Follen’s Meet the Moment (MtM) team is charged with responding quickly to current events by facilitating Follenites to engage with rallies/protests, letter writing, and other direct actions.

What Can I Do about ICE and Immigration Issues?

I want to report ICE sightings to protect immigrants.

Call 617-370-5023 to report ICE to the LUCE Defense Hotline. Learn more about LUCE ICE watch at lucemass.org.

I want local businesses to display WE SUPPORT IMMIGRANTS signs.

Contact Follenite Leslie S.

I want my own PROTECT IMMIGRANTS sign.

Order one from First Parish Malden! Contact ro.follen@mailnull.com to join Follen’s group order.

I want to join a protest outside the Burlington ICE facility.

You can join midday protests Monday–Saturday; Bearing Witness protests from 11:00 AM to 1:00 PM Wednesdays and attracts hundreds of people. See the complete list of times and organizers at: fixice.org/1000districtave

I want to raise money for immigration bonds.

Follen’s Immigration and Sanctuary Group is working on immigration bonds to free people in ICE prisons in MA and RI. Contact sjat@follen.org for more info.

I want to join an overpass protest brigade.

• Lexington: happyhourvb25@gmail.com
• Arlington: arlingtonmavisibility@gmail.com

I want to tell my elected representatives to abolish ICE.

Go to 5calls.org for scripts and phone numbers for congressional reps.

I want to read about all kinds of actions and trainings.

Join Follen’s JusticeInAction @ follen.org email list by emailing Follen’s communications coordinator at communications@follen.org. All list members can post actions and updates.

Want to Get More Involved?

Meet the Moment would like to build up a small cadre of people trained/specializing in roles that are often present at actions: chant leaders, marshals, and street medics.

Chant Leaders

Chant leaders are high-energy people who are willing to rev up a crowd with a variety of chants, be it at a stationary or moving rally. The best chant leaders have a long list of chants to pick and choose from, depending on the particular event, and do a little bit of prep work to have them written down so that other participants don’t get bored with the same chants being repeated over and over.

If you are interested in learning more about being a chant leader, send an email to SJAT.

Marshals

The primary mission of marshals is to:

• Spread calm
• Help guide people (“please stay off this area”)
• Disseminate information / answer questions (“after this speaker, there are only 2 more speakers and then we’ll be done”)
• Be alert eyes and ears
• In a march/parade, help block traffic and/or guide participants on whether they should wait for traffic or cross the street

Marshals should be 18+ and able to remain calm when things get chaotic.

Marshal training is about 90 minutes long. The majority of the time is focused on de-escalation training, with the remaining time spent discussing more specifics of how marshals work.

If you are interested in learning more about becoming a marshal, send an email to SJAT.

Street Medics

The primary mission of street medics is to:

• Spread calm
• Attend to any medical-related needs of participants; in particular, being sensitive that many communities have poor experience with professional clinician.

CPR/First Aid training is all that is required.

Street medics should be 18+ and can remain calm when things get chaotic.

If you are interested in learning more about becoming a street medic, Dave L. is organizing the street medics at Follen.

Street Medic Training for Healthcare Professionals

A 1-day training will be offered on October 25 and again on November 8.

Learn more about this training

Suggestions?

Meet the Moment is focusing on activities that can be done with other people; if you have suggestions, please email Dave L. at mtm@follen.org with details.