KEPW reports from No Kings: ‘ICE is taking families’

John Q: Nancy Forrest covered the ‘No Kings-Vote Early’ event Oct. 17 in Eugene. Here is Part 2 of her coverage from Eugene City Hall with the speaker from SAfER, the Springfield Alliance for Equity and Respect, Ocielo:

Ocielo: Hello everybody. How we feeling? I want to hear every man, woman, and child. How are we feeling? One more. How are we feeling?

My name is Ocielo. Today I use a pseudonym name as a protection of myself. Before ACES and all these organized groups started SAfER, Alex and myself started a march from Eugene and Springfield the January when Trump was inaugurated.

We immediately created a response to what we knew was tyranny that was coming.

That video, that short five-minute video that was broadcast—we were informed by our Portland organization friends that the FBI had cross-sectioned every attendee to make sure of their documentation status to see if there was any illegal people present. There wasn’t, or at least none that we’re saying were there.

So we know as people of color, we have to protect ourselves as we speak up to these atrocities. We must protect our families and our communities. My name is Ocielo.

This statement comes from our leader from SAfER. Families are being taken by ICE. I repeat. Families are being taken by ICE.

Families are living in fear, wondering whether going to work, taking their children to school, or simply leaving home could lead to separation. This isn’t a new feeling, but an intensifying feeling that gets louder and you feel it in your skin.

People are being held in detention away from their homes, away from the people who love them being threatened to be deported to places that are worse than the country that they fled.

Those left behind have figured out how to pay rent, care for children, and find help while carrying that fear. Raza businesses are closing their doors earlier when people are afraid to go out. Businesses lose customers, workers lose income, and families struggle to put food on the table. People go hungry.

This is what fear and separation looks like in everyday life: An empty chair. A closed business. A parent wondering how to feed their children that day. This isn’t new. We cannot get used to it. I will not welcome a norm and neither should you.

Through SAfER, we work to bring advocacy, accountability, and healing to our community. We stand alongside families so their voices are heard. We ask our institutions and elected officials what they’re doing to protect our neighbors, and we expect them to follow through.

Community efforts like La Gente Unida help bring neighbors together. These connections matter because people need to know they belong and have somewhere to turn.

We need to prepare. We need to know our rights. We need to talk to each other, build districts of communication within each other in our community. Have a conversation with your family. Identify trusted contacts. Connect with reliable legal resources, attend ‘Know Your Rights’ gatherings and help someone else get that information.

Check on your neighbors. Listen to what they need. Support local businesses whenever you can. It is something I do as much as possible. Whenever I spend my hard-earned dollars, I spend it on locally-owned businesses, directly supporting my community.

All of our allies: We ask you to step up. If you showed up today, let that mean you’re ready to act, ready to speak when quiet feels easier, ready to organize when change feels impossible.

We cannot walk away today, check a box, decide that being here was enough. It is merely the beginning.

We have a sacred duty to protect everyone and each other ’cause we all matter.

Regardless of your political party, if you oppose policies that separate families and spread fear, use your voice and use your vote to demand change.

If you are eligible, vote early as—as soon as tomorrow. Encourage your friends and family to vote, all the loved ones that you can speak to. Help your neighbors and find reliable voting information.

Encourage young people who don’t believe in a system, at 18 they have their voice and listen to what they have to say.

Vote to protect your Latinx neighbors. Vote to protect one another.

Let today be a commitment we carry into tomorrow. Prepare, organize, speak up and vote. Our families cannot wait. We have a duty to act. Ometeo.

Nancy Forrest: This is Nancy coming to you on behalf of KEPW 97.3 FM.

See also: No Kings raises funds for Rapid Response Lane County, SAfER