At a time when we see human rights being blatantly disregarded, community building becomes a political act. Immigrant America is a living and dignified part of our society whose rights must be advocated for and protected. This year we started a collaboration between El Merequetengue (network of Latin American landscape architects and designers), Illinois, New York Upstate, ASLA-NY, and Northern California ASLA chapters, TERREMOTO, TOPOPHYLA Landscape Architecture, Bethany Rydmark Landscapes, and CROW Landscapes, to learn about our constitutional and legal rights, build acknowledgment, share resources, and support each other in times of fear and uncertainty.
The collaboration quickly grew and flourished in the planning of a series of webinars called Life in the Time of ICE. We poured our frustration, insecurity, and desire to be proactive into action by forming a collective work of affiliate groups, ASLA regional chapters, and landscape architecture firms all interested in learning how to navigate the unconstitutional attacks on the immigrant community.
The intention of the webinar series is to offer the landscape architecture community key information, resources and opportunities to stay safe while taking action. The series includes four parts:
Be Prepared: a general overview of what’s happening, your legal rights, trends, tactics, how to create a workplace or individual plan.
Be an Advocate: ways to build acknowledgment and share experiences and resources.
Learn: a session to know your rights led by an ACLU attorney.
Take Action: how to put what we’ve learned into practice.
The first webinar, Be Prepared, will be hosted by New York Upstate ASLA Chapter on February 26th at 3 pm EST. You can register here.
Stay tuned for the registration links for the following webinars on our Instagram accounts! We invite you to join us, learn more about how to support the immigrant community and continue the conversation.
Organizers
El Merequetengue
DEI Committee, ASLA Illinois Chapter
JEDI Committee, ASLA Northern California Chapter
DEI Committee, ASLA Upstate New York
TERREMOTO
TOPOPHYLA
CROW Landscapes
Bethany Rydmark Landscapes
ASLA-NY