was a little ironic. =) The council didn't get to the bill until about 40 minutes into the meeting, so I had to sit through a LOT of boring discussion. When it came time to debate the labor bill, one of the council members moved to postpone discussion until the next meeting when all council members could be present. The fifty or so of us who were in the audience silently stood while the council voted to postpone discussion. No one was allowed to speak. We were invited to come back in two weeks, if we so chose.

It was sad to see. I know the city council is trying to do what it thinks is best for the city of Aurora, but the day laborers who work to feed their families also live in the city of Aurora and their voices should be heard.