Luanne Brown: Protest the confinement of children and other national disgraces, Sunday, September 1 in LFP

Protesters in Lake Forest Park

Text and photos by Luanne Brown

You are invited to join protesters today (Sunday) at the corner of Ballinger Way and Bothell Way NE (SR 522) in Lake Forest Park from 10am to 11am.

Christine Stickler of Wallingford
and Elizabeth Simmons O’Neill of LFP

Last Sunday, residents from Lake Forest Park, Shoreline, North Seattle, Mountlake Terrace, and other locations joined together to raise their voices and signs against deliberate acts of cruelty taken by Donald J. Trump and his White House toward refugee children and families fleeing danger in their home country.

Holly Buckmaster of Mountlake Terrace said, “We are literally imitating Germany in the early 1930s and I asked myself, who would I be in that situation. So, this is who I’d be. 

"This is not okay. Do you ever hear anyone saying that kids in cages is a good idea? No. Because it’s not. ”

Marti of Lake Forest Park said, “The latest administration outrage — holding families until their cases are resolved — was the last straw for me. I’ve reached my tipping point.” 

Emily and daughter Cedella
from Shoreline

Emily from Shoreline brought her daughter, Cedella, 10, who attends Briarcrest Elementary. “My mom told me about it. At first, I didn’t really understand, but when I did, it made me upset.”

Pam works in schools as a nurse and lives in North Seattle. “We are setting our country up for sad times. I really admire Jesus and what he’s done for me in my life. He said, Love your neighbor as yourself and so many other things about taking care about each other. 

"This country was built on taking on people who needed shelter. The food is rotting in our fields and the wonderful people who help our economy are huddled in fear. 

"People seeking asylum from torture and murder are the result of actions our country has taken against them. We are in the wrong place in history and we are not pleasing the Divine.” 

Beth from LFP

Christine Stickler from Wallingford works at the University of Washington. “I have a sense of horror at what’s going on and a great frustration. I wanted to do something with kindred spirits.”  

Elizabeth Simmons O’Neill of LFP, with her children and grandchildren around her said, 

“There are kids in cages. We are violating international human rights law. We are violating state’s rights. This issue really hits me.”

Margaret Hartley of Shoreline said, “Children are being incarcerated. That’s why I’m here.”

John from Lake Forest Park said, “This is home ground. I just can’t abide the policy at the border. The human cost of it is so obvious.”

Lael from Mountlake Terrace

Lael White said, “My sign says ‘Honk for Asylum’. I want Americans to understand that these people who are coming here to seek asylum are not criminals. They are escaping crime and devastation in their own country. They are seeking help and I think a lot of Americans don’t understand that.”

In other news this week, the White House issued a Presidential Proclamation declaring that September was National Childhood Cancer Aware month, and the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) eliminated a “deferred action” program this month that had “allowed immigrants to “avoid deportation while they or their relatives were undergoing lifesaving medical treatment,” according to an article published in the New York Times on August 29, 2019.

Pam of North Seattle

Over 1000 children face severe consequences, in some cases even possible death, because they won’t have the critical medical treatment they need to survive in their home countries. The letter they received from the Immigration Service stated that they had 33 days to leave the country or face deportation.

It was also reported this week that girls in detention centers who were menstruating were not offered adequate sanitary products and were being “forced to bleed through their underwear.” Are we not a better country than this?

Please join us Sunday in making our voices heard.