Chicago Punk Bands Come Together For Immigrants

Chicago Punk Bands Come Together For Immigrants

By Carlos Alanis-Avila

A small but crowded basement, loud and raging, the drums and guitars ringing out, people in a mosh pit taking out frustration, anger, and energy. This was the No One is Illegal in Stolen Land immigrant benefit show at Royal Skate & Apparel on Feb. 27. 

The Chicago punk scene came together for a sell-out show for immigrant rights. “We are definitely making a movement, not just an event,” said Francisco Garcia, 26, vocalist of Los Skin. It was put together by Ruidosa Art Collective, which Garcia is part of.

The benefit show included bands like Snuffed, Si Dios Quiere, Augment and Los Skin plus Puncture, a Northwest Indiana band. The four local bands all have a connection to immigrants as some of them are migrants themselves or have family that is. “It’s a pretty big deal to us, because if it wasn’t for our parents doing that [migrating] we wouldn’t be here,” Garcia said, “It’s very important because that’s my whole identity, my culture and helping others just makes me happy to do this.”

The event was sold out, and Ruidosa Art Collective was able to raise $3,000. Los Skin raised $400 in merchandise, which was donated to the Mobile Migrant Health Team, which provides mobile health assessments to migrants and refugees currently in shelter spaces.

Multiple band members gave speeches about why the event was necessary, and having people in the same situation in the room made people feel connected. “The energy that came from the room, and the feeling of knowing, the feeling of relating,” said Jax Ovalle, 31. “It was clear that a lot of us came, if not most of us went, because we both wanted to hear the music and feel connected to the music, but we also understand the difficulties of coming from either immigrant parents or being immigrants ourselves.”

“That was the magical part of the show,” said Ovalle. She believes that more events like this should be organized to raise awareness and funds for immigrant support. She also praised the organizers, bands, and participants for creating a healing environment and expressed a desire for more such community-building events.

Garcia emphasized the importance of such events in empowering the migrant community and raising awareness. The event attracted over 200 people, and the band plans to continue organizing similar events to support their community.

“It was almost like an opportunity to experience joy during some hard times,” said Ovalle.