Last week at the Netroots Nation conference in Minneapolis, Public Interest Projects presented awards to 15 “ordinary people” for extraordinary acts of courage on behalf of immigrants and refugees. These and other unsung heroes are recipients of the first Freedom from Fear Awards, honoring ordinary people who have committed extraordinary acts of courage on behalf of immigrants and refugees—individuals who have taken a risk, set an example, and inspired others to awareness or action.
The Freedom from Fear Awards included four students who walked from Miami to Washington, DC in support of the “DREAM Act” and to illustrate the difficulties that undocumented immigrants face every day in America. Each recipient received $5,000 as well as a commissioned art piece from fellow activist and artist Favianna Rodriguez. The four DREAM students are Gaby Pacheco, Juan Rodriguez, Felipe Matos, and Carlos Roa.
These four students, two of whom are gay, walked 1,500 miles from Miami to Washington to bring attention to the barriers faced by undocumented young people and their families. For five months they overcame constant fear of arrest and deportation, anti-immigrant protesters including the Ku Klux Klan, and their own physical exhaustion. Known as the Trail of DREAMs, this journey inspired communities throughout the Southeast as well as tens of thousands of other DREAMers and policymakers. In the year since the Trail concluded at the White House, the four walkers have remained outspoken leaders against the criminalization of immigrants and in support of humane immigration reform.
Sponsors of the awards pointed out that they were particularly fitting as they fell on the 50th anniversary of the freedom rides that helped dismantle segregation in the South, and on the heels of the Arab Spring that has shown the power of ordinary people overcoming their fear.
You can read more about the Freedom from Fear Awards and the award recipients here or watch the video below.