Over 100 religious leaders and community organizers jammed the Great Hall of St. Paul’s Commons, Echo Park on Sunday afternoon, a vanguard of compassion and expertise supporting immigrant workers and their families threatened by mass deportations. Our longtime colleagues at CLUE: Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice, especially immigration program director Guillermo Torres, were our co-hosts.
Speakers included Los Angeles United Methodist Church Bishop Dottie Escobedo-Frank and Senait Admassu, president of the African Communities Public Health Coalition. From the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles, the Rev. Canon Mark Hallahan and the Rev. Greg Kimura spoke on behalf of Sacred Resistance, which took shape in our diocese in December 2016 and now is regretfully getting its second wind. They invite all who are interested to an organizational meeting tomorrow, Tuesday, at 6:30 p.m. at St. James’ Episcopal Church- South Pasadena, CA, where Greg serves as rector.
I offered words of welcome and reflected briefly on the political scene. “This isn’t a partisan event,” I said, “In the spirit of Advent, it’s a place of preparation, that we might be ready for whatever work God invites us to undertake in the months and years ahead. The only side we’re taking is the side of those who may be at risk as a result of unjust actions by a government that’s supposed to be pledged to the all-American values of liberty and justice for all.”
In the shadows between administrations, some continue to insist the new one will just go after migrants and asylees who are criminals. Yet during the campaign, they engaged in a blood libel against immigrants of color in Springfield, Ohio and promised to round up, incarcerate, and deport up to 13 million immigrant workers and their families, including the 45% of U.S. agricultural workers and 40% of California hospitality workers who are undocumented. Perhaps our leaders won’t act as they have promised. Our neighbors are scared anyway. And these 105 energetic people of faith, and thousands more whom they represent, are standing by our neighbors’ side.
