As I mentioned before, I had dedicated Thursdays (I know, it’s Friday) to identifying acts that defend our immigrants, refugees and asylum seekers. Yesterday (a Thursday) was a particularly special day for me since my father, who was a refugee, would have turned 100 (he passed away ten years ago).
His story started when he was a boy in a small Polish village that was on the border between the German and Soviet occupation at the beginning of World War II. He and some members of his family were staying on the “Soviet side” of town and were suddenly put on freight trains and, without their consent or previous knowledge, sent to Siberia (they thought they were being transported to a camp a few miles upstream of the river San). He lived in Siberia under horrendous conditions for most of the war – he was ironically lucky because family members who remained behind in Poland were all murdered by the Nazis. After Siberia, he ended up in Kazakhstan (working on a farm), Germany (in a refugee camp), Switzerland (where he went to university), and Tunisia (where he taught) before marrying my mother and moving to New York. He had no nationality at that point, but possessed UN refugee status. Would he have been allowed to immigrate to the US today? The stories of those seeking asylum and a new start today are no less heartbreaking or interesting than my father’s.
I want to talk about Sanctuary, which is a religious and political movement that started in the 1980s to provide safe haven for Central American refugees fleeing civil conflict. The movement was a response to federal immigration policies that made obtaining asylum difficult for Central Americans.
The New Sanctuary Movement is “a growing movement of faith and immigrant communities doing what Congress and the Administration refuse to do: protect and stand with immigrants facing deportation. Members pledge to protect immigrant families who face workplace discrimination or unjust deportation. Unitarian Universalists are joining the many religious leaders, congregations, and faith-based organizations of all denominations who are part of the Movement (from the website of Unitarian Universalist Association).”
Most of my posts have been about doing something at the national level. The Sanctuary Movement is a local action that takes place in your community. It is based in local places of worship: congregations can decide to be part of the Sanctuary Movement, which means that they pledge to protect immigrant families. The Unitarian Universalist Association has played a key role in today’s movement. The Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism supports the Sanctuary Movement, as does the Church World Service.
There is also the Sanctuary School and Safe Zone movement, where schools can pledge to protect immigrants. I’m not exactly sure how this works and will do some more research. If you are familiar with this effort, please let me know.
As an act of anti-fascism, talk with an immigrant, asylum seeker or refugee and ask how they are doing, whether they need any help, and share a joke or story. It goes a long way.
I have a final question. Can/will universities make information available to the administration regarding who participated in demonstrations? The ACLU has a petition that you can sign that will go to Senators to tell them not to vote for HR9495, which punishes protesters who are not citizens.
True-ish Stories 