On Sat., July 26th, Parent Voices CA joined the nationwide Families First mobilization rally in Oakland at Snow Park alongside families, essential workers, and community leaders for a day of action to fight back against deep cuts to healthcare, food assistance, and education and the escalation of immigrant raids and political scapegoating. To fund the cuts to the social safety net and the expansion of the deportation machine, Congress has green-lit over a trillion dollars in tax cuts to corporations and the 1%.
Jazmine Arreola of Parent Voices Los Angeles has three children and has experienced many challenges. She recently lost her mom and welcomed her dad back home after he served 30 years in prison. Jazmine has fibromyalgia and is one of the millions of parents who will be impacted by the federal cuts. She is the featured speaker at the rally to demand elected leaders put families first over billionaires.
“How is it fair that families like mine up and down the state of California have lived our whole lives trying to move up and move forward for our kids, and we just can’t?” said Jazmine. “My closest family members are on Medi-Cal: my dad and my grandparents. My daughter needs eye surgery. These cuts put our lives at risk.”
Parent Voices’ goal remains steadfast: to build community parent power amid the federal cuts, corporate tax giveaways, and anti-immigrant ICE raids. “This is history repeating itself—we’ve seen anti-immigrant family separations before under the same president,” said Mary Ignatius, Executive Director of Parent Voices CA. “Now is the time to defend democracy even harder. Congress needs to focus on comprehensive immigration reform. We will not be divided by the racist propaganda and the criminalization of immigrants. Across the nation, people stand in solidarity with immigrant families. Diversity is California’s superpower. Love always wins in the face of hate.”
Families and local leaders spoke out across the country, lifting up firsthand stories of what’s at stake and why we’re fighting back together. We are coming together to say in unity: our families come first.
