By Minnie Bruce Pratt
October 17, 2019

“Up, up with liberation! Down, down with deportation!” rang out Oct. 11 as more than 75 people marched through the streets of downtown Syracuse, N.Y. They were responding to a national call for Close the Camps actions that day to “Stop the war on immigrants, Indigenous peoples and refugees!”

At a rally before the march, longtime local activist Ursula Rozum pointed out connections between white supremacy, crimes of colonization against Indigenous peoples, the enslavement of African peoples and criminalization of immigrants and refugees. She emphasized these crimes were “bipartisan” — neither Democratic nor Republican parties really intended to stop these long-standing injustices. “People’s power is the only answer!” she asserted.

The depth of Syracuse community determination to close the foul concentration camps showed in the list of rally endorsers, including the initiator Syracuse Immigrant and Refugee Defense Network, Black Lives Matter-Syracuse, CNY Solidarity Coalition, Indivisible NY24, New York Immigration Coalition, Syracuse Childcare Collective, Syracuse Graduate Employees United, Syracuse Peace Council, Syracuse Tenants United, and the Workers Center of Central New York.

(Photo: Minnie Bruce Pratt)