Until Every Family is Reunited
Social movements are a complex phenomenon that have become even more intricate in their dynamic as social media continues to usher in ways to connect across the world in mere seconds.
Families Belong Together is the campaign associated with the movement that arose in 2018 response to the Trump Administration’s zero tolerance policy which apprehended immigrants crossing the southern border illegally and separating children from their parents indefinitely.
In what felt like hours, movements all over the country were being planned, voiced by celebrities and high profile politicians such as Broadway star Lin-Manuel Miranda, singer John Legend and Senator/Vice President-Elect Kamala Harris. Marches were scheduled in Los Angeles, New York, DC, cities in Texas, and more. It seemed as though as soon as you found out about the news, you were quickly equipped with information on how to get involved and mobilize.
On June 14th, 2018, groups gathered in 60 cities. Then, on June 30th, at least 130 rallies in 48 states across the U.S. occurred and thousands gathered to march and speak out.
Although the zero-tolerance policy was reversed via executive order, the momentum had already begun and in the following months, years, even now, Families Belong Together through their associated organizations have educated, advocated, and mobilized for immigrant families and children all over the country.
What makes this movement so special?
Every movement is unique in the way that it stirs up emotion in the general public. Families Belong Together, as a campaign of the National Domestic Workers Alliance, was already working with immigrant children, raising awareness about family separation, and educating the public about Dreamers, ICE detention centers and immigrant rights. But overall, their digital presence wasn’t remarkable, and they even went through a rebrand/name change before the marches happened, which could have potentially led to confusion and mistrust. Here are some factors I believe helped the movement surpass the NDWA in social reach, rally and organize across the entire country, and remain relevant in national dialogue two years after their rise to visibility:
Partnering with Larger Organizations
Families Belong Together garnered the attention of large organizations, harnessing a meaningful collaboration that magnified the issue and multiplied the exposure it had across social media. Human Rights Campaign, Amnesty International, the ACLU and MoveOn.org are just a handful of organizations that have audiences of hundreds of thousands of engaged, compassionate followers that were able to learn about the movement in a short amount of time, primarily through Instagram and Twitter.
Influential Advocates
As I previously mentioned, many high profile public figures were transparent in their support of the movement, and, similarly to the partnering organizations, were able to engage their own following to join the movement. Many of these influencers used social media and the art of intimate vertical social media posts to connect with their audiences and convince them that the movement was meaningful and needed to be acknowledged on a global scale.
Some other figures who took to social media to share their messages:
- America Ferrera
- Alicia Keys
- Chrissy Teigan
- Patton Oswalt
- Chadwick Boseman
- Kerry Washington
- Mayor Eric Garcetti
A Moving Topic
Unfortunately, many movements struggle because the nature of their cause is not appealing to the masses to support. We see this happening every day, with activists working around the clock to raise awareness about climate control, racial injustice, femicide, and countless others. It takes a different kind of narrative to persuade individuals to care, but when sensitive subjects, especially the subject of children, is the topic of discussion, it seems there is a better probability of willingness to get behind an associated movement. Think of the campaign #NotOneMore for gun regulation to keep students safe in schools, and #SaveOurChildren to raise awareness about juvenile sex trafficking. The only potential downfall to this is that because it is such a sensitive topic for many, how often do we see “activists” become unengaged once the work gets too heavy? For Families Belong Together, there seems to be an arm’s distance between the public and the issue at hand, although they continue to raise awareness.
Families Belong Together is still working to reunite families, reform the immigration system and demand better for incarcerated immigrants at the border, along with their partner organizations. The marches were merely a launch into visibility and I think they are definitely better for it.
