Car Rally Urges Release of Persons Detained by ICE

Car rally urges release of persons detained by ICE

Because justice requires action, I am sharing this article that I submitted to the Grass Valley Union last week, following a car rally that several of us participated in at the Yuba County Jail, the only remaining ICE detention center in Northern California.  Please take a moment to add your name to the petition at the link below calling on our elected representatives to meet the demands listed below. Fleeing to the United States should not bring with it a death sentence.

From The Grass Valley Union, April 15, 2020

Eight people from Nevada City, Grass Valley, and Camptonville participated in a “social distancing” car rally Tuesday at Yuba County Jail. Over 40 cars circled the jail, sometimes chanting or honking their horns, demanding action to protect immigrants and other inmates who are housed there from infection by COVID-19. Over 150 immigrant detainees are housed there under a county contract with the federal Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Human rights groups are calling on Yuba County to cancel the federal contract with ICE due to concerns that current conditions create a breeding ground which could cause the pandemic to infect people and spread.

Three Nevada County participants in the car rally, Shirley Osgood, Janie Kesselman and Sharon Delgado, have personally visited immigrants at the jail through a sponsoring organization, Faithful Friends. These visitors have communicated with individual detainees, inquired about their health and the conditions in the jail, shared their needs with Faithful Friends, and sometimes contacted their families or requested lawyers. The trio said they were alarmed by unsanitary and crowded conditions, which could provide an environment that could easily spread COVID-19 to prisoners and guards, including to ICE detainees. Demands include releasing all people in ICE custody who are eligible for alternatives to detention; releasing all people who are older than 60, immune compromised, pregnant or with underlying conditions. Additionally, soap, CDC-recommended hand sanitizer, medical care, comprehensive sanitation and cleaning of facilities — as well as other safety measures as recommended by the CDC — should be immediately provided for those who remain incarcerated. Organizers also advocate granting humanitarian parole requests, eliminating medical copays and lifting all fees for calls to family members.

The car rally was organized by Jewish Action Norcal, whose message, “Never again means now,” serves as a reminder that countless people died in the Nazi concentration camps due to disease. For more information, visit https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/release-immigrants-detained-at-yuba-county-jail-amid-covid-19-pandemic.

To receive an email notification each time Sharon posts to her blog, click the “Follow Sharon Delgado” button at the right.

Love the Immigrant as Yourself

Progressive Christian Social Action

Parkside Church in Sacramento

Love the Immigrant as Yourself

“you shall love the immigrant as yourself…” Leviticus 19: 34

As tears flow around the country and world for immigrant children who have been separated and incarcerated by the Trump Administration, support for the president’s harsh policies among white Evangelicals continues. Even politicians and TV news anchors are visibly moved by the plight of these children and their parents, while Attorney General Jeff Sessions quotes scripture to justify these cruel immigration policies.

As a follower of Jesus, I am appalled by the deliberate distortion of scripture to justify policies that are antithetical to the love of God and neighbor.  The Bible is consistent in calling for mercy and justice for the most vulnerable people, characterized in biblical times as widows, orphans, and immigrants.  Yet the United States is enacting cruel immigration policies that violate international law.  By separating children from their parents, incarcerating them, and deporting their parents, our country has essentially left these children orphaned, many of whom may never be reunited with their families.

Consider this:  According to the infancy narrative in Matthew, the Holy Family fled into Egypt as migrants seeking safety from King Herod (Matthew 2:13-15).  How would that story have turned out if the baby Jesus had been separated from Mary and Joseph at the border?

Jesus was descended from immigrants, including Ruth (Matthew 1:5), a widow who immigrated to Israel with her (also widowed) mother-in-law Naomi.  They survived by gleaning before Ruth and Boaz married.  They were able to survive because the laws of Israel required that after the harvest landowners had to leave some the grain in the fields and grapes on the vine for immigrants and the poor (Leviticus 19:9-10).  How would the story have turned out if Ruth and Naomi had been imprisoned or deported instead?

When Jeff Sessions quotes Romans 13:1 (“Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities”) to call for us all to submit to the Trump Administration’s cruel immigration policies, he is ignoring the overall “scope and tenor” of scripture, which is mercy, justice, and love. Sessions has left out the clarifying passage in Romans 13:10 that “love is the fulfillment of the law.”

More than 600 United Methodists recently brought charges in the church against Mr. Sessions (a United Methodist) for violating church principles on child abuse, immorality, racial discrimination, and “dissemination of doctrines” contrary to those of the United Methodist Church. I am happy to support their action, regardless of how it turns out.

Many people are familiar with Jesus’ teaching to “Love your neighbor as yourself,” but not everyone realizes that Jesus was quoting those words in Leviticus 19:18, and that what follows in Leviticus 19:33-34 is a command to “love the immigrant as yourself.” Here is the full passage:

“When an immigrant resides with you in your land, you shall not oppress the immigrant.  The immigrant who resides with you shall be as the citizen among you; you shall love the immigrant as yourself, for you were immigrants in the land of Egypt:  I am the Lord your God.”

“Love your neighbor as yourself.”  “Love the immigrant as yourself.” “Love is the fulfillment of the law.

 

To receive an email notification each time Sharon posts to her blog, click the “Follow Sharon Delgado” button at the right.

 

 

“We cherish our brothers and sisters from all parts of the world”

I am speechless about Trump’s obscene racist slurs about immigrants and the countries they come from.  Fortunately, I can point to the following statement from the bishops of my denomination.  We have our work cut out for us.

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – January 12, 2018
United Methodist Bishops condemn President Trump’s “offensive” remarks against immigrants

WASHINGTON, D.C.. – We are appalled by the offensive, disgusting words attributed to President Donald Trump who is said to have referred to immigrants from African countries and Haiti, and the countries themselves, in an insulting and derogative manner. According to various media accounts, President Trump made the remarks during a White House discussion with lawmakers on immigration.

As reported, President Trump’s words are not only offensive and harmful, they are racist.

We call upon all Christians, especially United Methodists, to condemn this characterization and further call for President Trump to apologize.

As United Methodists, we cherish our brothers and sisters from all parts of the world and we believe that God loves all creation regardless of where they live or where they come from. As leaders of our global United Methodist Church, we are sickened by such uncouth language from the leader of a nation that was founded by immigrants and serves as a beacon to the world’s “huddled masses longing to be free.”

Thousands of our clergy, laity and other highly skilled, productive citizens are from places President Trump has defamed with his comments. The fact that he also insists the United States should consider more immigrants from Europe and Asia demonstrates the racist character of his comments. This is a direct contradiction of God’s love for all people. Further, these comments on the eve of celebrating Martin Luther King Day belies Dr. Kings’ witness and the United States on-going battle against racism.

We just celebrated the birth of Jesus Christ, whose parents during his infancy, had to flee to Africa to escape from the wrath of King Herod. Millions of immigrants across the globe are running away from such despicable and life-threatening events. Hence, we have the Christian duty to be supportive of them as they flee political, cultural and social dangers in their native homes.

We will not stand by and allow our brothers and sisters to be maligned in such a crude manner. We call on all United Methodists, all people of faith, and the political leadership of the United States to speak up and speak against such demeaning and racist comments.

Christ reminds us that it is by love that they will know that we are Christians. Let’s demonstrate that love for all of God’s people by saying no to racism; no to discrimination and no to bigotry.

Bishop Bruce R. Ough
President – Council of Bishops

 

To receive an email notification each time Sharon posts to her blog, click the “Follow Sharon Delgado” button at the right.

Climate Change and Global Migration:  Signs of the Times

150903122259-20-migrant-crisis-super-169

You can find this article online at Climate Change and Global Migration:  Signs of the Times, beginning on page 8 in the November issue of Response Magazine, the magazine for United Methodist Women.

You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs of the times.”    Matthew 16:3

We humans are pretty good at predicting the weather, but most of us are at a loss when trying to interpret the meaning and profound implications of climate change.  Yet climate change is one of the major signs of our times.  Global migration is another sign of our times, distinct but related to our changing climate.  Climate change will impact all our ministries, including our ministries of hospitality with immigrants and our missions that serve displaced people around the world, and climate change will cause ever-increasing rates of migration.

Climate change and immigrant rights cannot be addressed in a vacuum.  In order to find comprehensive solutions, we will have to consider how these issues are interwoven, look at root causes, and work for systemic transformation.   As disciples of Jesus Christ, we look to his life and teachings as a foundation for our response to these great challenges of our day.

Signs of Jesus’ Time

We sometimes think of Jesus as removed from time and space.  But Jesus’ ministry did not take place in a vacuum.  What were the signs of his time?  What was the context of his ministry?

In Jesus’ day, Israel was under military occupation by Rome.  The religious leaders in Jerusalem collaborated with the Romans, collecting taxes through the Temple and helping to maintain the precarious social, economic, and political order.

There was great unrest among the people.  They awaited the coming of a Messiah who would overthrow Rome and reestablish Jerusalem as a great kingdom, as it was in King David’s day.

Into this mix came Jesus, who challenged the established system while holding fast to principles of nonviolence, compassion, justice, and love. Many times throughout his ministry, Jesus warned that disaster would come upon the people if they stayed on the path they were on.  At the same time, he demonstrated fullness of life in the present, showing people what God was like and what human life could be when lived in the presence of God.

Jesus often had to deal with skeptics, who doubted his authority and challenged him at every turn.  Matthew 16:1-4 tells about one such encounter:

“And the Sadducees came, and to test him they asked him to show them a sign from heaven.  He answered them, `When it is evening, you say, `It will be fair weather, for the sky is red.’  And in the morning, `It will be stormy today, for the sky is red and threatening.’  “You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs of the times. An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign shall be given to it except the sign of Jonah.”  So he left them and departed.”

By referring to the “sign of Jonah,” who spent three days in the belly of a fish, Jesus foreshadowed his own death and resurrection.  Jesus directly challenged those who were responsible for leading the people in the wrong direction, demonstrated alternatives based on the values of the kin-dom of God, and lived and died in solidarity with those who suffered.  By so doing, he gave us an example to follow.

Even more, through faith in the Risen Christ, we can trust that God will guide and empower us in every situation and in each moment of our lives.  Through the power of the Holy Spirit we are given clarity to discern the signs of our times, including the interrelated challenges of climate change and global migration, and grace to respond appropriately.

Climate Change

The World Bank report, “Why a 4 degree warmer world must be avoided,” outlines the dangers of a rapid and dramatic rise in global temperatures.  So far, mean global temperatures have risen 0.8°C (1.4°F) since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, causing far more damage than predicted.   The warmer atmosphere has contributed to record-breaking weather events:  heat waves, extended droughts, major wildfires, extreme storms, floods, melting ice caps, rising seas, and more.  At the Copenhagen Climate Conference in 2009, the nations of the world agreed that we must hold warming to the limit of 2°C in order to prevent climate disaster.   But at the current rate of greenhouse gas emissions, we are on track for a rise of 4 to 6 degrees in this century.  Scientists warn that this would result in disaster.

As global temperatures rise, every region on earth will experience dramatic changes.  But the World Bank report also outlines the extreme impacts that a warming planet will have on poor and developing nations.  Sub-Saharan Africa, Southeast Asia, and South Asia will be particularly hard hit.  Drought and water shortages will affect agricultural production of basic crops like rice, maize, and wheat, raising food prices, affecting food security, and threatening famine.  Low-lying regions are especially vulnerable to disastrous flooding caused by typhoons, hurricanes, monsoons, or other serious storms.   Some islands and coastal areas will disappear; other places will become uninhabitable.  Such climate-related disasters will trigger hunger, homelessness, regional conflict, and mass migrations.

Global Migration

Migration rates are rising.  By 2013, there was a record number of 232 million international migrants,  with millions more displaced within their home countries.  Many have been motivated by war, persecution, unfair trade policies, economic hardship, natural disaster, or environmental degradation to leave home in search of a better life.

Europe is currently experiencing the greatest flood of immigrants since World War II.  The majority are fleeing war or persecution, and qualify as refugees under international law.  Some countries are receiving these desperate people humanely; others arm their borders trying to keep them out.

The greatest number of migrants are from war-torn Syria.  Some analysts suggest that climate change may be an underlying factor in this exodus.  Syria endured a severe drought that drove 1.5 million rural people off the land and into crowded cities, contributing to unrest.   As climate change advances and extended droughts become more frequent, such stories will become more common.

According to António Guterres, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, climate change will soon become the biggest factor driving population displacements, both inside and across national borders.  The effects of climate change on migration will vary.  Some regions will experience a mass exodus of people, while others will see a mass influx.[viii]  Ministries of hospitality and welcome for immigrants will be increasingly taxed by waves of environmental migrants who are fleeing from regions submerged by rising seas or made uninhabitable by extreme storms or drought.

Without international assistance, the governments of developing nations will lack the resources to meet these challenges, and may respond with expanded police and military power.  Even developed nations are unequipped at this time to deal constructively with the increasing number of weather-related disasters that are sure to come.  Unless there are proactive plans in place to assist victims of such disasters, even wealthy nations may respond through stricter immigration laws, harsher law enforcement policies, and military power.

Climate Justice

During the 2016-2020 quadrennium, United Methodist Women will add climate justice as one of its priorities, building on its work on climate change, immigration, and other ongoing issues of concern.  Climate justice addresses the disproportionate impacts of a warming planet on people in poor regions and nations who are least responsible for historic greenhouse gas emissions.  Climate justice includes a call for wealthy nations to transfer renewable technologies to poor nations and to assist poor nations in adapting to rising temperatures, rising sea levels, and extreme weather events.

Climate justice is an extension of United Methodist Women’s decades-long work on environmental justice, in solidarity with those who are disproportionately impacted by toxic pollution.  Poor communities, and especially communities of color, are more likely to be located near sites of extraction, production, transport, or disposal of toxic chemicals.  People in such communities, including workers, suffer negative health impacts and may lack access to medical care and other needed services.

A similar dynamic is at work in climate justice struggles. Fossil fuels pollute when they are extracted and processed, as well as when they are burned and released into the atmosphere.  In both developed and developing nations, low income people and people of color, including indigenous people, are more likely to live and work in “sacrifice zones,” where fossil fuels are extracted or refined.  In weather-related disasters, proximity to toxic sites multiplies exposure risks.

In 2016, United Methodist Women’s annual Mission u will feature a study on climate justice.  The climate justice study guide was written by various authors from different regions, which allows for a diversity of perspectives on the topic.  The goal of the study is to help equip participants to establish or join creation care ministry teams in their annual conferences.  Creation care ministry teams provide a context through which United Methodist Women can work together, in solidarity with others, to care for victims of climate change, work for climate justice, and transform systemic causes of climate change.

System Change

Economic globalization has created a Market-based global system, tied together by freely flowing capital, dominated by corporations, endorsed by governments, and enforced by police and military power.  The resulting problems are also global in scope.  There is great unrest, as the gap between rich and poor grows, poverty deepens, and the climate warms.

The twenty-first century movement for climate justice rigorously challenges the established order, as Jesus did in his day.  The current global system is not working for the majority of people or for the natural world.  It is inequitable, unjust, and unsustainable.  It is supported by institutions that promote white privilege, value profit over people, and exploit God’s good creation.  The momentum of this system is accelerating climate change, which in turn accelerates global migration.  Many are warning that disaster will befall us if we do not change course.

At the same time, people around the world are awakening to the current dangers and the need for systemic transformation. People in rich and poor nations alike are taking action for climate justice and are calling for “system change not climate change.”

Interpreting the Signs of Our Times

As United Methodist Women and as followers of Jesus, we are called not only to recognize the signs of our times, but to interpret and respond to them.  Behind facts and statistics we can see the faces of God’s children, our brothers and sisters around the world, and respond by acting in solidarity and welcoming them in Christ’s name when they come.  We can hear creation’s groans, and respond by working to preserve God’s wondrous creation and the interconnected web of life.

On the subjects of climate change and immigration, we must find clarity in the midst of controversy.  The United Methodist Church has accepted the scientific consensus on climate change for over 25 years, but skeptics present arguments that test us, sow doubt, and challenge our resolve.  It’s important for us to be well enough informed to know the basic facts about climate change and to understand that the fossil fuel industry funds climate skeptics and deliberately sows doubt about climate science.  Likewise, in the immigration debate, corporations oppose rights for immigrant workers that might cut into profits, while some politicians support or reject immigration reform depending on which way the political winds blow.

As we seek to interpret the signs of our times, we must give special attention to the voices of those who live and work on the front lines of climate change but are ignored by the media.  These include climate activists from the global South, people in sacrifice zones, women farmers struggling to feed their families, young people speaking out for intergenerational justice, and indigenous peoples calling on us to respect the rights of the earth.  Their pleas and warnings urge us to demonstrate God’s care and concern by advocating for just policies on their behalf.

We are called to welcome all people on behalf of Christ, protect those who are vulnerable, and preserve God’s creation for future generations.  We must continue ministries of hospitality with immigrants and work to prevent increasingly harsh and repressive policies.  At the same time we must work for climate justice and join in the chorus of voices calling for “system change, not climate change.”  By doing so we follow Jesus, demonstrate the values of the kin-dom, and entrust ourselves and the future to the care of God.

Follow Sharon’s blog by clicking the “Follow Sharon Delgado” button at the right or by “liking” the Shaking the Gates of Hell Facebook page.  

 Sharon’s other blog postings about climate change can be found here.   Order Sharon’s CD– Climate Change:  What Do We Know?  What Can We Do? or download a free MP3 version. 

They’re Just like Us

 

War is not healthy

War is not healthy

 

When my grandchildren, Alex and Malina, were recognized for raising money for mosquito nets for the Imagine No Malaria Campaign, Alex explained, “They’re just like us.”    Just ten years old, and already they have empathy and can imagine how these other children must feel, even children who live halfway around the world.

This is part of what it means to be human.  We live in the midst of dehumanizing forces, with the awareness of danger and suffering all around.  Media images distract, divert, distort, and disempower so effectively that most of us believe that there is nothing we can do.  It’s tempting to withdraw our awareness of what’s going on across the globe, and to just focus on our personal lives.  But by doing so we become part of the “silent majority” that consents to the status quo through our silence and inaction.

The invasion of Gaza is at the top of the news.  I oppose all forms of violence, including the firing of rockets by Hamas into Israel.  But Israel’s actions are so disproportionate and horrific that people around the world are voicing their outrage and turning out for mass demonstrations.  Israel is terrorizing the civilian population in Gaza through occupation and now invasion.  The people are suffering in ways that most of us cannot imagine. Read this Letter from Gaza by a Norwegian Doctor to get an idea of the scope of the horror.

The United States sends $3 billion of military aid to Israel every year, so we who are US citizens are complicit in this escalating violence against innocent civilians.  Even those in Gaza who want to flee have been hemmed in so that there is nowhere for them to go.  Can we really ignore their suffering without diminishing our humanity?  I don’t think so.

We are also hearing a lot about the children coming across our border from Central America, fleeing for their lives.  They are being met with intolerance, racism, xenophobia, and hatred.  This exodus is not taking place in a vacuum.  The United States has a history of overthrowing democracies throughout Latin American and establishing dictatorships that are open to US military and corporate interests.  The United States has also dominated the economies of many of these poor countries, through IMF and World Bank debt and more recently through so-called free trade agreements.  Rather than helping these countries become self-sufficient, these policies have increased corporate power, privatized and deregulated public services, and driven people off the land.  To find out more, read David Bacon’s insightful article “How U.S. policies helped create the current immigration crisis.”

Many of these children are fleeing violent gangs or political oppression.  Many may qualify as refugees.  Can we in good conscience turn our back on these children and send them back into situations of extreme danger?  How could we do that without diminishing our own humanity?  What would we do if we found ourselves in situations like theirs, where we felt there was no alternative but to flee?  What would our children do?

I’m glad that my grandchildren feel a sense of solidarity and connection with people around the world, and that they are eager to help when they can.  In this age of globalization, that is what it means to love our neighbors as ourselves.