When you think of children's entertainer Ms. Rachel, you probably picture sing-alongs, bright colors, and maybe a gentle reminder to use your words. What you might not picture is a hunger strike, medical neglect, and overcrowded cells.
But that's exactly where Rachel Accurso—the human behind Ms. Rachel—found herself recently: outside the Delaney Hall immigration detention center in Newark, New Jersey. Detainees there launched a hunger strike last month, citing grim conditions that include inadequate food and medical care.
Outside, protesters have been met with arrests and pushback for simply trying to support those inside. And then, Ms. Rachel arrived.
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Start Your News DetoxA Different Kind of Sing-Along
Accurso didn't just make a cameo. She spent time in a "Radical Hospitality Zone," hugging children, listening to their stories, and, yes, singing protest songs with them. These are children whose parents and family members are detained inside, often after years of living and working in the U.S. (She highlighted one truck driver who'd been in the country for two decades.)
Accurso, who has a history of advocating for children's rights from Gaza to the Congo, shared her experience on Instagram. Her take? Separating families makes no sense, and traumatizing children is, well, traumatizing children. Which, if you think about it, is both obvious and tragically overlooked.
She even shared a GoFundMe for one family, which quickly hit its target. Because sometimes, the internet actually does good things.
Singing Down the Walls
One of the songs Ms. Rachel sang with the kids was called "Sing Them Home." It was co-written with children detained at the Dilley Detention Facility and a group called Peace Poets. The lyrics are simple, powerful, and exactly what you'd expect from a children's advocate:
“I’ll sing from here / and you sing from there / together, we’ll sing down the walls everywhere / with love in our hearts / rising up like the sea / together, we’ll sing until everyone’s free.”
She's encouraging others to record themselves singing the song with #singthemhome, noting that children inside the facility sing it every night at 7 p.m., mirroring those outside. It's a poignant, if heartbreaking, way to connect.
Accurso was deeply moved by the volunteer organizations helping these families, reflecting that while the children she met were kind, they were also clearly traumatized. Her parting thought? If more people saw these kids, they wouldn't want this to happen. And as James Baldwin once put it, "All of the children are ours."
