IMMIGRATION MATTERS: History Is Unfolding Before Our Eyes

WASHINGTON, D.C.--We are living in one of those times when a group of people, thought to be powerless, is shaping the destiny of the nation for the better.

It happened before -- 40 years ago -- in Selma, Ala., when voting rights advocates, including now-congressman John Lewis (D-GA), tried to march across the Edmund Pettis Bridge and were beaten by the police. The next day, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. sent a telegram to clergy all over the country, asking them to come and continue the march. A day later, they arrived from every direction. That march, and the nonviolent protests that followed, galvanized the conscience of the nation and led to the enactment of the Voting Rights Act.

History is repeating itself, this time immigrants and their supporters are at the very center of it. Once again people who love justice, including clergy from all over the country, are responding to their call. In the last month, more than one million people have participated in peaceful demonstrations across the nation, in places as diverse as Los Angeles, Milwaukee, Philadelphia, Garden City, Kansas and yes, even Birmingham. In each of those cities, and in many more, the marches have been the largest in history.

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