Approximately 40 people gathered and marched across the Boston Common Sunday afternoon in an effort to raise awareness of the potential effects Donald Trump’s presidency could have on immigrants and refugees in the United States.
Many people around the Common joined the procession, chanting lines such as “Love trumps hate” and holding signs that read “Respect everyone’s humanity” and “Love has no boundaries.”
Daniel Ryan, a member of The Dandelion Coalition, which organized the rally, said the gathering aimed to acknowledge issues facing immigrants and asylum seekers.
“The ones that do come here are coming here because they truly need to,” Ryan said after the rally. “You have to give up your assets, give up everything, and no one’s going to do that for a malicious reason. They’re going to come over here because there’s no other way for them to stay safe where they are.”
Ryan said he hopes the rally prompted onlookers at the Common to educate themselves on what the president-elect is saying and supporting.
“We’re just so uneducated on the issue itself that [Trump] can just say the things he’s saying and no one’s going to check him on it,” Ryan said after the rally. “What I like to do is bring awareness to it; I think by gathering and making a statement, people who are sitting here in the park will see it and go home and look it up.”
Ryan said above all, the nation needs to embrace freedom for everyone.
“We’re the land of the free supposedly,” Ryan said. “We should either honor our statement or change our slogan, because it shouldn’t sound like we are if we’re truly not.”
Several attendees said they participated in the rally to demonstrate their empathy for immigrants and refugees.
Valerie Overton, 55, of Lexington, said the nation needs to unite in solidarity with immigrants and refugees.
“I’ve seen so much scapegoating of refugees and immigrants, especially in recent months as a result of the campaign,” she said. “I feel like we need to demonstrate that we can all work together towards progress, towards a common goal of helping each other out regardless of whether we’re white citizens or refugees or immigrants.”
Nancy Kohn, 67, of Jamaica Plain, who held a sign that showed solidarity with the Sioux Tribe at Standing Rock Indian Reservation, said unity in opposition to Trump’s rhetoric is the primary goal of her involvement in the rally.
“At this point in our history, silence is complicity, and we really need to show our opposition to the most extreme racist and frightening instincts of Trump,” she said. “One of the main reasons I came out was to stand in opposition and make it clear that if Trump goes down this road of actually deporting immigrants or even beginning a registry of immigrants, that there are going to be people in the streets saying no.”
Zheng Xu, 42, of Arlington, an immigrant from China who is now a U.S. citizen, said she is worried for her children and other immigrant families that have faced discrimination.
“I hate the situation,” she said. “I just fear for my daughter’s generation, their right to choose, and I really feel bad for people of color and immigrants.”
Minaldy Cadet, a freshman at Boston College, who said he was denied financial aid at BC after the immigration office denied him a green card, was among the marchers.
“My hopes for the future will always be as optimistic as possible,” he said. “I definitely want immigrants and refugees to not only be welcome here but also to be taken care of well, as there’s a difference [between] letting immigrants come here and letting immigrants really live here.”
