Activists hold funeral procession to protest deportation
T H E C H R ON I C LE
BY TODD LUCK THE CHRONICLE
Activists held a mock funeral procession in downtown Winston-Salem last week to protest deportation. It was one of three protests on immigration policy held in North Carolina that day, with the other two being held in Greensboro and Durham. Activists protested the Trump administration widening deportation priorities beyond felons and ending DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals). Activists also made specific appeals for three undocumented immigrants who had taken sanctuary in North Carolina
churches: Juana Luz Tobar Ortega and Minerva Cisneros Garcia in Greensboro and José Chicas in Durham. Participants signed a petition appealing to lawmakers for a local act to prevent their deportation. Since then, it was announced on Monday that Cisneros, a Winston-Salem resident who took refuge in Congregational United Church of Christ with her two young sons, has had her deportation order vacated by a federal immigration judge and is now free. Last week’s local event, held by the Sanctuary City Coalition, began at Merschel Plaza on Fourth Street as more than 50 par-
ticipants listened to speakers denouncing current immigration enforcement. They included Oscar Zuniga, associate pastor of New Hope United Methodist Church, who talked about fear in the immigrant community since Trump was elected; John Cox, director of holocaust studies at UNCCharlotte, who compared the ban on Syrian refugees to turning away Jews fleeing Nazi Germany; and Lillian Podlog with the Sanctuary City Coalition. “We are here today, why? Because we believe in human dignity,” said Podlog. “And we know no human is illegal. And we know mass deportation is a human rights violation.”
president of the RaleighApex NAACP Branch, are vying to succeed Barber as president of the N.C. NAACP. “I don’t know that I would do anything different from Dr. Barber,” said Rev. Rochelle, “except always keep the community informed about the issues that we’re dealing with, and any statements we want to make on the issues, and continue to hold press conferences when needed, to get the information out to the general public. It’s important that the community knows the steps we’re taking on issues.” When asked if he, too, will maintain the tradition that Dr. Barber so aptly
established in working closely with Black newspapers to both inform and empower, Rev. Spearman replied, “Oh God, will I!” “Everywhere I’ve been as a pastor in North Carolina, I have been a person who has advocated to our people how important it is for us to support the Black Press,” Rev. Spearman said. “I purchased Black newspapers for the churches I have been pastor of, I have a very good working relationship with [local Black newspapers]. I think that the Black Press and Black news is so vital to us as a people. “So yes,” Rev. Spearman added, “I would continue that.”
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Activists hold a mock funeral procession in downtown Winston-Salem to protest deportation.
Photo by Todd Luck
They used a mock black casket as a prop, symbolic of those who died after being deported. Participants read the names and stories of deportees who died of disease, suicide and, most often, violence when they were sent back to their native countries. After that, they
marched in a mock funeral procession led by activists carrying the “casket.” The Downtown Bike Patrol stopped traffic at intersections as protesters crossed various streets on their way to the Forsyth County Detention Center, where inmates flagged by ICE for immigration violations may be transferred to ICE
detention centers and eventually deported. Activists left the “casket” there and then marched back to the plaza chanting pro-immigration slogans and displaying their signs supporting DACA and immigrants regardless of their legal status.
Elections for N.C. NAACP offices, including president, take place Saturday, Oct. 7 during the 74th annual N.C. NAACP Convention in Raleigh. In closing, both Rev. Rochelle and Rev. Spearman had special messages for the N.C. NAACP members who they hope will vote for them as the next president. “Stakeholders are risk takers,” said Rev. Rochelle. “And I believe that if we’re going to be in a movement, we need to be totally involved. We can’t be part time, or once-a-month leaders. “We must be alert, and actively working in our communities at all times, not just when something
ugly happens. We need to be prepared, our people, to be aware, to go to the legislature and be aware of what’s going on, what laws are being changed … all of those things are important in order to make sure that our people are informed, and knowledgeable about situations that are affecting them. “We can be resources to help our people prepare to be up-to-date, and to be knowledgeable about things that are affecting them,” said Rev. Rochelle. For Rev. Spearman, he wants N.C. NAACP membership throughout the state to know that he is seasoned, experienced, and above all, is not afraid to take on the pressures and
challenges of the state NAACP presidency. “I’ve been tellin’ folk, ‘I’m woke, and I ain’t skerd!’” I’m ready to go into this thing. If I were to make it into the leadership of the NAACP, I’m like a dead man. I’m already dead, you can’t kill me. I’m going to stand with my people, I’m going to do all that I can to be that catalyst for change. Whatever I need to do for them to try to do all that I can to protect them, that’s what I’m going to do.” “So call me ‘the late T. Anthony Spearman’ if you have to, but that’s something that I genuinely believe.”
N.C. NAACP candidates pledge to support Black Press BY CASH MICHAELS FOR THE CHRONICLE
Both candidates vying to succeed Bishop Dr. William J. Barber II as president of the N.C. NAACP during elections this week at the 74th Annual N.C. NAACP Convention in Raleigh say they will continue the special relationship the state’s oldest civil rights organization has had with the Black Press. This is in order to keep the African-American community both informed about emerging issues and empowered to confront them collectively. Rev. Dr. T. Anthony Spearman, N.C. NAACP third vice president, and Rev. Dr. Portia Rochelle,