Benicia Standing Strong – support for better conditions at the US border, vigil here on Friday

By Roger Straw, The Benicia Independent, July 11, 2019

Our daily news is overflowing on the tragic conditions at our southern border. The tv and print reporters are on it, and some of our leaders in Washington, D.C. are on it. But the Trump administration keeps on separating children from their parents, detaining, caging and even abusing desperate humans who have fled their homes and appealed to the greatness of the Land of Liberty, appealed to you and me, asking for a hearing, for asylum, for the long-held open-armed welcome of the USA.

Emma Lazarus wrote an American treasure, and we have offered it to the world: “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.” – As it appears on the statue of liberty, offering freedom, safety and prosperity to all the world.

The reporters and some in power are on it, but you and I find it difficult to know what to do. Join me in a moving and informative candlelight vigil this Friday at the gazebo in City Park. Our vigil here in Benicia will be one of over 600 such events across the USA and around the world on July 12, calling for an end to human detention camps, and offering ways to help effect change.

Come to Benicia City Park from 7-9pm this Friday, July 12. Gather near the gazebo, check out the information tables and the art, listen to the music and song, hear the stories of those who work with immigrants and asylum seekers, and find out more about what WE can do to help.

Thank you to all who care about this tragic situation, and all who helped organize this important event here in Benicia.

Roger Straw
Benicia

More info and optional rsvp on Benicia Lights for Liberty (Facebook)
More info on Lights For Liberty national and international

Benicia Lights for Liberty – Friday, July 12, 7pm, City Park Gazebo

Lights for Liberty events will take place in Benicia and around the world on the evening of Friday, July 12.

Progressive Democrats of Benicia is a co-sponsor the event.  Please come THIS Friday evening!

Lights for Liberty is a vigil to end human detention camps.  We will gather at the Gazebo in Benicia City Park (First & Military Streets), at 7pm on Friday, July 12: facebook.com/events/350536272520879

What to Expect:

• Gather with others who care deeply about conditions at our southern border
• Hear from nearby organizations that are working with immigrant families; be moved by the stories and efforts being made to welcome young and old who seek freedom and safety in the U.S.
• Learn what you can do to help
• View a display of Nikki Basch-Davis’ art, “My Voice” – faces of the human tragedy at our southern border
• Opportunity to sign a Benicia Lights for Liberty petition
• Take part in a closing silent candlelight vigil – taking our lights into all the world

What to Bring:

• Your energy, commitment, hope, solidarity…
• Your cell phone, flashlight or LED candle (LED candles will be available for the first 120 participants.  Lit candles not allowed.)
• A folding chair
• Signs of support for immigrants and asylum seekers

More Information:

• Lights for Liberty – lightsforliberty.org (Over 600 July 12 events planned worldwide!)
• Benicia Lights for Liberty – facebook.com/events/350536272520879 (See who’s going, rsvp optional)

Candlelight Vigil, Friday, July 12, 7-9pm, City Park

Lights for Liberty – Benicia (L4L Benicia) and co-sponsor Progressive Democrats of Benicia invite the public to a Candlelight Vigil from 7-9 PM on Friday July 12th, 2019 at the Benicia City Park Gazebo on 1st Street, as part of a nationwide mobilization against the Trump administration’s human detention camps.

RSVP on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/350536272520879/.

On Friday July 12th, 2019, L4L Benicia will join Lights for Liberty: A Vigil to End Human Detention Camps, which will bring thousands of Americans to detention camps across the country, into the streets and into their own front yards, to protest the inhumane conditions faced by refugees.

As of today, Lights for Liberty vigils are scheduled in over 340 locations around the United States and the world, with new locations being added daily.

Beginning at 7 p.m. on July 12th, advocates, activists and impacted persons will speak on the issue of human detention camps in the United States. At 9 p.m., around the country and around the world, participants will light candles in a silent vigil for all those held in US detention camps to bring light to the darkness of the Trump administration’s horrific policies.

“We shine a light on the inhumane treatment of migrants and refugees by the current administration. To be silent is to be complicit. To sit this out is to be complacent. Now is a time to stand for what is best in all of us, to stop the worst of us. We must stand for one another. At New Sanctuary Coalition, we hold in our hearts a vision of a world worth fighting for,” said Ravi Ragbir, Executive Director of New Sanctuary Coalition.

“People of color are targets of this administration’s deliberately cruel immigration enforcement policies,” said Nicole Lee, co-founder of the Black Movement Law Project. “We stand vigil with Lights for Liberty and in solidarity with all those in detention camps, and against this administration’s profound racism and xenophobia.”

“I’ve been inside these camps, and the conditions are beyond description. Twenty-four adults and six children that we know of have already died as a result,” said Toby Gialluca, lawyer, activist and member of the organizing team of Lights for Liberty. “The world must take a stand against this administration and stop these camps before more lives are lost.”

About Lights for Liberty: Lights for Liberty is a loose coalition of grassroots activists, with support from long-standing immigrants’ rights organizations and other organizers. Five main events will be held on July 12th in El Paso, San Diego, New York City, Washington, D.C., and Homestead/Miami, FL. More information can be found at http://www.lightsforliberty.org.

For more information, press only
L4L Benicia
Sherry Vinson
L4LBenicia at gmail.com

Progressive Democrats of Benicia
Roger Straw – L4L Lead
rogrmail at gmail.com
Ralph Dennis, Chair
redennis5156 at att.net