In the wake of the recent wave of presidential executive orders, one local online community is rising up to rally and resist.
‘Renton Resist’ is a Facebook group that formed two months ago and is a grassroots movement that’s determined to make the city of Renton a safe, welcoming and inclusive city.
The group formed spontaneously in response to President Donald Trump executive orders.
“When the executive orders started coming in, it started feeling like the reality is now here. So we asked ourselves what are we going to do and how does it impact Renton and how do we make our community as safe as we possibly can,” said member Lauren Porter.
Currently, the group has 55 members. Most of the members first met at a workshop hosted by Angel Swanson titled “How to talk to your racist uncle.” The members bonded over their shared interest in pursuing justice for all and seeing their community thrive.
“There’s no real leader in the group,” explained Swanson. “We’re all kind of equally responsible and take on different aspects of social justice. We have some people who look at financial support and others who look at activities. So it’s different hands all reaching into the community and figuring out what we can best do.”
Swanson described the group as “organic” and the members of the group to be “of the same mind.”
And while the group is young, they haven’t wasted time in getting to work.
At a Feb. 27 Renton City Council meeting, right after Mayor Denis Law issued a proclamation announcing Renton to be an inclusive and welcoming city, Renton Resist members asked the council to consider labeling the city as a sanctuary city, and not just an inclusive one. The group drafted a sample resolution, which was read aloud at the meeting, and they urged the council to rethink their label.
“[The proclamation] is a wonderful step toward what we all believe what Renton needs to be. What we would like to do is call on the council to pass a resolution for a sanctuary city,” said Swanson at the meeting. “We believe it is a necessary step in light of the things that are happening and in the news we are reading every day in the papers… We respectfully request that you pass a resolution of a sanctuary city as opposed to welcoming city.”
The group also arranged a march at 1 p.m. on March 19 at the Renton Piazza to stand in solidarity with Renton’s immigrant community.
“We wanted to have a public event that would draw some visibility to all people in Renton who do want this to be a safe and welcoming place for people who are from anywhere,” said Porter. “No matter who you are and where you’re from, you’re welcome here in Renton and you’re safe here in Renton. We wanted to have a visual for the city of Renton to be able to see people standing in the Piazza — the center of our city — holding signs, smiling, talking with each other, and having a really positive experience.”
The purpose of the march is to be the voice of immigrants “in order to make their plight known,” said Swanson.
“They don’t have a platform where they’re safely project what needs to happen,” she continued. “That’s where we take our privilege and say — well, we can. We can speak up and we can say these things without fear of that type of retribution. For us, using that privilege and stand out in that Piazza and say that everyone is welcome and we can stand here and say that and be honestly mean that we’re working towards making that happen.”
Councilmember Ruth Perez said the she supports the group and admires their effort to bring about change.
“They want to protect the people who live in the city and that’s really respectable,” she said. “People who are willing to raise their voice and say ‘this is not okay and I am willing to protect my neighbor.’ It is something that I admire.”
