The largest march in Utah's history wasn't during the anti-war movement in the '60s or a protest against the Iraq War in the 2000s — it was tens of thousands of Utahns marching for comprehensive immigration reform in April 2006, led by the state's Latino community.
Protestors drove from as far as St. George or Ogden to join the large crowd marching up State Street to the Capitol with cries of "Si se puede!" ("Yes we can!"). Some got permission from their religious leaders and employers to skip church meetings or work, while those with unsupportive employers stepped outside their downtown places of employment for a moment to wave on the marchers.
Utahns now have the opportunity to relive the historic march or learn about it for the first time through an exhibit at Mestizo Coffeehouse on Salt Lake City's west side. "Invisible No More: Latinxs' Dignity March in Utah" consists of 60 frames, each with multiple photos, a T-shirt from the rally, and newspaper clippings as well as quotes and captions in English and Spanish. The exhibit is free and open to the public through Oct. 15 in commemoration of Hispanic Heritage Month.
University of Utah professor Armando Solórzano, who curated the display, said the intention was to give a voice to the estimated 89,000 undocumented immigrants in Utah.
"Conferences and symposiums on immigration focus on unauthorized immigrants, but this population is not invited to the dialogues and their concerns are not represented in the agenda. Undocumented workers remain unheard, and their humanity is frequently questioned," he said in a statement. "Our display rescues their deep desires, their appreciation towards the U.S., their celebration of family values, and their powerful sense of hope and optimism. For them, the march was a celebration of their dignity and humanity. And our exhibit attempts to be loyal to their deepest desires."
Solórzano and others who helped organize the march estimate that 43,000 participated on Sunday, April 9, 2006. Contemporary news reports stated Salt Lake City police estimated the crowd was about 25,000 people strong. A handful of photos in the exhibit appeared to be doctored to exaggerate the size of the crowd.
Solórzano said the 43,000 estimate came from organizers, based on the number of people they observed, pamphlets they handed out, the number of cars that arrived for the march and conversations with those who traveled from out of town.
"But again, it is not a scientific way. Absolutely not," he said. "If you look at the report from the cartographers, they will tell you about 32,000."
Regardless of the exact number of participants, the crowd's size was larger than anyone expected. Solórzano said law enforcement eventually withdrew after only assigning 45 police officers and a handful of state troopers.
Former state legislator Ross Romero remembers standing at 200 South and seeing "people everywhere," in both directions.
"It was amazing, because the Latino community doesn't gather like that really. It doesn't protest. It doesn't demonstrate," he said. "Even though there were a lot of Latinos from different countries, of different nationalities — the thing that really stood out was how many American flags there were. People were proud to be part of the experience. People were proud to be in the United States."
Counterprotesters from the Utah Minuteman Project, an anti-immigrant group, told marchers to "Go back to Mexico" and hurled other slurs, but the demonstration remained peaceful. It was one of multiple marches across the U.S. that year, and a few thousand Utahns returned the next day in Salt Lake to continue marching.
The fight for immigration reform continues to this day, but Solórzano says the march stands out as a vibrant manifestation of democracy in the Beehive State. He pointed to one of the exhibit's photos — a young child sitting on their dad's shoulders and waving an American flag during the march.
"That kid is now in the University of Utah," Solórzano said. "That tells you where we are, that we are not what Mr. Trump or everybody thinks that we are. We work hard, we get into higher education and become workers. There are DACA students who are lawyers in the U.S. system."
David Galvan, co-owner of Mestizo Coffeehouse, said the exhibit is an important reminder.
"For those who were there, to remind them that they were there, to remind them that they came together, that their voice is important. For those who weren't there, for them to be aware this happened," he said.
"It was kind of like going to a huge family reunion," Galvan said of the protest. "This is one that pretty much had a huge impact — and what I mean by impact is a whole lot of the Latino community felt, 'Oh (crap), there's a lot of us here.'"