SEND ME YOUR TIRED, YOUR POOR

The Birth of The Lady Liberty Flash Mob

By Judith Black

When three landscapers, working in a friend’s business, were brutally snatched by ICE a few blocks from my home, the horrors of this federal administration became personal. ICE quickly sent the three kind, hardworking men, two of whom had legal papers to be here, to prisons in different parts of the country. The illegal arrests haunted me and the men’s absence echoed, even as loved ones worried, traumatized by losing fathers, husbands and providers.

Now, here I stand with my old lady white skin to protect me and I am pissed. Beyond weekly stand-outs and writing letters to legislators and editors what can I do? If I have no legal avenue for recourse, I can at least inspire others to protect our immigrant population.

Hatching a plan

I was determined to create a repeatable action that would catch people’s attention, and disseminate useful information to immigrants and those standing with them. But in a world rife with stimulation, how do you grab attention? My thought was to do it in the flesh, rather than on screen, make it musical and make it short, with a useful handout.

Emma Lazarus’s poem from the base of Lady Liberty epitomizes what many of us still want this nation to be.*

“Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”

I could show up somewhere as Lady Liberty, I thought. And music? I looked for melodies and discovered that “America” from “West Side Story” was perfectly adaptable to the statue’s poem, and provided irony as well as a catchy melody.

I like to be in America!
O.K. by me in America!
Ev'rything free in America
For a small fee in America!

With minimal edits, simple movements to go with the lyrics, and a chorus based on Lady Liberty’s line: “I lift my lamp beside the golden door”, I was ready for the next step. Then I wondered — what is better than one Lady Liberty? A gang! A mob! So I made a training video offering instructions for making a liberty crown and torch, and introducing song lyrics and movements. I sent an email, with a video link, to every friend I have in the Greater Boston area. Through friends, acquaintances, organizations, and friends of friends, I created a list of prospective torch bearers.

Six months ago, prior to our first mobbing, I went down to the Lynn (MA) Police Station to let them know that we would be at the Federal Court House the next day. Not only were the police friendly and welcoming, but it was clear that there was no love lost between city cops and ICE agents. Several officers showed up for our maiden mobbing and actually applauded, a huge contrast to the hostile interactions of my youth when police goaded us Vietnam protesters. This was a wake up call that I might find allies among law enforcement in this fight for justice.

Location, location, location

Although I have a mailing list of 70 torch bearers, if more than seven are available for an event, it’s a minor miracle. We are all busy, but the more Lady Liberties (all sexual orientations welcome), the more impactful the mobbing and the more receptive the crowd. So I continue to build my list. (Please sign up! It’s not too late! See QR code below!)

We Lady Liberties have staged flash mobs at courthouses and busy intersections such as Boston’s Government Center. Alas, few shoppers, commuters, or workers were interested in our hand-outs. We mobbed at the ICE field office in Burlington, also at other rallies, and stand-outs. Yet these too felt unsatisfying. We were addressing the already aware. Then we hit gold.

On Dec. 10, we held our first subway action in Boston’s T. To prepare, I acquired a portable sound system which bellowed over the din. This turned out to be essential. As any pre-school teacher will tell you, often only volume can win attention.

We arrived on the subway platform at rush hour to find commuters engrossed in their phones. Undeterred, I stepped out, lifted my torch and began with the chorus: “I lift my lamp beside the Golden Door.” The reactions? Eyes lifted — a crazy lady on the platform — and people became even more engrossed with their phones.

However, once our other Lady Liberties lifted their torches, added their voices, commuters understood that this was not a single crazy but a planned action. As soon as the singing ended we announced who we were, why we were there (“To commemorate International Human Rights Day and make America welcoming again.”) and offered information about how they could keep themselves and their immigrant neighbors a little safer. Interestingly, few asked for our information sheet, so we began circulating through the crowds, offering flyers. Many accepted them. Some nodded shyly. Others made no eye contact, but held their hands out. Some whispered “thank-you.” This made my heart ache. How frightened people are at this time.

Our subway success helped us recommit to mobbing. Moving forward we will:

• engage waiting people, rather than busy, walking or driving urban dwellers

• prepare dozens of flyers. We discovered masses of folk ready to accept the information.

• continue to seek opportunities to disseminate information to those who aren’t tuned in to protests and rallies, who might not have access to the information.

We represented a form of advocacy that people were thankful for. We understood that contact in person, in real time, remains an effective way to share and spread a message.

Take up a torch

We will continue these mobbings throughout the greater Boston area. Please consider becoming a Lady Liberty Flash Mobber.

If you know of folks elsewhere who would be interested in starting this same action, use the QR code to contact Judith. She will share the training video and answer any questions. Onward, because that is the only choice.

The New Colossus https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/46550/the-new-colossus

Judith Black is one of America’s foremost storytellers. Her work for adults has been featured twelve times at the National Storytelling Festival and on stages from the Montreal Comedy Festival to the Art Museum of Cape Town, SA. She is the winner of the Oracle Award, storytelling’s most coveted laurel, the Brother Blue and Ruth Hill Award and many others.