By Rob Byko, contributing photographer | On Friday night when most folks in Charleston were just getting home from their work week, meeting friends for dinner or heeding happy hour’s last call, a few hundred folks got together at Riverfront Park to attend “Lights for Liberty – A Vigil to End Human Detention Camps.”
They were joined by a chorus of voices at similar events held the same night throughout the country to “protest the inhumane conditions faced by refugees.” The common cause: to call on our representatives in government to stop the mistreatment and separation of children and families at our country’s southern border.
Local organizers say 300 or more gathered in the North Charleston park/ News reports varied. Nonetheless, the crowd exceeded the expectations of many who were there. They came to listen to the voices of those who have done the work and experienced the fight first hand,
As daylight darkened to dusk, candles were lit and held high while a singer led the crowd in a touching rendition of the beloved 1960s protest “This Little Light of Mine.” Emotions peaked during the reading of several letters written in the camps by children and parents who have experienced the trauma of separation, the overcrowding and loss of dignity set out as policy enforced by the federal government. The night culminated in attorney Marie Louise Ramsdale’s reading of a list of the children’s names and ages who have lost their lives while in the government camps, infants less than 1- and 2-years-old, children aged 7, 8, 10 and 16. It was a powerful and thought-provoking night.
To learn more, follow social media hashtags: #DontLookAway #Lights4Liberty #CharlestonVigil
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