Unrest In The Valley

John Doherty on a rally in Newburgh: It took 10 minutes for them all to pass. They sang in Spanish, carried signs in English and chanted seamlessly in two languages. They carried flags, but an old pro like Martinez could pick them out by their haircuts, their faces: Nicaraguans, Hondurans, Guatemalans, a Peruvian here and there, and, most of all, Mexicans. They stretched over a quarter-mile, and the white police who stopped traffic for them put their number as high as 2,000.

They drew an audience from shops and eateries, blurred the line between marcher and onlooker, and they made real for once what the U.S. Census had announced five years ago: there are more Latinos today in Newburgh than either blacks or whites.

"Oh. My. God," said Mayor Nick Valentine when the procession reached City Hall.