The Port Washington Democratic Club organized the third rally Monday, July 21, as part of its weekly protests in support of immigration justice in the ongoing opposition against deportations by the federal government’s ICE agency.
Over 20 residents gathered outside the Port Washington train station, where the rally included multiple speakers and songs sung in unison. One of those speakers was Ana Castillo, a resident of Port Washington, who spoke about the purpost of these rallies.
“It’s about mothers, fathers, who leave everything for a better future,” said Castillo. “It’s about our children, who deserve every opportunity, not because they weren’t born in the right place, but because they are human.”
Castillo also spoke about the community coming together in support.
“This is not about immigration, it’s about we as people, it’s about what we stand for,” Castillo said. “We are Americans and now we have to unite.”
Ilise, who chose to be keep her last name private, attended the rally once again, and said she was empowered by how the Port Washington community have stood up for each other.
“I think people care about the people in this country that aren’t being treated well,” she said. “Here in Port Washington, someone was taken right from their place of work, and we just want to say ‘not in our town,’ it’s not OK.”
One of the event organizers for the “Port Shines a Light in a Sea of Darkness” was Stan Lacy, who touched on how these rallies have come to fruition.
“The three of us are active in the Port Washington Democratic Club and since there’s a real need here, we got some people together, told a few people, and lo and behold we had 60 to 70 people at our first event and we’ve had a good crowd coming every week,” said Lacy. “It just takes a very little spark to get the ball rolling so you can get a great number of people together.”
Lacy, attending the rally with his family, including his daughter, talked about the power his daughter and young people have built by becoming actively engaged with problems surrounding marginalized communities at a young age.
“I absolutely love that my daughter loves to be politically engaged…she’s not quite 10 years old,” Lacy said. “I don’t think that every 10-year-old need to be engaged at that level, but it is really nice to see her taking an interest and we’ve had young people at a bunch of our rallies.”
With residents concluding with one last song to end the night, Lacy spoke about Port Washington’s efforts during a time of need.
“Port Washington is an amazing community and that’s one thing we have to let people know. This is not a problem that’s happening far away, it’s not a problem that’s happening only against people we don’t see, it’s a problem that’s already affecting our community and people that we care about. They’re not invisible,” Lacy said.
“We want to make sure that everyone knows, if you come for people in our community, we will take notice and we will take a stand.”
