Memphis activists protest immigration policies
As evidenced by the plastic bottle hurled in their direction, a small group of sign-waving activists protesting U.S. immigration policies didn’t elicit approval from all the motorists driving out Summer Avenue on Tuesday evening.
“One guy honked and flipped us off,” said William Justice, one of the eight protesters who gathered near the entrance to a Department of Homeland Security immigration compound on Virginia Cove, near the Malco Summer Drive In.
The rush-hour protest was a somewhat impromptu event organized on Facebook by Lorin Vincent, who has been active in several social-justice causes. After days of watching news reports about children being separated from parents who entered the U.S. illegally, she finally “got fed up,” she said, while listening to an audio recording purportedly of kids crying as they were taken from their families.
The activists carried signs with such messages as “End the border kidnapping” and They will come for you next” to protest the “zero tolerance” policy for illegal border crossings announced in April by U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions. Since early May, more than 2,000 children have been separated from their parents as a result of the policy.
“I have children, I’m a daughter,” Vincent said. “I can’t imagine being ripped away from my family in an alreadyforeign environment.”
Although not all the passing commuters appreciated the protest, the event got a “mostly positive” response, Justice said.
Reach Tom Charlier at thomas. charlier@commercialappeal.com or 901-529-2572 .