New float highlights workers' plight

HERALD NEWS ^ | September 25, 2006 | SAMANTHA HENRY

[trappedinnj]

Amid the familiar sights in Passaic at this year's Mexican Independence Day Parade -- the festive floats blaring norte񯠭usic and mariachi ballads; girls in swirling rainbow-colored skirts and thick black braids woven with flowers -- a new type of pageant queen made her debut: Miss Day Laborer 2006.

Katrina Ferman, 18, blew kisses to the crowd and waved a huge Mexican flag as she posed -- in ball gown, tiara and sequined sash that read "Queen of the Day Laborers" -- from the back of a streamer-covered construction pickup.

Flanked on both sides by her runners-up -- 18-year-old Princess of the Day Laborers Gabriela Alvarado, and Junior Princess of the Day Laborers, 8-year-old Maria Avarca, -- the improvised float was trailed by about 20 day laborers from Passaic and Freehold.

Several in the group wore T-shirts that said "United Day Laborers of Passaic" in Spanish, and waved to the huge cheering crowds that lined the entire Main Avenue route for Sunday's celebration of Mexican independence. There are more than 30,000 Mexicans in Passaic County, according to 2005 U.S. Census figures.

"I feel proud to participate in this event," Alvarado, the princess, said in Spanish. Alvarado, a factory worker, entered the Miss Day Laborer contest after seeing a sign posted in the window of a hiring center the day laborers are building on Parker Avenue.

"It's important to support the day laborers, so they can have their center and not just be standing around on the corners waiting for work," she said.

Ambassador Ram󮠘ilotl-Ramírez, the consul general of Mexico for New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, marched in Sunday's parade, proud of the fact that he's from Puebla, the state that the majority of Mexicans in this area hail from.

Xilotl-Ramírez said his government is aware of the day laborer situation across the United States.

"I am happy to see the day laborers represented, and that they're present in this parade and have a voice that is being heard," he said in Spanish.

Acirema Alayeto, president of the Miami-based Organizaci󮠍iss America Latina, said by telephone she thought she'd seen every kind of pageant queen during her 20 years in the industry.

"I think you can safely say that Miss Day Laborer is the first of its kind," she said. "But I can imagine that it will catch on."

Reach Samantha Henry at 973-569-7172 or henrys@northjersey.com.

[MeanWestTexan]

"Why do they never talk about improving the situation in Mexico?"

Because you can't polish a turd.

[Song of the South]

I agree completely --- just trying to offer some encouraging words to a newbie.

{ smile }