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A Reflection in Support of Expanding Sanctuary.
One of the best stories from the 30th Annual Pedal for Peace Bike-a-thon on September 23, 2017, came from the efforts of Joaquin Vazquez (bottom left of photo), who set himself the goal of raising $250 and succeeded in doubling that amount! Along the way, he educated his principal, his teacher, and his school about why it was so important to fund the projects he was supporting. You can watch a video of one of his presentations
here
.
66 people registered to bike and/or fundraise. Together, we raised $18,354 for projects designed to develop people’s capacity to improve the quality of life in their communities through education, health care, land reclamation, deportation defense and affordable housing!
Several people attended who were present almost every year of the event since its beginning: Martha Blumer, Gary Cozette, Dan Dale. A looping retrospective of photos from past events ran on a computer at the registration table. 30 years of event t-shirts were displayed on clothesline, and Tricia Black prepared a photo display from participating groups of their projects.
More photos on the next page:
Como personas de fe y personas de conciencia, debemos comprometernos a tomar la iniciativa de comunidades directamente afectadas y comprometidas en trabajo transformador. Esto incluye la apertura de nuestras congregaciones y comunidades para el santuario. Debemos comprometernos a luchar con
TODXS
nuestros hermanxs, hermanos y hermanas en la lucha en contra del militarismo estadounidense, la política de inmigración neoliberal y xenófobica y otras formas de violencia estatal e institucional. Estamos unidos por nuestras fe liberadoras e inspirados por el poder de la gente para organizarse y encontrar aliados para trabajar por economías sostenibles, relaciones justas y dignidad humana.
¿Qué es el santuario?
“Santuario”
es un término cambiante y expansivo cada vez más utilizado (y aveces apropiado) dentro de diferentes contextos, espacios y políticas después de la elección. Para las comunidades de fe, sin embargo, el santuario es una antigua tradición que se ha asociado con las congregaciones que han ofrecido sus estructuras físicas como un refugio para las comunidades indocumentadas que luchan por la justicia en los Estados Unidos en los últimos cincuenta años. El santuario dentro de las congregaciones ha operado actualmente en las iglesias en relación al memorándum de ICE del 2011 que marca a las iglesias (así como hospitales y escuelas) como “lugares sensibles”. No obstante, sabemos que estos lugares nunca son verdaderamente seguras de ICE, y con las elección reciente de Trump, el papel futuro y las posibilidades del santuario son inciertos. Hasta entonces, sin embargo, debemos continuar preparándonos para ofrecer y apoyar el santuario como una parte táctica de los esfuerzos de comunidades y organizaciones para cambiar las condiciones que requieren el santuario en el primer lugar.
¿Qué se necesita para ofrecer santuario?
El Santuario no es dado, lo que significa que los espacios de santuario deben ser ACTIVAMENTE organizados y defendidos por la comunidad – desde abajo. De la misma manera que las comunidades directamente afectadas han asumido riesgos y puesto sus cuerpos en la línea, las comunidades de fe deben estar preparadas para salir de su zona de comodidad cuando se les pida. Esto también significa que no hay lista de requisitos para el santuario, cada caso es diferente.
Sin embargo, aquí hay diferentes ejemplos de lo que parece el santuario:
Santuario consiste en recibir a los miembros de la comunidad y ofrecer hospitalidad y acompañamiento, mantener conversaciones críticas sobre la supremacia blanca, la inmigración y la criminalización, apoyar el liderazgo de comunidades directamente afectadas, utilizando sus recur$os, formando una comité de inmigración y movilizando sus redes. Es una posición espiritual profunda e informada, comprometida con la promulgación de nuestras propias visiones de cuidado y seguridad comunitaria.
¿Tienes un espacio, recursos o tiempo que ofrecer?
Para obtener más información sobre la organización del santuario, comuníquese con la organizadora de inmigración de CRLN :
crodriguez@crln.org
o al 773-293-3680. Para conocer otras maneras de apoyar los casos de deportación en curso, siga a OCAD o #not1more en Facebook.
The Chicago Religous Leadership Network on Latin America is a proud supporter of the #NoCopAcademy campaign!
Schools for kids, not cops.
We are committed to working towards a faithful vision of sanctuary for all. We believe in investing in communities and divesting from the system of policing in Chicago that criminalizes immigrant communities & communities of color. As Mayor Rahm Emanuel seeks to spend $95 million dollars to build a new police academy, we join the fight to make sure that money reaches our community organizations, programs, schools, hospitals, affordable housing, and more. We are united by our diverse faiths which call us to demand community care and safety for all! #NoCopAcademy
“Mayor Rahm Emanuel wants to spend $95 million to build a Police & Fire training center in West Garfield Park. The city’s quiet unveiling suggests they are trying to avoid public scrutiny of this latest spending scheme, but we will not be robbed of our resources quietly. We refuse any expansion of policing in Chicago, and demand accountability for decades of violence. We will fight for funding for our communities, and support each other in building genuine community safety in the face of escalating attacks.” —
#NoCopAcademy
Spread the word! Download, print, fold and share a mini zine (
english
/
español
) to learn more.
Tell your Alderperson to vote NO
on the approval of the Land Acquisition at 4301 W. Chicago when it comes for a vote.
To connect with CRLN on this campaign please contact our Immigration Organizer at
crodriguez@crln.org
.
(Español aquí)
Honduras is the most dangerous country in the world in which to be an environmental activist and one of the most dangerous to be a journalist, union member, or member of a social movement opposed to the current Honduran administration’s policies. Members of the military and police have been implicated in violence against, including assassinations, of members of these groups. 97% of crimes committed in Honduras are left unsolved, with no consequences for the perpetrators.
In this context, we thank you for your signatures supporting the Berta Cáceres Human Rights in Honduras Act (H.R. 5474). They helped
CRLN convince 7 out of 10
Democratic Illinois U.S. Representatives to co-sponsor this important legislation introduced by Rep. Hank Johnson. By the end of 2016, the bill, which would suspend U.S. security aid to Honduras pending compliance with international human rights standards, garnered a total of 52 co-sponsors nationwide.
Because the 114th Congressional session ended January 3 and any legislation that did not come to the House and Senate for a vote ended with it, H.R. 5474 will need to be reintroduced in the 115th Congressional session that runs from now through the end of 2018. Rep. Hank Johnson plans to reintroduce this bill.
As soon as that happens, CRLN will contact U.S. Representatives from Illinois to ask those who signed on (Schakowsky, Gutierrez, Davis, Rush, Quigley, Lipinski) to do so again. We will contact those of you in their districts to contact them, identify yourselves as CRLN members, thank them for their co-sponsorship last year, and ask support them to sign on again.
For those of you in districts whose Representatives did not co-sponsor, we will construct new arguments for why they should co-sponsor and will contact you at the appropriate time for signatures again to show support in your district for this bill. In addition, we have a fresh opportunity to speak with Representatives elected in November (Brad Schneider in the10th District, who replaces Bob Dold; and Raja Krishnamoorthi, who replaces Tammy Duckworth—now one of Illinois’ U.S. Senators—in the 8th District).
It is vitally important to people whose lives are under threat in Honduras that the U.S. stop providing weapons and training to the forces under the authority of the current Honduran President, Juan Orlando Hernandez, whose party illegally used and deprived the public of funds designated for the health care system to support his last election and who has just orchestrated a change to the constitution to allow himself to run again for President in 2017. Under his administration, military and police forces have been unleashed to do violene against those who oppose the corruption and anti-democratic maneuvers of many of those currently in power.
If you would like to take part in a delegation to Honduras to commemorate the one-year anniversary of Berta Caceres’ death and visit other groups struggling to defend their land and human rights, click
here
for more information.