I've protested at this ICE facility six times now. And it's never been this cold before. And also, there's never been this many people here before. So good job, all of you for coming out here in this cold. You're here because your outraged. I'm outraged too. I woke up mad. I was so outraged that I knew I couldn't speak off the top of my head and keep calm like my holy sister, Miracle, did when she spoke just now, so I wrote out my remarks. But Miracle noted that we woke up to a synagogue in Mississippi being firebombed. All their torahs, their holy books, were burned. And we know from historical experience that where books are burned, people are burned.
The murder of Renee Nicole Good and the ongoing lawless behavior of this illegitimate government agency called ICE enrages us because it offends us on nearly every conceivable level. It offends as Americans and as humans. It offends our morality and our compassion and our sense of justice. It denigrates and profanes everything we come to understand.
As Americans, we hold the belief that our nation was built by generations of immigrants that came before us, from England and Germany, Italy and Ireland, China and Mexico, and every country on the planet. Tempest tossed, these generations of immigrants looked to America and found that lady liberty lifts her lamp beside a golden door. But today, folks seeking asylum are chased in the streets by thugs. Families applying for final visa status are arrested in courthouses and in schools, in universities, and even in church. Sanctuaries literally cannot even offer sanctuary to these criminals.
As people of justice we are enraged that they do these acts while violating any and every law conceivable. They show no warrants. They racially profile anyone with brown skin. They show no badges. They hide their faces like cowards. They swear and curse and threaten.
As people of compassion we are horrified by their inhumanity. Folks arrested by ICE disappear into ICE detention centers at Northeast Ohio and Moshannon. They are overcrowded and mistreated. They are denied access to lawyers and family visits. Chaplains are even denied access to these gulags. So pervasive is the loneliness and deprivation that God cannot even get in. And when the expedited and extralegal incarceration is done, they get sent to CECOT in El Salvador. ICE not only allows cruelty – it revels in being cruel, following in the fascist authoritarian tradition of the gulag or the gestapo.
As people of faith, we are offended that they treat God’s creatures with such disrespect. My holy book tells me that God created everyone in the Divine image and that as a result, every human being you encounter, black brown or white, documented or undocumented, is a version of God Godself, and should be treated accordingly, with love and compassion.
We pray that our actions here today, of speaking out and witnessing, and of speaking truth to power ; and demanding justice against lawlessness ; will help turn the tide in dismantling and abolishing ICE, a rogue out of control agency running wild. We pray that the killing of Renee Nicole Good will be prosecuted and her murderer face a judge and jury for his crimes. We hope that her death will not be in vain, and that in her name, justice be done for all immigrant people in this country who want nothing more than to dwell under their vine and fig tree, with none to make them afraid. In our sacred books we learn
How long shall the wicked, O LORD / how long shall the wicked exult / shall they utter insolent speech / shall all evildoers vaunt themselves?
They crush Your people, O LORD /
they afflict Your very own /
they kill the widow and the stranger/
they murder the fatherless,
But we also learn
that justice shall abide in the wilderness
And righteousness shall dwell on the farm land.
For the work of justice shall be peace,
And the effect of righteousness, calm and confidence forever.
The murder of Renee Nicole Good and the ongoing lawless behavior of this illegitimate government agency called ICE enrages us because it offends us on nearly every conceivable level. It offends as Americans and as humans. It offends our morality and our compassion and our sense of justice. It denigrates and profanes everything we come to understand.
As Americans, we hold the belief that our nation was built by generations of immigrants that came before us, from England and Germany, Italy and Ireland, China and Mexico, and every country on the planet. Tempest tossed, these generations of immigrants looked to America and found that lady liberty lifts her lamp beside a golden door. But today, folks seeking asylum are chased in the streets by thugs. Families applying for final visa status are arrested in courthouses and in schools, in universities, and even in church. Sanctuaries literally cannot even offer sanctuary to these criminals.
As people of justice we are enraged that they do these acts while violating any and every law conceivable. They show no warrants. They racially profile anyone with brown skin. They show no badges. They hide their faces like cowards. They swear and curse and threaten.
As people of compassion we are horrified by their inhumanity. Folks arrested by ICE disappear into ICE detention centers at Northeast Ohio and Moshannon. They are overcrowded and mistreated. They are denied access to lawyers and family visits. Chaplains are even denied access to these gulags. So pervasive is the loneliness and deprivation that God cannot even get in. And when the expedited and extralegal incarceration is done, they get sent to CECOT in El Salvador. ICE not only allows cruelty – it revels in being cruel, following in the fascist authoritarian tradition of the gulag or the gestapo.
As people of faith, we are offended that they treat God’s creatures with such disrespect. My holy book tells me that God created everyone in the Divine image and that as a result, every human being you encounter, black brown or white, documented or undocumented, is a version of God Godself, and should be treated accordingly, with love and compassion.
We pray that our actions here today, of speaking out and witnessing, and of speaking truth to power ; and demanding justice against lawlessness ; will help turn the tide in dismantling and abolishing ICE, a rogue out of control agency running wild. We pray that the killing of Renee Nicole Good will be prosecuted and her murderer face a judge and jury for his crimes. We hope that her death will not be in vain, and that in her name, justice be done for all immigrant people in this country who want nothing more than to dwell under their vine and fig tree, with none to make them afraid. In our sacred books we learn
How long shall the wicked, O LORD / how long shall the wicked exult / shall they utter insolent speech / shall all evildoers vaunt themselves?
They crush Your people, O LORD /
they afflict Your very own /
they kill the widow and the stranger/
they murder the fatherless,
But we also learn
that justice shall abide in the wilderness
And righteousness shall dwell on the farm land.
For the work of justice shall be peace,
And the effect of righteousness, calm and confidence forever.
RSS Feed