Hundreds of thousands of Americans took to the streets across the country yesterday to join the Families Belong Together march – a day of action to support immigrant families.
Despite some temperatures soaring to 32 degrees Celsius, hundreds of rallies took place, all of them protesting US President Donald Trump’s treatment of immigrants.
The Families Belong Together organisation demands the reunion of families and the end of “caging children and jailing their parents”. The organisation urges their followers to look through Trump’s Executive Order (signed on June 20 to end separation) and to the families still a part and alone on the Mexico border.
At the march at City Hall, Los Angeles, Chrissy Teigen holding her newborn son Miles, told the crowd it was his “first rally”.
In her speech Teigen told the crowd that she is “incredibly proud to be the daughter of an immigrant.”
“My mother grew up in a very small village in Thailand and she never lets me forget it. We love that the American story is filled with people from all over the world to have a better life here. America at its best is big, beautiful, and diverse, like our great city of Los Angeles.
“Can you imagine this city without the contributions of immigrants? How bland, how flavourless LA would be, how boring. Too many people demonise immigrants like they’re stealing something from the people born here. Immigrants don’t come here to take from us, they add to what makes America special.
“Making America great doesn’t mean building walls to keep people out, it means continuing to embrace the dreams of immigrants who add to our culture, our economy, and our humanity. Making America greater most definitely doesn’t mean turning asylum seekers away or kidnapping their kids to turn them away from coming here.
“I cannot even comprehend the kind of cruelty in the hearts of the people who have enacted this policy, but I do know they did not expect us to come together in such an incredible way and incredible numbers to resist this. We are here and we are not going away. We are here because we believe America can and should do better. And John and I are going to keep showing up and speaking out, and making sure your voices are heard.”
You can watch Teigen’s full speech, below, courtesy of the Los Angeles Times:
Chrissy Teigen at the Families Belong Together March: “I’m incredibly proud to be a daughter of an immigrant.” https://t.co/Q0HTxGqLaQ pic.twitter.com/2oS1JhDcYj
— Los Angeles Times (@latimes) June 30, 2018
Husband and musician John Legend performed his new song Preach.
Marchers bought hundreds of signs to the events, many of which were posted on social media:
“Kids nap, not kidnap!” sign at the #FamiliesBelongTogetherMarch in DC pic.twitter.com/Tj0rHswxOA
— Kyle Cardine (@Kyle_Cardine) June 30, 2018
https://twitter.com/KathrynLandon/status/1013175527463501824
https://twitter.com/sahluwal/status/1013204248778035201
This says everything. #Phoenix pic.twitter.com/FKJJE7ZQkW
— Michael Edgecomb (@TheEdgePHX) June 30, 2018
Other influential figures in entertainment were also at the march including Alicia Keys, America Ferrera, Amy Schumer, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Laverne Cox, Laura Dern, Diana Guerrero, Constance Wu, and Chadwick Boseman.
Proud to fight the good fight with so many passionate people today at the #FamiliesBelongTogether rally. This is just the beginning, but we will not stop until families are reunited and compassion becomes the standard. ✊🏾 @fbtlosangeles pic.twitter.com/FLHFokb6K2
— Chadwick Boseman (@chadwickboseman) July 1, 2018
You can learn more about Families Belong Together, here.
