Lights for Liberty – Analog Artist Digital World

Lights for Liberty held a vigil at Lake Eola Park to protest the inhumane incarceration of immigrants at the border. The rain died down as the chants and protests subsided around the little red gazebo. One candle lit two, which ignited four which then ignited exponentially more candles. People struggled to keep the light ablaze by protecting the flame with their hands. The storm still persisted. Protesters marched around the lake once and then concluded with a vigil and moment of silence.

As court cases tighten the noose around the POTUS, he is lashing out at others on the hill with racist rants. The deplorable conditions in the southern detention centers are further evidence of a platform of dehumanizing rhetoric. A family seeking asylum begged for their daughters sake since she had a congenital heart disease. A detention center doctor found that she did indeed have a heart condition. This toddler was told she must choose between her parents since one would be sent back across the border. She chose her mother but once her father was being escorted away she broke down and cried. How could a child be asked to choose between their parents? The doctor insisted the family be kept together for the child’s sake and he stayed with them overnight off the clock. The next day he found a different detention officer who agreed to keep the family together. Their future remains uncertain.

In Charlottesville, Neo Nazis chanted “Jews shall not replace us!” as they marched at night with tiki torches. A Unite the Right Rally white supremacist drove his car into peace loving counter protesters killing one woman, Heather Heyer, on that day in 2017. He was just sentenced life in prison plus over 400 years. The POTUS claimed there were “Very good people on both sides.” This is why Neo Nazis and his base love him so much. History always repeats itself. During the start of WWII the United States also closed it’s borders to Jews seeking asylum from Nazi Germany. Then as now, the US turned a blind eye. Southern detention centers are as dehumanizing as the American citizen Japanese interment camps of WWII. Orlando seems like a bubble of compassion in a country where the rhetoric of hate is always what makes the news. Brave people still stand as a light in the dark against hate. They give hate no safe harbor. Lets hope the storm will pass.

“If you’re not outraged, you’re not paying attention.”

— Heather Heyer, her last post published on Facebook.

At hundreds of locations around the country there will be vigils to protest the inhumane incarceration of immigrants at the border. The event is being called Lights for Liberty. The aim was to bring people together in peaceful protest of the inhumane conditions of the camps holding incarcerated immigrants and in remembrance of those whom have suffered and even died in those very places. These vigils occurred across the nation, with candles lit and a moment of silence at 9pm. Organizers and protesters want the world to know that this is not the America they believe in and that there are still citizens who care about the rest of the world and the rights of refugees seeking asylum in our country.

It was raining lightly when I arrived at the grassy peninsula to the right of the red gondola in Lake Eola Park. Sheri Smyth, an event organizer with bright green hair gave a brief interview to a TV news crew. I asked where speakers might set up to talk to the protesters and was told a podium would be set up on the grass. I paused waiting to see where the podium might go. Someone walked out with a podium and walked half way out towards the lake and stopped dead in his tracks. I stopped as well as I followed him. His face looked ashen and he turned on his heals taking the podium back under a tent. I glanced out across the lake and the far shore disappeared under the silver sheen of a wall of rain that made its way across the lake towards us.

It started to pour. People crowded under the blue tent for cover and the rest opened their umbrellas. I sat on my artist stool which unfortunately ripped. I decided to start sketching the gondola and tent since the rain showed no signs of letting up. Two young women danced in the rain embracing the moment instead of running for cover. As it grew darker the park lights flicked on. The event organizer made an executive decision and decided to set up the podium inside the red gazebo. I decided to stay where I was since the sketch was started. I noticed several rainbow colored umbrellas and decided that the protesters bright umbrellas would be my center of interest. Gale force winds kicked up and I leaned back with my umbrella into the wind while keeping my tables as safe from the water as I could. On this gray rainy day, the bright colors of the protestors and their bright umbrellas were a vibrant contrast. Occasionally I wiped the water off on my shirt. Once this sketch was done I moved in closer to sketch the candles being lit.

It has become amazingly clear that Trump is a raging racist and a liar. With images coming out of the detention center on our southern border every American can see the inhuman conditions inflicted on asylum seekers first hand. This week The government is conduction raids in cities across the country to detain and relocate people.

There are 10 stages of Genocide. We are at stage 7.

1. Classification: People are divided into “us and them.”

2. Symbolization: People are forced to identify themselves.

3. Discrimination: People begin to face systematic discrimination.

4. Dehumanization: People are equated with animals, vermin or diseases.

5. Organization: The government creates specific groups (Police, Military, ICE) to enforce policies.

6. Polarization: The government broadcasts propaganda to turn the populace against the group.

7. Preparation: Official action to remove/relocate people.

8. Persecution: Beginning of murders, theft of property, trial massacres.

9. Extermination: Wholesale elimination of the group. It is “extermination” and not murder because the people aren’t considered human.

10. Denial: The government denies that it had committed any crime.