Martha’s Vineyard rallies for togetherness

Hundreds gather for #FamiliesBelongTogether rally at Five Corners.

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More than 300 people gathered at the usual Five Corners spot to rally for families and reformed immigration policies. Organized by Sarah Nevin of the Martha’s Vineyard Peace Council, and in conjunction with the rallies nationwide today, signs, chants and car honks filled the busy corner.

“I want to be clear that this is not a ‘hate Trump’ rally,” Nevin told the Times. “This is a ‘keep families together’ rally.”

Saturday’s #FamiliesBelongTogether rally was part of a national effort to bring attention to President Trump’s immigration policies. It also comes on the heels of Laiza Cimeno’s successful return to Martha’s Vineyard after a visa issue in Brazil, and a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that went in favor of Vineyard immigrant Wescley Pereira.

The Island relies heavily on foreign workers to meet the demands at hotels and restaurants during the busy tourist season. In recent years, limits of H-2B visas and J-1 visas have hamstrung Island businesses, which struggle to hire enough help on-Island.

Alida O’Laughlin of Oak Bluffs said she marched on Washington in 1963, and heard Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech: “[After that], you think the world is normal and progressing year after year, and then we find ourselves here again.”

Nevin summarized the meaning and purpose of the rally by saying, “This is a country of immigrants, and you do not treat parents and their young, young children as criminals. You can’t.”

George Brennan and Caroline Brehman contributed to this story.

 

34 COMMENTS

  1. I guess I have to congratulate all the people who had nothing better to do on a saturday morning. You had traffic backed up to the hospital corner in OB. Your worthless, feelgood, screaming and ranting in the islands busiest intersection was the stupidest thing yet. The people who organized this should not be allowed to disrupt the intersection again without a permit or advance notice to the police. Next time stay home and yell at your TV. Or better yet… Just go to the beach, which is what most people were trying to do before your stupidity and selfishness were cast onto everyone who was trying to get somewhere.#worthless liberals

    • Awe….look….a snowflake…In the middle of summer!!! I’d say this rant is the most worthless part of the view from here. 😉

    • I agree 100% with viewfrom here, no more moonbat traffic jams. Build the wall, open borders means you don’t have a country. We have a big front door called legal immigration. No cheating.

      • Why waste money on a wall (which keeps people from working jobs Americans won’t do) when one can get White House sanctioned entry at Trump Tower at 725 Fifth Avenue or Trump Hotel at 1100 Pennsylvania Ave? Foreign operatives simply bring the bribe money and Trump will give away the country. That legal enough for you?

    • view from here. First ammendment , dude– the right wants to trample on it– but it will take a while before the left lays down and lets a totalitarian government take away our right to free speech, and for that matter, i am sure you heard trump suggest that we take guns away from people who have committed no crime without any due process. We need to uphold the constitution.. And if traffic gets bad,so be it. maybe people should ride bikes, walk, or take public transportation.

        • I will let you know when I get my conceal carry permit– I don’t like guns, but I am not stupid. if I sign up for NRA trump will confiscate my gun.

    • This is the best description of what took place!! It’s funny that these people are protesting on the most liberal island on the east coast….who were they trying to stop. Ninety percent of the island already eat granola and wear patchouli…lol

  2. You failed to mention this is a country of LEGAL immigrants. You are right, the island relies on foreign workers to help with the summer season and beyond. But the island also has a ridiculous amount of Illegal foreign workers. They “somehow” just gamed the system. If you close your eyes to this, the next time one of them crashes into you and has no licence, no insurance, and does not speak english, I’m sure your insurance company will completely understand and take care of it completely. Buenos Suerte…

    • Two of the best comments that I’ve read in a while. Refreshing, as this space is typically inundated with socialist bobbleheads. The “resistance” rubbish is just so isolated and unserious in America today… idle loudmouths with nothing better to do but strut about trying amplify the hysteria of a shrinking minority. Open borders is the most anti-American concept to ever spawn. We patriots (and yes, we live here on this island in large quiet numbers, for generations) stay committed to defending our country from enemies both foreign and domestic… and absolutely reject open borders nonsense. From Washington to Jefferson to Madison to Lincoln to Martin Luther King to JFK to Ronald Reagan, every American hero would totally agree. Even the greatest deporter ever, our last leader, obviously agreed. Made glaringly obvious by the results of the last general election, the vast majority of American citizens do not condone harboring criminals. The radical left view represented by groupthinkers at 5 Corners demonstrations is most certainly not “who we are”… maybe that garbage sells in Germany or France… but, happily, here in America – generally well away from 5 Corners – most of us deplorables are way too busy working to waste time barking in the public square.

      • Well said Old Farm Guy !
        Good to know that you, and other patriots like you, are out there still !!

      • OldFarmerGuy is right on the money with his comments. MV would be better with more voices like him. Keep on posting! Diversity for MV (fewer liberals, more patriots)

        • I don’t know who YOU consider a patriot. I could count on one hand the number of Republicans I’ve worked with that would enlist or let their kids enlist. Quite the vehemence on their part when I suggest they join up.

    • With so many rallies held at Five Corners, how are you surprised? Immigrants take jobs Americans don’t want; now food prices will rise due to product scarcity, possibly some products won’t make it to store shelves. Who knew economics was so difficult? The previous guy with a jurisprudence degree got us out of the 2008 financial crisis, this guy with a degree in business and finance seems intent on putting us into another. Good times, right?

    • Mr. or Ms. Xenophobia. Those seeking asylum do so legally and do not deserve to have to be separated from their children like that strange oranged faced messiah in the white house has decided to do.

    • Oh dear, viewfromnowhere, did the thought of crying, traumatized babies and children forcibly separated from their parents upset your beach day?

  3. Thank you to all the thousands of islanders who did NOT make a nuisance of themselves by compromising a busy intersection. The headline of this story is misleading (Martha’s Vineyard Rallies for Togetherness). Most of us just mind our own business.

    • I know, Hanley, right? Thank you to all those who mind their own business. It’s not like someone else’s kids, especially immigrant kids, should be anyone else’s business. I’m sure your Savior agrees with you, too. How was church today, by the way? Did the whole family go? Isn’t it nice to see family togetherness, for white people, especially in church?

      • Mr Brennan. is this comment from Maxz above useful. Dont you think its over the top and not worthy of your paper?

      • wow Maxz…..I think it all starts at home. If the parents (if they are actually a parent) should not illegally enter a country with their child. Go thru the proper channels. And yes, even asylum seekers have proper channels to travel. Maybe a bit of faith could help you, such say’n.

        • As I understand, families following proper channels were being separated. Whether it’s proper channels or not, families should not be separated. Adults apply with kids and regardless of the direction they’re headed after, they have the same kids in tow.

    • I thought the same thing, horrible headline that is fake news and misleading. Shame on the editor.

  4. “I want to be clear that this is not a ‘hate Trump’ rally,” Nevin told the Times.”
    I’m guessing the lady with the potus is a monster sign missed the memo. Irony of the day putting a hammer and sickle on that sign too. You can’t make this hilarity up.

    Can someone seriously explain why all this( or at least the broader movement) is directed at ice rather than congress or at the next step Dhs or the Cpb? Am I missing something or do none of y’all get how this works?
    Oh and nice to see comment section hasnt changed much – maxz still hating on people because they are either white or religious. I feel like there is a specific term to describe someone like that.

    • People want to support the President, as Americans they really want to. But Trump loves the hate; more, he loves the attention. Trump has a habit of throwing others under the bus. If he (or his cabinet which would never say bad things about all-white religious people), the hope is the GOP in Congress will find their humanity, despite the appearance the GOP never had any.

      There’s a

  5. I drove through 5 corners today. Traffic backed up all the way to the bridge and up state road to Cronigs. Blaming a peaceful demonstration for summer traffic is just about the dumbest thing I’ve heard since “my inauguration crowd was the biggest in history”. Incidentally, those of you you who wrap yourselves up in the flag and decry peaceful protests should break out a copy of the US Constitution, and while you’re at it, your holy Bible, which says “Love your Neighbor” and “Welcome the Stranger”. We need strong borders, but tearing children apart from their parents is barbaric and cruel. This protest was part of a larger national protest that included 800 cities and towns across the nation. I had many things I could have been doing on Saturday, but if I cant take a hour out of my day to show support for family reunification, then I cannot call myself an American or a Christian. Shame on all of you who don’t have anything better to do than whine about the 1st Amendment.

  6. Wow… I’m glad I started the ball rolling. It was refreshing to see all the liberal deranged commenters heads explode as usual. The emailed talking points you received about the crying separated children almost had me. If you didn’t cross the border illegally with your children there would be no problem. How much of a bad example does this show to your children? All they had to do was go to a legal border crossing and fill out the paperwork.
    As far as being told about the first amendment. Thank you again for being condescending, but keep it to yourself. Freedom of speech does not include causing a danger to motorists and maliciously disrupting peoples lives, just because you want to have a 60’s flashback. Remember it’s still not OK to yell fire in a crowded theatre, dude.
    I guess now that this moment in the spotlight is over you folks can go home, pick up your knitting and continue to yell at your TV. All the while dreaming of your next misadventure and whose lives you can interrupt

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