What does activism look like in Seattle these days? The other evening, an effort to "melt ICE" included a couple of stay-at-home moms from Tukwila pushing strollers while walking a mile in Ballard on the Burke-Gilman Trail.
"Unfortunately, our Latino community is going through a lot right now," said Andrea Manzano, dressed in a black 503 El Salvador tee. 503 is the country code for telephoning El Salvador.
"We're here just trying to spread awareness and to teach our kids that it's OK to stand up for what we believe is right, even when the world is scary. Because it's really scary right now."
The fear, as any Seattle Latino will attest, is rooted in the immigration crackdown across the country, particularly in Los Angeles. This includes the growing number of detentions and deportations of people without criminal records. As well as the raids by masked federal agents at workplaces and private homes that have swept up U.S. citizens. About 1 in 4 adults in the United States, across all racial groups, worry they or someone close to them could be deported, according to a just-released Pew Research Center survey. That concern, the survey continued, has only grown in recent months, with 47% of Latinos — more than any other group — worried deportation could hit close to home.
So Manzano and mom friend Jocelyn Conde put on their New Balance shoes last Wednesday to join dozens of other Latinas for an event that began at Ballard's Lockspot Cafe. It was a gathering of the Seattle Latinas Run Club that promised more than a mental health break and solidarity. After a group workout, runners and walkers alike intended to visit Ballard restaurants to pass out informational flyers to front-of-house and, especially, back-of-house workers about what to do if immigration authorities show up.
"It's almost like an emergency run," explained Alexis Rodriguez, 32, the club's founder. The club typically hosts two runs a month but quickly organized a "Community Melts the ICE" run as more and more Seattle Latinas urged the club to take a stand.
Seattle Latinas Run Club, just 6 months old, shows the power of what can happen when individuals looking to connect find community.
Rodriguez is a transplant from Wilmington in Los Angeles, a predominantly Mexican neighborhood. A travel nurse who first arrived in Seattle more than two years ago, she decided to make the city home after taking a full-time position as a pediatric nurse at Seattle Children's Hospital.
She was still new to running in January when she posted on TikTok asking if there were other Seattle Latinas who liked to run. Her post took off. To date, the post has collected 25,000 views.
"I went to social media like any millennial would, and essentially it was like putting an ad out," she said.
Running, Rodriguez said, never looked like it was something geared toward people who looked like her. In college, her roommates were both into track, but they were both white. Rodriguez took up running briefly during the pandemic, picking it up again after returning to the gym and getting into better physical shape.
"The friends I did have weren't runners," she said. "I wanted to find people to go running with. I was specifically looking for community in the Latino space."
A few weeks after her TikTok post, some 40 Latinas met up at Gas Works Park.
"A woman said she had been in Seattle for 10 years and had never felt a space like this," Rodriguez said about the interest in the club.
The meetups continued: Alki, Green Lake, Seward Park. Latinas as young as 18 and some in their 50s. Mexicanas, Colombianas, Venezolanas, Nicaragüenses. Serious athletes and not-really-a-runner types. From as far north as Marysville and as far south as Tacoma.
The club got its own pink logo, its own baseball caps, and started selling baby blue athletic tees. It teamed up with REI for Global Running Week and also held a non-running social event called "Chisme and Mingle" at The Station Columbia City.
In May, the growing community of Latina runners raised $1,000 for the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project.
"I've been feeling very overwhelmed with the current state of things and worried about my family members back home and feeling a sense of helplessness," Rodriguez said. She picked up on a similar vibe among the others at a run earlier in June.
"It felt like we were all grieving," she said.
And while she doesn't know if fear has kept any Latinas from showing up to run, Rodriguez noticed that, for the first time, the number of RSVPs dropped for a run last month.
Fast forward to the Melt ICE run last week, which drew some 80 people, one of the biggest turnouts to date. Some men, as well as non-Latinas, were there; the club had broadcast the run to other Seattle groups. But for the most part, participants were largely Latina, mostly in their 20s and 30s, wearing lots of smiles as well as T-shirts with a Mexican or Puerto Rican flag or the phrase "Sin Miedo" — without fear.
Jocelyn Conde, 29, walked while pushing her 2-year-old son Lorenzo in his stroller. Lorenzo, who was very interested in eating a snack, wore a white Guatemala soccer jersey.
"We're trying to bring awareness to everyone around us. It's important … to make our voices loud and heard around here," she said.
Andrea Manzano, 35, pushed 1-year-old Michael in his stroller while Matthew, 12, in a green Mexico soccer jersey and black L.A. baseball cap, walked alongside, taking in views of Salmon Bay.
"I feel like our current administration is saying, 'We're targeting criminals,' but those are not criminals. Those are hardworking people, they're people like my dad, like my mom, my aunts, our grandparents that just came here for a better life," Manzano said.
She said as a U.S. citizen, it was important to show up "for our community. To help those that are currently scared to use their voice. We're going to be their voice."
As stay-at-home moms, the women said they usually show up for runs on the weekends. But this weekday run "felt important." So for the first time, they brought their children. It was also their first time visiting Ballard, even though both had been living in Tukwila for years after having moved up from L.A.
When Manzano first came across Rodriguez's TikTok post asking to meet Latinas, she immediately answered, "I'm here." She admits you don't need a club to go running, but this club is more than just a reason to exercise. It's motivation, friendship, a sense of belonging, and a sense of empowerment.
That confidence translated into dozens of Latinas at the run's end gathering up photocopied "Know Your Rights" materials printed from the National Immigrant Justice Center website. Rodriguez and other club organizers also handed out "Know Your Rights" Spanish-language cards published by the King County Library System's Welcoming Center. And there were red constitutional rights cards by the Immigrant Legal Resource Center offered up by the Corporate Pero Latinos Seattle chapter, whose members had also shown up in support.
Armed with materials, still flush from exercising, the Seattle Latinas Run Club canvassed Northwest 54th Street. And they began strategizing: What about taking these materials to Plaza Latina in Shoreline? What about Renton? Everett! It would be really good to do this around the airport.
"I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed with joy because our community came out and supported," said Rodriguez, in between hugs from club members and requests to take some of the printed materials home. "Bringing my community together, especially for a cause that's very personal to me … it fills my cup."
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