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Powerful Testimony from Refugee Family at Saturday Vigil

This past Saturday we held our monthly vigil at the West County Detention Facility to stand in solidarity with immigrant families and detainees.

This vigil was led by St. John’s Presbyterian of Berkeley, a sanctuary congregation who has helped many immigrant families seeking asylum from violence in Central America.

One of these family members joined the vigil and shared their horrifying testimony of how they had escaped violence in their country after some members of their family had been killed and raped by gang members.

They also shared with us the great news that they won their asylum case!

Unfortunately, two members of their family were not so lucky. They received the news that two of their family members were crossing the border, and one family member, the husband, was caught and held in detention in Arizona. The family, thanks to the Rocket Docket of expedited deportation, has 30 days to come up with a lawyer and mount a case to stop his deportation.

What’s worse, the son, who has crossing the border with his father, had gone missing in the dessert for 6 days! We prayed for his protection during the vigil, and right after the prayer, the family received a call from him saying that he was in a small town heavily surveyed by ICE and Border Patrol! But the story doesn’t end there.

Thanks to the help of some human rights organization in the town, the son was able to flee Arizona and is finally reunited with his family in Oakland!

We grieve and rejoice with these immigrant families, and we hold their stories as sacred and engrave them into the heart of our nation’s history of immigration. Their story now belongs to the countless others that have built the narrative of this nation, and we welcome them as true and beautiful members of our American family.

Fred Goff from St. John shared why they decided to help this family: “We started accompanying this family one year ago and wondered what can we do, and we realized that we can do a lot. We learned about the family’s story; helped them find a lawyer and negotiated with the lawyer, helped them pay for an expert witness in their case, which was crucial. I have learned that this is also a spiritual journey. It is about learning how to trust and do the right thing. With God at your side, you can move mountains.”

We leave you with some beautiful photos of the vigil from David Bacon:

 

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Pilgrimage to Honduras and Guatemala

Dear Interfaith Movement for Human Integrity Supporters:

 

Thank you for your encouragement and generous contributions to the Root-Causes Journey to Central America. You have made it possible for 16 delegates to travel to Guatemala, Honduras, and Mexico over the next couple weeks, August 7-17, to examine the conditions and reasons children, youth, women, and families make the desperate and dangerous trip from their homelands to the United States.

We have received and welcomed many unaccompanied children who reached our borders and joined our communities. Amid the hard and cruel realities they have endured, through your support they have found new friends in hospitable communities. It is your friendship and open arms that transform horrible experiences into sparkling, new opportunities. But, it continues to be a difficult decision forced on many of them to flee their countries in search of new starts without fear.

The Reverend Deborah Lee, Interfaith Movement for Human Integrity senior program director of Interfaith Coalition for Immigrant Rights, is leading the international trip and will be joined by staff members Ms. Kianna Shann, strategic communications manager, and Mr. Moises Escalante, senior lead organizer.

As you know very well, unaccompanied children and families often leave one set of circumstances that threatens their lives only to enter a new environment where they become targets of more cruelty and vicious attacks; even by local and federal law enforcement personnel. But, thanks to you our sisters and brothers from Central America, Africa, Asia, and other regions of the world are receiving hospitality and hope.

As our delegation travels to Central America, please learn more about the Root-Causes Journey and the stories collected. Follow them on our blog: www.im4humanintegrity.org. Like us on Facebook.com/im4humanintegrity.

You may continue to support this important trip to Central America; we need your financial support to help us provide accurate, personal information about the travail of migrant children and families.

We are asking for your help because you already have demonstrated your love, compassion, and concern for people who come to attention in search of safety and friendship.

 

Thank you for being a part of Interfaith Movement for Human Integrity and making your commitment of support to keep the flame of hope and new life burning brightly through the days and dark nights ahead.

 

 

 

Sincerely,

 

 

Rev. Dr. Art Cribbs

Executive Director

Interfaith Movement for Human Integrity

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When, America, Will It End?

When, America, Will It End?

The massacre inside Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Caroline, cuts deeply into the souls of every decent person across this nation. The faithless, unprovoked act of a 21 year old white man during a prayer service is unconscionable. Yet, it is not rare or historically unusual. The killing of nine human beings, six women and three men, including the pastor of the church, shatters any illusion about safety on sacred grounds. It is possible the weapon used had been given to the butcher only recently as a birthday present.

The events on that fateful Wednesday night inside the church where the murderer sat with his victims for almost an hour before pulling his deadly weapon and repeatedly firing and re-loading, creates a veil of tears that blurs any notion of redemption. Is it safe anywhere in America for Black people? The church is the citadel of hope and the sanctuary to escape fear.

The precision and execution of the killer’s plot on the terms of his choosing sends a chilling message to Black people: our lives are at risk at all times in all places. Consider the site of this demonic decision, a historic African American religious institution, where its founding pastor, the Reverend Denmark Vesey, was a martyr to end slavery in Confederate South Carolina in 1822. Emanuel AME is a symbol of Black love, courage, and the advancement of justice.

It must be made clear that the threat of death at the hands of racially-insane culprits will not deter our faith or lower our resolve to address the plague of violence that saturates American culture. Instead, we must re-double our commitment to honor the lives of every human person as sacred. We hold this truth that an act against innocent people is a direct assault on God who creates, shapes, and inspires every human person in divine imagery.

The killer did not act alone. There is a source for his hatred. He was informed by others who share his depravation and support his actions. A culture of callous, criminal conduct produced the basis for his deadly deed. We have witnessed these acts before in school yards, a movie theater, classrooms, and in the House of God. In too many cases, young white men pulled the triggers and left their lifeless victims slumped dead in places where they fell.

How long will America perpetuate domestic terrorism and senseless shootings by her young sons? What will it take to change attitudes, behaviors, and minds to transform this society into a haven of sanity? When are too many deaths enough to say, “No more?” Will the necessary change come only after the last drop of blood splatters on the powerful faces of those who have never felt the cruel course of denial?

For now, once again, Black people in America weep not only for our own who have been slaughtered without mercy, but also for the lost souls who don’t realize the blunt reprisals of unyielding evil and insensitive racism.

Rev. Dr. Art Cribbs

Executive Director

Interfaith Movement

For Human Integrity

acribbs@im4humanintegrity.org

Facebook.com/im4humanintegrity

Twitter.com/4humanintegrity