Saturday February 18, 2017
10:30am at VU entrance at University Drive and Laporte Ave
10:35am – 11:00 march to Valparaiso City Hall
11:00am – 12:00pm assemble at the steps of Valparaiso City Hall for speeches from civil rights, interfaith, and legal figures
12:00pm adjourn
Pending approval this week from the City of Valparaiso Board of Works. Once we have city approval, we will create a public event so you can share with like-minded individuals.
We will gather in solidarity to support our immigrant and refugee brothers and sisters whose entry to and continued residency in this nation are threatened by the recent executive orders that ban immigration from 7 countries and eliminate DACA immigrant protection. VU students, staff and faculty will join with community members in Valparaiso and from the Northwest Indiana region to peacefully march from the VU campus across town to city hall.
We will march for the hundreds of people in our own community, fellow students and residents, for the thousands of people across Northwest Indiana, and for all those across our country, to speak up for human rights. We will march to let everyone know that we oppose any action that would harm our community or treat our neighbors with indignity and injustice. We march to reaffirm that Valparaiso is a truly welcoming place, and that we do not harbor fear against each other. We march as a city of strength and great character, not a city that succumbs to the weakness of hate. We march as a city that offers hope for all, not as a city that breeds injustice through exclusion.
We stand united, as Americans and as caring human beings, steadfast in our belief of the fundamental principles our great country was founded: of life and liberty, and most importantly of equality for all.
Join us at 10:30am at the VU entrance on University Drive and Laporte Ave for a quick welcome from VU students. We will proceed toward Lincolnway where we will march on the sidewalk on the south side toward city hall. At the Lincolnway and Washington Street intersection in front of the county building, we will cross to the north side of Lincolnway and finish our march to the steps of city hall. We will assemble for an hour at city hall to hear speeches from civil rights, interfaith, and legal figures.
“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-tossed to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”