Why shops in Easthampton are posting signs supporting immigrants
EASTHAMPTON — Signs taped to doors or slipped into storefront windows on Cottage Street in Easthampton share a common message: Immigrants are welcome here.
Activists with the Indivisible movement reached out to the business owners, hoping to add a layer of political resistance to standouts protesting the Trump administration. National Indivisible leaders suggested the "signs of solidarity" project as a way for groups to move beyond protests to local action.
Sara Weinberger canvassed businesses along Cottage Street. The sign campaign, she said, "builds community" and helps immigrants feel welcome.
"I would talk to the owners about, this is not political," Weinberger said. "This is humanity and human rights and preserving people's humanity."
The businesses include a book seller, an art gallery and a store where rugs sit piled in stacks.
Weinberger, who helped organize the Western Mass. Immigration Legislative Advocacy Network, canvassed the city with about 20 other activists, many from Indivisible Easthampton.
She's the daughter of two Holocaust survivors from Poland, which has motivated her work on behalf of immigrant rights. "I know what can happen," she said.
Activists spoke with businesses as unconfirmed reports came in of immigration officials detaining people in the community. In September, a group of Easthampton residents said they watched an unknown law enforcement agency stop a vehicle and arrest four people on East Street. The officers were thought to be members of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement .
About six groups canvassed businesses in four Pioneer Valley communities as part of the project, according to Amy Martyn, who co-leads a team at Indivisible Northampton. Besides Easthampton, activists sought to place signs at businesses in Northampton, Amherst and Pelham.
Activists reached out to 150 businesses in Northampton, even approaching the library and the regional YMCA, Martyn said.
Businesses on Cottage Street in Easthampton show solidarity with people avoiding ICE agents with "Signs of Solidarity" posters in their windows. Volunteers with Indivisible Easthampton and Western Massachusetts Immigration Legislative Advocacy Network approached roughly 80 businesses across Easthampton to see if they'd join the effort. (Douglas Hook / The Republican)Douglas Hook
"These small efforts, they're symbolic, but symbols carry some weight," Martyn said. "They create a culture. And we wanted our culture to say we care about our immigrants, families, neighbors and friends."
Signs of solidarity had two components, Indivisible members said. First was the public-facing sign. Activists also hoped businesses would post a second sign in their businesses designating a back room as a private space that immigration officers could only access with a judicial warrant.
Because the efforts were dispersed, neither Weinberger nor Martyn could say how many businesses ultimately displayed the signs, and how many remain on display.
Small business owners in Easthampton who were displaying the signs in late October said they posted them to signal their support for immigrants.
When asked if he would be interested in displaying a sign at Iron Lantern Tattoo, the answer from Maximilian Rothert was an immediate yes.
The tattoo artist, who is the son of immigrants, said his shop focuses on fine art tattoos and creating an inclusive space. The sign greets patrons as they reach the shop's entrance.
"We don't tolerate certain things, like hatred is a big one," Rothert said. "And we ask people to politely leave whatever biases that they have at the door."
Sara Weinberger walks along Main Street in Easthampton, where she and other volunteers with Indivisible Easthampton and Western Massachusetts Immigration Legislative Advocacy Network have been handing out signs that show businesses willing to offer sanctuary to migrants. (Douglas Hook / The Republican)Douglas Hook
Jordyn Pinkney, a stylist at the salon Coy, said the reception to the sign she and her colleagues decided to display has been "so, so sweet."
"Sometimes when I've been working," Pinkney said, "people have opened our door, and I'm expecting it to be a next client, and it's just been passersby saying, 'Thank you guys for having your sign up in the window. It means a lot.'"
Ashab Mannan, owner of Union Mart on Cottage Street, taped up two of the solidarity signs, which have joined others advertising Hood milk and convenience store staples. "I agreed with the message," he said.
Mannan took over the shop from his father a couple years ago and since then, he's had gotten to know the regulars, who draw from the neighborhood at the base of Mount Tom.
A woman came in and bought two bottles of Brisk tea — $3. A man filled out a lottery slip.
When might he take the signs down?
"Maybe when everything stops," Mannan said. "As long as things keep going, it's going to stay up."
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