Citing an atmosphere of fear after masked federal officials arrested Island immigrants, organizers have postponed a celebration of Brazilian culture and heritage.
The Martha’s Vineyard Mediation Center announced in a press release that the second Brazil Fest, called Festo do Brasil in Portuguese, will be indefinitely postponed. It was originally scheduled to be held on Sunday, June 1, at the Agricultural Hall in West Tisbury.
Building Bridges Coalition, which was initiated by the center, stated that while coalition members were “angry, disappointed, and shocked,” most of the polled members agreed postponement was the best course of action.
“We are so disappointed that due to the present climate of fear and intimidation against the
immigrant and Brazilian community, we will have to postpone the second annual Brazil Fest,” Sara Barnes, executive director of M.V. Mediation, said in the release.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raided the region on Tuesday, and 40 individuals were arrested on Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket. Twenty of these were taken from the Vineyard.
“As the coordinator of the Brazil Fest and as a Brazilian, I am appalled by the atrocious events taking place on Martha’s Vineyard,” said Paula Reidbord, one of the event organizers. “We want to celebrate and honor our Brazilian and immigrant communities, who are an integral part of this Island, and deserve equal respect. Our goal for the Brazil Fest is to bring us closer together.”
The festival was planned to showcase artwork of students and young people, traditional Brazilian quadrilha dancing, and a fire pit — something that students requested, to replicate the bonfires at Brazilian festivals held in June, which is winter for that country.
“Based on the trauma and uncertainty my students are suffering through, I believe what the government is doing constitutes psychological torture,” said Jonah Kaplan-Woolner, who teaches immigrant students at Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School. “My students have missed significant chunks of school — during finals week — due to fear of their parents or themselves being plucked off the streets. Is that the goal? To intimidate, bully, and traumatize teenagers whose only crime was being born in another country, or having parents who were? To deny them their constitutional right to a free, quality education?”
A tentative new date for the festival is Oct. 12, which is Children’s Day in Brazil.
There’s been widespread criticism of ICE operations on the Vineyard, and State Rep. Thomas Moakley expressed disappointment that immigrants’ fears of arrest led to suspension of the festivities.
“Our neighbors here are demanding that the due process guaranteed by the Constitution is upheld in every detainer case, and that our elected officials in D.C. put an end to tactics that prioritize fear over public safety,” Moakley said in the release.
Brazilian school children should learn that many of their parents came to the Vineyard illegally and abandoned Brazil for a life in a foreign country.
Nearly all the Brazilians have come to the Vineyard to benefit economically and to save money and eventually return to Brazil to buy homes and property. It’s not a bad gig, however entering the U.S. without work visas and working is against the law and law breakers must be held accountable eventually.
We would not be America if it wasn’t for the rule of law and 20,000 plus Brazilians living on Martha’s Vineyard are not above it . Maybe it’s time for half the Brazilian population to return to Brazil as a sign of cooperation with U.S law and customs ? That would be a good start to healing the Island from the Brazilian tsunami of immigrants over the last 30 years .
Respectfully, calling the Brazilian immigrants a “tsunami” is just a way of dehumanizing good, hardworking, and god-fearing (largely Christian) people. I’d be willing to bet that like many of us there are ancestors of yours who came to these shores for exactly the same reasons as they did. And if you found out that at that time there were people who suggested that half of your ancestors’ fellow immigrants, maybe even including them, should just return to their homeland “as a sign of cooperation”, what would you think of those people?
If America we’re really committed to the “rule of law” the president, a convicted felon” would be in jail, not the White House.
20,000 uhmmm no Year round population is 20,000 +/-
If it were not for many of the employed , employers and business owners of foreign nationalities many of the e
summer home owners, year round homeowners ect wouldn’t be able to find services ……
In a truly free society community events are not postponed out of fear of masked and armed government agents (some with white supremacist tattoos) raiding the event. To those who will say “as long as you are here legally, you have nothing to worry about”, I will reframe those sentiments. “As long as you are not so desperate to escape poverty you are willing to leave your family, pay a smuggler tens of thousands of dollars who will kill you if you don’t pay and travel thousands of miles to find work you have nothing to worry about.”
In a truly free society attendees at a festival are law abiding citizens.
NOBODY is above the law…or ALL are above the law….
choose a side…..
Unfortunately the side of “Nobody is above the law” does not seem to include some members of the current administration.
I’m sure that all the people on the vineyard are paying Brazilians a “living wage” with health benefits and a 401k plan
Pra Casa! Pra Casa!
I can understand why the festival is postponed this year under these circumstances. I have a related but separate question that perhaps someone could answer.
If a Brazilian cultural festival is approved at the Ag Hall in West Tis, why has the Jewish cultural festival not been able to secure this venue? As of now, I believe the only venue with approval from the town for the Jewish cultural festival, which sounds similar in types of activities, is in West Tis (not at the Ag Hall) but capped at 300 people. In a search for an appropriate and large enough venue, there have been concerns from the towns of Chilmark and West Tisbury both about the parking and “precedents”. As was the last Brazilian event, the previous Jewish cultural event, was quite successful and enjoyed by many.