By DAVID DUPONT
BG Independent News
The night was one of celebration.
La Conexion de Wood County, with support from the Bowling Green Human Relations Commission, was throwing a community party to mark National Hispanic Heritage Month.
The first order of business was dance lessons to the sounds spun by DJ Canny.
Beatriz Maya, the executive director of La Conexion, explained the recognition was created first as a week by President Lyndon Johnson and expanded to a month by President Ronald Reagan. The month, she said, “is a time to recognize and celebrate the many contributions, diverse cultures, and extensive histories of the Latino community.”
Those were represented by children trooping through displaying signs saying welcome in dozens of languages, followed by adults bearing signs of their places of origin.
The roots of the LatinX community, Maya said, are with indigenous peoples, slaves brought from Africa, and European colonizers.
There was dancing, food, and a raffle for a very fine bottle of tequila. There was also an undercurrent of worry.
“This year has been particularly hard for the Latino community,” Maya said. “We have been a target of aggression, hate, and increased violence, as has been seen in the mass shooting in El Paso, and even here, two young Latinos were the victims of racist violence.
“Our families have been separated, our children have been imprisoned under conditions that caused irreparable harm,” she continued. “ICE raids are increasing in frequency and severity, instilling fear and terror into immigrant communities.
“People are dying as they try to cross the border escaping situations of violence and extreme poverty they have not caused . Asylees are no longer allowed to stay, sick children are deported.”
La Conexion, Maya said, has done what it can to address those “harsh realities,” by educating people of their rights, lobbying members of Congress, and protesting immigration policies and the treatment of those seeking asylum.
In a statement read by Maya, City Prosecutor Hunter Brown said that he is worried that someone will be too fearful because of their immigration status to report a crime. He’s especially concerned about assaults and domestic violence going unreported.
Brown promised in the statement that no one who reports a crime “will be turned in” to immigration authorities.
State Rep. Haraz Ghanbari said he is working with La Conexion on legislation that would prevent the kind of hate attack that occurred in Bowling Green from happening again here or elsewhere.
A number of community organizations, including Welcome BG, Bowling Green State University, Not In Our Town, and members of city council and religious representatives including Catholics, Muslims, Presbyterians, Unitarian-Universalists, and Jews expressed solidarity with La Conexion and the LatinX community.
The Rev. Tony Gallagher, a grandson of immigrants, said seeing the children and adults striding by “moved me to tears.”
That sight only heightened his sense of sadness at the treatment of immigrants at the border with children being separated from their parents and people held in inhumane conditions.
This, he said, “is happening in our name.”
Gallagher read a statement from the Toledo Chapter of the Social Justice Subcommittee of the Association of U.S. Catholic Priests. “Together all of us are trying to be patriotic citizens as we name the ugly, awful treatment of immigrants by our current federal government.
“We expect our government officials to support the rights and basic dignity of every person no matter the age, gender or circumstances of one’s entry into the country.”
Laurie Snyder, from St. Rose in Perrysburg, read a statement: “We believe the gospel challenges us today to love our neighbor, welcome the alien, to respect the dignity of others, and to care for those in need, especially families with children. These are life issues.”
Those sentiments were echoed by Lee Liebetreu from the First Presbyterian Church. “The current climate of inhospitality and inhumane treatment of those on our southern border and in our communities is the opposite of everything we believe and try to live out.”
Once the dozen or so expressions of support were read, the raffle was held, and the Tex-Mex band Grupo-Dezeo was cued and the dancing started. The floor filled with those who took lessons at the start, those who clearly didn’t need any dancing lessons, and children who were just happy to be moving to the music and the spirit of the event.
