MomsRising had a powerful action in honor of Mother’s Day last week which highlighted the importance immigrant & Muslim families in our communities and economy — and called on leaders to lift democracy, as well as liberty and justice for everyone in our nation.
See below for pictures (scroll through the slideshow!), video and some of the contents that we delivered. Feel free to share!
MomsRising Delivered Message of Liberty, Justice, and Freedom for Everyone to President Trump, Attorney General Jeff Sessions, and Members of the U.S. Senate in Honor of Mother’s Day!
BACKGROUND: For Mother’s Day 201, MomsRising didn’t want flowers or chocolate. What we wanted was for President Trump, U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions, and Members of Congress to remember our country’s core democratic values and our proud and important immigrant history.
During the 2016 election, MomsRising observed Donald Trump’s divisive presidential campaign – steeped in anti-immigrant, anti-Muslim, anti-minority, and even white supremacist rhetoric – with dismay. When he carried that rhetoric into his new Presidency, our dismay turned into anger. Barely 10 days after his inauguration, and with a compliant Congress, Trump advanced orders for “building a wall,” banning immigrants, and discriminating against people of the Muslim faith. It was clear to MomsRising that Trump and other national leaders needed a strong reminder of American democratic values and an affirmation of our proud immigrant history as embodied by the Statue of Liberty. Reassuring our more than one million members thatMomsRising would not stand by as the new administration legislated hate that hurts families, devastates communities, and harms our economy, we invited them to help us send a strong message by sending thousands of Statue of Liberty to Trump Tower.
—> Video of The Statue of Liberty Delivery :
Or view and share the video via Facebook!
ACTION HIGHLIGHTS:
Tens of thousands of MomsRising members from across the country and from every state joined our message. In order to maximize the impact of our message, we decided to deliver it in Washington, D.C., over Mother’s Day weekend. We would observe Mother’s Day by honoring Mother Liberty, inspired by these lines from Emma Lazarus’s poem, The New Colossus:
“Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand a mighty woman with a torch, whose flame is the imprisoned lightning, and her name Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand glows world-wide welcome…”
Our delivery action took the form of a parade, gathering more than 100 mothers, women and children from around the Washington, DC, area, but also from New York, Pennsylvania, North Carolina and California. Wearing Statues of Liberty crowns, waving signs, accompanied by a 12-piece marching band, and pushing the 12 boxes of Statue of Liberty Figures in strollers, we marched to Trump International Hotel and then to the Department of Justice, bringing the following items for President Trump and U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions:
- Thousands of Statue of Liberty figures
- More than 50,000 petition signatures
- Petition to Congress: Say NO to hate and demand liberty & justice - http://action.momsrising.org
/sign/Immigration_Ban/ - Open letter to leaders: Moms know diversity is our country's strength,
and liberty and justice is for EVERYONE! You should too! - http://action.momsrising.org/sign/Statue_of_Liberty_Freed omJustice/
- Petition to Congress: Say NO to hate and demand liberty & justice - http://action.momsrising.org
- Hundreds of our members’ personal thoughts about the importance of, and
experiences as immigrants, that were collected into a storybook - https://s3.amazonaws.com/s3.momsrising.org/images/Stat ue_of_Liberty_Book_FINAL.pdf)
OUR MESSAGE:
“This Mother’s Day, the moms of America and the people who love uswant to remind you that our diversity — and people caring about each other — are what has made our nation strong, innovative and prosperous; not the opposite.
“We do not want to build walls, unfairly deport immigrants or ban refugees in need of new homes from resettling in this country. We do not want to impose de facto religious tests on those seeking entry into our nation. We do not want to create divisions in our communities by subjecting immigrant families, students, or other people to inappropriate and undeserved scrutiny. All of these measures hurt our economy, our country, and our families.
“It’s time to raise the torch for liberty, justice and freedom; not blow it out. We've come a long way as a nation together, and we’re not turning our backs on each other, or on the American dream, now.”
Over the course of the parade, we heard powerful remarks, in English and Spanish, from allied leaders as well as MomsRising members and staff. Speakers included:
- Donna Norton, Executive Vice President, MomsRising
- Rev. Jennifer Butler, CEO, Faith in Public Life
- Jessie Hahn, Labor & Employment Policy Attorney, National Immigration Law Center
- Manar Waheed, Legislative and Advocacy Counsel, American Civil Liberties Union
- Fatima Goss Graves, President and CEO, National Women's Law Center
- Carolina Rubio, MomsRising member and immigration lawyer
- Shereen Abdelfattah, MomsRising member and North Carolina business owner
- Ingrid, member of United We Dream
- Khadija Gurnah, Campaign Director, MomsRising
- Xochitl Oseguera, Campaign Directo, MomsRising / Mamas con Poder
Following the parade, we went to Capitol Hill to gift every U.S. Senator with a Statue of Liberty as well.
PHOTO HIGHLIGHTS:
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