· Helena Independent Record · By Angela Brandt · From the Border Crossing Law Firm media archive.
At a Helena Martin Luther King Jr. Day vigil, speakers Wilmot Collins, Duran Caferro, and Shahid Haque discuss racism, anti-refugee hostility, and the need to respond publicly to hate. Shahid encourages attendees to prepare for xenophobic encounters and to use letters and other visible expressions of support so targeted communities know they are not alone.
The vigil took place as anti-refugee politics and xenophobic rhetoric were intensifying nationally and in Montana. Shahid's message was practical: private sympathy matters, but public solidarity can change the climate in which immigrant and minority neighbors live.