The Immigration Coalition's Conference, Day Two

Day Two of The Immigration Coalition's national conference on immigration included a talk by D.A. Horton, who is an Assistant Professor of Cultural Studies at California Baptist University.

"There is one race, the human race," Horton emphasized. 

He talked about the difference between race (a social construct, based on skin color) and ethnicity (based on country of origin).

Horton said that throughout history "there has never been a time of ethnic conciliation," so ethnic reconciliation isn't logically possible. All our ethnicities go back to one point so we need to "stop withholding compassion of Christianity with one another."

He said we express that compassion through our inner character, refusing to act in animosity towards the immigrant. "We need to stop being passive-aggressive [in our actions]... We need to show respect and dignity. We are all broken. We all have issues."

Horton gave practical tips as to how this can play out in real life, through how we communicate ("call out the sin of distrust, particularly shown in racism." Look to the actions of Jesus. "If someone could have profiled the human race, it was God. But Jesus didn't." (Romans 5:8).

He continued, we need to ask God to search our heart, to be honest, confess where we've come short and walk in the fruit of forgiveness. And we need to work this out in the context of community. "Every human being is how God defined our neighbor. Every human being is made in the image of God." 

Horton concluded that racism, sexism and xenophobia should not be part of the church.

Gabriel Salguero, (co-pastor of The Lamb's Church in New York City). then spoke about how to respond to immigrants and immigration reform. He used the book of Hebrews (written to a church in distress and conflict) as a reference point.

Salguero explained that orthodoxy (what we believe, including its expression in worship) needs to be linked with orthopraxy (the way we live). 

"Love and justice are to be intertwined," he said. "But our worship is divorced from relationship. Does your worship and orthopraxy reflect God?"

For Salguero this means "loving your neighbor, the stranger and even your enemy."

This should play out in hospitality towards the immigrant, the stranger, the refugee. But Salguero cautioned "remember Christian orthopraxy isn't safe. God doesn't call us to safety."

The crux of the challenge, he said "is that much of our worship [dogma] is based on spiritual amnesia." We've forgotten God's heart towards the foreigner. 

He said we easily fall victim to dualistic thinking that separates orthopraxy from orthodoxy. So offering hospitality gets lost in this gridlock. "We can disagree on policy, but not on virtue," he said.

Towards the end of his session, Salguero made the point that "Christian identity is incarnational. That means Christianity is not a religion of tolerance. It's a religion of love, rooted in relationship."

"Remember hospitality," he urged. "We serve a migrant Jesus. When you're looking out at the hungry immigrant at the border, you're looking at Jesus. When you see a child fleeing religious persecution, you're seeing Jesus. When you're seeing a mother running away because she doesn't have enough [to care for her children], you're seeing the family of Jesus."

Daniel Carroll (on the faculty of Wheaton College) then offered a view of the book of Genesis as a book "that is full of migration."

He noted that, "the history of humanity is a history of migration."

Carroll pointed out that Abram, Issac, Jacob and Joseph were all migrants. Their reasons for migration were looking for food, looking for water, or fleeing violence. "The same reasons we find today."

"But migration is connection to the mission of God," he said. This group of Old Testament immigrants "were meant to be a blessing to the people of the world." 

Carroll said the blessing was both spiritual and material. Including finding food and water, but also peace from war and a Sabbath rest. "It's a multi-dimensional blessing," that includes "a spiritual relationship with God."

He summed up "Don't forget that you were migrants. The church began as a church on the move, a multi-ethnic church." This is the DNA of the church.

Jason Lee (of the Acts 17 Initiative) then led an interview with Jenny Yang and Matthew Soerens (both from World Relief.)

Yang noted that "it's been a challenging year," with deep cutbacks on U.S. resources devoted to immigration, combined with the Covid-19 pandemic.

She said the challenge involves meeting immediate needs and making sure that immigrants are included in policy advocacy.

Yang gave the example of the current administration in the White House setting the immigration total at 18.000 for this year. But with the federal fiscal year almost over, just about half of that has been filled. The DACA policy is also under attack.

Soerens reported that the administration has shut down legal immigration at the border. Historically the yearly quota for accepting immigrants into the U.S. was around 95,000. Although the president sets the bar, he said Congress needs to use its influence to change this quota back to where it was.

For Soerens, this means we need to contact our Congressional representatives and senators, especially those who are members of relevant Congressional committees to reset this ceiling. "They can influence how the administration acts," he said.

Yang added that "advocacy can happen at all levels. Advocacy should be a muscle that the church needs to exercise." Including advocacy for resettlement programs, showing up for local public hearings on the issue of immigration and advocating for initiatives for services to immigrants.

Soerens suggested we need to inform ourselves scripturally before attempting advocacy. Then supplement this foundation by having a firm grasp on the statistical facts. 

Yang finished up the interview by saying advocacy should include school systems and social services for immigrants and refugees.

Following this presentation, Yang had a separate session on what the Bible teaches about advocacy.

"As a little kid, you cry because something is wrong," she said. "As we become adults we have the ability to voice our concerns when something is wrong around us."

She called advocacy "being a voice for Christ."

"The church has a responsibility," she pointed out "to speak up, to advocate... Jesus did ministry in community. He expressed the truth of who God is... Jesus was an intercessor on behalf of others."

Yang encouraged us to get to know our immigrant neighbors, to make sure there are adequate systems and structures in place to support the dignity of immigrants.

As she finished up her session, Yang used the prophet Nehemiah as an example of how to advocate. Nehemiah included lamenting, involving community in reaching out, and sustained activity in rebuilding the wall around Jerusalem. 

Yang added, "We have to pray and fast about the things we care about," she said.

She concluded by mentioning the website For The Health of The Nation.

Mika Edmondson (a pastor and member of The Gospel Coalition) followed Yang.

He used the book of Leviticus (19:1-2, 9-10, 33-34) as a guide to advocacy.

"Sojourners were vulnerable to exploration and neglect," he began. He said that Leviticus offers a blueprint for "expressions of social holiness," as to how to treat immigrants and refugees.

Edmondson said this type of advocacy should be imitative ("be holy as God is holy.") "God is the standard for how we treat our immigrant neighbors." 

Social holiness should be empathetic ("don't forget you were once strangers in a strange land.")

Using the example of the biblical principle of gleaning (leaving the borders of a field unharvested, public and open for gleaning among foreigners). Edmondson said this means a portion of public resources should be purposely set aside for the stranger, the immigrant, the refugee. This principle should guide when discussing policy decisions involving resources. 

These resources should also be desirable. "Not just subsistence but [with the goal of] living at an equitable quality of life."

And these resources should be consistent. Edmondson said that the Biblical concept of gleaning was consistent. All fields had the borders set aside for this purpose. It was public and neighbors could readily see if anyone wasn't following this policy.

Edmondson concluded: "It was a system of love, an expression of God's love for immigrants."

For more information on The Immigration Coalition, click here.

Summary of Day 1 of The Immigration Coalition Conference 2020

The Immigration Coalition held a national conference on immigration (Healthy Understanding + Healthy Practice) on Oct. 22 and 23. 

Rondell Trevino, executive director and founder of The Immigration Coalition gave opening remarks that set the tone for the first day of the Conference.

Daniel Darling, Senior Vice-President of Communications for National Religious Broadcasters, and an author and pastor offered a scriptural reference to the issue of immigration. 

One point he made, early on, was that a government has a right to establish borders, but scripture commands compassion. "Immigrants are seen [scripturally] as vulnerable and deserving." 

Darling noted that God's love for immigrants and refugees is unchangingly compassionate. Loving your neighbor is equated with extending hospitality to the stranger among us. Therefore, any legal system established regarding immigration should be fair and compassionate. 

Darling said that "it's up to Christians to help shape the rule of law. Not just obey it."

He pressed the point that "Justice isn't just a cause, it's a mandate." He mentioned the "violence of indignity," that has warped our current immigration system in the U.S.

Towards the end of his presentation, Darling said that "we must be open-hearted. We must look for common ground" in considering this very complex issue. 

He summarized: "A faithful Christian cannot see their immigrant neighbor as an intrusion on their way of life."

Darling was followed by Quina Aragon. She is an author and spoken word artist. She is also an assistant editor and administrative assistant for women's initiatives with the Gospel Coalition. Aragon told a powerful story of a Honduran mother, separated from her child. "Where is my baby," she anguished. "Please, bring my baby back to me!"

Aragon's emotional appeal was followed by Christina Edmondson who has a Ph.D. in counseling psychology and is a Certified Cultural Intelligence Facilitator. She spoke on Resisting Racism.

She began by pointing out that the United States has developed a caste system, primarily based on color, which reinforces racism, placing indigenous people and people of color below whites.

But, to counteract this reality, for Christians, "love is our chief command."

She talked about Jesus' reminder to love God and love each other as the essence of his message. And it's not an easy love. "Racism is a sin... and every sin must be resisted."

Edmondson spent a large part of her time on Acts 6:1-13, which describes how the twelve apostles dealt with a complaint among the Hellenistic Jewish women, who felt they were being ignored.

She gave nine points for consideration of this scriptural account:

1) Whose report do we take seriously? The early church leaders made a choice to believe the Hellenistic Jews.

2) Because the complaint of the Hellenistic Jewish women was taken seriously, it provided an opportunity for "the beauty of God's grace to push through social barriers to pay attention to the marginalized."

3) Spiritual people have physical needs. "We tend to spiritualize people's needs," she explained, "but how do you convince someone that you care about their soul if you don't care about their body?"

4) Avoid cookie-cutter solutions because they tend to favor those who already have social power.

5) Don't minimize shared identity. The solution to everything is not found white maleness.

6) Strategize to build diversity and inclusion. And, in doing so, Edmondson cautioned, "we need to do what is right. Not propose [superficial] friendship over action."

7) Create systems that confront racism. "We must do justice. It's a verb." We're called to be action-oriented.

8) "Equality and love are part of the witness of the church."

9) Despite our sincerest efforts to do the right thing, "the story might not end well... Our faithfulness doesn't always lead to success [in the eyes of the world.]"

After Edmondson's presentation Anna Rodell, The Immigration Coalition's editorial director interviewed Sophia Lee, who is the senior reporter for WORLD Magazine.

Lee answered questions pertaining to two years she spent following asylum-seekers and refugees after they were turned back at the US-Mexican border.

She made the point that, under the orders of the present administration in the White House, they are turned back to Mexico, with no network or social system in place to help them. 

Interestingly, Lee said that many U.S. Border Patrol agents see themselves as victims in the working out of immigration policy. She gave the example of talking with one Border Patrol agent who likened the situation to the U.S. immigration system being the soccer field, and the Border Patrol agents being the soccer ball. 

Lee said that most of the agents see themselves as having nothing to do with what happens in immigration courts. And from her experience, it seemed as if the agents had little desire to understand or know what's happening in the countries [mostly Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, not Mexico] where the asylum-seekers came from.

Lee summed up, "I wish people could come down to the border and see these people gathering every evening to pray and sing hymns. I wish they could see these people as human beings who are desperate for opportunities for their children."

Erikah Rivera then presented. She is an associate pastor of The Brook Church in Chicago. 

"God's view of immigrant women is dramatically different," from the world's view she began.

She gave the examples of Hagar, Ruth, and Esther to show how God was "radically compassionate in pursuit of immigrant women."

Rivera closed her presentation by encouraging us to seek God's compassionate plan.

Justin Giboney followed Rivera. He is an attorney and political strategist based in Atlanta, and founder of the AND Campaign.

He began by stating "law and order without justice is violence."

Giboney's presentation was riveting.

He made the point that "evangelism and social action are not rivals fighting for our attention."

And he proceeded to make a point that politics should not be more important than faith when considering immigration reform. "No one should mistake a Christian for a generic Republican or Democrat."

"Christians shouldn't fit in within conservative or progressive constraints."

He spoke to the heart of the divisiveness so prevalent in today's world around the issue of politics. "Where's the level of integrity and dignity in Christian politics today? Does your political party know that you're not seeking their validation?"

Giboney said that the church needs "to demonstrate the passion and compassion of Christ... We need moral order and justice."

He summed up by observing that "we've allowed our political affiliation to become religious in nature... Don't strive to be conservative or progressive. Strive to be faithful."

Homes For All is on Kalamazoo County Ballot

Stephanie Hoffman

For Stephanie Hoffman, Executive Director of Open Doors in Kalamazoo and co-chair of the Homes For All Committee, the need for more affordable housing in Kalamazoo County has only been exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Homes For All is a funding proposal that is on the general election ballot in Kalamazoo County, for a 0.75 millage on property tax for eight years to address the issue of affordable housing.

"You can't stay-in-place if you don't have a place to stay," she says, referring to the emergency order given in the early weeks of Covid. "The numbers of homeless [families and individuals] have increased exponentially."

According to Homes For All literature, in January more than 700 homeless individuals were identified in Kalamazoo County. And the county saw nearly 400 new eviction notices in the last two weeks of July.

The funds raised by the Homes For All millage will go towards a variety of measures. They include rental subsidies, development of permanent housing and supportive services for county residents that tend to be excluded from housing opportunities.

For a homeowner with a property valued at $100,000, the Homes For All mileage would result in a property tax increase of $38 a year.

Kalamazoo voters have already shown their support for affordable housing. A similar millage was passed in 2015, with a six-year timeframe, raising about $800,000 each year, helping over 500 families with children.

"This time we're expanding our assets for safe, affordable housing to include not just school-age children, but children zero to twelfth grade, as well as older adults, people with disabilities and veterans," Hoffman explains. 

The crux of the matter, says Hoffman is that "there's a lot of development happening, particularly downtown, but it's not low-to-moderate housing."

Given the current state of the economy, Hoffman points out that "we can't just rely on state government [for housing funding].  

Fortunately, says Hoffman, "Kalamazoo is a city and a county that loves and cares for all its residents."

According to the Homes For All website, the purpose of the millage is to:
- fund long-term homes for children and their families;
- build new affordable homes;
- renovate blighted properties;
- provide rental assistance to homeless individuals;
- establish paths to home-ownership for Kalamazoo County residents historically excluded from those opportunities.

The City of Ann Arbor will also have a millage proposal (of 1 mill over 20 years) to address the issue of housing on the November 3rd ballot.

For more information on the Homes For All proposal, click here.

A Letter to My Conservative (Religious) Friends

Dear Friends,

Election day is fast approaching.

Most of you reading this have already made up your mind as to who your presidential choice will be.

I'm writing mainly to the few of you who have not.

In 2016, many of you who are religious, white, and conservative cast your vote for our current president.

At that time, you saw him as the clear choice to implement a conservative agenda.

In fact, over 80 percent of white "born again" evangelicals voted for him, enough to lift him to the presidency (by way of the electoral college).

Many of you made a choice to overlook the current president's personal life while pressing a conservative path.

I'm asking you to please take a second look.

A prominent evangelical pastor recently raised this point: A public figure's personal life does matter. This pastor stated, "if a person lies to their wife, they will lie to you."

Since taking office the current president has:

- lied about Covid-19 (the U.S. has one of the worst rates of Covid-19 infections in the world);
- lied about his wealth (he is over $400 million in debt; those debts are about to become due);
- lied about caring for seniors/other vulnerable people (he has consistently tried to dismantle the Affordable Care Act without any alternative in mind);
- blamed those around him for his mistakes (including the FBI, CIA, several Chiefs of Staff, the Attorney General and the Justice Department);
- shown an affinity for hate groups, so it's no wonder that hate crimes have escalated during his tenure. 

I have friends who are professing evangelicals. None of them like the current president. 

But all of them are willing to overlook his moral and ethical failings in order to advance the conservative's political plan-of-action. 

They are basically stating, by their actions, that personal integrity doesn't matter.

But it does.

If you happen to be a follower of Jesus, I would ask you to take a look at the life Jesus led. He ministered to those on the fringes of society and was deeply concerned for the "least of us." He was not interested in political or religious power. And Jesus regularly admonished the religious leaders of his day for being hypocrites.

Could you see Jesus encouraging his followers to gather close together during a pandemic, endangering their lives and the lives of their families? Could you see Jesus cheating on his taxes? Could you see Jesus being unfaithful to a spouse? 

Could you see anyone following Jesus if there had been a strong disconnect between what Jesus said in public and what he did in private?

How a person acts in their personal, private life has a direct influence on the public decisions they make.

Jesus was remarkably transparent. Once, Jesus was confronted by a Canaanite (non-Jewish) woman, who asked him to heal her daughter. Jesus initially replied that he wouldn't heal her, because he was sent only to "the lost people of Israel." The Canaanite challenged him and Jesus changed the course of his ministry to include everyone. (See Matthew 15:21-28 for details.) 

Jesus was concerned about personal relationships, but Jesus was also deeply concerned about society as a whole. He realized that what happens to one of us affects all of us. He would not have been a fan of MAGA, or dictators, or xenophobia borne of fear-mongering.

What I'm saying, dear conservative, (especially evangelical) religious friends is this: Personal integrity is far more important than political power.  

If you need some encouragement to think more broadly, beyond one-issue assessments of candidates, take heart. Nicholas Kristof has reported on the Pro-Life Evangelicals for Biden.  Among those in the forefront of this organization is a granddaughter of Billy Graham, Jerushah Duford. 

God, across all religions that believe in God, is chiefly expressed in love. Not power.

------

Dishonesty has consequences. Read NYTimes article re. dishonesty being a hallmark of the current president.

For extra credit, here's a recent post by my friend, Ed Cyzewski, on the dangers of lying. 

Diane Latiker, Community Activist, Founder of Kids off the Block

Diane Latiker is a community activist in Chicago. Latiker is the founder of the nonprofit, Kids off the Block (KOB), which provides recreational activities and educational opportunities for young people in Chicago, focusing on the neighborhood of Roseland.

Could you give us a short history of Kids Off the Block (KOB)? Why did you start it?

I started KOB because my mom suggested that the kids liked and respected me and she thought I should do something with them. My youngest daughter had 9 friends 13-15 years old, boys and girls and I would take them all fishing, skating, to the movies and more. I did that to keep up with Aisha (my daughter) to make sure she graduated from high school and went on to college.

In a promotional video on the KOB website, you state, in regards to the challenges of racial and economic equity: “It’s more about economics and poverty that it is about gangs.” Can you go deeper with that thought? 

I said that because the gangs exist primarily to get money, it's all about the "money." If our communities had the resources and tools it needed to thrive like some I've seen, I believe violence would decrease significantly. Economics and poverty play a role and lead to levels of despair, hopelessness and trauma, all of it is racial in its makeup and neither is invested into because of who we are. The communities affected by racial injustice seek out ways to survive in the midst of it all and crime is one of those ways. 

 

You were quoted in a recent New York Times article (“Are Racial Attitudes Really Changing? SomeBlack Activists Are Skeptical” August 11, 2020) as saying “We want to be a community that’s paid attention to.” What would it look like for your community to be paid attention to?

To me, the answers are obvious, priorities and empathy. We have neither until all these and more take place to bring unavoidable attention.

Further along in the same NYTimes article the reporter mentions a memorial you created next to an outdoor basketball court, which is “a memorial for young people killed by gun violence, where community members carve the name of every victim and their date of death into a stone plate. Ms. Latiker created the memorial in 2007, after Blair Holt, an honor roll student, was killed by gunfire in a case that garnered national attention. The memorial now has more than 700 names, many of them less known outside Roseland; some of the victims went through Ms. Latiker’s after-school program.” 700 children killed! Since 2007? Were all the kids living in Roseland?

No, the Memorial To Youth Killed By Violence is for young people up to 24 years old and it's citywide. 

Continuing with the NY Times article, you talk about the most recent nationwide demonstrations following the killing of George Floyd: “We’re dealing with a pandemic, we’re dealing with violence, we’re dealing with young people who were already behind in school…Why did minds have to be changed? Why did it take a Black man to be killed? Why does it take protests? Why does it take riots?” How would you answer your own questions?

I am expecting nothing, yet everything. This election is the most important decision we will make as a nation, it's also the most personal to each and every one of us. Do we still believe in the principles this country was founded on or have we given up that it ever mattered?

 

Where do you find hope? You’ve been a resident of Roseland for over 30 years. What keeps you rooted to that Chicago neighborhood?

I find hope in my faith, my family and the children (young people) I serve. I stay here because I hate to leave the children who are now coming up and believe that I can help them like I did their brother, sister or friend.

For more information on Kids Off the Block, click here.

Photo Credits: Top,  alchteron.com