On July 21, members of the Los Angeles community gathered in MacArthur Park for the third Families Belong Together March in protest of the inhumane family separation policies of the U.S. government.
Demonstrators packed the area for a rally with speakers from the ANSWER Coalition, Democratic Socialists of America, American Indian Movement, and Af3irm, in addition to religious and environmental groups. Speakers emphasized the inhumanity of the current situation, while also noting that this cruelty we are currently seeing is not new and stems from the overarching U.S. imperialist policy.
Many of the speakers were veteran activists who pointed out that these attacks on human rights are a symptom of the system itself. Despite what establishment Democrats and the liberal wing of the U.S. ruling class say, racist anti-immigrant state terror is business-as-usual in the United States. The capitalists throughout history have always used the most vulnerable population as a scapegoat to keep the working class divided and to prevent us from focusing on our real class enemy. This cycle can only be broken with people power and unity.
After leaving the park, protesters marched through Koreatown with chants calling for an end to xenophobic border policies and U.S. military occupations across the globe, and pointed to the inseparable links between ICE, Border Patrol, and the role of the police in our cities. Protesters chanted “Cops and ICE go hand-in-hand,” as police lines gathered alongside the march.
Members of the community came out and joined the march as it passed to support an issue that so many see themselves, their friends, and their neighbors affected by every day. The numbers grew throughout the day, with the march taking over 8th Street, Vermont Avenue, and Wilshire Boulevard.
The third Families Belong Together March was another successful event in a continuing show of solidarity and power along with immigrants, women, LGBTQ people, and communities targeted by U.S. military intervention and economic exploitation who are facing the terror of the government’s current policies. These mass actions highlight the power of community and the power of the people as we demand to have our voices heard.
