• Education
    • Higher Education
    • Scholarships & Grants
    • Online Learning
    • School Reforms
    • Research & Innovation
  • Lifestyle
    • Travel
    • Food & Drink
    • Fashion & Beauty
    • Home & Living
    • Relationships & Family
  • Technology & Startups
    • Software & Apps
    • Startup Success Stories
    • Startups & Innovations
    • Tech Regulations
    • Venture Capital
    • Artificial Intelligence
    • Cybersecurity
    • Emerging Technologies
    • Gadgets & Devices
    • Industry Analysis
  • About us
  • Contact
  • Advertise with Us
  • Privacy & Policy
Today Headline
  • Home
  • World News
    • Us & Canada
    • Europe
    • Asia
    • Africa
    • Middle East
  • Politics
    • Elections
    • Political Parties
    • Government Policies
    • International Relations
    • Legislative News
  • Business & Finance
    • Market Trends
    • Stock Market
    • Entrepreneurship
    • Corporate News
    • Economic Policies
  • Science & Environment
    • Space Exploration
    • Climate Change
    • Wildlife & Conservation
    • Environmental Policies
    • Medical Research
  • Health
    • Public Health
    • Mental Health
    • Medical Breakthroughs
    • Fitness & Nutrition
    • Pandemic Updates
  • Sports
    • Football
    • Basketball
    • Tennis
    • Olympics
    • Motorsport
  • Entertainment
    • Movies
    • Music
    • TV & Streaming
    • Celebrity News
    • Awards & Festivals
  • Crime & Justice
    • Court Cases
    • Cybercrime
    • Policing
    • Criminal Investigations
    • Legal Reforms
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • World News
    • Us & Canada
    • Europe
    • Asia
    • Africa
    • Middle East
  • Politics
    • Elections
    • Political Parties
    • Government Policies
    • International Relations
    • Legislative News
  • Business & Finance
    • Market Trends
    • Stock Market
    • Entrepreneurship
    • Corporate News
    • Economic Policies
  • Science & Environment
    • Space Exploration
    • Climate Change
    • Wildlife & Conservation
    • Environmental Policies
    • Medical Research
  • Health
    • Public Health
    • Mental Health
    • Medical Breakthroughs
    • Fitness & Nutrition
    • Pandemic Updates
  • Sports
    • Football
    • Basketball
    • Tennis
    • Olympics
    • Motorsport
  • Entertainment
    • Movies
    • Music
    • TV & Streaming
    • Celebrity News
    • Awards & Festivals
  • Crime & Justice
    • Court Cases
    • Cybercrime
    • Policing
    • Criminal Investigations
    • Legal Reforms
No Result
View All Result
Today Headline
No Result
View All Result
Home World News Us & Canada

An Inauguration Day well spent with day laborer organizer Pablo Alvarado

January 21, 2025
in Us & Canada
Reading Time: 8 mins read
A A
0
Pablo Alvarado, co-executive director of the National Day Laborer Organizing Network, plays the bass
6
SHARES
13
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter


The one person I wanted to be with during Donald Trump’s inauguration was getting ready to play some cumbias when I met him outside the Pasadena Community Job Center.

Pablo Alvarado is the co-executive director of the National Day Laborer Organizing Network, better known as NDLON. The 58-year-old El Salvador native is a legend in the local immigrant rights movement, the kind of guy who organized soccer leagues in L.A. factories back in the 1990s so Latin American workers from different countries could drop jingoistic rivalries to unite under their common struggles.

A former day laborer himself, he has helped put NDLON at the tip of the spear in nearly every battle on behalf of people without papers in California and beyond, from sanctuary city and state laws to kicking out immigration agents from local jails. If anyone has advice on how to stand up to Trump and his promised crackdown on illegal immigration, it’s Alvarado — even now, after the devastation of the Eaton fire.

He had to evacuate his Pasadena home with his family when the smoke and ash became unbearable. The following day, he organized jornaleros — day laborers — as volunteers to clear lawns, streets and driveways of fire debris. Videos of their vigorous, cheerful efforts soon went viral, drew international coverage and were a forceful counterpoint to Trump’s xenophobic insults.

A promised sit-down interview kept getting pushed back and pushed back until friends said the best way to talk to Alvarado was to see him in action. So I joined him, along with workers, volunteers and others, on Inauguration Day.

First, he wanted everyone to dance to NDLON’s house band, Los Jornaleros del Norte. They’ve been a constant at immigrant rights rallies in Southern California for 30 years now, a reminder to enjoy the good in life and not drown in the bad.

Dressed in jeans, work boots, a flannel, a black hat and a T-shirt that said “Solo el Pueblo Salva al Pueblo” (Only the People Can Save the People), Alvarado laid down some steady bass lines. Singers belted out wry tunes of resistance and exploitation. An accordionist spurred the crowd of about 150 to dance, clap or yelp bird caws in approval.

“Of course he plays the bass,” cracked Hector Flores. A member of the Eastside band Las Cafeteras, Flores was there to volunteer — first, by helping a friend who came down from Fresno with luxury portable toilets.

“The bass sets the foundation — it’s the anchor to let everyone else shine,” Flores explained. “That’s Pablo, and I want to be with people like that.”

Los Jornaleros del Norte finished their short, lively set, and then the bassist spoke.

Pablo Alvarado, center, co-executive director of the National Day Laborer Organizing Network, plays the bass before organizing supply chains with volunteers for victims of the Eaton Fire in at the Pasadena Community Job Center on Inauguration Day.

(Carlin Stiehl/For The Times)

At exactly 9 in the morning, as Trump was taking the oath of office for a second time and would soon promise to deploy troops to the border to “repel the disastrous invasion of our country,” Alvarado asked workers to stand behind him — literally and figuratively.

“Come without fear, with your tools,” he requested in Spanish. His voice was quiet and steady. About 30 people stepped forward. “Let’s raise those calloused hands!”

He switched to English. “Let’s lift them with some pride, because these are the hands that will rebuild L.A.”

There would be hard days ahead, Alvarado warned, with the double whammy of a new president hostile to poor immigrants from Latin America, along with the immense task of rebuilding from the Eaton and Palisades fires.

“Today, this is your inauguration,” Alvarado said to cheers, finally breaking into a smile. “And the day laborers are the president of this country. ¡Que viva el pueblo inmigrante!”

Afterward, people broke off into clean-up brigades or began to organize supply chains. Well-wishers swarmed to greet Alvarado, including Pasadena resident Florence Annang,

“Pablo is like the Tasmanian Devil, but doing good trouble everywhere,” said Annang, who is a member of Pasadena’s police oversight committee. In 2020, NDLON marched with Annang and others to commemorate the murder of George Floyd.

“He’ll inspire people to join in the righteousness of the journey of justice,” she added. “He lets them know it’s long, but also we need to get on it.”

Alvarado eventually peeled away from the crowd and rushed into the job center to check on NDLON’s plans for the day. Work tools, poster boards, boxes of pizzas and cold coffee crammed the space.

A staffer put Ray-Ban sunglasses on Alvarado. They were embedded with a hidden video camera. “This way,” Alvarado said with a broad grin, “we can catch bosses who don’t pay.”

We went back outside to briefly chat. Volunteers zipped past us with pallet jacks. The ruins were a few miles up Lake Avenue, but we could smell them. “I’ve lost sense of time,” he admitted. “But what I’m going through is nothing with what everyone else must deal with.”

He personally knows at least 50 families who lost their dwellings to the Eaton fire, as well as “hundreds” of workers across Southern California who are now jobless because the homes they serviced in Pacific Palisades, Malibu and Altadena are no more.

The timing, with Trump’s ascendancy to power, couldn’t have happened at a worse moment for NDLON — and yet Alvarado said it will be a perfect opportunity to show opponents how to stand up to the new president.

“Whatever resistance is going to happen,” he said, nodding toward the scene before us, “it should look like this.”

Pablo Alvarado, co-executive director of the National Day Laborer Organizing Network, and a volunteer

Pablo Alvarado, co-executive director of the National Day Laborer Organizing Network, greets volunteer Annie Corcoran outside the Pasadena Community Job Center on Inauguration Day. The Long Beach resident has helped to clean up Pasadena streets along with her Orange County-based hiking group.

(Carlin Stiehl/For The Times)

I asked what the rest of us could learn from his decades in the proverbial trenches.

“Don’t fall into despair. When there’s a crisis like this or what’s ahead, take it one day at a time,” he said. “How you plan in times of uncertainty is always very difficult. But the one thing I’ve learned is if you follow the greater good — follow your heart — nothing can go wrong.”

It was a facile answer, I suggested, especially when Trump wants to make life miserable for the very people Alvarado has spent the majority of his life advocating for.

“What I’m telling you has never failed,” he replied calmly. “Look all around us.”

More volunteers were waiting for orders. More trucks came with more supplies. More and more goodness.

“It’s very beautiful,” Alvarado continued. “People who’ve never known each other are now in the same boat. The other day, our guys worked alongside five guys in MAGA hats at Central Park [in Pasadena]. To do the work that an organizer does, you have to believe in the capacity of people to change. People will change.”

I mentioned that Trump is expected to visit the Altadena area as early as Friday. What would he ask the new president?

“It has to be a conversation, not a question,” Alvarado replied. “If he was here, I’d ask him to use a shovel for the first time in his life and start cleaning.”

He laughed, then got serious. “I’d tell him if he wants to better this country, he needs to not just help the most humble among us but give them rights. That’s how you better the world.”

Long Beach native Annie Corcoran came by to greet Alvarado. The teacher at Saint Jeanne de Lestonnac School in Tustin had never heard of NDLON until a member of her hiking group suggested volunteering. Corcoran was helping that morning and wants to hold a fundraiser at her school for the group.

“He’s got integrity,” she said. “It’s something we see lacking too much these days. And we’re going to need people like Pablo for months, years.”

While she and I talked, Alvarado took off. I found him across the street in a parking lot transformed into a drive-through donation pickup for fire survivors. A line of cars — BMWs, Nissans, shiny SUVs, beat-up sedans — wrapped around to Lake, even though the giveaway wouldn’t start for another 15 minutes.

“It looks like anarchy, but there’s order,” he said. “When you have situations like this, people figure it out.”

As we walked back to NDLON’s headquarters, Alvarado noticed a group of sharply-dressed men handing out business cards and fliers to survivors who were idling in their cars. One wore a Gucci belt. For the first time all morning, Alvarado frowned.

“If you’re looking for cases, that’s something we’re going to have an issue with,” he told them. They denied that they were trying to solicit lawsuits. He was unconvinced — “This isn’t the moment for that. I don’t like it.”

He waved at the parking lot. “This is a beautiful operation. This isn’t a business.”

One of the men asked if he was kicking them out. Alvarado shook his head. “It’s your right to be here,” he said. “But I don’t think you should take advantage of people at a moment like this. It’s up to you.”

A few minutes later, the men packed up and left.

Delma Moreno signs a mural outside the Pasadena Community Job Center

Delma Moreno signs a mural outside the Pasadena Community Job Center after a rally for immigrant and undocumented workers rights on Inauguration Day

(Carlin Stiehl/For The Times)

Pasadena Councilmember Tyron Hampton stopped Alvarado to hug him. They’ve known each other for over a decade. They spoke in front of a newly painted mural of jornaleros with the same legend as Alvarado’s T-shirt: “Solo el Pueblo Salva al Pueblo.” Workers were signing the mural as taco trucks set up to hand out free lunches.

“When I think about Pasadena helping,” Hampton said, “I think of Pablo.”

While Hampton spoke, Alvarado had already moved on to whatever was next.



Source link

Tags: AlvaradoCaliforniadaydifferent countryeaton firefollowing dayformer day laborerinaugurationInauguration Daylaborerlifendlonnew presidentorganizerPablopablo alvaradopeopleSpenttimeTrumpvolunteerworker
Previous Post

Trump announces up to $500 billion investment to build AI infrastructure

Next Post

Biosensing platform simultaneously detects vitamin C and SARS-CoV-2

Related Posts

Catholic Chicagoans celebrate as native son Pope Leo XIV becomes first American pope

Catholic Chicagoans celebrate as native son Pope Leo XIV becomes first American pope

May 9, 2025
5

Florida library claps back at Toronto’s after being trolled over Leafs hockey win

May 9, 2025
3
Next Post
Biosensing platform simultaneously detects vitamin C and SARS-CoV-2

Biosensing platform simultaneously detects vitamin C and SARS-CoV-2

  • Trending
  • Comments
  • Latest
Family calls for change after B.C. nurse dies by suicide after attacks on the job

Family calls for change after B.C. nurse dies by suicide after attacks on the job

April 2, 2025
Pioneering 3D printing project shares successes

Product reduces TPH levels to non-hazardous status

November 27, 2024

Hospital Mergers Fail to Deliver Better Care or Lower Costs, Study Finds todayheadline

December 31, 2024

Police ID man who died after Corso Italia fight

December 23, 2024
Harris tells supporters 'never give up' and urges peaceful transfer of power

Harris tells supporters ‘never give up’ and urges peaceful transfer of power

0
Des Moines Man Accused Of Shooting Ex-Girlfriend's Mother

Des Moines Man Accused Of Shooting Ex-Girlfriend’s Mother

0

Trump ‘looks forward’ to White House meeting with Biden

0
Catholic voters were critical to Donald Trump’s blowout victory: ‘Harris snubbed us’

Catholic voters were critical to Donald Trump’s blowout victory: ‘Harris snubbed us’

0
Florida non-compete agreement bill breaks with recent employment trends

Florida non-compete agreement bill breaks with recent employment trends todayheadline

May 9, 2025
Germany's Merz does not rule out EU defence borrowing

Germany's Merz does not rule out EU defence borrowing todayheadline

May 9, 2025
'Math not adding up' as GOP lawmakers fight over Trump’s 'sprawling megabill'

‘Math not adding up’ as GOP lawmakers fight over Trump’s ‘sprawling megabill’ todayheadline

May 9, 2025
Sci-fi books, Culture - 2025

23 (more) of the best science fiction books ever – according to New Scientist writers todayheadline

May 9, 2025

Recent News

Florida non-compete agreement bill breaks with recent employment trends

Florida non-compete agreement bill breaks with recent employment trends todayheadline

May 9, 2025
4
Germany's Merz does not rule out EU defence borrowing

Germany's Merz does not rule out EU defence borrowing todayheadline

May 9, 2025
4
'Math not adding up' as GOP lawmakers fight over Trump’s 'sprawling megabill'

‘Math not adding up’ as GOP lawmakers fight over Trump’s ‘sprawling megabill’ todayheadline

May 9, 2025
4
Sci-fi books, Culture - 2025

23 (more) of the best science fiction books ever – according to New Scientist writers todayheadline

May 9, 2025
3

TodayHeadline is a dynamic news website dedicated to delivering up-to-date and comprehensive news coverage from around the globe.

Follow Us

Browse by Category

  • Africa
  • Asia
  • Basketball
  • Business & Finance
  • Climate Change
  • Crime & Justice
  • Economic Policies
  • Elections
  • Entertainment
  • Entrepreneurship
  • Environmental Policies
  • Europe
  • Football
  • Gadgets & Devices
  • Health
  • Medical Research
  • Mental Health
  • Middle East
  • Motorsport
  • Olympics
  • Politics
  • Public Health
  • Relationships & Family
  • Science & Environment
  • Software & Apps
  • Space Exploration
  • Sports
  • Stock Market
  • Technology & Startups
  • Tennis
  • Travel
  • Uncategorized
  • Us & Canada
  • Wildlife & Conservation
  • World News

Recent News

Arsenal Keep or Dump: What must Arteta change this summer in order to win league?

Arteta targets Arsenal improvements to win trophy

May 9, 2025
Novak Djokovic seeks first clay-court win of season at Geneva

Novak Djokovic seeks first clay-court win of season at Geneva todayheadline

May 9, 2025
  • Education
  • Lifestyle
  • Technology & Startups
  • About us
  • Contact
  • Advertise with Us
  • Privacy & Policy

© 2024 Todayheadline.co

Welcome Back!

OR

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
No Result
View All Result
  • Business & Finance
  • Corporate News
  • Economic Policies
  • Entrepreneurship
  • Market Trends
  • Crime & Justice
  • Court Cases
  • Criminal Investigations
  • Cybercrime
  • Legal Reforms
  • Policing
  • Education
  • Higher Education
  • Online Learning
  • Entertainment
  • Awards & Festivals
  • Celebrity News
  • Movies
  • Music
  • Health
  • Fitness & Nutrition
  • Medical Breakthroughs
  • Mental Health
  • Pandemic Updates
  • Lifestyle
  • Fashion & Beauty
  • Food & Drink
  • Home & Living
  • Politics
  • Elections
  • Government Policies
  • International Relations
  • Legislative News
  • Political Parties
  • Africa
  • Asia
  • Europe
  • Middle East
  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Cybersecurity
  • Emerging Technologies
  • Gadgets & Devices
  • Industry Analysis
  • Basketball
  • Football
  • Motorsport
  • Olympics
  • Climate Change
  • Environmental Policies
  • Medical Research
  • Science & Environment
  • Space Exploration
  • Wildlife & Conservation
  • Sports
  • Tennis
  • Technology & Startups
  • Software & Apps
  • Startup Success Stories
  • Startups & Innovations
  • Tech Regulations
  • Venture Capital
  • Uncategorized
  • World News
  • Us & Canada
  • Public Health
  • Relationships & Family
  • Travel
  • Research & Innovation
  • Scholarships & Grants
  • School Reforms
  • Stock Market
  • TV & Streaming
  • Advertise with Us
  • Privacy & Policy
  • About us
  • Contact

© 2024 Todayheadline.co