SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
Rapper Logic and OneRepublic's Ryan Tedder performed their single "One Day" with immigrant families onstage at the 2018 MTV Video Music Awards on Monday night. (Photo: @vmas/Twitter)
Standing Against Trump's Cruel Policies at VMAs, Children of Immigrant Families Powerfully Declare 'We Are All Human Beings'
"We are sending a strong message: families belong together and not in cages."
Aug 21, 2018
In a powerful protest against "the Trump administration's cruel and inhumane family separation policy that tore thousands of children from their parents and continues to keep hundreds apart," rapper Logic led immigrant families onstage during his performance of the track "One Day," featuring OneRepublic's Ryan Tedder, at the 2018 MTV Video Music Awards on Monday night.
During the performance at Radio City Music Hall in New York City, the children and their parents--leaders from the advocacy groups Make the Road New York, the National Domestic Workers Alliance, and United We Dream--sported shirts that declared, "We Are All Human Beings," while the rapper's said, "F*ck the Wall." The performance included a human-made wall, and culminated with the wall falling and children rushing to reunite with their parents.
Watch:
Among those who joined the performers onstage was 15-year-old Jefferson Arpi, a youth leader with United We Dream who said in a statement: "I'm so excited to have performed with Logic tonight. It meant a lot to me to be able to represent my family because my dad, Manuel Arpi, is in a detention camp."
"With tonight's performance, we are sending a strong message: families belong together and not in cages."
--Lizbeth Huitzil, Make the Road NY
"It is inspiring and powerful to see Logic share the stage with immigrants like me to show the real-life struggles we face," added Lizbeth Huitzil, a recipient of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) and a member of Make the Road NY. "Our brothers and sisters are being detained, put in cages, and separated from their families. With tonight's performance, we are sending a strong message: families belong together and not in cages."
"We are still in a moment of crisis," noted Jess Morales Rocketto, a leader of the Families Belong Together Coalition and political director of the National Domestic Workers Alliance. "We're calling for accountability. Join us in the fight to reunite every family that's been torn apart by this administration."
Although public outrage pressured President Donald Trump to sign an executive order replacing his "zero tolerance" policy, under which thousands of children were taken from their parents and detained in alarming conditions--and a federal judge had ordered the administration to reunite all families by July 26--more than 500 children remain in government custody.
The music video for "One Day, released last Friday ahead of the awards ceremony, also focuses on Trump's immigration policy and xenophobia, opening with a heartbreaking scene that shows U.S. border patrol agents ripping a baby from its mother's arms. As Jefferson Arpi described it, "Logic's music video showed that even though our families face a lot of pain, we are strong, we are fighters, and we are human."
Watch:
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, The U.S. is on a fast track to authoritarianism like nothing I've ever seen. Meanwhile, corporate news outlets are utterly capitulating to Trump, twisting their coverage to avoid drawing his ire while lining up to stuff cash in his pockets. That's why I believe that Common Dreams is doing the best and most consequential reporting that we've ever done. Our small but mighty team is a progressive reporting powerhouse, covering the news every day that the corporate media never will. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. And to ignite change for the common good. Now here's the key piece that I want all our readers to understand: None of this would be possible without your financial support. That's not just some fundraising cliche. It's the absolute and literal truth. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. Will you donate now to help power the nonprofit, independent reporting of Common Dreams? Thank you for being a vital member of our community. Together, we can keep independent journalism alive when it’s needed most. - Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
In a powerful protest against "the Trump administration's cruel and inhumane family separation policy that tore thousands of children from their parents and continues to keep hundreds apart," rapper Logic led immigrant families onstage during his performance of the track "One Day," featuring OneRepublic's Ryan Tedder, at the 2018 MTV Video Music Awards on Monday night.
During the performance at Radio City Music Hall in New York City, the children and their parents--leaders from the advocacy groups Make the Road New York, the National Domestic Workers Alliance, and United We Dream--sported shirts that declared, "We Are All Human Beings," while the rapper's said, "F*ck the Wall." The performance included a human-made wall, and culminated with the wall falling and children rushing to reunite with their parents.
Watch:
Among those who joined the performers onstage was 15-year-old Jefferson Arpi, a youth leader with United We Dream who said in a statement: "I'm so excited to have performed with Logic tonight. It meant a lot to me to be able to represent my family because my dad, Manuel Arpi, is in a detention camp."
"With tonight's performance, we are sending a strong message: families belong together and not in cages."
--Lizbeth Huitzil, Make the Road NY
"It is inspiring and powerful to see Logic share the stage with immigrants like me to show the real-life struggles we face," added Lizbeth Huitzil, a recipient of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) and a member of Make the Road NY. "Our brothers and sisters are being detained, put in cages, and separated from their families. With tonight's performance, we are sending a strong message: families belong together and not in cages."
"We are still in a moment of crisis," noted Jess Morales Rocketto, a leader of the Families Belong Together Coalition and political director of the National Domestic Workers Alliance. "We're calling for accountability. Join us in the fight to reunite every family that's been torn apart by this administration."
Although public outrage pressured President Donald Trump to sign an executive order replacing his "zero tolerance" policy, under which thousands of children were taken from their parents and detained in alarming conditions--and a federal judge had ordered the administration to reunite all families by July 26--more than 500 children remain in government custody.
The music video for "One Day, released last Friday ahead of the awards ceremony, also focuses on Trump's immigration policy and xenophobia, opening with a heartbreaking scene that shows U.S. border patrol agents ripping a baby from its mother's arms. As Jefferson Arpi described it, "Logic's music video showed that even though our families face a lot of pain, we are strong, we are fighters, and we are human."
Watch:
In a powerful protest against "the Trump administration's cruel and inhumane family separation policy that tore thousands of children from their parents and continues to keep hundreds apart," rapper Logic led immigrant families onstage during his performance of the track "One Day," featuring OneRepublic's Ryan Tedder, at the 2018 MTV Video Music Awards on Monday night.
During the performance at Radio City Music Hall in New York City, the children and their parents--leaders from the advocacy groups Make the Road New York, the National Domestic Workers Alliance, and United We Dream--sported shirts that declared, "We Are All Human Beings," while the rapper's said, "F*ck the Wall." The performance included a human-made wall, and culminated with the wall falling and children rushing to reunite with their parents.
Watch:
Among those who joined the performers onstage was 15-year-old Jefferson Arpi, a youth leader with United We Dream who said in a statement: "I'm so excited to have performed with Logic tonight. It meant a lot to me to be able to represent my family because my dad, Manuel Arpi, is in a detention camp."
"With tonight's performance, we are sending a strong message: families belong together and not in cages."
--Lizbeth Huitzil, Make the Road NY
"It is inspiring and powerful to see Logic share the stage with immigrants like me to show the real-life struggles we face," added Lizbeth Huitzil, a recipient of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) and a member of Make the Road NY. "Our brothers and sisters are being detained, put in cages, and separated from their families. With tonight's performance, we are sending a strong message: families belong together and not in cages."
"We are still in a moment of crisis," noted Jess Morales Rocketto, a leader of the Families Belong Together Coalition and political director of the National Domestic Workers Alliance. "We're calling for accountability. Join us in the fight to reunite every family that's been torn apart by this administration."
Although public outrage pressured President Donald Trump to sign an executive order replacing his "zero tolerance" policy, under which thousands of children were taken from their parents and detained in alarming conditions--and a federal judge had ordered the administration to reunite all families by July 26--more than 500 children remain in government custody.
The music video for "One Day, released last Friday ahead of the awards ceremony, also focuses on Trump's immigration policy and xenophobia, opening with a heartbreaking scene that shows U.S. border patrol agents ripping a baby from its mother's arms. As Jefferson Arpi described it, "Logic's music video showed that even though our families face a lot of pain, we are strong, we are fighters, and we are human."
Watch:
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.