(more coming soon!)
05/20/2010
05/18/2010
UPDATE! May 18, 2010
STEPPING
OUT OF THE SHADOWS!!!
76
Miles for Justice!
Hate talks ….Justice Walks!!!
Yes
We Can !
6
DAYS, 76 MILES, 1 MONTH TO ACT !
Ø
DAY 15-
Ø
DAY
16- Stanwood to Marysville
(St
Mary's Catholic Church
Ø
DAY
17- From Church Saint Mary (St Mary's Catholic Church 4200 88th St NE, Marysville, WA
98270) to
Everett ( DONE )
DAY 18-
DAY
19- Everett MALL at ( 9: 30 AM) to
DAY
20-
Join leader Juan Jose
Maldonado and Skagit One America LEFT
FROM St. Charles Church in Burlington at 9AM Saturday May 15th
through May 20 th
Will end the trek by
joining hundreds of others in
Ø
The time to act is short and URGENT! Keep
families together! Protect Workers Rights! Respect Civil and Human Rights! And…
trek for the 12 million undocumented people to step out of the shadows!
To
walk AND join Juan
Jose MAldonado 360 220 5924 /Skagit One
America OR GET informaton WITH Jose Ortiz at payouth@svcc.us
or 360.333.5015
SAL DE
ENTRE LAS SOMBRAS!!
!
6 DIAS, 76 MILLAS, 1 MES
Burlington to Seattle ,
WA
Ø
VENGA
Y Únase con líder Juan Jose Maldonado y Skagit OneAmerica en la caminata por la
justicia y la reforma migratoria!
Ø
Venga,
apoye, y sea parte de la caminata Comunitaria QUE YA salio de la iglesia San
Carlos en Burlington, WA, DESDE EL 15 AL
20 DE mayo
Ø
Estaremos
esperandote durante el recorrido HASTA llegar a Seattle con una manifestación
el 20 de mayo en 11AM EN EL Federal
Building Downtown Seattle para una reforma migratoria . Tenemos que mantener a nuestras
Familias Unidas !
Ø Por el Respeto los derechos civiles y humanos!únase al movimiento para que los 12 millones de personas Indocumentadas pueden salir de las sombras!!!
( 3 DIAS YA CAMINADOS ! )
DAY 15-
DAY 16- Stanwood to Marysville
(St Mary's Catholic Church 4200
88th St NE, Marysville, WA 98270) DAY 17- Church Saint Mary (St Mary's Catholic Church 4200 88th
St NE, Marysville, WA ) to Everett
Falta por
caminar
DAY 18-
DAY
19- Everett MALL at ( 9: 30 AM) to
DAY 20-
Para Informacion de cambios en el camino con Juan
Jose Maldonado 360 220 5924 / Francisco
Lopez 360 630 3333 / Skagit One America
O contacta a Miguel Gaitan al 360.630.9742 o gavemai@hotmail.com
Jose Ortiz at payouth@svcc.us or
360.333.5015.
WeAreOneAmerica.org (Formerly Hate Free
Zone)
05/15/2010
05/13/2010
05/11/2010
03/11/2010
09/02/2009
08/18/2009
08/16/2009
Day Fifteen: The Pilgrimage Ends, the Walk Continues
Yesterday morning, a bit later than usual, about 56 people joined
us to walk the last miles from St. Martin of Tours to the Northwest
Detention Center. There were newcomers, some from Tacoma, some
from much farther away than Bellingham; some had walked on other
days, welcome companions who jogged my memories of each day of the
journey.
When we arrived at the Detention Center, another 30 or so people joined us so that 80 people prayed the Stations of the Cross of the Migrant Jesus and then a lovely call-and-response set of prayers that Lee, who has been such a stalwart since we began planning, had created from various sources. We prayed in both English and Spanish, and in the background were private security people watching warily, and families of people detained within kept coming out after visiting their loved ones. The landscape around the center is stark, freight spurs, a propane depot, anonymous buildings with indecipherable names like CODEL, which I learned from its website is a maker of "entry systems," better known as "doors."
May the doors of the Detention Center in Tacoma, and of all the Detention Centers, open soon to release all those held within. And may our hearts also be opened to welcome those who want to build new lives in the United States!
posted by Nick
Day Fifteen: This Particular Pilgrimage Has Ended
At 10 AM, at St. Martin of Tours, we
began with introductions—and home churches—from the group of 50
people. Jim Bloss, who sent out press advisories and coordinated his
parish's participation, was there; Jim Thomas and JL Drouhard from
the archdiocese with their wives were there; Danny and I drove Miguel
and his grandson Kevin from Mt. Vernon; the Unitarians; some of the
unchurched. Recent immigrants joined with those of us who immigrated
a generation or four ago; there were people from St. Leo’s parish,
nuns from various places, and a contingent from St. Patrick’s,
supporting Sami Malkandi, the Iraqi detainee whose wife Mali we have
all met and loved.
The walk was a gentle one…leaving Fife, walking by Costco and a Mercedes dealership, across the I-5 and into the very industrial Port of Tacoma.
We began our prayer vigil with the Stations of the Cross of the Migrant Jesus…alternating English and Spanish reflections, with James from St. Leo’s leading us in singing “The Lord Hears The Cry Of The Poor.” Jose Ortiz brought the 14 wooden crosses, each with a traditional picture of Christ’s last hours as well as a modern photo of immigrants living through the challenges of their lives. Fourteen pilgrims took turns reading the reflections and prayers…Jose’s daughter Kati introduced each station. The crosses were made by a young man as a part of his Eagle Boy Scout Project, after participating in the Youth Migrant Project in middle school.
It is hard to capture the deep emotion of following a Catholic Good Friday ritual on a grassy field in front of the Northwest Detention Center, which is a private immigration prison located on the tide flats of the Port of Tacoma in Tacoma, Washington. The detention center opened in 2004 by Correctional Services Corporation (CSC) under a contract with the US Department of Homeland Security and in 2005 CSC was purchased by the GEO Group, another private organization. A contract with Immigration and Customs Enforcement crowded the facility's housing capacity to 1,000 detainees, making it the largest detention center owned by GEO Group on the West Coast...and thus highly profitable to them, paid for by our tax dollars.
We paused a while, chatted with some of the families coming to visit their loved ones, networked with JustFaith graduates, or got to know pilgrims we had met along the way a little more. The last hour we spent together praying litanies, prayers, and scripture, put together with help from Celeste and JustFaith, using antiphons and responsorials in English and Spanish. Cesar Chavez’s Meditation for Farm Workers, with alternating Spanish and English, followed by “We Shall Overcome” closed our vigil at the Detention Center praying for Comprehensive Immigration Reform!
Some might think that we had enough prayer, but at 5 PM more than 20 pilgrims attended St. Leo’s 5 PM Mass. We took white crosses that the Youth Migrant Project had painted and written on to remind us all of the death toll that migration takes on peoples everywhere. Fr. Jim introduced the pilgrims to the church; we brought the artifacts we had carried with us from church to church to remind us of the reason for the pilgrimage and placed them before the ambo.
But the homily, which set the great challenges of our time in the context of our faith, served as a high point for me. While Father Jim related personal stories from a death penalty sit-in, and the controversies surrounding health care, he made all so simple: we, as Christians, must stand for life. And that is why we walked this pilgrimage…to support life in our United States, to ensure the right to pursue life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, to reduce the deaths of people so desperate for work that they risk their lives to come to our country. We need a life-supporting immigration system…we need a miracle.
There was a lovely meal prepared by the very welcoming parishioners of St. Leo’s…but I’ll let another writer address those final hours of the Pilgrimage for Comprehensive Immigration Reform.
posted by Lee
