WHO IS SAFE? WHO IS WELCOME? Seeking a Prophetic Path Towards Liberation

Sanctuary: Caminando Hacia la Libertad
(Artist: Erkhembat Lasran, immigrant from Mongolia)

I wrote previously about the Sanctuary movement, and specific initiatives by University Lutheran Chapel in Berkeley and neighboring congregations: IN BERKELEY: Declaring Sanctuary, Changing Hearts and Minds.

This past weekend I joined several hundred other people of faith at a convening in Oakland: Sanctuary: Caminando Hacia la Libertad. The focus was "to learn tools and best practices to create a more prophetic path towards liberation."

There were many faiths represented at the convening, organized by Interfaith Movement for Human Integrity and hosted at the Islamic Cultural Center of Northern California. I noted a study of 42 sanctuary congregations in Northern California, including two belonging to the denomination with which I am associated (ELCA).

The convening was extremely thought-provoking and generative. In my opinion, this event (which I hope will be repeated and enlarged), together with the other initiatives of Interfaith Movement for Human Integrity, deserves the strong support of the ELCA and its West Coast synods.


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Which Comes First? Loyalty? or Equity?

About 50 people gathered on Sunday at First Church Berkeley for an art response to the anniversary of the 1942 executive order #9066 that resulted in the internment of 120,000 Japanese-Americans. Two survivors of those internment camps shared 1,000 paper cranes with the participants. We were asked to think of ways to make use of them to say, "Never again." So now I'm sharing with you.

One of a thousand cranes distributed at the 2/19 event.

I moved to California about a year ago. While the US internment of people of Japanese descent during World War II is a legacy that every person in the US must own, it is particularly relevant to California, the home of so many of the people interned.

During the past year, I read Farewell to Manzanar - a memoir that is frequently assigned in high school and college classes here. It is a high impact book -- easy to read, and full of insights about the life of a second-generation girl of Japanese descent who was sent with her family to an internment camp in central California.

Farewell to Manzanar

I say "easy to read," but there is a part of the story that I just can't seem to get past.  Up until 1924, hundreds of thousands of Japanese were allowed to come to the US (plus Hawaii) to work, but they were not allowed to become US citizens. Then, in 1924, immigration from Japan to the US was cut off entirely by US law. (Details here and here.) Any children born to those immigrants in the US were automatically US citizens. All of them were rounded up and interned after war broke out. The pretext was: "You are of Japanese descent and we don't know where your loyalties lie."

In a way characteristic of this country, the US had created a situation combining mistreatment based on "race" identity with discrimination based on (involuntary) lack of citizenship

In 1943, the US government began to try to undo what it had done. It circulated a questionnaire to the internees, including "loyalty questions." If you answered the questions properly, you could obtain leave from internment.

Imagine having been rounded up and sent off to an internment camp, held for a long period, and then being given the "opportunity" to state where your loyalties lie. How would you feel? How would you feel if you were a US citizen? How would you feel if you were an immigrant who had been denied the possibility of ever becoming a US citizen?

The situation faced by those internees in 1943 is relevant to the continuing situation of various groups in the US today, especially immigrant populations and people subject to discrimination. Which properly comes first: loyalty? or equitable treatment? (Is the answer different if you're "white"?)


MORE:

SANCTUARY (Church, City, State) and Solidarity with Immigrants 

Dirty Wars and Extrajudicial Execution (So 1984!)
 
Does a Civilian Police Accountability Council (CPAC) need to be part of a "new plan of Chicago"?
 
360 Degree Feedback in New York (2014 NPT Prepcom and How the World Views the United States))


Please share this post . . . .

SANCTUARY (Church, City, State) and Solidarity with Immigrants

I'm participating in a lot of conversations these days about Sanctuary, including developments where I live (Berkeley, CA), and the many other places across the US that are standing in solidarity with immigrants.

I decided to assemble some of the materials I've been sharing in one place.


FIRST . . . check out these awesome photos of the vigil this past Saturday at the detention center in Richmond (just north of Berkeley):

About 100 people turned out for the vigil at Richmond Detention Ctr on Feb 4!
(photo: David Bacon - see full album on Facebook)

We had a big group from University Lutheran Chapel.
(See video below for more on Sanctuary activities at ULC.)

For more information on the monthly vigils at Richmond Detention Center, and the many opportunities for involvement throughout the East Bay and other parts of California, see:

Interfaith Movement for Human Integrity (IM4HumanIntegrity)
East Bay Interfaith Immigration Coalition (EBIIC)

In particular, I want to pass along the powerful words of IM4HumanIntegrity program director Deborah Lee, shared with us on Saturday:

We stand here in prayer and solidarity with the (150-300) immigrants who are asylum seekers, green card holders, and long term residents, who are being held here under civil immigration charges.

We stand here – in front of one of the 250 immigration detention centers across this country – many county facilities like these, and the majority for profit -private prison facilities owned by GEO and CCA.

We stand here in prayer and solidarity ALS0 for the hundreds of other incarcerated individuals – 2.4 million incarcerated in our nation in 7,500 prisons -- disproportionately black and brown – reflected of persistent and unacceptable racial inequities through every social institutions and especially our criminal justice system. We painfully acknowledge that 70% of those who remain detained here in this facility are PRE-trial , have been granted bail, but cannot afford it.

We pray for All their families. Often the chief breadwinner is taken away, a mother or a father, putting children and families in economic jeopardy, facing the threat of homelessness. We pray and offer our moral, spiritual and concrete support to the families whose loved ones are held here. We invite them to speak their truth right here into our circle - to give their testimony so that they know, they are not alone.

We stand here today in solidarity with all those impacted by the illegal ban of refugees, green card holders, visa holders and family members from the 7 countries and other countries at risk - which was overturned by a judge last night. We are here to stand Against the Executive Orders that would triple ICE agents, build a comprehensive border wall, punish sanctuary cities, and collect fines and fees from undocumented persons and those who help them.

We stand here in prayer and solidarity because this prison- is a symbol of the militarized and punitive mindset towards immigration and other social problems. This prison and the proposals to build the wall – at the cost of $4 million per mile- and other anti immigration policies makes all of our communities less safe and secure. We demand that government resources be used to invest in our communities and address root causes of migration

THEREFORE…

We pray, knowing that all our faith traditions call upon us to welcome strangers and aliens, to practice compassion, forgiveness and understanding for those in prison, for they are our sisters and brothers and our families, and them, we were once strangers and aliens in this land.

We remember and must not forget that:

10 years ago – thousands of Muslims forced to register were deported and many families were torn apart.

1 grandmother ago there was the Chinese Exclusion act.- banning all from China and eventually from the whole Asia Pacific rim.

1 grandmother ago by Executive Order 120,000 Japanese Americans were Interned.

1 grandmother ago Jewish children and families in need of safety and protection were turned away and denied entry.

1 grandmother ago during the Great depression there was the mass Deportation of Mexicans and Filipinos

2 grandmothers ago slavery was legal and those of African descent were only considered 3/5 of a person.

2 grandmothers ago- this was Mexico.

3 grandmothers ago- this was Ohlone land and that despite everything it is STILL.

We lift up the dignity and resilience and love of those who endured. May their spirits strengthen us to resist and end the injustices in our time.

Rev. Deborah Lee
Program Director
Interfaith Movement for Human Integrity (IM4HumanIntegrity)

You can see Deborah speak in this brief video about the Sanctuary project at University Lutheran Church in Berkeley. (Over 700 congregations have pledged their commitment to resist deportations and discrimination through Sanctuary.)

Short video about SANCTUARY by filmmaker Theo Rigby of Immigrant Nation.

(And here's a separate blog post that I wrote on the day of the Sanctuary press conference depicted in the video: IN BERKELEY: Declaring Sanctuary, Changing Hearts and Minds.)


Three related resources

We need lots of resources to build up communities of resistance step-by-step. Here are a few . . .

First, check out the "Faith on the Move" 6-part study guide from Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service. It was prepared by Rev. Dr. David Vásquez-Levy and invites people to think deeply about our faith tradition in connection with today's events. (Exodus, anyone?) We used it for adult study at ULC and it was fabulous.

Second, and related, pastors from First Congregational Church in a great video (under 3 minutes) that gets to the truth of what the Bible says about how to treat immigrants:

Third, a provocative set of study topics -- "9 Phrases the Migrant Rights Movement Needs to Leave in 2015" -- from Latinos Rebels. (Who's ready to tackle this during Lent?)


Finally, here are a few related posts that I wrote in past years:

WELCOME MAT USA: Come in! Come in! (Get out! Get out!)
Wanna Fix the U.S.A? Welcome an Immigrant Today!


Please share these materials widely  . . . .

"Calls to ban Muslims from entering the U.S. are offensive and unconstitutional."

Over a year ago, when candidate Donald Trump called for a ban on Muslims entering the US, I noticed the coincidence of the date with another great travesty in our history, and wrote December 7, 2015: A day that will live in ... [FILL IN THE BLANK].

The governor of Indiana went straight to the point. He tweeted: "Calls to ban Muslims from entering the U.S. are offensive and unconstitutional."

Governor Mike Pence @GovPenceIN:
"Calls to ban Muslims from entering the U.S. are offensive and unconstitutional."

Governor (now Vice President) Mike Pence was right.

Donald Trump can always find some people who agree with him; but he can't be bothered with those who deign to offer a different opinion. His path is littered with people he has disregarded.

With each hour that goes by, the contradictions within the US government are creating more and more strain.

How are we preparing for the moment when it cracks apart?

IN BERKELEY: Declaring Sanctuary, Changing Hearts and Minds

We are a Lutheran congregation declaring our commitment to help people facing deportation to dangerous situations . . . so of course we gathered around the waters of promise . . . .

Supporters from over a dozen area congregations and organizations gathered
around Pastor Jeff Johnson of University Lutheran Chapel in Berkeley
poured the waters of promise as part of the ceremony in which ULC declared
Sanctuary for undocumented persons facing deportation.

Today, University Lutheran Chapel in Berkeley stood shoulder to shoulder with these congregations and organizations to declare Sanctuary for undocumented persons facing deportation:

Interfaith Movement for Human Integrity / East Bay Interfaith Immigration Coalition (EBIIC)
Dominican Sisters of San Rafael and Dominican Sisters of Mission San Jose
Kehilla Community Synagogue
Hope Lutheran Church of El Sobrante
All Soul’s Episcopal Church
Newman Holy Spirit Catholic Church Non-Violent Peacemakers Group
Faith Alliance for a Moral Economy
Lake Merritt United Methodist Church
Pittsburgh-Antioch Community Church
Interfaith Council of Contra Costa County
Episcopal Diocese of California
Oakland Catholic Worker
Primera Iglesia Presbiteriana Hispana

Over the last two years, the Sanctuary Movement has had 16 Sanctuary cases, winning relief from deportation for 13 people in 9 cities throughout the country, building a growing network of over 350 congregations in 30 states.

The focus of the day was the danger many people face if they are forced to return to the places they came from. We heard testimony from and about immigrants from Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala giving specific examples of the threats to their lives that caused them to come here.

At today's event, the emphasis was on faith, conscience, and humanity: we are committed to helping these people simply because they need it. I couldn't help remembering that there is also another reason to help: US complicity in creating the violence in chaos in so many parts of Latin America. (See links to related posts below)

Two weeks ago the City of Berkeley affirmed its support of Sanctuary for undocumented persons facing deportation. Berkeley city councilman Kriss Worthington spoke at today's event and told those present that the movement is not just providing assistance to specific individuals, but also educating people everywhere about the need for Sanctuary, and changing hearts and minds.

More information on Sanctuary at University Lutheran Chapel in Berkeley for undocumented persons facing deportation is at ulcberkeley.org/sanctuary.



Related posts

It will take me multiple posts to spell out everything that I feel needs to be said about the Ayotzinapa 43.  People in the US need to work to change their own attitude about Mexico, and about the culpability or all of us here in the US in the wrongs that are being done down there. The Ayotzinapa 43 were persecuted for saying "the future can be different." It's time for us to take up their cry.

(See Ayotzinapa43: US People Need an Attitude Adjustment )





I dedicated Indigenous Peoples Day 2015 to making some progress towards writing about the perspective of indigenous peoples in the Americas.

How do you observe Indigenous Peoples Day?

(See Reflections on Indigenous Peoples Day 2015)






Perhaps, like me, you will read a sentence like, "In 2001, many people came to her neighbourhood looking for a new home, fleeing from the Naya River where the paramilitaries had massacred and displaced the Afro-Colombian communities," and wonder what it refers to.

(See COLOMBIA: Where did the violence come from?)




The second half of the 20th century saw massive human rights violations in countries throughout Central America and South America, committed principally by governments and government-sanctioned paramilitaries. The United States government encouraged and enabled this through arms shipments, training, and other forms of support.

(See How Is the US Implicated in Argentina's "Years of Lead"?)

Native American Rights: Acknowledge the Occupation

Emblem of Ohlone Costanoan-Rumsen-Carmel tribe native
to the land that is now the Monterey/Carmel area of California.

A growing trend is that people in the US who work for the rights of occupied people elsewhere in the world first acknowledge the American occupation.

As we work to #decolonizelutheranism, we need to be explicit about how concrete the colonialism is.

Maybe the "kairos moment" lies in recognizing that we took this land at the point of a gun . . . and nothing will change until we meaningfully repent of that original sin.

Map of Native American tribes in what is now California.
(Source: Costanoan Rumsen Carmel tribe website)

This sank in recently when I attended the Friends of Sabeel NA (FOSNA) conference on the occupation of Palestine, held in Santa Cruz. The proceedings began with a statement recognizing that the very spot we were sitting in had been taken by force from Native American people:

While we are gathered here today to raise awareness about the ongoing Israeli occupation of Palestine, we need to first acknowledge the genocidal origins of OUR nation’s history of ethnic cleansing and occupation. The very ground that we are now standing on was once the homeland of the Awaswas and Ohlone people, which was ripped away from them by the Spanish conquistadors and used for building missions and settlements. Our nation as a whole however, took part in and was founded upon the ethnic cleansing of countless Native American peoples. To focus solely on Israel as a war criminal complicit in ethnic cleansing would be hypocritical, as we continue to reap material benefits from the slaughter and marginalization of the Awaswas and Ohlone.

This land was not left to us peacefully. It was stolen. It was expropriated. As we are clearly not the rightful inhabitants of this land, it would do us well to shed our sense of entitlement. We need to realize that we are an intrinsic part of this process of genocide and until we act to concretely and directly abolish it here, our actions to bring justice in occupied Palestine are hypocritical and reflective of our underlying white supremacist attitudes.

This wasn't the first time I had attended an event that began with this recognition -- for instance, I remember similar statements at an anti-drones conference, a conference on police crimes, and the installation of a UCC leader -- but perhaps because I am new to this place, I paid close attention.

I would encourage everyone who welcomes this recognition to go the next step: take a minute now to go online and learn about the people who lived in the place you now occupy, back before someone came and took over. Do you know the names of the original occupants of the land you now claim as "your" home?


Related posts

How do you observe Indigenous Peoples Day?

(See Reflections on Indigenous Peoples Day 2015)











"Missa dos Quilombos" asked for forgiveness and sought healing for the legacy of slavery in Brazil. Dom Helder celebrated the Quilombo Mass. He said: "Mariama [Mother Mary], we aren't here to ask that today's slaves be tomorrow's slave masters. Enough of slaves! Enough of masters! We want liberty!" The beating of the drums was overpowering, they exploded like the screams of our souls!

(See Hélder Câmara and Liberation Theology 101: Where? When? Why? Who? )


Sun Raid is a searing reminder that people in the US have always been happy to welcome immigrants to help make their businesses profitable and make sure they had cheap stuff and cheap labor . . . . but how dare they expect to be treated like people!

(See WELCOME MAT USA: Come in! Come in! (Get out! Get out!))











Can there be any more clear illustration than the one at left to remind us that the work of the Church is liberation?

(See Christian "Church"? How about Christian "Liberation Organization"? )

Decolonize Lutheranism -- A Northern California Installment

NICE . . . !  But have you got something in Jello???

Pastor Jeff Johnson was telling people about #decololonizelutheranism ("hashtag decolonize Lutheranism") on Sunday at University Lutheran Chapel in Berkeley.

I got a kick out of it for three reasons:

(1) It's exactly what I've been thinking about -- at a low level since moving to Berkeley from Chicago in recent months, as I've tried to get my bearings, and with growing intensity in the past few weeks since hearing Mark Braverman from Kairos USA speak in Santa Cruz. (See KAIROS: The Moment You've Been Waiting For?)

(2) Pastor Jeff put it in terms of what we're going to be doing over the coming months at the Chapel. (Some churches use the rubric "ordinary time" for these months between Sunday and Advent; we call it "movement time.")

(3) I got to see my Chicago friends like Kwame Pitts and Francisco Herrera in the #decololonizelutheranism video Pastor Jeff shared as part of his sermon. :-)

To be sitting in Berkeley and seeing in front of my eyes the spreading of this idea that started in Texas and was nurtured in Philadelphia and got agitated in Chicago felt like a real Pentecost moment.


Looking forward to seeing how this develops in the weeks ahead . . . !


Related posts

The exhibition at the Chapel invites you to look into the eyes of the people affected by the war, and enter into their stories. There are dozens of examples I could share with you.

(See Syria: Do you dare make a human connection?)








I adapted the text of Exodus 4, about the way an "unexpected leader" -- Moses -- was encouraged to act, to tell the story in terms of the way leaders came forward against slavery in the US . . . .

(See Salvation History: "Follow the Drinking Gourd")












Perhaps what makes a book good for a discussion group is that it combines startling candor, brevity, and the courage to leap again and again into the middle of mysterious questions.

(See Finding Accidental Saints in Berkeley)

Should US People Learn from Venezuela on Refugees?

Venezuela's policies and economics are under stress. It has everything to do with oil prices. And government spending. Oh, and also refugees . . . .

Area of 2015 Colombia-Venezuela migrant crisis
(Source: Wikipedia)

An editorial in The New York Times -- "Venezuela’s Downward Spiral" -- caught my eye yesterday. The piece was tsk-tsking "years of catastrophically bad rule" in that country.

As I read it, I thought to myself, "Yes but . . . . "  Wasn't there something about the issue of large numbers of migrants from Colombia to Venezuela? I seemed to have an impression that "the rest of the story" involved Venezuela embracing huge numbers of people in need.

I went back and found the story I remembered: Venezuela's welcome to migrants became news in the US last year, when Venezuela began some deportations - between several hundred and a few thousand people. The article I read mentioned 604,000 migrants from Colombia living in Venezuela. That seemed like a lot. And I think that fact lodged in my mind because the recent progress on the peace process in Colombia has reminded me of the decades of conflict there.

I think it's significant that the same social benefits provided to Venezuelans under Chavez' "Bolivarian Revolution" are reported to have been extended to the migrants from Colombia.

The magnitude of Venezuela's generosity is certainly significant. I plan to take some time to learn about this in more detail, but one source indicates the total migration from Colombia to Venezuela in the past 40 years is 5.6 million people.  In a country of 31 million, that's huge. More information on Venezuela's role as a net receiver of migrants can be found on the website of the International Organization for Migration.

If US people -- who live in one of the richest countries in the world, one that has a very, very, very problematic attitude to migration in its own region --  want to talk about Venezuela, they should at least bother to learn about and consider the broader context.

They might actually find cause to rethink their own behavior.


Related posts

Perhaps, like me, you will read a sentence like, "In 2001, many people came to her neighbourhood looking for a new home, fleeing from the Naya River where the paramilitaries had massacred and displaced the Afro-Colombian communities," and wonder what it refers to.

(See COLOMBIA: Where did the violence come from?)




Sergey Ponomarev won first prize in the 2016 World Press Photo awards: General News for this November 16, 2015 photo: "Refugees arrive by boat near the village of Skala on Lesbos, Greece."
(See Image to Action: Sergey Ponomarev on the Refugee Crisis)

It will take me multiple posts to spell out everything that I feel needs to be said about the Ayotzinapa 43.  People in the US need to work to change their own attitude about Mexico, and about the culpability or all of us here in the US in the wrongs that are being done down there. The Ayotzinapa 43 were persecuted for saying "the future can be different." It's time for us to take up their cry.

(See Ayotzinapa43: US People Need an Attitude Adjustment )





Sun Raid is a searing reminder that people in the US have always been happy to welcome immigrants to help make their businesses profitable and make sure they had cheap stuff and cheap labor . . . . but how dare they expect to be treated like people!

(See WELCOME MAT USA: Come in! Come in! (Get out! Get out!))

WELCOME MAT USA: Come in! Come in! (Get out! Get out!)

Ester Hernandez, Sun Raid
Un-naturally harvested
SUN*RAID
RAISINS
Guaranteed Deportation
Mextecos, Zapotecos, Triques, Purepechas
by-product of NAFTA

Saturday is the anniversary of Cesar Chavez' death in 1993, and it seems like an opportune time to lift up the work of artist Ester Hernandez.  I first saw her poster Sun Raid at the "Fires Will Burn" exhibition at DePaul University in Chicago.

Sun Raid is a searing reminder that people in the US have always been happy to welcome immigrants to help make their businesses profitable and make sure they had cheap stuff and cheap labor . . . . but how dare they expect to be treated like people!

(For a book-length treatment of this subject, see Juan Gonzalez's Harvest of Empire: A History of Latinos in America.)

We are living in a year in which we are seeing Donald Trump get away with demonizing immigrants. Maybe we need to take advantage of this moment and turn the phenomenon on its head. Who, after all, are the immigrants? Who is "entitled" to be here? What can it possibly mean anymore to say that certain people are tolerated and others are "illegals"?

I've heard people say that the problem is that Trump is a master at using the media to get attention, and the rest of us need to get with the times. Okay, here's my contribution:

Eva Longoria on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert:
"We didn't cross the border, the border crossed us."
Maybe when Eva Longoria says it, people will remember???
(Please retweet this message.)

A few weeks ago, on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, super-celebrity Eva Longoria repeated the expression familiar to many of us: "We didn't cross the border, the border crossed us." Maybe when she says it, people will remember???

More on "We didn't cross the border, the border crossed us" here.


Related posts

It will take me multiple posts to spell out everything that I feel needs to be said about the Ayotzinapa 43.  People in the US need to work to change their own attitude about Mexico, and about the culpability or all of us here in the US in the wrongs that are being done down there. The Ayotzinapa 43 were persecuted for saying "the future can be different." It's time for us to take up their cry.

(See Ayotzinapa43: US People Need an Attitude Adjustment )





El Buen Pastor by Luis Jiménez depicts Ezekiel Hernandez -- a shepherd who was shot by U.S. marines in the area around the US-Mexico border as he was tending his sheep. The artist has said, "having [marines] patrolling the border in the 'war on drugs' is 'an accident waiting to happen.'"

(See Holy Week 2016 and "El Buen Pastor")












Part of what I loved about Du Hai was the way it used large pieces of fabric to convey the sensation of being in a boat among billowing waves, and the multiple uses to which they put the fabric - sea, clouds, sail, and more. Even a newcomer to modern dance, such as myself, could grasp what was going on.

(See Wanna Fix the U.S.A? Welcome an Immigrant Today! )

Do you dare make THIS human connection? ("Humans of Syria" Photography Exhibit at University Lutheran Chapel)

Humans of Syria photo exhibition at University Lutheran Chapel in Berkeley

On Saturday night I attended the opening of the photo exhibition Humans of Syria at University Lutheran Chapel in Berkeley.

All of us have heard a lot about the war in Syria and the refugee crisis. How many of us can picture an actual Syrian person?

The exhibition at the Chapel invites you to look into the eyes of the people affected by the war, and enter into their stories. There are dozens of examples I could share with you.  The story of this little boy was the most unforgettable to me:

"I stopped going to school because of the situation here, but I miss it. I carry
 a pen with me wherever I go and write on anything I can. I write down my name,
 and the names of my dad and brother. My dad is in prison and my brother was
killed two years ago." (Moaz, 9 years old. He has been living under siege
for the past two years. Photo taken 08/04/2015 - Douma, Eastern Ghouta, Syria)

Perhaps the story is unforgettable because it is a story about a boy who identifies himself as I identify myself: as a writer. And maybe it is unforgettable because, when I look closely at the features of this boy's face, I see a remarkable resemblance to the face of my own sown.

You can look at lots of photos online. But I encourage you to go to see the exhibition in person and experience it up close, in the company of others.

Logan Square laments with Syria

I also encourage you to attend worship on a Sunday morning in the Chapel.  It provides an entirely new perspective on "going to church" when the sights and sounds and smells and fellowship of the liturgy are all amplified by the a photo exhibition like this -- and vice versa. It has a way of saying "this is not just an abstract exercise we're engaged in here."  This past Sunday, as I sat in the chapel, participating in the Eucharist and taking in the images all around me, I remembered the months in 2012 when we at St. Luke's Lutheran Church in Logan Square, Chicago, were surrounded with images of the war in Afghanistan. And I remembered praying under the eagle monument in Logan Square during a vigil for those suffering in Syria.

Many of us are already involved in advocacy and service in connection with the war in Syria and the refugee crisis. This exhibition reminded me that if we hope to be effective we must keep seeking to make a deeper and deeper human connection.


For hours and additional information on the exhibition, see the details on the Facebook event page for the exhibition opening.


Related posts

Perhaps the most troubling residue of the Syria crisis is that so much of our national discussion was centered on what our interests are, and whether we can force others to do what we want, and who our friends and who our enemies are. What's missing in all this is the question: what can we do to alleviate the suffering of the people of Syria?

(See Syria: Where Have We Ended Up?)



If we are willing to see the beauty will it help us to overcome our fear?

(See Syria - Strange and Dangerous? or Familiar and Beautiful?)


Sergey Ponomarev won first prize in the 2016 World Press Photo awards: General News for this November 16, 2015 photo: "Refugees arrive by boat near the village of Skala on Lesbos, Greece."
(See Image to Action: Sergey Ponomarev on the Refugee Crisis)






If we are going to stave off a U.S. war against Iran, we are going to have to have some very difficult conversations with other Americans. Some people are extremely hostile. It's confusing and a bit frightening, but we're going to have to confront it.

(See Why Does Iran Arouse So Much Hostility?)

"So they formed the St. Patrick's Battalion, and fought on the Mexican side"

A week ago, I was writing about how Maya Lin separated the grief for dead soldiers from the valorizing of war in creating the  Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

Today is St. Patrick's Day, so -- as I always do on this day -- I listened to David Rovics' song "St. Patrick's Battalion." It tells the story of Irish-American soldiers in the U.S. Army during the Mexican–American War of 1846–8 who realized they were fighting for the wrong side, and formed the St. Patrick's Battalion to fight in defense of the Mexicans.

St. Patrick's Battalion members.  (More at MickeyZSays blog.)

I love this song. I especially love the part that describes how the soldiers arrived at the front and "realized the mistake they had made."

I also love the way it ties together the oppression of English occupation that the Irish were fleeing and the oppression of US conquest in which they found themselves embroiled.

Being of Irish descent, I love the way it describes as valiant my ancestors who were more often considered riff-raff.

I love the window it provides into US history -- real US history, a part of US history that is so vital to understanding issues in the headlines today.

I love the fact that it expresses solidarity with the victims of US imperialism.

However . . .

I don't love the valorization of violence.

How are we to remember people who acted with courage in the situation in which they found themselves, without getting carried away with thinking every aspect of their response should be emulated?

How are we to confront violence without resorting to even greater violence of our own?

Enjoy "St. Patrick's Battalion" and ponder . . . .


Related posts

The memorial designed by Maya Lin did something that hadn't occurred to anyone before: separate the grief for dead soldiers from the valorizing of war.

(See Maya Lin: Separating Grief from Glory)














It will take me multiple posts to spell out everything that I feel needs to be said about the Ayotzinapa 43.  People in the US need to work to change their own attitude about Mexico, and about the culpability or all of us here in the US in the wrongs that are being done down there. The Ayotzinapa 43 were persecuted for saying "the future can be different." It's time for us to take up their cry.

(See Ayotzinapa43: US People Need an Attitude Adjustment )

Violence or nonviolence? If you're interested in radical change, look at the hard facts on what's worked worldwide.

(See Chenoweth on Why Nonviolence Gets Results (The "Cliff's Notes" Version))

Anyone who has had to write a speech knows that the hardest part is to land on the main idea. Once you've got that right, the rest practically writes itself.

(See "The way to respond to ISIS is not through violence." )

Don't speak Spanish? "Sure you do . . . ."

Yesterday I worshiped at University Lutheran Chapel in Berkeley. I sang "Camina, Pueblo de Dios" together with the rest of the congregation in Spanish, and spoke the words of the Lord's Prayer in Spanish while my neighbor spoke them in English.

I don't really know Spanish -

No -- wait a minute -- yes I do!

And so this post is dedicated to Pastor Ramon Nieves.

Pastor Ramon passed away suddenly just over two years ago.  He had been the pastor of Humboldt Avenue Methodist Church in Chicago, and one of the prime movers behind a coalition of congregations that came to be called the Logan Square Ecumenical Alliance.

Pastor Ramon with other LSEA pastors.

At the time we started working with Pastor Ramon, our own congregation was aware that a lot of people in our community are Spanish speakers. But we were struggling with how to adjust our activities to reflect that fact.

Pastor Ramon cut to the chase: "When we do activities like Occupy Palm Sunday together, we should use both English and Spanish."

It made sense to me. In fact, I had been trying to learn a little bit of Spanish ever day -- albeit at a hilariously slow pace. (When I mentioned the name of Chicago's free Spanish daily to my Spanish-fluent nephew and told him proudly that I was learning the language, he gently broke it to me, "OK -- lesson number one: Say "oy," not "hoy" -- the h is silent . . . . " )

Undaunted, I got a friend to do a word-for-word translation of a presentation I was to give on Palm Sunday in 2012, and coach me so that I could stand before the crowd and say, "Usted no tiene una problema de la PRODUCCION.... tiene una problema de DISTRIBUCION!"

"People! You don't have a PRODUCTION problem ... 
you have a DISTRIBUTION problem!"
"Mi Gente! Usted no tiene una problema de la PRODUCCION.... 
tiene una problema de DISTRIBUCION!"
Joe Scarry speaking at the first "Occupy Palm Sunday" in Logan Square
(Photo courtesy FJJ)

As anyone who has tried this trick knows, toting out a few well-practiced sentences in a language you don't know well can only have one consequence: people then talk to you in that language and you are faced with the need to either pretend that you understand, or explain that actually you really don't speak the language and you were only pretending just now -- either way, it's not pretty.

And so it was a few months later at another LSEA event that I found myself standing next to Pastor Ramon. He introduced me to a friend of his from Venezuela, and then proceeded to tell us a story in Spanish, looking alternately at each of us. I smiled and nodded my head, trying to make myself as much of a passive bystander as possible; then, when there was a momentary lull, I leaned toward Pastor Ramon's ear.

Ramon and Yolanda Nieves

"Pastor Ramon," I said. "Actually, I don't really speak Spanish."

Pastor Ramon looked back at me with those glittering eyes of his -- anyone who knows him knows those glittering eyes -- and said with a smile, "Sure you do . . . . "

 . . . which I took to mean, "You may not understand every word, you may feel uncomfortable, you may have to spend time later trying to figure it out or to humble yourself now and ask for help; you may have to work at it. But in the long run . . . a Spanish speaker is what you are . . . because that's the community you're a part of!"

And that's certainly true in Chicago, where I was living then, and in California, where I'm living now. And it's becoming true for the entire US. The US story is truly becoming an American story.

Pastor Ramon fundamentally changed by orientation to community and to what it means to be an "American."  His message to me was, Don't start from what you "can" and "can't" do. Start with where the other members of your community are, and join them there.

And so when I pray, "Danos hoy nuestro pan de cada dia" I say "oy" just like my nephew taught me, and when I pray, "tuyo es el poder" I remember how I heard my pew-mate in Chicago pronounce that r . . . .

Don't speak Spanish? Sure I do . . . .


Related posts

I believe when Jesus broke the bread and poured the wine and said "Remember me this way," he was much more interested in encouraging us to keep having conversations -- conversations that really matter -- with others . . . and finding ways to be in relationship with our neighbors  . . . all the while reminding us "never underestimate the power of food"  . . .

(See Get Outside Your Comfort Zone and Have A Conversation Today (Welcome to the Ministry))



It will take me multiple posts to spell out everything that I feel needs to be said about the Ayotzinapa 43.  People in the US need to work to change their own attitude about Mexico, and about the culpability or all of us here in the US in the wrongs that are being done down there. The Ayotzinapa 43 were persecuted for saying "the future can be different." It's time for us to take up their cry.

(See Ayotzinapa43: US People Need an Attitude Adjustment )





I dedicated Indigenous Peoples Day 2015 to making some progress towards writing about the perspective of indigenous peoples in the Americas.

How do you observe Indigenous Peoples Day?

(See Reflections on Indigenous Peoples Day 2015)