Here's Lin-Manuel Miranda, singing a lullaby for all the kids whose parents can't right now
There are marches and events running around the country today, as people come out in droves to protest America’s current immigration policies, and especially the governmental decision to separate children from their families and place them, by the hundreds, in detention and holding facilities. (Donald Trump eventually issued an executive order halting future family separations after it became clear what a massive hornet’s nest he’d kicked with this “zero tolerance” approach, but the Department Of Health And Human Services has hemmed and hawed about whether the kids already taken will be reunited with their families any time soon.)
Operating under the banner of Families Belong Together, tens of thousands of people took to the streets in more than 600 locations this afternoon, waving signs, chanting protest slogans, and trying to make it clear just how unacceptable they find Trump’s policies, and the way that U.S. Immigration And Customs Enforcement has been handling them. There’s been widespread support online for their efforts this afternoon from both celebrities and regular folks, while marchers at the primary FBT march in Washington D.C. have been joined by a number of famous faces, including America Ferrera and Alicia Keys, who brought her son up on stage as she read a letter from a woman separated from her own child at the border.
The most powerful moment, though, might have come courtesy of Hamilton creator (and tireless pro-immigrant advocate) Lin-Manuel Miranda, who spent his time on stage dedicating a lullaby to all the kids still currently separated from their parents, and who can no longer sing to them themselves. Miranda offered up an a capella take on “Dear Theodosia” from his Tony-winning musical, audibly breaking up at the part where Hamilton addresses his own son with messages of hope for the future. “We’re here because there’s parents right now who can’t sing lullabies to their kids,” Miranda told the crowd. “Don’t stop. Don’t give up until these families are united.”