By Aina Do Bang.
Students in DCU gathered together on January 29th to light candles for the victims of immigration enforcement violence, following the deaths of Alex Pretti and Renée Good in Minneapolis last month.
As Americans continue to protest in freezing temperatures against immigration enforcement violence and in solidarity with the immigrants targeted, Grace, a DCU master’s student from Minneapolis, was inspired to create a space “where people could gather and hold space for their grief” even far from home.
This was an effort to “stand in solidarity with communities at the frontlines of this violence,” Grace said in her opening remarks for the vigil at the Glasnevin campus’ Interfaith Centre.
She thought of her majority-immigrant-led church back home “experiencing paralyzing fear and in hiding” as well as job loss, and invited the attendees to light a candle in memory of those lost.
“I felt caught between the deep grief at home and the normalcy of life in Ireland,” she later said.
As such, she reached out to DCU’s International Student Support Officer and her course coordinator, Fiona Murphy, to find a way to help both US and non-US students to grieve together “far from the pain of their home communities”.
The vigil saw a small turnout and was held in DCU’s Interfaith Centre. “For an event organized two days ago, I’m glad it reached as many people as it did,” Grace commented.
Chris, another American student at DCU, also expressed his gratitude “for those who did show up” in such short notice. “That meant a lot to me.”
Grace recognized the loss of Alex Pretti and Renée Good, calling their shooting “the most severe manifestation of violence impacting communities across the US”. Among voices wondering the implications of ICE’s actions beyond immigrants, she acknowledged how immigrants still remain on the “front lines of this violence”.
“Not a day goes by that I do not worry about them or their safety,” Chris later added. Attending the vigil was his way of showing that he stood with both protestors and those feeling victimized, “that the rest of the world is watching and supporting them”.
“It’s really heartwarming to have staunch support in far-off places,” Jessica, an American university student in New York born to Chinese immigrants, told after hearing about the vigil.
Esther, a Michigan-based university student also expressed how this international support “means a lot”.
“Glad the world is not looking away,” she expressed.
Having “family, friends, and students who are international, multicultural, and/or PoC” made the matter quite personal for her, even if she acknowledged that “it’s just a step removed from me specifically with white privilege”.
As immigrants continue to face the loss of their jobs as well as lives, “many are unable to work or purchase necessities,” Grace notes. Many in Minnesota are organizing mutual aid programs through rent payments and food deliveries, and she asks “anyone called to action by this violence to consider donating to these initiatives”.
Within this international news, the vigil seems like a small way to give space to those far off still affected by the events. “I told a friend that whoever needs this will come,” Grace commented, “some of us sat for nearly two hours to grieve together”.
It’s no small testament to the way students will find and create support for each other.