A couple of hundred folks gathered Sunday afternoon within the Loop to name for defense for Haitian asylum seekers and demand solutions for the mistreatment of Black migrants on the southern border.
A half dozen Haiti flags waved as chants of “Haitians are people” and “Haitians are any person” echoed all through Federal Plaza. Many supporters additionally held indicators on the rally; some learn: “Let the Haitian keep within the nation” and “Haitians want safety not deportation.”
Many rally-goers mentioned they had been disgusted by photographs which have gone viral of horseback-mounted Border Patrol brokers with whips chasing Haitians making an attempt to cross into america.
“We is not going to tolerate that. That’s inhumane. That’s not American,” Patrick Brutus, president of Haitian American Skilled Community, advised the group Sunday.
“It’s the worst remedy I’ve ever seen of individuals on American soil in my life,” mentioned Jonathan Jackson, nationwide spokesperson for the Rainbow PUSH Coalition.
“Each time I’ve seen Haitians in want and Haitian girls coming with their kids, I’ve seen america navy meet them with weapons and arms, and that’s not proper. It hurts me to say that we now have to repeat: Haitians are people… Who would have believed that this a lot racism would have made it into the brand new millennium?”
President Joe Biden condemned the officers for utilizing horses to cost at migrants final week and warned there shall be penalties for these concerned.
A number of notable attendees on the rally organized by a coalition of native Haitian-American organizations included State Rep. La Shawn Ford, Ald. David Moore (seventeenth) and the Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr., who lately recovered from COVID-19.
Brutus mentioned he felt impressed by Sunday’s turnout however confused the significance of individuals persevering with to advocate for Haitian migrants by contacting state and federal officers and donating to funds that present help for asylum seekers. He additionally inspired folks to proceed to teach themselves on the state of affairs and Chicago’s historic ties with Haiti, together with Jean Baptiste Level DuSable, who’s credited as town’s first non-Indigenous settler.
“Individuals who [know] that story, they are going to have a higher sympathy for state of affairs that Haitian persons are going through, and definitely they are going to really feel additionally a part of our story, in order that they will all step in and do what all of us wish to do, which is … be united and work collectively as one group,” Brutus mentioned.