THE ARTIST UPRISING Calls For Immediate Closing Of Immigrant Detention Camps

On Friday, July 5, 2019, artists from across the United States will converge on the border in El Paso, Texas, to stand up for freedom, dignity, and the rights of immigrants and asylum seekers. The Artistic Uprising will call for an end to the diabolical inhumanity in detention centers and demand freedom, justice, humane treatment for all those seeking safety and a better way of life.

Artists will play music, create visual art, recite poetry and spoken word, drum, and express their outrage at the conditions forced upon, and express love for, the families and children escaping terror, violence and economic hardship and seeking a better life in the US.

In the announcement, organizers Border Agricultural Workers Project, La Mujer Obrera, Alianza Nacional de Campesinas & One Billion Rising state, "Together, we will RISE against the systemic violence and denial of human rights that immigrants and refugees experience. We RESIST the governments and institutions that create and support inhumane conditions of detention. We UNITE in our demand that these camps be closed, and that children be reunited with their parents - the most fundamental and basic human right."

Artists and activists attending include: writer Denise Chavez, Alixa Garcia of Climbing PoeTree, playwright Eve Ensler, journalist/organizer Rosa Clemente, playwright and Founder of The Trevor Project James Lecesne, Gabriel Mendez, Kelly Curry of CODEPINK, Mily Treviño-Sauceda, Alisa Valdez, photojournalist Paula J. Allen, singer Michaela Harrison, artist Sekou Luke, playwright Kirk Lynn, singer/activist Morley Shanti Kamen, Dominic Chacon, Jennifer Nagda, Ann Putnam, Border Agricultural Workers Project, La Mujer Obrera, Alianza Nacional de Campesinas, One Billion Rising, Jennifer Nagda of the Young Center for Immigrant Children's Rights, Roya Adjory and Shari Rezai. List in formation, more artists joining.

Time/Location:Friday July 5, 5 to 10pm. Border Agricultural Workers Project, 201 E 9th Ave, El Paso, Texas

Artists interested in performing can email: RSVP@vday.org. Others interested in attending can rsvp at https://artisticuprising.eventbrite.com.

Organizers continued: "Six children have died while in detention. Many others are locked up in filthy conditions, deprived even of soap and water. Oscar Alberto Martínez was clutching his two-year-old daughter Valeria when they both drowned. More than ten thousand refugees--and the numbers are climbing everyday-- have been forced back to Mexico to fend for themselves in extremely dangerous circumstances because our President has declared 'there is no more room.' This has to stop. It undermines our values and our humanity.

"As we RISE in El Paso, we RISE in solidarity with all refugees who face displacement due to political, social, and environmental injustice. There are 70 million displaced people in the world today, living away from their homes and often in unsafe and impossible living conditions."