stopracism
05-10-2010, 05:42 AM
Charley Honey; area Hispanic residents call Arizona anti-immigration law a 'slap in the face'
mlive.com
May 8, 2010
http://www.mlive.com/living/grand-rapids/index.ssf/2010/05/charley_honey_area_hispanic_re.html
The asparagus is ripening in Oceana County. The Rev. Tom Bolster had his first taste last week and found it delicious.
http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t261/stopracism/charley_honey.png
But there’s a bitter taste among the Hispanic residents and seasonal migrants who pick the bountiful crop in this beautiful Lakeshore area. They feel Arizona’s harsh new anti-immigration law is a “slap in the face,” says Bolster, pastor of St. Gregory Catholic Church in Hart.
“We’re a country of laws, but also a country of immigrants,” says Bolster, the Spanish-speaking priest for about 4,000 Latino residents and close to 10,000 seasonal migrants in Oceana. “Some understanding and compassion is in order.”
So say many in the faith community who are protesting Arizona’s recently enacted measure, which empowers police officers to demand documents of people under “reasonable suspicion” of being illegal immigrants. People of faith were out in force last weekend from New York to Dallas to Los Angeles, protesting what they see as an unjust and discriminatory law.
Religious groups from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops to the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) say the law will divide families, support racial profiling and sow fear and mistrust among immigrants. Cardinal Roger Mahony of Los Angeles decried its potential for “German Nazi and Russian Communist techniques.”
Presbyterian leaders said it also puts at risk church workers “who are called simply to offer the most basic of humanitarian assistance” to undocumented workers.
Opponents are up against a recent poll showing that a slim majority of Americans support the law and the widespread belief that illegal immigrants take away jobs and draw costly social services.
But critics cite both Scripture and economics for their case.
“It smells of a race-based fascism,” says Richard Kessler, a Grand Rapids attorney specializing in migrant and immigration cases.
He charges the law means “people are being targeted simply because of the way they look.”
Fears law will spread to Michigan
Many local immigrants fear a similar law could be proposed in Michigan, says Kessler, who estimates at least 30 percent of area migrants are undocumented. Contrary to popular perception, thousands of illegals already are prosecuted, Kessler asserts, adding that migrants work jobs that most local people won’t take.
For him, immigration reform is a matter both of social justice and his Jewish faith. He recalls the Hebrews’ exodus from Egypt referenced in the book of Leviticus: “The stranger who sojourns with you shall be as the native among you ... for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.”
“That should translate into how we treat the stranger among us here,” Kessler says.
Up in Hart, Sister Guadalupe Moreno agrees that justice demands immigration reform, so hard-working migrants might become hard-working Americans.
For nearly 25 years, she has worked with both migrants and residents as Grand Rapids Diocese coordinator of Hispanic ministries for Oceana, Mason, Newaygo and Lake counties. She holds prayer services at migrant camps, teaches catechism and helps families find food and furniture.
Latinos are arriving from Florida and Texas these days, ready to pick the cherries, peaches and plums many of us will gleefully gather at roadside stands. Sister Guadalupe sees in these people a willingness to work long, hot days and a deep thirst for God.
“When they are here, they feel the church is home for them,” says Sister Guadalupe, who works out of St. Gregory. “This is the place they feel safe.”
They don’t feel as safe since passage of the Arizona law, which she calls “racial prejudice” promoting “hate of a specific group.”
“This is not the America that I love,” adds Sister Guadalupe, a native of Mexico. “This is a country of immigrants.”
A rich heritage
Indeed we are. West Michigan was settled by immigrants from England, Germany, Poland and the Netherlands; later by Vietnamese, Koreans, Bosnians and Sudanese.
They have enriched our culture and enlivened our houses of worship.
People pray in more than two dozen languages here. They also should have the opportunity to work and live here, legally and proudly.
mlive.com
May 8, 2010
http://www.mlive.com/living/grand-rapids/index.ssf/2010/05/charley_honey_area_hispanic_re.html
The asparagus is ripening in Oceana County. The Rev. Tom Bolster had his first taste last week and found it delicious.
http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t261/stopracism/charley_honey.png
But there’s a bitter taste among the Hispanic residents and seasonal migrants who pick the bountiful crop in this beautiful Lakeshore area. They feel Arizona’s harsh new anti-immigration law is a “slap in the face,” says Bolster, pastor of St. Gregory Catholic Church in Hart.
“We’re a country of laws, but also a country of immigrants,” says Bolster, the Spanish-speaking priest for about 4,000 Latino residents and close to 10,000 seasonal migrants in Oceana. “Some understanding and compassion is in order.”
So say many in the faith community who are protesting Arizona’s recently enacted measure, which empowers police officers to demand documents of people under “reasonable suspicion” of being illegal immigrants. People of faith were out in force last weekend from New York to Dallas to Los Angeles, protesting what they see as an unjust and discriminatory law.
Religious groups from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops to the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) say the law will divide families, support racial profiling and sow fear and mistrust among immigrants. Cardinal Roger Mahony of Los Angeles decried its potential for “German Nazi and Russian Communist techniques.”
Presbyterian leaders said it also puts at risk church workers “who are called simply to offer the most basic of humanitarian assistance” to undocumented workers.
Opponents are up against a recent poll showing that a slim majority of Americans support the law and the widespread belief that illegal immigrants take away jobs and draw costly social services.
But critics cite both Scripture and economics for their case.
“It smells of a race-based fascism,” says Richard Kessler, a Grand Rapids attorney specializing in migrant and immigration cases.
He charges the law means “people are being targeted simply because of the way they look.”
Fears law will spread to Michigan
Many local immigrants fear a similar law could be proposed in Michigan, says Kessler, who estimates at least 30 percent of area migrants are undocumented. Contrary to popular perception, thousands of illegals already are prosecuted, Kessler asserts, adding that migrants work jobs that most local people won’t take.
For him, immigration reform is a matter both of social justice and his Jewish faith. He recalls the Hebrews’ exodus from Egypt referenced in the book of Leviticus: “The stranger who sojourns with you shall be as the native among you ... for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.”
“That should translate into how we treat the stranger among us here,” Kessler says.
Up in Hart, Sister Guadalupe Moreno agrees that justice demands immigration reform, so hard-working migrants might become hard-working Americans.
For nearly 25 years, she has worked with both migrants and residents as Grand Rapids Diocese coordinator of Hispanic ministries for Oceana, Mason, Newaygo and Lake counties. She holds prayer services at migrant camps, teaches catechism and helps families find food and furniture.
Latinos are arriving from Florida and Texas these days, ready to pick the cherries, peaches and plums many of us will gleefully gather at roadside stands. Sister Guadalupe sees in these people a willingness to work long, hot days and a deep thirst for God.
“When they are here, they feel the church is home for them,” says Sister Guadalupe, who works out of St. Gregory. “This is the place they feel safe.”
They don’t feel as safe since passage of the Arizona law, which she calls “racial prejudice” promoting “hate of a specific group.”
“This is not the America that I love,” adds Sister Guadalupe, a native of Mexico. “This is a country of immigrants.”
A rich heritage
Indeed we are. West Michigan was settled by immigrants from England, Germany, Poland and the Netherlands; later by Vietnamese, Koreans, Bosnians and Sudanese.
They have enriched our culture and enlivened our houses of worship.
People pray in more than two dozen languages here. They also should have the opportunity to work and live here, legally and proudly.