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This was a fairly small event, or at least the Boston iteration was, and I'm not sure how much real attention we got (I don't count all the cheerful people shouting "Go Bruins!" on their way past us to the game at TD Garden), but I'm glad I went. Mostly we stood in front of the federal building where the local ICE headquarters is, holding signs where passing cars could see them. (Nothing seems to have been going on in the building today.) A little after 3 o'clock, an organizing sort of person (it sounded like she stepped up because someone had to, rather than having helped plan this) read some information about what we were protesting. (The specific impetus for this was the deportation of a young man who is part of the DACA program.)
Then she asked people to share stories of why they were there. The first person to stand up said she was born a US citizen, and her husband was an immigrant who was undocumented when they met, and talked about the long, slow process of getting him legal status here, and how things have changed in the last few years. After I think two other people, I walked up and said something like "Briefly. I'm here because my mother was a child refugee. She spent years in foster care here while her parents were in a Nazi concentration camp." (I didn't take notes immediately, or plan to talk, and am not sure if I said something closer to "other people shouldn't have to go through that" or "I want other people to have that opportunity here." But I got up, and talked, and didn't stammer or talk too fast and trip over my own words.)
I figure that in terms of my goal of one rally or similar direct action, or two phone calls, a week, this means I have more than met the standard for this week already. (That doesn't mean I can't do more in the next six days, but I won't expect myself to.)
Then she asked people to share stories of why they were there. The first person to stand up said she was born a US citizen, and her husband was an immigrant who was undocumented when they met, and talked about the long, slow process of getting him legal status here, and how things have changed in the last few years. After I think two other people, I walked up and said something like "Briefly. I'm here because my mother was a child refugee. She spent years in foster care here while her parents were in a Nazi concentration camp." (I didn't take notes immediately, or plan to talk, and am not sure if I said something closer to "other people shouldn't have to go through that" or "I want other people to have that opportunity here." But I got up, and talked, and didn't stammer or talk too fast and trip over my own words.)
I figure that in terms of my goal of one rally or similar direct action, or two phone calls, a week, this means I have more than met the standard for this week already. (That doesn't mean I can't do more in the next six days, but I won't expect myself to.)
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