FITCHBURG — City resident Diego Barahona and members of his youth indigenous group are behind a public gathering that will bring residents of the city and surrounding area together for an afternoon of cultural expression, reflection, and solidarity.
The 17-year-old Fitchburg High School (FHS) junior has put together Gathering of Hearts on Sunday, May 17 from 2 to 5 p.m. at Fitchburg Abolitionist Park, 42 Snow St., which will feature traditional dance, music, prayer, and spoken reflections led by cultural groups, community organizations, and faith leaders. According to information shared in the event page, it is inspired by traditions of peaceful cultural protest practiced throughout Puerto Rico, the Caribbean, and Central America and will use song, dance, prayer, and community presence to create space for remembrance, healing, and resilience.
“The Gathering of Hearts was an initiative that was inspired by the amount of indigenous people I saw holding protests to advocate for their people. I wanted to do something more, not just scream and shout, but actually help reverse what damage our current administration is causing because I refuse to be a bystander and regret not standing up for what I strongly know is right,” Barahona said. “I strongly believe in times like these we have to show cultural resistance as our ancestors have done years ago through folk dances like Bomba in Puerto Rico, or Danza in Mexico.”
According to event information, participants will gather to honor individuals and families affected by immigration enforcement while celebrating the cultural traditions and strength of the local Latino and immigrant communities. The multicultural gathering will take place at Fitchburg Abolitionist Park, connecting contemporary struggles for dignity and justice with the city’s historic role in the movement to end slavery in the United States, and will activate the park as a living public space where history, culture, and civic engagement intersect.
To date $1,200 has been donated by generous people to a GoFundMe set up to defray the cost of the event, and Barahona is grateful for each and every dollar raised.
He grew up in Revere and moved to Fitchburg when he was 10. As a Puerto Rican, Salvadorian — Nahua indigenous from El Salvador (Kuskatan) and Taino indigenous from Puerto Rico (Boriken) — Barahona said convening Gathering of Hearts is important to him “because I can’t refuse to stand by and watch people actively suffer and have no support, help, and live in constant fear, especially after experiencing members in my family being detained by ICE while they were legally allowed to be here.”
His indigenous name is Guatu’niki, which means so
ul fire or heart of the fire, a name Barahona said he likes to include is his full name because “it is a part of my identity as a Taino indigenous person.” Barahona is very proud of his rich cultural heritage and ancestry, so much so that he launched a youth indigenous advocacy group, Guaribono Nakan, when he was in eighth grade and they are putting together the upcoming gathering.
“My group grew during my high school years where we started doing presentations and hosted our first event at the Fitchburg Art Museum,” he said of the group whose name means Warriors of Balance in Taino. “Now we are doing what the group was started for in the first place — advocate for Latin American indigenous peoples rights.”
He is thankful for Mount Wachusett Community College Brewer Center for Civic Learning and Community Engagement Director David Thibault-Muñoz, one of the founders of the Fitchburg Abolitionist Park who is co-hosting Gathering of Hearts and Barahona said “has been a big help to my group.”
There are many fellow FHS students in his Guaribono Nakan group and some who have helped organize the gathering, including Mexican indigenous siblings Rene and Noah Rodriguez and Autumn Leonard, who is Irish. When asked how it feels living in the United States as a minority during these incredibly tumultuous political times, Barahona was brutally honest.
“It genuinely scares me sometimes. Especially after seeing what has been happening, there are times I worry for my immediate family,” he said. “As a 17-year-old I should be worrying about school, not if one day ICE comes at my house door and takes me and my little sister. That fear should come to no one, which pushes me harder to stand up and do something about it.”
When it comes to the reason and purpose behind Gathering of Hearts, the young adult is hopeful that it will have a meaningful impact for attendees.
“I hope many people carry with them the realization that we are all responsible as a community to help each other, to not stand by and watch those around us suffer and turn a blind eye cause it ‘doesn’t affect me,’” he said. “I hope the Gathering of Hearts will bring the community of Fitchburg and neighboring cities and towns together to realize we have to be united, help and support each other in community and diversity, and show cultural resilience and remind this nation we are not going anywhere.”
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