"This shows that we're not alone, that we're united," declared Oscar Reséndiz, 34, a drywall installer, who attended the meeting with his wife and daughter.

They were protesting the handcuffing, arrest, and jailing last month of the six workers, five men and one woman, under a little-known and rarely used city ordinance prohibiting home construction and repair after 6:00 p.m. According to Raúl González, one of the workers arrested, a man, who is white, leveling a lot next to where they were working was not cited or arrested. Police claim they were not sure if the workers heard their warning.

Many came to the meeting in work clothes. Construction workers--dry wallers, carpenters, bricklayers, landscapers, and others--whose labor power is employed in the booming business of constructing residential homes and office buildings in this area, talked up the importance of a big turnout on their jobs. A Spanish-language radio station, La Que Buena, where several of the workers arrested called in to talk about their fight, advertised the meeting throughout the day.

Smyrna mayor Max Bacon defended the police and refused to back down. He stood by his statement, following the arrests, that it bothered him that city funds were being wasted to teach the police Spanish. "That's something that has always rubbed me the wrong way," Bacon complained. One speaker at the meeting asked the mayor if he had been taking lessons from Atlanta Braves baseball pitcher John Rocker, who recently earned notoriety for his racist, sexist, anti-immigrant and otherwise reactionary remarks.

Maritza Soto Keen, director of Atlanta's Latin American Association, demanded to know why the six workers were arrested when they had stopped work and were cleaning up. She pointed to the significant role that immigrant workers play in the carpet, poultry, apple, peanut, and construction industries in the region.

Another speaker who was well received was Dan Fein, a textile worker and the Socialist Workers candidate for U.S. Congress in the 5th District. He celebrated the determined mobilization by working people, saying, "What a great turnout! As long as there was no response Mayor Bacon thought he could complain about Mexican workers needing English lessons without paying a price for his remarks."

Fein, whose remarks were translated to Spanish by a campaign supporter, added, "Workers from Mexico are a part of the working class here in Smyrna. That makes the working class stronger, not weaker.

"Meat packers from Minnesota, many of whom were born in Mexico, are helping to lead a struggle for union recognition. They organized a sit-down strike to get the boss to meet their demands, to treat them with dignity. They are fighting for justicia. So are we.

"These workers are not guilty," Fein stated. "My campaign says: Drop the charges now! Sí se puede!" As Fein took his seat, the audience began to chant, "Sí se puede"--a fighting slogan that translates as "Yes we can."

Socialist Workers campaigners distributed a statement in Spanish and English. They sold the campaign papers--the Militant and Perspectiva Mundial--as well as a book by Ernesto Che Guevara and one by Karl Marx from a table set up at the meeting.

The day after the meeting at the City Council, the six workers pleaded not guilty in municipal court. Their case is scheduled to go to trial in September. If convicted, they could be fined up to $1,000 and jailed up to 180 days. They are currently free on bond.