Julia Fernandez stood alongside her trusted comrades wearing a “We are CASA” shirt at the People’s Convention and Let’s Get Free Concert hosted by the Center for Popular Democracy on July 9, celebrating the 14th Amendment. As she rallied for freedom with people from across the U.S. and fellow members of CASA, an immigrants’ rights advocacy organization, her story emphasized the ongoing fight to protect U.S. citizens.
With Garifuna roots, an Afro-Indigenous group in Honduras, Fernandez arrived in America at the age of 12. From the time she had her five children and took care of five more, receiving her citizenship wasn’t something that crossed her mind.
“My parents never became citizens of the United States and they retired here. They actually never believed in a lot of the laws of the U.S.,” said the 62-year-old. “But, I decided to change that and I think since I was raised in the United States, I [have seen] the changes politically.”
At the age of 60, with the assistance of CASA, Fernandez was able to receive her citizenship but without it, her children were still able to benefit from the joys of their birthright citizenship.
She explained that after many years of living and working in the U.S. with a green card, she was able to witness her daughter graduate from Fordham University in New York City. Yet, her concern for threats on the 14th Amendment had less to do with her own family.
“I thought about the future moms that give birth in this country and they don’t know what the outcome [is] going to be,” Fernandez said. “If you’re born in a certain country, that’s your birth country. That shouldn’t change.”
Fernandez is among the 13,000 individuals from more than 49 affiliate organizations that traveled from 33 states, including Puerto Rico and D.C., to participate in the People’s Convention and Let’s Get Free Concert at the Hyatt Regency Crystal City in Arlington, Virginia. The event was hosted in collaboration with CASA and Spaces in Action to celebrate the 158th anniversary of when the 14th Amendment became a law.
Section 1 of the 14th Amendment, passed on July 9, 1868, guarantees automatic citizenship to children born in America regardless of parents’ immigration or visa status.
The Trump administration challenged the language of the amendment under 2025 Executive Order No. 14,160, titled: “Protecting the Meaning and Value of American Citizenship,” in efforts to crack down on illegal immigration. On July 1, just days before the anniversary, the Supreme Court ruled 6-3 in Trump v. Barbara, striking down the terms of the executive order.
“We did win it, but we didn’t get a point on the board. It just reaffirmed something that had already been decided for 150 years that this administration is trying to make us think of [as] something new,” said Demareo Cooper, executive director of Popular Democracy.
Cooper said that citizens and immigrants alike have lost more under the unchecked powers of the executive branch than Supreme Court rulings lead on. For him, the 2026 People’s Convention allowed for the next few months to be critical as to how everyone’s voices will be heard and their votes to count.
“This one, particularly, is important because we’re at the moment when authoritarians are oligarchs trying to overtake our country,” Cooper said, “overtake our democracy, steal our republic from us. Limit the number of people who can participate in our democracy.”
A Safe Space, ‘Making Sure We Celebrate Us’
Featuring training sessions and workshops, the People’s Convention equipped participants with tools to fight against what Popular Democracy calls an “authoritarian movement.”
The convention is held every three years to train members in peaceful resistance, building their own democracy networks at home, registering their community to vote and teaching that the people’s true day of independence is July 9.
“It’s the amendment that expands democracy to everybody else that’s not a landowning white man,” Cooper said. “To women, to immigrant folks, to Black folks, [and] really to white folks who didn’t own land. They became more citizens with the 14th Amendment because they were born here.”
The plan is to take this battle all the way to Capitol Hill, particularly with Rep. Analila Mejia (D-NJ) helping to lead the charge.
Mejia, former Popular Democracy’s second co-executive director, announced that she will be serving as a co-chair of the Defend the 14th Amendment Task Force for the House Democratic Caucus.
“I’m defending the 14th Amendment. Yours truly is going to be heading because when we fight, we win! And in order for us to capture governing power, we must shake the narrative, shape commands and must defend our home so we could reach Congress,” Mejia said to the crowd.
The concert was headlined by hip-hop duo Dead Prez, Mumu Fresh, and Flor De Toloache with special performances by the Syrup Kids, Kemba, Roque Starz and We Are the Poets.
New York native DJ Kay Kay 47, who partially hosted performances, spoke to how the concert was a form of needed rest in times of constant protests.
“[The Black Panthers] realized they needed that leisure; they needed time to rest. In movement spaces, we don’t really value rest like that. We’ve got to do better with making sure that we honor us,” DJ Kay Kay 47 told The Informer. “One of the things I’m looking to bring is the fact that I want people to know [that] this is also a safe space.”
At the Hyatt Regency Crystal City hotel, organizers and advocates brought their little ones to enjoy the evening of entertainment that told a bigger story of the importance of their resistance.
“I’m still raising kids because youngsters are the future and we need to educate our kids about everything that’s going on. Their future is in a balance,” Fernandez said. “If we don’t get together, we could lose that.”
Raising the Next Generation to Carry On the Legacy of Resistance
As the concert began, audience members could be seen holding signs of the 14th Amendment and colorful flags with bold statements like “Let’s Get Free,” “We Belong,” “Abolish ICE,” and “Our Votes, Our Power, Our Future.”
It was a family affair with audience members cheering on each act, some while carrying babies in their arms or children by their side. One of these members was 30-year-old Oceainia Rivers, who traveled to the DMV with her 2-year-old from Brooklyn for the People’s Convention.
(Tatiana Allen/The Washington Informer)
“Well, it’s important that I pass my knowledge to my son because I’m a Black single mother. I’ve been [taking] care of him by myself,” Rivers told The Informer. “I’m with no help, but it is what it is because I do what I do for my baby and make sure that he doesn’t settle for less.”
Rivers believed it was important to bring her son along so that his experience could be filled with reminders of where his people have been, and what cause they keep pushing towards.
“Basically just keep reminding our children about who we are and what we’ve been through,” she continued, “and it goes from generation to generation.”
A graduate of D.C.’s Duke Ellington School of the Arts, Mumu Fresh headlined the stage, highlighting the power behind investing in one’s healing in the midst of constant pain.
“When I study all of our movements, [they] were started by young people who were in a lot of pain,” Mumu Fresh said. “So healing is imperative before we can ever even get to justice, we have to fortify ourselves because we are working against an enemy that fights on all levels — politically, psychologically, mentally, emotionally.”
She began her performance with a rendition of a melody her grandmother sang to her growing up. The artist said her Indigenous roots allowed her to learn the traditions and songs of her people, who were once outlawed from doing so until the Religious Freedom Restoration Act was signed into law by President Bill Clinton in 1993.
Other performers like Kemba and Roque Starz led with a political and informative message on how one can navigate an interaction with ICE, as well as calling for Palestine, Venezuela and D.C. to be free.
The concert served as a safe space for all ages and backgrounds to enjoy entertainment and artivism that promoted a future where people can be fully liberated.
“We’ve got to get people to start [resisting] these authoritarian attempts to take over our democracy and build a future for ourselves, for our kids, for our great, great, great grandkids,” Cooper said. “That’s what we are doing. That’s the work.”
