Lxs Caravanerxs and Nonsecular Protest: Rethinking Migrant Family Separation with Un llanto colectivo

Abstract:Written and directed by Celia Herrera Rodríguez and Cherríe Moraga in 2018, "Un Llanto Colectivo: Press Conference & Performa-Protesta" took place in front of ICE headquarters in downtown San Diego (September 15th) and then in front of Otay Mesa Detention Center (September 16th). Envisioned as an act of consciousness raising around family separation, Central American caravans, and the detention-industrial-complex, the flyer invitation read, "[T]his is ceremonial resistance." This writing is an extension of my witness of and participation in Un llanto colectivo. I provide a historical context for lxs caravanerxs, as well as interviews with Maestras Celia and Cherríe. The meeting point for each of these different modalities is the PerformaProtesta, while the fragments of my own migrant history of family separation act as an invitation to the reader to consider intergenerational healing within and beyond biological family and chosen forms of solidarity.