The sun started to shine in the most amazing way yesterday afternoon as a group of us weaved down a path to a park in the Central District acting as the beginning point in the 4 mile march. The group I traveled with, partly composed of my compatriots heading to Denmark and the other being a Queer rights group on campus, made it to the grass field at Judkins Park and I started to take it all in: the signs, the families, the smiles, the speeches.

Once the march started, I was surprised by the cheering supports from the side. I saw people from all kinds of groups - Asian rights, Human Rights advocates, and even the Women in Black. It was inspiring to see such a large group of people from different backgrounds coming together to support immigrant and labor rights.

As we weaved through downtown I started to pay attention to the nation branding going on around me. We’re currently studying the American brand in my Political Science/Communications class, and I was fascinated by how the different countries were being marketed during the march. Ranging from Mexican, American, and El Salvadorian, (and one sole Che flag) flags to the handwritten signs being used, it all was all contributing to these imagined places. I started to grapple with these images and what they communicate about the countries. What does it mean to be Mexican? What does it mean to be American?

Outside of some newspaper photographers along the route, there was very little media on the ground. There were several news helicopters following us, but I saw only one television camera interviewing people on the ground. The station was Univision, of course. This realization left me evaluating the media story converging with the marketing story - sure, you can have a diverse, engaged, and mobilized group of people marching for equal rights, but if no one cares about the message (and only cares about their interrupted evening commute) is it effective? And if the media keeps a hand-off approach - leading to no message transmission - what is the point? What does this lack of ground coverage imply about the media?

I have decided to push these cynical thoughts to the backburner. I enjoyed celebrating at Seattle Center, watching the Aztecan dancers, smiling at the kids, and basking in the sun. I’d like to think that solidarity and support of the march can only lead to good, and if nothing else I spent the afternoon with some awesome people, being engaged, and taking a nice stroll through downtown Seattle. I suppose that is what being a citizen is all about, right?