With photos by Miriam Pickens.
HOUGHTON -- About 43 concerned citizens gathered for a "Lights for Liberty" vigil at the miner statue in Houghton on Friday, July 12, in solidarity with thousands holding vigils across the country to protest the dehumanizing conditions of detention centers for migrants on the U.S. southern border.
The July 12, 2019, Lights for Liberty vigils held from Maine to California, and internationally as well, were a response to a call for action by a group "dedicated to human rights and the fundamental principle behind democracy that all human beings have a right to life, liberty and dignity."*
"Here in the Copper Country, we participated in this vigil to help show our support for the principles that children do not belong in cages and that families belong together," said Valorie Troesch, a member of the Houghton County Democratic Party, which organized the local vigil. "We would hope that these values would be universal and non-partisan. We gathered quietly -- no march -- with candles and signs to demonstrate our united opposition to what is happening to immigrants and refugees on our southern border."
Organizer William Keith noted similar vigils were held in Marquette and Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan.
"So many people turned out to protest such a distant injustice because this particular cruelty shocks the conscience: children getting sick and dying in cages, adults who dared to dream of opportunity or safety in the land of hope finding only imprisonment and hate," Keith said. "There's so much this Administration has done that people of good will opposed, but this -- this is something to make the blood boil. Showing up to be present and bear witness is the least we can do, the first thing: we can tell everyone that this cruelty is not being perpetrated with our consent. The next thing to do is turn our refusal of assent into energy to stop the madness. It's a long time until November of 2020, but along the way we will do everything in our power."
Janeen Stephenson of Houghton shared with Keweenaw Now her reason for joining the vigil.
"The way my country is treating human beings who are asylum seekers at our southern border is horrifying," Stephenson said. "We came together to express our concern and were uplifted by the honks and thumbs up of many people walking and driving by."
Cynthia Drake of Ripley said she participated in the Houghton vigil because she had attended a presentation by a group of Quaker youth from Milwaukee who had taken a trip to Washington, D.C., last fall after researching what was going on with ICE (U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement). These high school students talked to people in D.C. who were creating policy. Drake said she was very moved by what the youth had learned.
"The conditions already at the time they were there were just atrocious, and things were being covered up," Drake noted. "I don't know what the solutions are."
Drake said she went to the vigil knowing that the first thing we have to do is stop these conditions that treat people inhumanely.
"I do want to know what the next conversation is," Drake added. "What do we do about this situation that's better? What's an alternative that's better? And I hope that those of us who go to these vigils and these protests can think further into that and find doable solutions."
Keith added this vigil is only the beginning and, as Drake also pointed out, more actions are necessary.
"It's a simple question," Keith noted. "You're either made furious by seeing the plight of scared children and refugees, or you're not. If you're as shocked and angry as we are, you're going to seek ways to fix it. This was the barest start."
* Click here to learn more about "Lights for Liberty."
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