UUSC partner joins front lines of Phoenix protests

I was reading a blog from one of our economic-justice partners when the news broke that a federal judge in Arizona had issued an injunction blocking key parts of the state's new anti-immigrant law from taking effect. Fernando Garcia, campaign coordinator for UUSC's partner the Northwest Arkansas Workers' Justice Center in Springdale, Ark., has been in Phoenix all week supporting the drive for human and immigrant rights as he participates in prayer vigils, rallies, civil disobedience, and counterprotests designed to express national outrage at the Arizona law.

"People here are fighting vigorously to stop this legislation in its tracks and win humane solutions to immigration," Garcia said in his blog post. "If it doesn't stop here, we better believe it will be knocking on our doors soon."

The Arizona law became effective today, July 29, but without the most egregious provisions that were put on hold by U.S. District Judge Susan Bolton. She issued a preliminary injunction against sections that call on police officers to check a person's immigration status if there is a "reasonable suspicion" that someone may be undocumented and that require immigrants to carry their papers at all times.

The judge did not rule on the merits of the case but prevented enforcement of the most controversial sections until the litigation has reached a final conclusion, probably by the U.S. Supreme Court. The lawsuit was filed by the U.S. Justice Department after President Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder strongly criticized the new law as unconstitutional on a number of levels.

UUSC has condemned the Arizona law in the strongest terms, citing the anti-immigrant hostility it expresses and the human-rights violations it encourages, among many other reasons. (Read the full statement: "Immigrant Rights are Human Rights.")

After reading some of the news stories about the judge's ruling, including reports in the New York Times and the Arizona Republic, it was refreshing to read Fernando Garcia's account from the front lines of the mounting immigrant justice movement in Phoenix. The stories, messages, and analyses are very powerful, and paint a different picture than what we see in most of the mainstream media.  

"Regardless of the injunction, the reality on the ground is incredible," said Garcia. "I heard stories of homeowners walking away from their houses to get out of the state. One [Arizona Interfaith Alliance for Worker Justice] workers center member said four families have moved out of Arizona from his block alone. He mentioned that a popular supermarket chain has closed 70 of their stores since the law was enacted only of few months ago.

"Innumerable amounts of people have ripped out their roots to flee the political environment, but each family's departure leaves a hole in the economy and the social fabric of those who remain."

The Northwest Arkansas Workers Justice Center is a community-based organization that advances the rights of low-wage and immigrant workers through organizing for improved wages and working conditions. The Center educates and supports workers to be effective advocates, while building local and national partnerships to involve the broader community in the struggles of workers in Northwest Arkansas. Several local police departments in Northwest Arkansas participate in the federal 287(g) program, which deputizes local law enforcement to enforce federal immigration law.

A recent commenter on our blog asked me why so few people in Haiti have the basics they need (food, shelter, clean water, etc.) six months into the earthquake response.

The situation in Haiti is truly difficult. Early on, there seemed to be countless problems with logistics, beginning with getting aid materials into a country with poor and very damaged infrastructure. Many nongovernmental organizations and the United Nations lost a lot of their experienced staff in the earthquake. The U.N. agency organizing the response was not the most experienced, the damage was terrible, and the trauma from so many deaths and grave injuries clearly affected everyone.

However, now months into the quake response, the reasons for lack of coherent, efficient response are different.

1. The Haitian government's lack of vision, coherence, and understanding
   
   The Haitian government inexplicably decided not to distribute food aid beyond March, although there were hundreds of thousands of people who needed it. They decided to do cash-for-work or food-for-work programs, which in themselves are not bad programs by any means, but they were offered by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and the U.N. World Food Program to only 75,000 people (heads of households). There are more than 500,000 people in the countryside and over 2,300,000 people total in need of support. If you use the standard marker of five people per household, the World Food Program only reaches 375,000 people, when over 2,300,000 need some help in food aid. So the official response is terribly inadequate.
   
   UUSC's response to this has been to provide temporary work to displaced people in the countryside through three peasant organizations in different parts of Haiti where there are large concentrations of internally displaced. UUSC has also supported market women in recapitalizing in Port-au-Prince through two Haitian organizations working in the marginal slum neighborhoods where there has been far less support to earthquake survivors.
   
   
2. The lack of trust and support in the Haitian organizations
   
   Many of the international organizations have bypassed the highly organized Haitian community structures and run their own distribution systems without understanding the culture or the makeup of the communities they work with. Haitian civil society is highly organized. Even a poor community has a parent-teacher association or a neighborhood organization. These groups would have made good distribution networks for aid since there is some accountability. Instead aid groups actually threw food off trucks, set up distribution points far away from camps, etc. — or simply ignored existing Haitian organization.
   
   UUSC's response has been to research and work through Haitian organizations, thereby benefiting from their experience and insights. We have found that the Haitian organizations have proved to be exceptional, creating innovative ways of responding to the crisis with the few resources they have available to them.
   
   
3. Inability to access goods
   
   A lot of donated goods and food is still locked up in the warehouses and is hard to access either because of bureaucracy or corruption. Although the world has given so generously, goods and food are still on shelves while people go hungry.
   
   UUSC has given money to peasant organizations and community organizations to buy food from Haitian farmers for local distribution. All the funds we gave for emergency food distribution were spent locally in Haiti, buying Haitian food.

I cannot emphasize enough how well most Haitian organizations have responded to the crisis with far fewer resources than the international organizations. We are working very closely with nine Haitian organizations to date.

One of the highlights of UUSC's Freedom Summer: A Civil Rights Journey was the chance for participants to hear from people who experienced the struggles of the civil-rights movement firsthand. Below, a few participants express their gratitude.

The individuals who spoke of their personal experiences impacted me the most. Their courage and ability to be positive when faced with hate and humiliation are inspiring. The message of forgiving but not forgetting is very important. People who fought and sacrificed did not let anger consume them, but anger for the injustices they faced moved them to action.

—Chris Fiorello, Medford, Mass., UU Church of Medford

Realizing that there isn't much time left to learn firsthand from people who directly participated in and led the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and ‘60s, I jumped at the chance to join this tour - I'm glad I did. Hearing Val Archer's account of the discrimination he experienced on a daily basis as a Tuskegee Airman was inspiring. We also heard from Barbara Cross, who was a close friend of Addie Mae Collins, one of the girls who was murdered in the bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham. She made a lasting impression by insisting that we learn the names of the four girls who were murdered. The other three are Denise McNair, Cynthia Wesley, and Carole Robertson. But there were so many more . . .

—Nancy Witherel, Brooklyn, N.Y., First Unitarian Universalist Congregational Society Brooklyn

In Awe of Your Strength and Courage

Surprisingly humble, your dedication and selflessness was, is and will always be insurmountable.

Where and how did you manage to nourish it? How did you keep that flame lit when the sweeping storm surrounded you?

Did you find it within:
Your heart,
Your mind,
Your community,
Through Song,
The spirit of your ancestors,
A dream,
Or a light within?

I'll cherish the time I spent in your presence. Your spirit breathed hope into my heart.

Thank you, Val.

In the following blog post, Linda McKim-Bell, a UUSC regional coordinator and participant on this year's Civil Rights Journey, considers the importance of spirituality in the civil-rights movement and how that idea inspires her today. 

One reason I came on this journey was to find out how African Americans organized the U.S. civil-rights movement. I was looking for tools and ideas to use at home — and I was looking for some hope for our country's future.

The solidarity, determination, and courage that I witnessed were an impressive achievement. I learned that it started in the black churches, which were a haven and a bulwark against the oppression that African Americans faced. When we heard Rev. Warnock's sermon at Atlanta's Ebenezer Baptist Church, I understood this on a deeper level.

Rev. Warnock's powerful sermon was based on Psalm 23. He told us that goodness and mercy were following us, stalking us, urging us on. He told us to never be afraid and fear no evil — it was empowering to feel that I was receiving a new interpretation of my mother's favorite psalm. The message was that in my political work there is a spiritual base that will give me courage. It was a message from my mother, transformed by Rev. Warnock and my experience witnessing aspects of the civil-rights movement.

The Civil Rights Journey fed my soul and gave me an example of what people who are truly in solidarity can do!

—Linda McKim-Bell, Portland, Ore., UUSC regional coordinator of the Pacific Northwest region and member of First Unitarian Church in Portland

This year, 24 people embarked on the seventh UUSC Freedom Summer: A Civil Rights Journey. Visiting sites of historical significance in the struggle for civil rights, they walked in the footsteps of great civil-rights activists and they heard from some of those courageous figures themselves. They listened to the music and protest songs that helped bolster the strength of these history makers. In the end, participants were surprised, inspired, and moved. Below, in the first of several blog posts, three participants share thoughts on the journey.

I have been forever changed by this trip. We really got a true taste of the U.S. civil-rights movement through discussions, guest speakers, and incredible museums. We also went to many locations that were vital to the movement, such as the 16th Street Baptist Church and the Edmund Pettus Bridge. We were also exposed to the numerous foot soldiers of the movement that have been forgotten in the history books, such as Viola Liuzzo and Rev. James Reeb. 

As a high school teacher of U.S. history, I have become empowered even more now to make history more alive in my classroom by using the resources and stories I have gathered along the way on this incredible journey. 

This trip is not for the fainthearted. You have to come willing to absorb a lot of incredible history and deal with the intense Southern heat. But it is a mind-blowing experience that opens your eyes to some of the most important history that defines us as a people and a nation.

—Kate Farrell, Salem, Mass., 28 years old

To be honest, when I first heard about this trip, I wasn't completely thrilled. I looked at it as a way to spend some time with my mother —l but it ended up being a fun and exciting experience. From the food to the people, this trip has been riveting and eye-opening. Everyone had a story that they were willing to tell, and it seemed as though they were telling it for the first time. I may have told my own story a thousand times, but people were still interested. The history that is shown on this trip is not a lot of the normal stuff. As a history buff, I learned more during this trip than in whole semesters during school. All in all, this was by far one of the best trips I have ever been on.

—Stephen Marsh, San Jose, Calif., 22 years old  

I was impressed with the power of music in the civil-rights struggle. Throughout the tour, it was an important part of our experience; beginning with the gospel and praise music at the Ebenezer Baptist Church and continuing with the spiritual and protest songs that accompanied almost all the museum exhibits. I found that I was humming and sometimes singing snatches of songs like "Eyes on the Prize," "Motherless Child," and "We Shall Overcome." They are still echoing in my head.

—Linda Guebert, Kelseyville, Calif., Lake County UU Community

Stay tuned for more reflections from the Civil Rights Journey participants!

One of the hallmarks of UUSC's Civil Rights Journey is that it can serve as a moving call to action for many participants. Below, two 2010 participants express their excitement to heed this call.  

My original motivation to go on this trip was to learn more about something that I thought I knew something about and to break down the stereotypes I know I had about Alabama, a place I had never visited. If I achieved these goals, I thought I would be more than satisfied. To my great surprise and immense satisfaction, I've experienced an even more powerful achievement — I have felt real inspiration and motivation.

People who have told us their personal stories of fear and courage in the civil-rights efforts are truly inspiring, encouraging a greater sense of urgency in me to see the work still — and perhaps always — to be done for future justice and equity among the peoples of the country and the world. In addition to inspiration, I feel a truer sense of motivation to act upon that inspiration. There are projects in my church and in my workplace that await my energy. Even at the level of my family, I am motivated to encourage others to find moments (and perhaps more than moments) in their busy lives to speak up for justice. This trip has moved me from being a "verbalist" to being an activist. I am so grateful for this experience.

—Peggy Ulrich-Nims, Hingham, Mass., member of First Parish Old Ship

Mahatma Gandhi said, "We must be the change we wish to see in the world."

This trip has given me a mission. My mission is to dismantle racism and make our world one that we can all enjoy, regardless of race, sex, religious views, or anything else that makes us who we are. We are all on this world together, and yet we separate ourselves in ways we do not know.

I learned that the new racism is "subliminal," and that means that it will be all the harder to get rid of. With the help of goodness and mercy, the world will be healed. We must be the medium for goodness and mercy to work through. We must never forget the sacrifices people endured and the courage they had to form out of nothing. It is our turn as a united community to continue down the road of fixing the injustices and lending a hand to our fellow human beings. 

—Alice Roup, Pacific, Wash., 15-year-old member of University UU Church

The Civil Rights Journey can evoke powerful emotions and inspire sincere soul searching. It provides an opportunity to examine the racism that existed and continues to exist in U.S. society, to grapple with how that shows up for each participant, and to consider ways to move forward. The following is an anonymous reflection from a 2010 participant.

The past week has really made me think about and examine my own racism and the journey that I have undergone throughout my life with regard to racism. I grew up in a middle-lower-class Irish-Italian Catholic community with minimal exposure to people of other races. There was one African American girl who went to school with me during my early elementary education, and then she disappeared. I had a friend of mixed race for a short period of time until we drifted apart.

In high school, I worked a part-time job with a male African American peer. At the time, I was in a phase of calling people — of any race — "boy." So, not knowing what I was doing, I called him "boy." He stopped working and told me in no uncertain terms that he wasn't going to put up with that and told me that that is what slaves had been called. I apologized and told him that I didn't know that this had been the case, which was true. I told him that I would not do it again. He accepted my apology, and we resumed working. On this trip, I heard how Martin Luther King Jr.'s father was called boy. I felt terrible for what I had said 30 years ago.

In the service we attended at Ebenezer Baptist Church, Rev. Warnock talked about goodness and mercy being with us all of the days of our life. I am OK with goodness being there but I am not so sure about mercy. By mercy, I mean forgiveness and, in this case, self-forgiveness. 

Can I forgive myself when I am racist?
Can I forgive myself when I am clumsy?
Can I forgive myself when I am ignorant?

I am not sure how well guilt will serve me and help the human race — educating myself and learning from my mistakes will be more helpful.

—Anonymous participant