The windy weather was about the only thing that had cooled by Saturday afternoon for a metro Atlanta rally supporting immigrants and refugees.
About an hour before hundreds of people were expected to gather in Midtown for the Atlanta Stands with Muslims and Refugees rally beginning at noon, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security announced it had suspended all actions to implement President Donald Trump’s controversial executive order on immigration affecting some travelers to the U.S. That followed Friday night’s order by a federal judge temporarily halting enforcement of that travel ban on citizens from seven predominantly Muslim nations.
So would any rally-goers become complacent as a result, or even stay home? Hardly. The large number of people RSVP-ing “yes” had already forced organizers to make a last-minute location change from a smaller site in Clarkston to Redeemer Lutheran Church on Peachtree Street in Atlanta.
Now, everyone at the gathering agreed, it was hardly the time to take their feet off the gas.
“Even if our voices are being heard, we can’t stop,” said Aisha Yaqoob, one of the rally’s organizers. “We need to keep speaking up, speaking out and showing up at events like these.”
By 1 p.m., an estimated 2,200 people packed a parking lot stretching from Peachtree to Juniper down Fourth Street. Representing a vast spectrum of ages, races and faiths, they sang and chanted as one and waved signs bearing such hearts-on-their-sleeves messages as “Make America Kind Again,” “Y’all means ALL!” and — in an obvious nod to the local team’s big game this weekend — “Because #In Brotherhood is much more than football.”
“The last few months have been a great time with the city and the 5th (Congressional) District coming together, and the Falcons have ended up being a part of that,” Lucy Hensley, 26, of Atlanta, explained about her sign. She’ll watch and cheer for the Birds in Sunday’s Super Bowl, but also wanted to remind everyone, “It’s not just about football right now.”
Before and after listening to a host of speakers, attendees lined up 10 deep at tables to pen personal, handwritten letters to Trump about refugees and why more of them should be allowed into the country again.
"We're saying, 'Tell him who you are and why you are coming out on this issue," said organizer Stephanie Jackson Ali, as hundreds of completed letters piled up in bags. "It really makes a difference putting a personal face and voice on an issue."
Perhaps the most moving moment of the two-plus-hour rally came when members of refugee families adressed the crowd. One of them, Mustafa Humami, recalled arriving here a few months ago with his wife and three children after having fled from Aleppo, Syria, then spending three years in a refugee camp in Turkey.
Their first night here, he was afraid even to open the door of their apartment. By day two, people were knocking and offering to help him and his family.
Said Humami through a translator: “He wishes everyone feels the overwhelming feeling he has now with the presence of all of you here.”
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