“My daughter graduated from college last year, an excellent student, but now she can’t get a job in her degree because she is undocumented. She’s lived here for 21 of her 23 years of life, worked hard in school. But now, there’s no hope without the DREAM Act.” “He’s a good boy, a good student. [...]
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Healing a Community in Fear
by Elizabeth Bukey: Yesterday afternoon we met two women who both work on healing in the Brownsville community: one a curandera and the other a medical doctor. An outsider, particularly an Anglo Seattleite outsider like me, might think that Maria and Marsha would be very different: a faith healer and an MD, a trance medium [...]
Jesus was Crucified…a Borderlands Interpretation
This morning the Borderlands group walked the stations of the cross on the lawn of the Basilica Cathedral de San Juan del Valle. Each of us chose a different station to reflect upon and incorporate how that station relates to our experiences so far on this trip. We were then assigned to give a short [...]
The Crack of the Third Space
Next time you go to Philadelphia, make sure to stop by the Liberty Bell. It’s been cracked since the birth of this nation. It is the crack that symbolizes the fact that our founding fathers signed the Declaration of Independence and then went home to their slave-owning homes. It is the crack that haunts us [...]
Cynical Joe
Theology needs to be recast if it is to be truly powerful again today for all of us. In the middle of a Methodist church hall in Brownsville, Tx the ten of us from Union Theological Seminary conversed with activists as they recounted stories and their opinions on various issues. Joe, a catholic priest who [...]
Problems in the Maquiladoras
In the workers’ words: Elimination of shifts Solvent contamination Unjustified firings Refusal to hire women who are pregnant Screaming and other examples of domination Other errors in pay Lack of democracy in the union Insufficient training of workers Lack of unity/solidarity between male and female workers Companies don’t pay profit-sharing Lack of lawyers who seek [...]
Transformation
My colleague yesterday commented that “In our liberal Protestant denominations, we don’t talk much about sin, but this is it…”, indicating the conditions described first-hand by the maquiladora workers with whom we met yesterday, right across the border into Mexico in Reynosa and Rio Bravo. In our liberal Protestant denominations, we don’t talk much about [...]
Angels Staring in Satan’s Face
I saw the face of Satan today. I’m not one who goes around talking, or even necessarily believing in a Satanic being. In fact, I am often uncomfortable when I hear people talking this way. However, today I stood witness to a being that throws away human life, forces people to live in a way [...]
Preach the gospel, and sometimes use words.
As Aaron so beautifully described in his post (http://unionindialogue.org/blog/2012/01/09/a-key-to-social-justice/), yesterday’s experience hearing Rev. Feliberto Pereira’s story of faith and survival in the context of internment, horrifying abuse, and multiple threats to his life for professing his Christian faith was awe-inspiring. Seeing how all of the experiences and stages of his life have culminated in and [...]
A Key to Social Justice?
From what I can tell, Rev. Feliberto Pereira perfectly combines political savvy, theological passion and faith. A Cuban refugee, who left in the 1960s, Rev. Pereira shared the dangers of a Cuba under Castro for a Christian: concentration camps, horrendous conditions and constant death threats. He had to leave, and as he tells this story [...]