Author: Interfaith Movement for Human Integrity

Two weeks ago we had the opportunity to participate in an amazing convening, action and transformative session in Oakland which was in collaboration with CultureStrike, a national pro-migrant arts organization, Move the Immigrant Vote, a statewide immigrant and refugee rights alliance organize and the Black Alliance for Just Immigration. Until We are All Free is a cultural initiative made by artist, culture workers and organizers to help fight against deportation and racism.

Artist from many areas came together to create art images a world free of bars and borders. Groups gathered together to interact with each other and listen to new ideas regarding creating new narratives for Black and Brown folks.

The goals of this dynamic two day session were:

• Experience and share the Declaration of Unity through a create action that illustrates our vision for a world where all people are visible, valued and free.
• Begin the conversation about the connections between mass incarcerations, deportation and detention and as well as immigrant and refugee rights and racial justice.

This workshop educated activist and organizations on ways to incorporate art into the movement, and provided framework to promote mutual understanding between and develop bonds between African American and Immigrant communities. After spending a day connecting with each other and creating art we traveled to the  Glenn Dyer Detention Facility, Oakland, to take a stand for Black Lives, mass incarceration, detention and deportations.

We sang, we prayed, we chanted and we let everyone being held in the detention center know that they were loved.

The purpose of this event was to launch the ALL FREE movement and to allow folks space to design, imagine and create art that fulfills a world free of bars and borders. All of the art that was created was used in the action at the Glenn Dyer Detention Facility.  It is the goal of the group that this art would inspire folks to take a step forward towards a world of universal dignity and self-determination.

On September 21, 2015, our dear friend and active member, David McPhail passed away after a recent diagnosis of cancer. One of David’s favorite phrases, summing up the melding of his activism and spiritual practice was “Showing Up and Paying Attention.” He modeled that to us in very deep ways.

David was one of our most consistent and ready-for-action members of the East Bay Interfaith Immigration Coalition (EBIIC), the East Bay table coordinated by the Interfaith Coalition for Immigrant Rights and Faith Alliance for a Moral Economy. He was at nearly every immigration meeting, event or action that we organized in the past 5 years.

David was a warm and constant presence at the Monthly Saturday Immigration Vigils at the West County Detention Facility (WCDF) in Richmond, where he would lead the introductions, explain why we were there, and animate the raucous “Moment of Noise.” As our awareness and presence at the jail grew and led to advocacy work around the high cost of prison phone calls, the Sheriff’s participation in ICE dragnet enforcement programs, David was consistently showing up at county supervisor meetings and speaking to lawmakers in Sacramento.

Last year in response to the hundreds of immigrant detainees and asylum seekers, transported to WCDF from the border who were then getting released on bond, David and his wife Irene, were reliable volunteers in the Post Release Accompaniment Program (PRAP), giving those released a friendly face, a warm meal, clothes, and a ride to the airport or bus station. David often acted in the annual Posada and also regularly joined the 8 am Vigils outside the SF Immigration Court where he held signs, sang, passed out candy to the children and information to the parents going into court to fight their deportations.

In 2013, as pressure was mounting on President Obama and Congress to stop the deportations, David was part of a civil disobedience action, accompanying many young undocumented youth to block an ICE bus leaving the ICE building in San Francisco. He participated in another direct action where he was arrested in 2014.

David helped engage his congregation, St. John’s Presbyterian Church in Berkeley, to support immigrant steelworkers at Pacific Steel in Berkeley and later recycling workers at Alameda County Industries who were unjustly fired by ICE Raids. In 2014, his congregation re-declared Sanctuary and pledged its accompaniment to a recently arrived Guatemalan family whom they are still accompanying through their asylum proceedings and resettlement process.

When he wasn’t showing up with his body, he was reading and paying attention to what was going on and asking: “What were we going to do about it?” For he always believed that something could and must be done. We could always respond. We could always show up and make our presence or action mean something positive.

We are so grateful for the invaluable organizing and friendship we have had with David doing this work. We will miss his loving, humane and steadfast spirit. We will try our best to carry on his holy faith tradition of “showing up and paying attention.”

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David’s wife, Irene McPhail, has asked that people wishing to make gifts in David’s memory, make a donation to the “Interfaith Movement for Human Integrity” to support the immigration work David was so passionate about. Funds will be used to train and strengthen young leaders in faith and social justice.

The Interfaith Movement for Human Integrity is the parent organization of the Interfaith Coalition for Immigrant Rights (ICIR) of which David was a critical member, volunteer and partner. ICIR educates and inspires faith communities to be engaged in accompaniment, hospitality, public witness, and advocacy in the movement for immigrant justice. The Interfaith Movement for Human Integrity upholds that all persons are sacred across borders and that everyone has the right to a life with opportunities.

Students at Eagle Rock’s Occidental College rallied on the stairs just outside Arthur G. Coons Administrative Center on Monday afternoon. This action is one of many that have come out of the students disapproval with the way University President has handled issues of racism, minority exclusion,lack of funding for ethnic programming and issues of rape.

The students presented the administration with their list of 14 demands which include  the creation of a black studies major, an increase in funding for minority student groups and more diversity training for faculty and students. Following their rally the students took occupancy in the administration building and plan to stay their Friday November 20th. By, that time they hope to have their demands met or they will require the University President to step down.

The Interfaith Movement for Human Integrity stands with these students in their fight. These Students  have made a decision to center Black Liberation and to demand that “black students thrive and not merely survive.”