Art, inspiration during online ‘street rally’ for Sonoma immigrant community

Many of the essential workers who are vital to the Sonoma community are non-permanent-resident immigrants and, as such, ineligible for most of the government assistance promised in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. So the Monarch Project, in association with the county Junior Commission on Human Rights, is hosting a digital gathering on Saturday, May 9, called “Dare to Dream: A Day of Justice, Art and Empowerment.”

Event organizers say they will offer education about immigration and provide information on how residents can directly support fundraising efforts for the UndocuFund COVID-19 Disaster Relief Fund, and Humanidad Therapy and Education Services.

Featured speakers will include Rafael Vasquez, host of Lideresdel Futuro on bilingual radio station KBBF; KBBF Board President Alicia Sanchez; attorney and poet Bernice Espinoza; and youth activist Tristyn Thomas.

An artwork sale of posters and T-shirts created by junior commissioner Rima Markaryan, designer of the “DREAMer” mural at Montgomery High School in Santa Rosa and founder of the Monarch Project, will also be included in the event. The Monarch Project, according to its website socoimm.org, “aims to spread a message of love and acceptance” throughout the county by placing images of butterflies on walls of businesses and various public places.

Markaryan said she sees the Dare to Dream event as a digital community rally, encouraging the public to “join us as we seek justice, make art and celebrate the immigrants in our community at their time of greatest need.”

Markaryan, 18, is a senior at Montgomery High School in Santa Rosa and an immigrant with her family from Armenia.

During the event, which will begin at noon on May 9 at the Sonoma County Immigrants Rights webpage at socoimm.org, free coloring pages will be available for download for participants to learn how to paint and draw monarch butterflies from Markaryan during a live Zoom session at 4 p.m.

For more information, visit the Monarch Project at socoimm.org.