Amid ongoing ICE raids, the Chicxs Rockerxs summer camp moves to protect community

Every year, nonprofit enactment Chicxs Rockerxs (pronounced cheek-ex roh-kerr-ex) hosts a week-long summertime campy successful Southeast Los Angeles for girls and sex nonconforming younker to unleash their interior stone stars.

At the camp, which took spot from June 30 to July 4 this year, students larn caller instruments, be originative workshops, and execute archetypal songs successful bands with their chap campers. Students ages 8 to 17 suffice for enrollment.

Yet 2 weeks earlier campy this summer, amid the citywide uptick successful raids by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, organizers heard immoderate students were staying location successful fear.

“As we were readying and getting acceptable for campy successful person, that’s benignant of erstwhile the raids started happening successful Southeast L.A., and we saw however intensified they were successful the country and however convulsive [they were] and conscionable truly damaging to the community,” said organizer Audrey Silvestre.

To safeguard campers and their families from ICE raids successful the region, Chicxs Rockerxs canceled the in-person campy — but not entirely.

Organizers rapidly moved the programme online. Staffers offered to driblet disconnected philharmonic instruments, acquisition cards for food, and campy supplies to families who were not comfy going retired during the raids. They besides made a ceremonial announcement connected Instagram, informing supporters astir the important format change.

“We privation to reaffirm that CRSELA stands successful solidarity with our Black and Brown migrant communities. As an organization, we formed successful effect to the firsthand challenges faced by girls and LGBTQ+ younker successful Southeast LA, a predominantly Latinx/e migrant region,” the station work successful part.

“Thank you for reasoning of the babies!!!” 1 idiosyncratic commented connected the camp’s post.

“Your SELA assemblage supports you!” different idiosyncratic wrote.

“It didn’t consciousness harmless to beryllium asking our communities to instrumentality the hazard to permission their homes if they didn’t consciousness harmless to bash so,” Silvestre said.

Chicxs Rockerxs antecedently went virtual during the COVID-19 pandemic and facilitated their euphony campy by having students link done Zoom to make bands, larn songwriting skills, and travel up with an extremity merchandise they could grounds unneurotic successful the video sessions. According to Star, an organizer who asked that their afloat sanction not beryllium disclosed for privateness reasons, the virtual exemplary they developed for the pandemic was restructured for this year’s camp, and galore changes were made to heighten the experience.

“We wanted them conscionable to person an accidental to person a harmless abstraction to make and to explicit themselves, and it didn’t needfully person to effect successful a opus astatine the extremity of the week,” Star said. “It was conscionable opportunities to beryllium creative.”

Students inactive learned caller instruments this year, arsenic staffers were capable to driblet disconnected keyboards, guitars, bass guitars, drum pads and karaoke microphones to campers for regular lessons. Besides euphony courses, students besides participated successful smaller breakout rooms called “jam rooms,” which included antithetic themes and originative activities. For example, immoderate jam rooms consisted of karaoke, portion others focused connected making TikToks and interviewing 1 another.

“The thought down these rooms was to support it fun, due to the fact that it’s Zoom and it’s not the astir breathtaking for galore kiddos who went to schoolhouse connected Zoom,” said Silvestre. “It’s not the astir enjoyable mode to acquisition camp, but it’s for them to person fun, enslaved with their bandmates and conscionable beryllium successful assemblage with each other.”

While campers each participated online from home, immoderate staffers operated successful idiosyncratic astatine their field to watercourse lunchtime performances and regular assemblies. The organizers created a “DIY tv studio,” which they described arsenic akin to nationalist entree cable, allowing them to toggle betwixt antithetic cameras from their acceptable to marque sessions dynamic and amended the virtual acquisition for students.

Students similar 17-year-old Naima Ramirez, who attended campy for the past 4 years, said she appreciated what Chicxs Rockerxs did for her and chap campers.

“I deliberation it was precise thoughtful and benignant of them to hide each of the scheduling that they had primitively done for in-person campy and scramble into doing everything connected Zoom,” Ramirez said.

Ramirez said she was initially disappointed to perceive that campy was moving online but believed Chicxs Rockerxs did the close happening due to the fact that of the existent situation successful Southeast L.A.

“I was bummed due to the fact that it’s my past twelvemonth and I was truly looking guardant to being successful person,” Ramirez said. “But I besides understood wherefore we had to spell online.”

For organizers astatine Chicxs Rockerxs, the information and well-being of campers and their families is their apical concern. Even though campy took a antithetic attack this year, they said they’re ever consenting to assistance campers beyond the originative services they provide.

“One of the things CRSELA prides itself successful is that this is meant to beryllium a harmless space,” Star said. “I’m truly arrogant that we [were] capable to make a harmless abstraction successful a antithetic mode for [camp this year]. It’s a information precaution for our community, and I deliberation that’s much important astatine this time.”