Rally stories
These stories are accompanied by Photos in the Immigration Rally album on my facebook which is the “Photos” link above.
One is of my new friend Omar: He’s carrying the Venezuelan flag which he got to do because his brother Javier, who is 8, came up while we were handing flags out and asked if I got one from “him”, pointing to the guy from HALO with the flags. I said yes and asked him if he’d like to help carry a flag and stand with us. He said yes and while we were talking his brother Omar, 6, came up to us and said that he would like to carry a flag too. All of the people carrying flags marched across the capitol steps to the side where the march was going to begin and Pedro remarked on how beautiful America is.
As soon as we settled on the other side, Javier asked me what we were celebrating. I told him that I think most people were here to support immigrants. He said, “But I was born here!” and I said “Yah, I was, too, but I think it’s important to let people who weren’t but now live here know that we support that they came.” We started the march about then and a few minutes later I told him “I think most of us are here because there are people who want to make it more difficult for people who weren’t born in this country to come and live here and we don’t think that’s a good idea because we like living here and think other people should get the same good jobs and schools that we do.” He seemed to understand.
Meanwhile, Omar was just really excited to hold his flag. I was really impressed with how far they were able to walk and carry the flags. I totally would’ve wimped out about it when i was there age.
After we finished marching, we circled the American flag on the south side of the steps. I think this was a really cool moment because Pedro spoke about how the US is a melting pot.
Having other nations’ flags there is pretty controversial right now because people see them as a sign that these immigrants won’t become part of our culture, but I think they’re really missing the beauty of what’s happening.
Throughout the march, I constantly carried a little American flag that Lauren had given to me. But I also carried the Venezuelan flag when Omar got tired of holding it and the Nicaraguan flag for a while too when Javier wanted to play with the other boys running around. Now, I am pretty confident that I am not of Nicaraguan or Venezeual ancestry. Similarly, Latinos are carrying British and Italian flags while Mexicans are carrying Brazilian flags and we’re all doing this in the United States.
I know that many American’s belief that this country was founded to be a great melting pot are mostly false perceptions of history, but they’re perceptions nonetheless, and that counts for something. The people at these rallies believe that the US should be a great nation of immigrants. All of us come from very different places, but our journey to the US makes us very much the same because it is a struggle and a personal journey to get here.
And think about if I did try to carry my flags. It reminds me of being in Poland and trying to explain my nationality to a group of Europeans that thinks in such clear European race terms. I am adopted so by blood I have German, Swedish and English ancestry, I think. By culture of my adoptive parents, I am Polish Jew, Irish Catholic, Czech Gypsy and Cherokee and from my overbearing mother with her dad’s temper (stereotypes!) to the vinegar we use as flavoring in everything: I can trace clear ethnic influences just within the culture of our family.
I think that this, now more than ever, is what makes our country really cool.