Next week, many in the US will crowd around backyard BBQs or lay back in lawn chairs lit up by gaudy firework displays—all in the name of celebrating America. At a time when what it means to be an American is being bitterly contested, however, playwright Eve Ensler is planning on marking the 4th of July weekend in a very different way. She is calling on artists of all types to join an “Artistic Uprising” in El Paso in protest of the inhumane treatment of immigrants and asylum seekers.

“This is an EMERGEncy,” Ensler said in a statement inviting artists to participate. “Stand up for freedom, dignity, and the legal rights of immigrants and asylum seekers. End the diabolical inhumanity in detention centers and demand freedom, justice, humane treatment for all those seeking safety and a better way of life.”

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