By Pamela De La Cruz
On October 18th, a GroupMe chat was created under the name “GET OUT THOMAS HOMAN” along with a graphic depicting children detained at the border with the words “FREE OUR CHILDREN” over it. After more started to join the chat and became interested, the organizers sent out all the information needed in order to successfully complete their plan of attending, chanting, and staying until the event was shut down. They linked to the event website and urged everyone to RSVP. On October 20th, a Penn alumnus posted in the chat that she, along with other Penn alumni, supported the group and had put together an open letter against Homan coming to Penn. She invited everyone to add their names to the petition; by the morning of the 23rd, the Daily Pennsylvanian reported that over 400 students had signed it.
The event in question was “Detention and Deportation from Obama to Trump”, hosted by UPenn’s Perry World House. It was scheduled to start at 5 pm on October 23rd and was meant to feature two former ICE officials along with the former City Solicitor of Philadelphia. Despite the massive backlash, especially from Penn for Immigrant Rights, the event was neither rescheduled or cancelled. Stephen MacCarthy, University spokesperson, did however respond by emphasizing that the Perry World House “is committed to providing the Penn community access to a broad set of views on important global issues, but this should not be constructed as an endorsement.”
The doors opened at 4:30 PM; even though it had sold out online, many who hadn’t reserved their spot were able to still enter.. At 5:03 PM, the first of the protestors appeared to the left of the event, standing at the other end of the glass walls. They held signs that ranged from “No One is Illegal on Stolen Land” to “Never Again Means Close the Camps”. At 5:05 PM, chanting began outdoors. Five minutes later, just as the invitees were taking their place on stage, multiple students from the crowd began, “No hate, no fear, immigrants are welcome here.” After a few attempts of the speakers to start speaking, the Open Expression Observer took centerstage and announced they would be cancelling the event.
Security tried to usher the crowd outside, but most remained in their seats. Someone insisted that the ICE agents had to leave first. They chanted, “El pueblo unido, jamás será vencido,” a line from a Chilean song about the dream for a socialist transformation before the US-backed coup in the 70s that created the Pinochet dictatorship. It translates to “the united people will never be defeated”, and it was repeated until the speakers left the stage, in which the protestors finally left. They didn’t go far, though, and continued to protest outside the glass wall before moving to the front at 5:30. During this time, a few students were also passing out a copy of the August 2019 issue of Liberation News, the newspaper for the political party of socialism and liberation. During this, the students were watched closely by security and Joanne Murray, the Open Expression Observer. Upon being asked, she explained her position as a volunteer from the Annenberg School for Communications, here to ensure everyone’s rights to free speech were protected. She made no comment on whether or not Penn’s actions were right or wrong, but claimed she liked to see the students exercising their right to protest.
After about an hour, some of the protest leaders announced that they were going to head back to La Casa Latina to destress and have an open discussion. So, from Perry World House, students began to march down Locust Walk holding up their signs and chanting, signaling what appeared to be the victory of over a week of planning.
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