My name is Chantal and I work for the Sierra Club PA Chapter. Last week, I joined hundreds of people — mothers, fathers, protestors, and countless others — at the March for Immigrants in Harrisburg on May Day.
My husband and I share many of the same hopes and dreams as our neighbors. Maybe these are your dreams, too. We want to own a home, start a family, and grow our own food. Yet, our young family is filled with concern.
We carry the fear that at any moment those dreams could be deferred.
For now, as a permanent resident, my husband is spared — a luxury not afforded to many of the families at the March. But at any moment, a signature on an executive order or a well-hidden clause slipped in a bill could have the power to force my husband from my side.
As I stood on the steps of our Capitol, carrying nothing but hope and a sign, my eyes wandered through the crowd. I saw children of parents ripped from their homes, Muslims tired of looks at airports, grandfathers, wives. I saw community, out of balance and screaming to be heard. I saw what I struggled to fully grasp when I first joined the Sierra Club last year: what it means to "educate and enlist humanity to protect and restore the quality of the natural and human environment."
An ecosystem is so much more than just the sum of its parts. As a country born of immigrants, made up of immigrants and, dare I say, built on the backs of immigrants, we have to learn how to co-exist in our ecosystem. We cannot allow the messages of hate, fear, and misconceptions of "the other" define who we are as a country.
So, I marched. What will you do this year?
Chantal works for the Sierra Club PA Chapter and is always looking for ways she can be a good neighbor.