Hundreds of people, most of them Latino, rallied in Marshall Park Saturday demanding immigration reform and denouncing a new Arizona law that allows police to question residents about their immigration status. (see slideshow)

Similar protests were held in city nationwide as critics denounced the Arizona law as discriminatory, alleging that it will legalize racial profiling.

At the Charlotte rally, the Rev. Kojo Nantambu, president of the local NAACP, was one of a few African Americans present. He said he was there to show solidarity with a group that now faces the same types of discrimination that blacks have faced in the United States.

“Our plight and our struggles are the same,” he told Qcitymetro.com. “There should be no discrimination, no segregation, against any kind of people.”

Nantambu, who led the group in prayer (see photo), said laws like the one in Arizona are discriminatory toward Latinos. He said the United States does not want blacks or Latinos to feel that they are a part of this nation.

“The same discrimination that is being perpetrated on them is the same discrimination that is being perpetrated on us,” he said.

Maria Shanahan, who said she came to the United States from Mexico 10 years ago and has since married an American, said immigration reform is long overdue.

“I want immigration reform for everybody,” she said. “I want justice… We just want to work and make this country even greater.”

Most of the people who spoke at the rally spoke in Spanish. Those who used English told stories of Latino families being separated and workers jailed. Others talked of persistent fear of being arrested and deported. Everyday activities such as driving, some said, can be fraught with danger. From Marshall Park the protestors marched a few streets over the county jail, where illegal immigrants are often detained before they are deported.

James Gilchrist, a Charlotte immigration and defense lawyer, told the group that as a white man, he would never be subjected to laws like the one in Arizona.

“It’s ripping families apart,” he said. “I see it every day. My clients have to go to jail because of their race.

Gilchrist said immigration reform should involve securing U.S. boarders but also establishing a legal means for more Latinos who need work to migrate. He said many of his clients are subjected to violence and gangs back home.

“They said America as the land of opportunity, but the only way is to come here illegally,” he told Qcitymetro. “We have to help people who want to work hard, who want to better themselves and get away from conditions in their own countries.”
 

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