Expect salsa and dabke dancing alongside some twerking in front of White House Senior Adviser Stephen Miller’s apartment complex on Wednesday evening.
The activist group WERK for Peace is planning to protest the president’s aide outside CityCenterDC for his role in shaping the administration’s immigration policy. The group, formed in the wake of the 2016 Pulse nightclub massacre in Orlando, has since staged boisterous demonstrations outside the homes of Vice President Mike Pence and White House advisers Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner. This protest comes as the group is launching a campaign called #WERKNotWalls, which focuses on the treatment of migrants and refugees at the U.S. border.
Stephen Miller is “the architect behind the Muslim Ban and the architect behind the response to the migrant and refugee caravan that is currently making its way to the U.S./Mexico border,” says Firas Nasr, the founding organizer of WERK for Peace. “We wanted to shed light on him and on the Trump administration’s egregious response to the migrant and refugee caravan. What better way to do it than to bring a whole crowd of people dancing to Arabic music and Spanish music to him?”
The protest will begin at the north side of the White House at 5:30 p.m. and participants will march towards Miller’s luxury D.C. apartment complex, which was also the site of a protest in June. Activists chanted and passed out signs calling him a “white nationalist, Trump lackey, and architect of both the Muslim Ban and Family Separation.” Miller was out of town at the time.
Nasr, who uses they/them pronouns, doesn’t know if the White House aide will be in D.C. on Wednesday. “Quite frankly, we don’t really care,” they say. “As with many other protests, while it’s about Miller, it’s about centering and uplifting our trans, queer, people of color, and immigrant community, and to send a clear message that we see you, we accept you, and we will work until you are able to access safety and security.”
The protest is also a way to launch their new video campaign. The first video features Nasr dancing throughout Berlin, including on the Berlin Wall, in footage filmed on the anniversary of German reunification. “The video is meant to start a conversation very specific to the U.S. but also on a global scale,” they say. “What does it mean for us to build walls? How does that translate into creating a world that does not allow us to come together, to see one another, and to celebrate our existence as individuals?” The idea is for others to create and submit their own videos conveying the desire for #WERKNotWalls.
Even though activists have long protested outside the homes of public officials in the District, this demonstration also comes at a time when the public continues to wrestle with the tactic of directly confronting political adversaries in their off-hours. A November anti-fascist protest at the D.C. home of Fox News host Tucker Carlson was widely condemned in the mainstream media for “crossing the line,” as did a confrontation with Texas Senator Ted Cruz at Fiola.
Our celebrations are ones that are joyful and ones that are very peaceful,” says Nasr. “But we believe in a diversity of tactics. Politicians need to know that when they create policies that directly and affect and marginalize us in our private spaces, they can’t just go home and expect to feel safe. Privileged people want their safety and they deserve it, but so does everyone else. We are working for a world in which everyone receives the safety and security they need. That’s why we believe immigrants should not be welcomed with tear gas at our border. We believe they should be welcomed with biodegradable rainbow confetti.”
Rachel Kurzius