In support of their pleas, clerics from all religions came to show support: Christian, Jewish and Muslim.
Rabbi David Shneyer, director of the Am Kolel Sanctuary and Renewal Center, blew a shofar, a horn used at Jewish religious ceremonies. Imam Johari Abdul-Malik, outreach director of Dar al Hijrah Islamic Center of Northern Virginia, spoke about racism in immigration enforcement and expressed hope that President Obama – with the Muslim middle name Hussein – might be different.
“If your name is Muhammad, you’re discriminated against. If your name is José, you go to the back of the line,” Abdul-Malik said. “Now we have someone with one of those names in the White House.”
The Rev. Dr. Frederick Hancock, associate pastor of Gethsemane United Methodist Church in Capitol Heights, Md., presided over an African-inspired libation ceremony where he poured juice into the soil of a plant “to wake your ancestors.” Among the names he called out were those of Mexican-American labor leader César Chávez; civil rights activists Malcolm X and Rosa Parks; as well as that of Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall.
And then came the Esquinos.
As María held high the smoldering pot of fragrant herbs and waved the smoke toward 12th Street with the eagle feathers, Mariano led the crowd in a chant in Spanish, clearly directed, again, at the new president, whose campaign theme was “Yes, we can.”
“Sí, se puede,” they said over and over again.
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