Mi ACLU Estamos Unidos: Day 2, City 5 – San Diego

After we left the event at East Los Angeles College we drove down to San Diego (about 2.5 hours south) for an event at the historical Chicano Park. We arrived about an hour early and hung around until the rest of the organizers from the San Diego ACLU to arrive. I called Hav for the first time since I left because it was the first time I had a decent chunk of down time to burn, and I had almost caught up with editing.  It was only the 2nd day and I missed everyone so bad... she had already sent me 2 very sad looking photos of Harley that completely broke my little heart and a photo of Ponette (my cat), which made my 2-day absense feel like 2 months!! We headed over to the other side of the park to set up.  When we got over there I immediately spotted a dog so I started walking over.  When I got closer, I noticed a tiny little rooster running around!  I asked the man sitting near them if they were his and asked if I could take some photos and he said ok, so I had a ball photographing Hercules the Rottweiler and Cherry the Rooster. The man, Paul, was the 2nd homeless person that I talked to on this trip so far.  We definitely hit it off because of our love for animals, and he explained to me that he lives in the park and that Hercules and Cherry are his best friends.  He is a victim of a stroke, and because his medical bills were so high, he became homeless as a result of not being able to pay his bills.  He has no family in the area yet still his spirit was positive.  I couldn't help but keep talking to him, he really intrigued me and seemed like a really nice man. The dog, Hercules, is about a year and half old, and Cherry the Rooster is about 7 months.  Both were strays that he took in, and Hercules even took a bullet for Paul when he was in danger.  Look at the smile on Hercules' face and tell me he isn't the sweetest guy... it was hard to pry myself away from taking photos of these two... let me just say that! Here are some shots of Chicano Park.  It is beautiful - covered with colorful symbollic murals,  almost 40 years old..  a symbol of strength and prosperity among the local Mexican community. Below is Daniel being interviewed - most of the events have started off with an interview for tv or radio! The event started off with some music... The event was hosted by the San Diego ACLU office and it was interesting because instead of only having speakers who have been affected by immigration laws, there were leaders from various religious groups talking about unity and community beyond being "legal" or not.  I thought it was an interesting perspective to raise awareness about the issue. Above: Dr. Robert Moser, Deputy Director of Catholic Charities Above: Phillip from the NAACP A few supporters... Here's the Mi ACLU team!!