OAKLAND — How should parents with young children explain the detention of immigrants’ children separated from their parents and scattered across the United States and too young to even understand the situation? People throughout the world have seen photos of these young children, and many believe it is much worse than what they are allowed to view.

Alameda pediatrician Dr. Jyothi Marbin decided to listen to the response from her daughter, Kaia, after viewing the photo of a toddler sobbing as a border patrol agent patted down her mother.

“I didn’t know what to say to her at first. I wanted to say it would be OK, but I don’t know if it will. I want her to know the truth,” said Marbin.

Kaia is 10 years old and will be a fifth-grader at Otis Elementary School this fall.

“I cried for about 10 minutes thinking about how it would be like if I got separated from my family. I remembered about learning of the 1963 Birmingham children’s march and thought we could do something here,” said Kaia.

Marbin and Kaia decided to organize the Families Belong Together Day of Action at Oakland’s Lakeside Park on June 30 as a youth-focused event. 2,500 families attended with tables offering art activities, sign-painting for youth and families, voter registration, even a chance for youth to write a letter entitled, “What I would do if I were President” and read it on stage.

The program opened with music by co-host the Alphabet Rockers and featured several youth speakers. Anisya Lustig-Ellison is 17 and a student at Encinal High School. She spoke eloquently about the need to call local representatives and senators on a regular basis, organize groups at school and said she is looking forward to voting.

Daniel Gains is a high school senior at Martin Luther King Jr. Freedom Center in Oakland. He gave a speech about the history of African Americans in the United States. Gains said Native Americans were the first to experience the brutality of children forcibly removed from relatives, sent to into abusive boarding schools and allowed no contact with parents or relatives.

“Voting and organizing now is the answer,” said Gains.

The event was also co-hosted by numerous groups donating time and equipment. The rally was meant to send a powerful message to children and parents at the border in hopes of compelling the Trump administration to abolish its “zero-tolerance” policy to illegal border-crossing, similar to the June 7 national day of protests throughout America calling for an end to the policy.

The rally at Oakland’s Lakeside Park is part of the ongoing protests in Alameda every Saturday. Those who want to join the “Families Belong Together” campaign in Alameda are invited to gather every Saturday at the corner of Santa Clara and Park Street in downtown Alameda to support reunification of immigrant families. Alameda residents who would like to join the group can also visit the ACLU’s peoplepower.org site and search for Alameda or go to www.facebook.com/peoplepower.alameda.ca or contact amoswhite3@gmail.com.

Nanette Deetz can be reached at nanettedeetz@comcast.net.

Editor’s note: An earlier online version of this story misspelled Jyothi Marbin’s first name and had the date of the June 30 Families Belong Together rally as July 7.