As my colleagues and I approached the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) headquarters on Ida B. Wells Drive in downtown Chicago, we rolled our small carts that were overflowing with signs, speakers, megaphones, buttons, clipboards, and umbrellas. The umbrellas were a necessary addition that day as foreboding clouds loomed over the tall, ominous building that immigrant families visit each day for their appointments with DHS and ICE officials.
Tucked in the cart among the usual gear that you will often find in an organizer’s car were several small glass containers filled to the brim with ashes. Getting the ashes safely to the action that morning was a priority, so I had placed them as carefully as I could next to a white envelope and between a set of megaphones. I prayed that the containers would not rattle loose on the way to the site of our Ash Wednesday demonstration that day.
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