Defining our national tragedy

....Some excerpts from a Global Post article today by Mac Deford:

"(It) turns out that the middle class in Canada is doing better than the American middle class that, for nearly a century, has been the richest in the world. A recent social progress index of 132 countries ranks the US 16th, just above Slovenia. Worse is that in basic education, we rank 39th.

"So it shouldn't be a surprise that a large majority of Americans believe the country is "on the wrong track." ... Today 14 percent think we are "generally headed in the right direction" and an incredible 78 percent don't...

"The poor showing of Congress is well known; currently it merits only a 9 percent approval rating...

"Nor is it just government institutions in which we've lost faith. Organized religion is below 50 percent. Our medical system, the Supreme Court and the public school system are below 40 percent. The criminal justice system, banks, television news, newspapers, big businesses are below 30 percent with organized labor at 20 percent. Health maintenance organizations are in the teens and then we hit rock bottom with Congress...

"A serious obstacle to any solution is certainly Congress. With 9 percent approval rating, but a 90 re-election rate, the American electorate will continue to be frustrated by its leadership long into the future.

"Meanwhile, true to form, the traditional conservative right wing of the Republican Party, as personified by Washington Post columnist George Will, neglects the economic data and blames our current problems on what he calls the "dependency on government" that Lyndon Johnson's Great Society created...

"(To) blame food stamps and Medicaid for the disappearance of the high-paying, low-education jobs that our steel plants and auto assembly lines created after World War II is to ignore globalization and falling education standards."

Where your money goes

Apparently the CIA has stopped using vaccine programs in its spy operations in the wake of deadly attacks on polio vaccination workers in Pakistan.

An Obama aide says the CIA stopped these operations last August. (One example: they had used a fake vaccine program in their search for Osama Bin Laden.)

Based on documents leaked by Edward Snowden, we know that for fiscal year 2013, the federal government set aside nearly $53 billion for U.S. intelligence agencies and operations, including $14.7 billion for the CIA, the most requested for any agency. Last August, the Washington Post reported: “Although the government has annually released its overall level of intelligence spending since 2007, it has not divulged how it uses the money or how it performs against the goals set by the president and Congress.”

Fast action for a family in sanctuary

   Tuesday evening we had a beautiful service at Southside Presbyterian Church here in Tucson. Yesterday Arizona Public Media wrote about it.

   "A Mexican immigrant facing deportation took refuge Tuesday at the Tucson church where the 1980s sanctuary movement was born. This is the first time in more than 30 years that Southside Presbyterian has allowed a family to stay for sanctuary, church officials said.

   "About a month ago, Neyoy Ruiz said he received a letter from the immigration agency giving him 30 days to appear at the Tucson immigration office for voluntary deportation.The deadline for turning himself in ended at 11:59 p.m. Tuesday.

   "About 50 people cheered for Neyoy Ruiz as he and his family arrived at the church for a press conference and religious ceremony with clergy from about a dozen churches of different denominations.

   "Neyoy Ruiz, a maintenance supervisor at a townhouse complex in Tucson, listened as his father played guitar and sang after readings from the Bible. At the end of the ceremony, people gathered around Neyoy Ruiz, his wife and 13-year-old, U.S.-born son, holding hands or placing their palms on each other's shoulder...

   "Neyoy Ruiz was detained in a 2011 traffic stop when a police officer noticed smoke coming out of the back of his car and contacted the Border Patrol,.. (He) was taken to an immigration detention center where he spent a month in custody...

   "For three years, Neyoy Ruiz has continued to live and work in Tucson waiting to hear about his possible deportation. 'At night I would wonder, what is going to happen to me? … What’s going to happen to my family if I’m deported?' he said. 'I provide for my wife and teenage son.'"

   Then, tonight at El Tiradito shrine, just as we were about to begin our weekly prayer vigil for the thousands of migrants who have died in the desert (many of them simply trying to reunite with their families), we learned that Neyoy Ruiz's order of deportation had been removed. The Arizona Daily Star posted this report:

   "A Mexican man who was ordered to leave the country but has taken sanctuary in a Tucson church won't be deported, immigration officials say.  U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement accepted an administrative request to close the order against Daniel Neyoy Ruiz, a 36-year-old man who has lived in the states since 2000. (He) was supposed to leave the country by the end of Tuesday after being caught by immigration authorities following a traffic stop. He refused to leave and instead took sanctuary at Southside Presbyterian Church.

   "The decision by ICE on Thursday essentially means Neyoy Ruiz is not a priority for the agency and that it won't actively seek to deport him."

The massacre of migrants

Last Thursday marked exactly 14 years of weekly interfaith prayer vigils we have held at Tucson's downtown El Tiradito ("The Discarded One") shrine to remember the thousands of migrants who have died in the desert over the last two decades. Here is a copy of that evening's vigil (albeit without formatting.) 

IN MEMORIAM

  728th Weekly Vigil -- May 1, 2014

  (We began the vigil 14 years ago today and have never skipped a Thursday)

Remembering our migrant sisters and brothers who have died along the US-Mexico border in search of work. In the year that ended Sept 30, 2012, 179 bodies of migrants were found in the Tucson Sector. The next year,182 more. From last Oct 1 to March 31, 46 more. Since 1999, over 2,300 bodies have been brought to the Medical Examiner's "coolers" in Tucson, Since 1994, over 6,000 bodies have been found along the US side of the whole southern border.

OPENING SONG

Envía tu Espíritu (3) 

Sea renovada la faz de la tierra (2) 

OPENING PRAYER

O God, we pray for all the migrants who have died in the desert...  

Bless them with eternal life and comfort their families who mourn. Turn hearts from violence and xenophobia, so that reconciliation and peace may reign on the border. Amen.

READINGS

From Sojourners

March 26, 2014

by Troy Jackson 

   “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from helping me, from the words of my groaning? O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer; and by night, but find no rest.”

   As I reflect on the plight of the undocumented immigrant in the United States today, I wonder if the words of the Psalmist, echoed by Jesus on the cross, don’t hit a little too close to home.

   Despite the courage and passion and tireless work of Dreamers and undocumented workers and family members and faith allies, the U.S. House of Representatives has turned a deaf ear, and the president’s administration continues a pace of deportation rarely seen in the history of humanity.

   Every day of delay means more families torn apart, more undocumented workers suffering sexual abuse and wage theft, and more children crying themselves to sleep because mommy or daddy is gone. With legislation going nowhere fast, hope and anticipation have given over to anger and groaning...

  Still, for people of faith, we are reminded by Psalm 22 that even in the darkest hour, the hope of a new day is just around the corner. God will act. And we are committed to staying in the struggle in anticipation of that great day of rejoicing...

RESPONSE  (from the Book of Proverbs, 31:8)

Levanta la voz... 

por los que no tienen voz; ¡defiende a los indefensos! Levanta la voz, y hazles justicia; ¡Defiende a los pobres y a los humildes!

Speak out...  

for those who cannot speak, for the rights of all the destitute. Speak out, judge righteously, defend the rights of the poor and needy.

REFLECTIONS

LIGHTING OF THE CANDLE

We light this candle... 

so that all our migrant sisters and brothers who have died in the desert may not be forgotten. Amen.      

                  (A period of silence)

CLOSING PRAYER

God of peace...  

We beseech your blessing upon our torn and tortured borderlands. We live in a time of hate, mistrust, fear and violence. Bless us with your Holy Spirit, that we may follow your way and create a world where all may live and work together in peace. Amen.  

CLOSING SONG

Peace is flowing like a river, 

flowing out of you and me, 

flowing out into the desert, 

setting all the captives free.  

Hope is flowing like a river..