Last weekend, demonstrators gathered in airports and urban centers across the country in response to President Donald Trump’s travel ban on refugees and those from seven Muslim-majority countries.
Now, two Harrisburg-area grassroots organizers are bringing the idea to Harrisburg.
This Sunday, more than 700 people are expected to gather for a rally and march in support of immigrant rights and solidarity, according to the organizers.
“We just want we want to convey solidarity,” said co-organizer Joy Manbeck. “There are people who support immigrants, and we are not going to judge immigrants.”
Demonstrators will gather at 2 p.m. on the Capitol steps. Then speakers, including representatives of the American Civil Liberties Union and the Movement of Immigrant Leaders in Pennsylvania, will address the crowd, said the organizers. A march of about a mile will follow.
Manbeck said that she and co-organizer Katherine Lugaro have organized about seven peaceful demonstrations together in the past two years.
“We’re 1 billion percent grassroots,” she said.
Lugaro said she expects Sunday’s march to draw a “larger than normal” crowd than other demonstrations they’ve organized.
Both women said they’ve seen an increasing number of local people interested in progressive activism since the middle of last year.
For instance, more than 300 demonstrators gathered near the state Capitol the Friday after Election Day, and more than 1,000 gathered for the recent Women’s March, a progressive worldwide demonstration in response to Trump’s inauguration.
Manbeck said that, since November, at least 20 friends and acquaintances in the area have reached out asking how to get involved.
“Trump is definitely, ironically, uniting us in some ways,” she said.
Manbeck said she became an activist nearly two years ago after working for the Sen. Bernie Sanders campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination. Lugaro has been organizing since she was 15, she said, when she co-founded the minority student union in high school.
“We are trying to get Harrisburg activated,” Lugaro said.
To learn more about the protest and how to participate, visit their Facebook event.
Author: Danielle Roth
