Justice, Peace and Sustainability Weekly Announcement
June 21, 2018
The Poor People’s Campaign Week #5: Confronting a Distorted Moral Narrative
We are in the final week of the Poor People’s Campaign’s 40 days of nonviolent direct action. The theme this week is “Confronting a Distorted Moral Narrative.” IHM Sister Barbara Beesley was among the 23 people who were arrested while blocking the Q-Line and several other downtown buildings as part of this week’s Poor People’s Campaign action in Detroit. Click here and here to read local news coverage.
To find an example of our nation’s distorted moral narrative, we need look no further than the Trump administration’s policy of forcefully separating children from their asylum-seeking parents at the border. The Poor Peoples’ Campaign’s “A Moral agenda Based Upon Fundamental Rights” states, “In the history of this country, moral justifications have been offered for atrocities such as the genocide and forced removal of indigenous people from their lands, slavery and racial segregation.” Last week, Attorney General Jeff Sessions quoted Romans 13:1-7 – a passage often used to justify moral atrocities like slavery – to defend the administration’s family separation policy. Click here to read the IHM Leadership Council statement opposing this policy.
On Wednesday, President Trump issued an executive order that, instead, mandates that children be placed in detention with their parents while their asylum claims are processed. Detaining families is not an acceptable solution to family separation. Furthermore, the administration has yet to explain how it will reunite families that have already been separated.
Call the White House at 202-456-1414. Here is some suggested text for your call:
“My name is [Name] from [CITY/TOWN]. While I am glad that children will no longer be taken from their parents, indefinite family detention is not the solution. The United States cannot continue to treat vulnerable families fleeing horrific violence and persecution like criminals. End the “Zero Tolerance” immigration policy and propose a solution to quickly reunite families that have already been separated.”
Then, call the Department of Justice at 202-353-1555 and use the same suggested text.
Finally, contact your representative to reject both H.R. 4760, The Securing America’s Future Act, and Speaker Ryan’s Border Security and Immigration Reform Act. These bills are also being touted as ways to end family separation, yet both bills fail to protect immigrant youth, nor do they honor the core tenets of human dignity and family unity.
This first phase of the Poor People’s Campaign will conclude this Saturday, June 23, with a mass mobilization in Washington D.C. Please stay tuned for future editions of the JPSO Weekly Announcement for follow-up and next steps.