Here are some songs that came to mind while I traveled to and from a family rally and potluck in my neighborhood Monday night, in support of all families, and families staying together, and in protest of the anti-immigration policies of the current administration.

We sat under the trees and shared food, and children of all different ages and skin tones and family origins ran around the wide, open field and played together.

Many people, big and small, took turns with the little megaphone.

We learned from civil rights activists and immigration lawyers.

We chanted:
The people united will never be divided* / El pueblo unido jamás será vencido
and
It is our duty to fight for freedom / It is our duty to win.
We must love each other and support each other. / We have nothing to lose but our chains.**

The children were asked what they like to do together with their families.
(Travel, play, cooking together…)
Everyone was asked to call out completions for “Family is…”
(Love, comfort, togetherness…)

We sang and learned various songs, including “Open the Doors” by Emily Joy Goldberg (led by Chana Rothman) and “Step by Step,” below, which I co-led with my wife.

It was a powerful, heartfelt, and hopeful gathering. And I would like to surround it with more songs I would have wanted to share, had they been better suited for sharing in circles.

1) Refugee

Women in search of safety
Children in need of food
Struggling for our freedom
So I am a refugee
…
Powerful and resilient***
Seeing my people through
Sharing my truth and wisdom
So I am a refugee
…
I am a builder Hear my voice
I am a seeker Hear my voice
I am a dreamer Hear my voice
And I am a refugee…

Pat Humphries & Sandy Opatow, “Refugee,” from the album One x 1,000,000 = Change.
Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R2nFM7APHS8
Recording and lyrics: https://emmasrevolution.com/track/1287069/refugee

2) Cold Cup of Water

…We come from places our children can’t grow, some of us south of the border.
Seeking safety and wages and work, dignity, food and water.
From harm may we be delivered.
Demand though we may be fired.
To meet and bargain together
For all workers, clean and safe shelter.
And a cold cup of water …

Pat Humphries, “Cold Cup of Water,” from the album Hands.
Recording and lyrics: https://emmasrevolution.com/track/1288715/cold-cup-of-water

This is a song for farm workers and collective bargaining. It seems especially relevant right now, as this article attests (see links within on both farm workers and restaurant workers).

3) Walls and Windows

…Oh, may we live to see the day when walls of words and fear,
No longer stand between the truth and dreams.
The walls and windows rise into the distance and we dare
To look into the mirror and see Peace.
…The wall that stands between us could be a window too.
When I look into the mirror I see you.

Judy Small & Pat Humphries, “Walls and Windows,” recorded on separate albums.
Video (Judy Small): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ttqrC6NIjk4
Recording and lyrics (Pat Humphries): https://emmasrevolution.com/track/1288865/walls-and-windows

4) The New Underground Railroad

…Now the war rages on in El Salvador
You hear a midnight knock on a midnight door
And a church opens in the middle of the night
Half a family walks in, faces filled with fright
…On the new Underground Railroad
Will they be welcome up here?

Holly Near, “The New Underground Railroad,” from the album Singing with You.
Recording: http://www.jdavidmoore.net/works/new-underground-railroad
This recording is an arrangement commissioned (and performed) by MUSE, Cincinnati’s Women’s Choir.
I was not able to find an online recording by Holly Near and Ronnie Gilbert, except that Slacker Radio seems to have it, so if you have a Premium account there, you can select this song.

5) Step by Step

Step by step, the longest march can be won, can be won.
Many stones to form an arch, singly none, singly none,
And by union what we will can be accomplished still;
Drops of water turn a mill, singly none, singly none.

As far as I know, the words are from the preamble to the constitution of the United Mine Workers (UMWA), and it was set to music by Pete Seeger****. I learned it from Sweet Honey, and I found performances of them both:
Video (Sweet Honey in the Rock): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NXwM3pJFqAc
Recording and lyrics (Pete Seeger): https://genius.com/Pete-seeger-step-by-step-lyrics

6) Would You Harbor Me?

Would you harbor me? Would I harbor you?

Ysaye Barnwell of Sweet Honey in the Rock, “Would You Harbor Me?”
Video (Sweet Honey in the Rock, set to photo montage): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i0XBXJjoXJ4

———–
*I originally learned the English ending as “defeated” rather than “divided,” even though it doesn’t rhyme, and indeed the translation (vencido, vanquished) and the long history of the chant bear that out. Here, however, “divided” is exactly the right sentiment.

**This turns out to be by Assata Shakur, Black Revolutionary, as the ending lines of a 1973 letter/manifesto from prison, “To My People”: https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Assata_Shakur.

***For a very long time I thought this line said “Powerful and Brazilian”…

****And possibly someone else. I had this information a few years ago, and I seem to remember that.