Lights for Liberty vigil draws more than 250 people to downtown Riverhead

An assembly of more than 250 people stood silently in the gathering darkness on East Main Street Friday evening, shoulder to shoulder, two and three rows deep, lining a stretch of sidewalk from the First Congregational Church to Flower Alley.

They held candles and hand-made signs showing solidarity with the thousands of migrant men, women and children detained at the southern U.S. border in extremely overcrowded and unsanitary detention camps that have been condemned by human rights organizations and officials, including the U.N. high commissioner for human rights.

“Jesus was a Refugee”
“Children Belong in Schools — Not Cages”
“Not the America I Love. Save the Children”
“We Are A Melting Pot”
“Cruelty is Un-American”

One man brought a dog crate with a child’s doll standing inside.

The Riverhead vigil, organized by the town’s Anti-Bias Task Force, Indivisible North Fork and the North Fork Spanish Apostolate, was one of several hundred coordinated “Lights for Liberty” vigils and protests across America last night to demand an end to the mass detention of migrants and refugees seeking entry at U.S. border crossings.

After 15 minutes of silence, Angela DeVito of South Jamesport, organizer of the Riverhead vigil, thanked people “for caring and coming” to show their support.

People at the Riverhead vigil came from local hamlets and from around the area — Southampton, Hampton Bays, Rocky Point and even Patchogue, where another Lights for Liberty vigil was taking place outside Rep. Lee Zeldin’s district office.

The Riverhead vigil took place without incident or counter-protest, under the watchful eye of four Riverhead police officers who stood by on the sidewalk across the street.

DeVito invited people to share their thoughts with the group. One by one, several spoke out.

The Rev. Sean Murray, pastor of First Congregational Church of Riverhead and one several clergy in attendance, reminded people of the compassion of the church.

“We come as a church. We come as a people who love. We come out of kindness,” Murray said.

“This is the kindness you show for others by coming out in support, by coming out in solidarity and prayer. May God bless the many people who are suffering at our borders. May God help us all,” he said.

John McAuliff of Riverhead brought a display of editorial cartoons published in the U.S. and U.K. depicting the Irish as gorilla-like savages.

“The Irish when they came, many of them did not really speak English. They were illiterate. They came because they were forced by the famine for the pressure of British colonial rule,” McAuliff said.

“Unfortunately too many of their descendants have forgotten why they came and how they were treated,” he said.

“This was about the border but we may find tomorrow that the border is in Riverhead and in other places on Long Island if they really undertake the raids that have been threatened now for two weeks,” McAuliff said.

“This is a vigil of presence. It is not just about them there, but it’s about right here.”

Others spoke of personal family history.

“Many years ago my Jewish grandparents left Poland, afraid for their lives,” Maxine Kleedorfer of Baiting Hollow said. “They had to sneak in through Canada and come to our country. They were not legal. They didn’t come through Ellis Island because this country didn’t want Jews,” she said. “I feel like it’s happening all over again.”

Kleedorfer recalled the adaptation of a speech given in 1946 by the Rev. Martin Niemöller, a German Lutheran pastor who at first supported Adolf Hitler, about the cowardice of German citizens and some clergy, including himself, following the Nazis rise to power — and the danger of silence in the face of oppression and abominations targeting, one by one, specific groups of “others.”

“We can’t allow this to go on again — not in our country, not in our time,” she said. “My family lived through it once. We don’t want to live through it again.”

Joy Heid of Rocky Point stepped forward, saying she was moved to speak out.

“In the Unites States of America, we are all immigrants,” she said. She spoke of her great-grandfather’s journey across the Atlantic from Ireland as a 19-year-old boy, who gained entry to the United States only because of the kindness of a stranger. The stranger’s name became part of her family history: Mr. Devine. He took pity on the boy and vouched for him, lying that he was there to pick him up.

And so her great-grandfather gained entry to the fabled land of opportunity. “Because of him, because he got my grandfather in, my whole family is here today,” Heid said.

Afterward, she broke down, sobbing: “I can’t believe this is happening.”

Cindy Clifford of Riverhead said she was encouraged by the size of the crowd and encouraged everyone reach out to others who may not agree with them, to make connections, overcome divisions and advocate for compassion.

“If each one of us goes out and finds those people so blocked with hate,” Clifford said. “If we can each try to reach one or two people, maybe there’s a ripple effect we can kick into motion.”

Riverhead Councilwoman Catherine Kent, town board liaison to the Anti-Bias Task Force and the only elected official in attendance, told the crowd the event was “heartwarming.”

“There’s so much going on in our country right now. There’s so much anger and division,” Kent said. “This gives me great hope.”

In an interview, Kent, a retired elementary school teacher said the situation at the border was personally disturbing.

“I worked with 5-, 6- and 7-year-olds more than half my life,” she said. “As a mother of three, it’s absolutely heart-wrenching to see children in detention camps. It’s un-American.”

DeVito addressed the crowd again before it dispersed, urging them to find hope in the presence of others and the courage to speak out.

“I want you to look around. We are not alone,” DeVito told the crowd.

“Tomorrow morning when you wake up and turn on your TV and your radio and you think, ‘How am I going to deal with this,’ remember that standing next to you tonight were neighbors — people you know and people you may want to know in the future — and they share your values. They share your compassion. They share your heart,” she told the group.

“On a daily basis, think of one thing you can do that will make you feel that we can step forward, that there is some hope, that we can bring our nation back to what we believe it should be.”