Caravan of "Grannies" Heads To Border To Protest Family Separations
Source: CBS News
1 hr. ago.
Trump has another caravan on his hands. Only this time, it's a group of self-proclaimed "grannies" traveling 2,000 miles across the U.S. to the border with Mexico to protest family separations. About two dozen gray-haired "Grannies Respond" activists kicked off their six-day road trip to McAllen, Texas, on Tuesday in New York City's Union Square, WCBS Newsradio reports.
They'll make a total of seven stops along the way -- holding rallies and vigils in each city to express their outrage over immigrant families separated at the border. The final stop on Aug. 6 is at the nation's largest immigration facility, where they'll hold a 24-hour demonstration and participate in community service events.
The group started about 70 miles north of New York City in Beacon, New York, as a few "grannies" and "grampies" sharing their outrage on Facebook, organizer and grandmother Roya Salehi told CBS News.
They quickly got on a call about a month ago with one simple question: What can we do? And so, the caravan was born with a simple message: It's about humanity, and ultimately putting an end to family separations....More...
Read more: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/caravan-of-grannies-heads-to-border-to-protest-family-separations/ar-BBLmRzi?li=BBnbcA1
They've since become a national grassroots movement, with caravans forming in Georgia, Texas, Wisconsin, Oregon and Florida, among other states -- all moving southward toward the border. The groups are deliberately traveling to areas to raise awareness about immigration issues and family separations. Also to reach out and start conversations with Americans across the country, many of whom live in states that voted for Trump.
"We're moving beyond political lines," Claire Nelson, a grandmother of five, told CBS News. "This issue is not going away." Nelson is traveling in the memory of her parents who survived the Holocaust and were separated from their parents before settling in America. "They told me to remember and this could happen again," she said.
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2018/08/01/if-frail-old-people-can-take-stand-anybody-can-grannies-traveling-2000-miles-protest
Grannies Respond, Abuelas Responden.
Grannies have already stopped in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania to protest at the state's capitol, as well as in Reading, to demonstrate outside an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention center.
WATCH, "#GranniesRespond", Abuelas Responden.
Leghorn21
(13,524 posts)mmmmWANH
Thank you, blue, for this much-needed post!!
appalachiablue
(41,150 posts)BumRushDaShow
(129,164 posts)appalachiablue
(41,150 posts)But it's from a group member, I think. To me, these folks look anything but "frail and old"... What the fugg?!
"I think it's a powerful way to express the idea that, even frail old people who are in many ways discounted...in this society can do something," Ann Schaetzel, a member of the caravan, told The Independent. "Basically, if frail, old people can take a stand, anybody can do it. I hope that people will join us."
BumRushDaShow
(129,164 posts)(I am on the youngest end) grew up with this as a "granny" -
Somebody like that is usually a "great-grandmother" (or more)!
You got many "grannies" in their 30s! The oldest boomers are 72 this year.
But I remember the "Gray Panthers" in the '70s and they are still out there! New generation of them now!
You are so right! I'm not quite 70, a baby boomer through and through and a Granny and I look nothing like that. I walk 4 miles every single day and take a spin class and yoga and bike, etc. etc. Wish I would have known about this sooner. I would have joined them. But I'm with them in spirit.
appalachiablue
(41,150 posts)flibbitygiblets
(7,220 posts)This is mega awesome.
appalachiablue
(41,150 posts)flibbitygiblets
(7,220 posts)That felt great.
John Gruff
(58 posts)Grannies are the best.