On Thursday, April 15, 2021 we honored immigrants who have been impacted by detention, deportation, police brutality, and COVID-19 by establishing and honoring the very first Immigrant Day of Resilience.
Immigrant Day of Resilience is a day for collective healing and transformation marked by the unveiling of a mural and official local government resolution, reclaiming the month that Jeff Sessions signed the family separation policy in 2018.
On April 15, 2021, United We Dream established the very first Day of Immigrant Resilience.
This day will serve to honor the resilience of immigrant communities who have been impacted by detention, deportation, police brutality, and COVID-19. We want to shower our community with love and honor our stories.
The Day of Resilience was marked by the unveiling of a mural by Shirien Damra in Washington, D.C.
Felissa FL
Evangeline CA
Luz V. RIP
Antonio F. CA
Lazaro AG. FL
Edgar B. IL
Laura G. TX
Víctor MP. TX
Sammy S. RI
Chuy C. CA
George T. MN
Ericel O. Mex.
Martha M. TX
Raul M. TX
Robert N. RIP
María dRG. CA
Veronica B. WA
Sylvia S. ND
Imelda H. CA
Blanca TR. TX
Zoila TX
Anabelle K. MA
Raja B. CA
Salvador M. CA
Herlinda M. CA
Bing VA
Anastacia M. TX
Roxana FL
Norma FL
Julian A. TX
Claudia F TX
Antonio G. VA
Sarmat H. Ger.
Daniel L. Mex.
Jorge B. FL
Oscar C. MD
Nora CA
Dora MA
Anna PY. PA
Vicente M. CA
Cornelia PR. NY
Ismael CA
José GM. TX
William W. CT
Roger G. MA
Elisa P. CA
Teresa R. IL
Nona M. ID
Karen B. NY
Edelgard OR
Pablo C. FL
Diego A. PA
Daniel M. IL
Juana M. NY
Clide P. NY
Elizabeth M. NC
Dahabo MN
Luis V. Guate.
Yasmin AZ
Beatriz GM CA
Amalia D. TN
Francis D. TN
Chimata S. RIP
Juro S. WS
Audrey CA
Misako N. RIP
Juan CS. PA
Audrey CA
Maria VA. RIP
Suny RA. NJ
Rafael L. MD
Levi MB. OK
Lorenza S. CA
Philip W. NY
Maria C. FL
David M. TN
Lucas M. MA
Patrick W. RIP
I’m an illustrator + designer committed to using art and creativity as a tool to uplift social justice movements and campaigns, to amplify marginalized groups, to visualize that better world we’re striving for, and to heal.
Growing up in a working-class Palestinian refugee family, I had a sense of what injustice and racism looked like early on. As I got older, I started learning and understanding more about how structural oppression functions and the interconnectedness between struggles of many different marginalized communities. I took my knowledge and put it into actively challenging systemic oppression through years of organizing and now more distinctively through my illustration + design.
I bring an interdisciplinary lens to my design work with over 10 years of experience in social justice advocacy, community organizing and communications strategy, combined with education in sociology and UX design.
I’m currently based in Chicago, where I was born and raised. I work with many diverse clients across the globe. If you’d like to chat, feel free to connect with me. I’d love to talk design, consult, discuss opportunities, and collaborate on dope projects.
Edder is 25 years old and lives in Mexico. He was raised in South Carolina since childhood and is a former DACA recipient. In November 2017, in the thick of Trump’s attempts to dismantle the DACA program, he was criminalized and arrested by local police who then voluntarily handed him over to ICE.
Although his family paid bond to release him, they were barred from seeing him. Edder was swiftly transferred to the privately-owned Stewart Detention Camp near Atlanta where he was imprisoned until March 2018.
After months of hardship, and yearning for freedom, he signed his voluntary deportation in order to experience liberation. ICE deported Edder on an early morning flight without any notice to his family. Now Edder is rebuilding his life in Mexico and his sister Stephanie and cousin Alejandra continue to fight to reunite their family to this day.
Joella is 23 years old and lives in Washington, D.C. She was born in Trinidad and Tobago but when she was four she immigrated to the United States with her mom, all thanks to her grandmother who saved up every small check from her fast food job to reunite the family. In Joella’s words, “Being a Black woman is a source of power. Never a burden.”
Throughout her young life, she has spoken out against poverty, gentrification, the deportation force, and police brutality in Washington, D.C. and nationwide. Her brother, whose vision is deteriorating, continues to live in Tobago-Trinidad and her dream is that one day they can be reunited so he can see their mother’s face again.
Joella is the embodiment of resilience and she is proud to fight for the Black and multi-racial communities that make Washington, D.C. home. She’s also a lover of food and dance.
Satsuki is 77 years old and lives in San Francisco, CA. She is a third-generation Japanese American woman who was born inside a detention camp when her parents were unjustly detained during World War II.
The first four years of her life were spent inside detention camp walls with her mother. Meanwhile, her father was transferred from detention camp to detention camp for speaking out against the loyalty questionnaire — an insulting and racist document that the military forced detained Japanese Americans to answer in order to determine who would remain detained, and who would be shipped off to war.
She is now a licensed psychotherapist specializing in community trauma and the Co-Founder of Tsuru for Solidarity, a network of Japanese American survivors of the detention camps and their descendants, taking direct action for an end to all detention camps and liberation for all people.
On April 15th, 2022, United We Dream will be celebrating Immigrant Day of Resilience.
Our immigrant communities are resilient because we are inherently worthy of our humanity and purpose. So, We want to shower our community with love and honor our stories. Have an immigrant loved one who YOU want to honor on this day? Share with us!
→ Submit the name of an immigrant who you want to honor or memorialize on this day, along with the state or territory they reside in.
Honor your immigrant loved one and submit their name!
