What’s the one thing more powerful than unity? Unity in youth. This is a message Pigeon Lee-Spera has taken to heart; and the masses.
Lee-Spera, an 8th grader at GALA, a champion of many causes, took to combining two of which they are very much involved in. Which two? LGBTQ+ rights and immigration rights.
Pigeon, the president of Spectrum Club, GALA’s Gay-Straight Alliance, took to helping create the GSA Day for Racial Justice rally and teach-in on February 23rd. This day marked the first of many in which young queer activists came together and showed support to shut down ICE as well as detention centers holding immigrants.
Though organized by youth, you never would have guessed it by the level of organization executed. Upon arriving at the scene, you were greeted by warm embraces and even more colorful signs, all advertising love, not hate. Positivity, not anger spewing. #SeePastTheColorOfMySkin, not #NotMyPresident. This protocol was very much in line for both Pigeon and everybody there, who as the rally went on, shared their stories of what they want to see in the world: peace, love, equality, and justice for all, no matter the skin tone, gender, sexuality, or beliefs.
The rally was held outside of the Metropolitan Detention Center, one of the major centers holding immigrants in one of the largest immigration persecution cities in the world. Because the ralliers were right across the street from the open-air celled center, not only could the detainees hear the rally, here the love and support seeping into their tiny cells, but the rally could hear, and see, the inmates crowded together in their barbed-wire-in awning, hear the gratitude and appreciation seeping out.
While the rally was small, it was the perfect size for the event: small enough that it was an intimate affair, where everyone felt connected; but large enough that it felt like you were changing people’s minds, hearts, and views, which they were.
The goal of this rally was more about informing all those going by as well as show the detainees that people cared and valued them, minorities standing up for minorities, in a sense than applying pressure for change, though that happened too. Even if it was only to bring a smile to those detained, or to warm the hearts of those believing immigrant have no place in America, or to change the minds of just one person driven by, this rally is one to remember, and GALA could not be prouder to have their very own student on the front lines of this amazing movement; I couldn’t be luckier to have gone.
Maya Henry, 2024- Politics Writer
Photo Credit: GSA Network
A reverberation of GALA student voices 