“There is no better place to be but here in the rain,” said Angela Davis, as she addressed thousands of immigrants standing in front of the stage after having marched two miles in San Francisco. And she’s right, rain or shine, not the rain or swine flu was enough to stop the congregation.

For the average American, the usual rebuttal concerning immigrants sounds something like “they are taking American jobs” or “illegal immigrants are criminals.” The naïve argument trapped in a bubble, cannot see past its Americana nature, that in fact the world does not revolve around us. As the average American’s rage builds up under the assumption that immigrants are taking what’s his, he overlooks that that world he lives in was built by foreigners, that his entire livelihood and commodities of comfort were built by foreigners. His Polo shirt from Guatemala, his shoes from Nicaragua, his coffee from Colombia, his pants from China, his produce from Mexico, his plasma TV from India. And, all paid for in pennies. Although immigrants contribute from all parts of the world to make up these commodities of comfort, they are not allowed to join us here to celebrate it.

We marched in the rain because it was a duty, the youth marched for the rights and dignity of their parents who work far longer than what’s even considered legal by American standards. Parents marched for their children, who even though they are as brown as a Zapotec Indian in the mountains of Mexico, they are no less American despite what their passport says. We marched to make it clear that we will not let immigrant folks be scapegoated for the economic downfall—immigrants have nothing to do with bad mortgage payments, debt, or greedy bankers.

Surely Obama has sparked change in our collective thinking, but true movements are never in style despite whatever Obama shirt you got on. And while officials struggle to find a vaccine for the swine flu of supposed Mexican origin, each step of our march was a step to eradicate an even more threatening social sickness—that race is a false social construct, that borders are no different.