Lynn rallies for immigrants

LYNN – With signs that read, “Keep the kids, deport the racists” and “Immigrants are part of Lynn’s past and present,” more than 150 people spread across City Hall steps Tuesday calling for unity among residents during a rally to support immigrants.”We have to get better at this,” said the Rev. Victoria Weinstein, a Lynn homeowner. “It is a disgrace that this kind of rhetoric still flourishes in this nation of immigrants.”Residents, members of Lynn United for Change, Lynn Parents Organizing for a Better Education, Neighbor to Neighbor and other organizations came out in response to comments made by Mayor Judith Flanagan Kennedy and Superintendent Catherine Latham. The pair sat down last week to discuss the impact that what they call an overwhelming number of unaccompanied minors and refugees are having on the city and the school district.Weinstein pointed out that when her four grandparents immigrated to the U.S. nearly 100 years ago as children, their families heard the same accusations: they are a stress on the school system, they were too needy, it’s too expensive to provide services and there is a need to learn English faster.Her grandmother left school in the fourth grade because she was deeply wounded by the prejudice she experienced, said Weinstein, pastor of the Unitarian Universalist Church of Greater Lynn in Swampscott.”She was deeply ashamed all her life of her illiteracy and encouraged me to do well in school as a way of making good on the promise of this country,” she said. Weinstein said she stood on City Hall steps for her grandmother and in support and affection for the city and her neighbors who speak many languages.Activist Carla Moniz called it unfair for Kennedy and Latham to blame the unaccompanied minors and refugees for the schools woes.”The fact is Lynn has underfunded its schools for years,” she said before rattling off a litany of statistics.”Let’s be clear,” she went on to say, “education is not a privilege; it’s a right for all students regardless of where they come from.”While participants remained calm and mostly respectful, the rally highlighted a division in the city. While the Rev. Jane Gould called for residents to follow in Jesus’ footsteps by welcoming the children and caring for them, an onlooker on the fringe called out, “Send them to Lynnfield.”School Committee and Lynn United for Change member Maria Carrasco spoke passionately and largely in Spanish, prompting some to complain.She said, “We are all immigrants, and we need to support each other on this issue.”At one time, the Jews, Italians and Irish faced oppression and had to fight back. “Now it’s our turn to fight,” she said. “We cannot be intimidated.”Isaac Hodes of Lynn United for Change asked that people not stigmatize children who are already fighting an uphill battle as refugees and unaccompanied minors.”Words have power,” he reminded the crowd.Jude Silva stood at the edge of the sidewalk at the back of the crowd watching the rally holding a sign of his own that read, “Support the Mayor, Don’t Judge Judy.”Silva said he felt that the rally was, in a way, supporting reverse racism.”This has nothing to do with immigration,” he said. “The people on the steps – (Kennedy) has accepted them because they are here legally.”Silva said the issue is simple: “legal is legal.” He likened it to getting caught lighting fireworks.”That’s illegal, and you should be arrested for it,” he said, adding that if people are in the country illegally, they should have to pay the consequences.When a nearby supporter challenged him, Silva noted that he is an immigrant as well, and he came into the country legally, although he was adopted at 8 months old from Portugal.”But it’s still legal,” he said with a shrug.Mary Sweeney of Lynn United said the problem is that things have changed. When her grandparents came to this country, there was an actual waiting list, a line to join, to get into the country legally.”They shout, ?why not do it legally?’ but there is n