On Friday, January 26, 2018 I attended the “We All Belong
Here” rally and press conference called at noon in downtown Indianapolis in
commemoration of the one-year anniversary of Trump’s Executive Order banning
immigrants and refugees from six predominantly Muslim countries. The rally/press conference was called to
reaffirm Indianapolis support (at least from some sections of Indy’s
population) for the rights of immigrants, illegal and otherwise; Muslims
wishing to resettle in the U.S.; DREAMers; and refugees to come to and live in
the United States, a nation built on immigrants. I attended not only to affirm my solidarity,
but, pointedly, also as an “oppressor” older white working-class male, a class
of people that many Millennial leftists and advocates for social justice
automatically write off as “racists,” Trump supporters, and irredeemably corrupted
by “white, white male, and male ‘privilege.’”
Conveniently forgetting that when we Baby Boomers were of Millennial age
back in the 1960s, early 1970s, we were written off as hippies and upholders of
“anti-American values,” while also touted by the left of that time as
constituting a—Revolutionary Youth Movement!
The rally/press conference was called on short notice, was
publicized only on Facebook, and was sponsored by the American Friends Service
Committee: the Muslim student group at local university IUPUI; local
organizations defending the rights of immigrants and refugees, legal, illegal,
and DREAMers; the Indianapolis chapter of Jewish Voices for Peace; and the
ACLU, all of which had representatives speak publicly before the human wall of
reporters, TV cameras, and other cameras and cell phones gathered in front facing
the crowd and speakers’ podium. The crowd
was overwhelmingly young, and for Indiana (which is 84% white), racially and
ethnically diverse, including several young Muslim women in hijabs. However, I’m
proud to say, including me, my age and ethnicity cohort (white older persons of
the left, 6d5 and older), five of us “racist oppressors” were present, gathered
to also show our support and solidarity.
Pointedly absent, both in attendance and in sponsorship, was Central
Indiana DSA [Democratic Socialists of America], which also emphatically supports
immigrant and refugee rights. However,
only me and one other DSAer were in attendance, and DSA was notably not a
listed co-sponsor. Why, I don’t know.
And while the Jewish Voices for Peace spokeswoman did note
that Jews themselves had been refugees, vaguely denoting those European Jews
who sought refuge in the U.S. from the Nazis, many of whom were directly
refused asylum in the U.S., she devoted most of her speech to upholding Muslim
immigrants, and gave a only a vague but very non-nuanced account of the
Israeli/Palestinian conflict.
I was proud to stand in solidarity with my younger,
ethnically diverse, comrades on this issue.
For certainly do I support the rights of immigrants, DREAMers, and
refugees. However, I note as an “oppressor
white male” that our “older white working-class privilege” is hardly deterring
the Republicans from now gunning for our Social Security and Medicare, as they
have already done in proposed legislation; Social Security and Medicare, which
are emphatically not “entitlements,”
but rights needed to be guaranteed for
all, including all those Millennials who will someday be oldsters like me,
and will need the Social Security and Medicare we receive, but which may not be
available for them. So, Millennials, Gen
Xers, I address you: I stood with you on
your issues; will you also stand with me on my issues, Social Security and
Medicare? For truly, “An injury to one
is an injury to all”!
