LAist: Older, white Angelenos are joining Latino volunteers to monitor ICE raids

[DBoon]

...
Unión del Barrio has outgrown their usual meeting space at the United Teachers union building in Koreatown, which used to draw a few dozen people.
...
In late January, the day after federal agents shot and killed Alex Pretti in Minneapolis, about 400 people showed up for a training session, Unión del Barrio organizer Ron Gochez said.

“The very next day, we had 1,000 people on a Zoom training for educators — and we couldn’t have more because the Zoom limit was 1,000,” Gochez said.

Organizers in Pasadena expected a few dozen volunteers at All Saints Episcopal Church and were surprised when nearly 800 showed up for the training session, according to Pasadena Now.

https://laist.com/news/politics/older-white-angelenos-are-joining-latino-volunteers-to-monitor-ice-raids

Who is Union del Barrio?

https://uniondelbarrio.org/main/4-2/about-udb/

[awesomerwb1]

1. K&R

[Ocelot II]

2. That's exactly what happened in Minneapolis.

Training sessions filled up fast, and there were a lot of old white Boomers.

[slightlv]

3. I think it's because a lot of us took part in this the first time around,

decades ago. It's the same with women's rights marches. We already did this once, and won. We'll be damned if we see anyone else suffer what we wiped out with our work and passion of our youth. At least, that's one of the reasons why I try to stay as active at protests as I do... the body cops out on me at times, but never the passion.

[Ocelot II]

4. There are a lot of older folks at these demonstrations and other events.

I participate in a regular weekly demonstration where almost everyone is old. The organizer brings speakers that play classic rock from the '60s and '70s and we all dance and sing along. It's like, we did all this 50 years ago and why the hell are we still having to do it?

[slightlv]

5. I know that feeling, Ocelot!

We DID do all of this 50 years and more ago. Some of us never stopped, and some of us got stomped on when we tried to raise the alarm when we saw it begin to disappear 10 years ago. Minority rights always seem to get "prioritized" depending on what's going on at the time. But those of us who marched and protested 50 years ago believe in the ethics and morality of what we're doing and why we're doing it. We're just not willing to watch it all get stripped away for thought police and militarization of our police in increasing levels. I hate to put it like this, but some of us actually grew up with the idea of a near Utopian "Age of Aquarius" where we could all live in harmony and (at least) tolerance of one another... and we're not ready to give up the dream even into our old age.