On Sunday, July 14, my wife Marge and I along with fellow Manitowoc County Republican party members Sulynn Moore, Mr and Mrs Charles Hagen and their stalwart and cute-as-a-bug 7 year old daughter Olivia , as well as local Tea Party member Gayle Schroeder, joined people from Green Bay, Sheboygan and Milwaukee for a bus trip to Washington, DC.  We travelled to our nation's capitol to join other people from across the country in support of a protest march sponsored by the Black American leadership Alliance (BALA).  The purpose of the march was to protest the current U.S. Senate-sponsored immigration amnesty legislation.

BALA was founded by African-American leader Leah Durant - they object to blanket amnesty which they say will lead to even more illegal immigration and serve to limit job opportunities for American citizens.  A huge additional flow of unskilled immigrants will be devastating for job opportunities for black Americans, says Ms. Durant.

We arrived in DC following an 18 hr bus ride from Wisconsin.  We joined fellow marchers at Freedom Square and from there marched, despite scorching mid-day temperatures, about 6 blocks to the Capitol building.  There we heard from a variety of spokespersons from the black community as well as from political leaders who oppose the Senate bill, namely Ted Cruz (R-Texas), and Steve King (R-Iowa).  Former Florida Representative Alan West also spoke. 

I was most impressed by the numbers of black American leaders present at the rally.  The majority of the marching participants were white; however, the rally organizers and spokespersons were overwhelmingly black.  When one considers that the vast majority of black American are Democrats, the black turnout at the rally was remarkable and is sure to surprise the Democrat politicians who think they have a lock on their black constituents.  The black community, as the rally shows, is beginning to question its unwavering loyalty to a Democrat Party which is taking its black support for granted.  

I was proud to be a part of our Wisconsin contingent and our state presence was made clear by the Wisconsin state flag under which we were privileged to march. 

Don Zimmer

Vice-Chairman

Manitowoc County Republican Party