All are welcome to join in the March, which is registered with the national MoveOn.org Families Belong Together protests all over the country on Saturday.
Meet on School Road in front of the Sunglass Shop in Spencer's Market. The marching route is down Lighthouse Road to the Lighthouse and back again. The organizers don't have a permit to gather at the Lighthouse (on NPS property), but it is the iconic symbol of Ocracoke and the best photo-op (as long as the peeps in the photos are in the street.) The final photo op will be back at the Sunglass Shop.
In solidarity with the Families Belong Together marches, Ocracoke marchers should wear white, use #FamiliesBelongTogether, and text FAMILIES to 668366!
Ocracoke resident and business owner Anna Rucker is organizing the local event through Facebook, in conjunction with Current publisher/editor Sundae Horn, who registered online with MoveOn. The Facebook event page states:
FAMILIES BELONG TOGETHER! Why are we marching? Because it is NOT RIGHT that families are being separated at the border.
The MoveOn.org invitation states:
Donald Trump and his administration have cruelly separated children from their families. We won't allow it to continue -- and we won't let them put families into internment camps. On June 30, we're rallying in Washington, D.C., and around the country to tell Donald Trump and his administration to stop separating kids from their parents!
Join us on June 30 to send a clear message to Donald Trump and Republicans in Congress: Families Belong Together
"Bring everyone, even dogs, and your posters," Anna said. "Let us all be united and uplifting in our fight, for our country has suffered too much and become too divided."
Anna was also the organizer of the March 24th March For Our Lives on Ocracoke and the February 11th Moral March on Ocracoke, which showed support for the Women's March, Moral Monday, No Drill No Spill, #metoo, Unity, DACA – or pretty much any progressive cause the attendees wanted to champion.
Anna says she marches because she wants "to stand up for what is right and for people to know that these issues really do matter and affect us all."
The MoveOn.org website offers this explanation for the March:
Our demand is clear and not negotiable: Reunite families, end family detention, and end zero tolerance. All families belong together.
Our solutions:
Reunite families now. Permanently stop separating children from their parents and immediately reunite those that have been separated
End family detention. Children do not belong in baby cages and internment-like camps and should not be detained indefinitely
End Zero Tolerance. - Reverse the Trump administration’s policy that created this crisis and chaos to begin with. No prosecuting parents who are doing what all parents do, which is bring their children to safety.
By choosing to attend this event, you are committing to participate nonviolently and in accordance with the law, to work to de-escalate confrontations with others, and to obey the orders of authorized event marshals and of law enforcement that ensure the safety of everyone at these events.
We march because we care!