Bajo Salario

"We are not here to entertain you. We are not musicians, and you cannot hire us. We don't sing for money. We are community organizers who use music in organizing for the people's struggles." You can hear some of their songs here. 

I have been a fan since the first time I saw them in 2012. That was before Maria, in Black, got a diagnosis of cancer. "I got rid of it," she said simply. "I have two small children, and I got rid of the cancer for them." She talked about migration, about the indigenous people of this continent, their migrations before Europeans arrived and drew lines called boundaries. 

Now that the camp has been wiped out, we are proving to be the many-headed hydra, holding vigils and protests all over town. The Sunday vigils are at the transit station you have seen before, here and here. On July 29 the Buddhist Peace Fellowship held a meditation in a park just a few blocks from where the camp was (see Extra). Hours later AbolishICEPDX held a vigil at the station where the hate crimes happened last year. Bajo Salario played, sang, and told stories of migrations, of families, of La Migra (ICE), stories of resilience, stories of the possibility of transcendent joy. Closer photo of the band is the second extra.