The Circle Keepers, a youth-led organization that seeks to “dismantle the school-to-prison pipeline by training & empowering youth as restorative justice practitioners, community organizing activists and socially conscious artists,” returned as guest facilitators for our latest Peer Leaders meet-up on Friday, February 28, 2025. This time, they were there to facilitate a workshop on knowing and asserting your rights in the face of increased immigration enforcement.

After eating a spread of salads, pasta, and fruit, we warmed up by talking about Theater of the Oppressed (Boal, 1993)  and playing a theater game called “What Are You Doing?”. Martin, facilitator for The Circle Keepers, reminded us that we needed to embody our values and actions, including using our voices, body language, and eye contact in order to rehearse “for the revolution” (Boal, 1993, p.  98). We kept this in mind as we played a game of “Excited Spaghetti” to practice emotions and “Image Theater” to practice connection with others. These games were perfect to build community and participate in kinesthetic learning!

Next, The Circle Keepers took us through several discussion prompts so that we could share our feelings and questions about the current administration’s immigration policies. We acknowledge that many of us and our immediate communities were concerned, and were looking for ways to be advocates and upstanders. We learned about the script that ICE uses and practiced our own counter-scripts.

Lastly, we talked about filming, our right to do so, and how to film safely and effectively. Filming is another action we can take to support or defend our communities, rather than remain a passive bystander. We synthesized our learning with a final practice round of using the script while filming and reflected on how it felt to do the role plays. There were a lot of intense emotions in the room and discomfort at times, but this opportunity allowed us to practice with our whole beings how to protect our neighbors and friends. 

Leaving the session, we felt empowered and thankful. 

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