My Passion for Social Justice

Welcome back. You belong here.

When I was a little boy in Nicaragua I remember "los borrachos". These were men from the neighborhood who were drunk outside our door. My dad would come home from work and instead of kicking them out of the way, he'd give them work, paint the fence, clean the yard, talk to them, give them their "dignity".

About 10 years ago, I was thinking of planting a new church in downtown Long Beach among the urban hip and the urban inner city poor. At the doorstep of the church I was looking at was a drunk. I stepped over him, thought of my dad, but kept walking feeling guilty.

Yesterday, together with 50-60 people, I was outside a GEO/ICE Immigration Detention Center praying, chanting, protesting and singing "Y Volver Volver" at the top of my lungs. Just a small step in my pursuit to be like my dad and to be like Jesus, being with the poor.

Social justice runs deep in my family. From my father, to my uncles and aunts, from those who joined the Sandinistas to my Catholic family who help the poor, I've seen faith and justice together my whole life. Dr. King said "Compassion is giving the beat-up man on the road to Jericho a drink, bandaging up his wounds, doing it every time. Justice is asking 'Why do people get beat up on the road to Jericho"

I still have a long way to go, but my heart and now my hands and feet are moving closer to the drunks, immigrants, the poor among us. May God help me to continue to do so and to stand for those who can't speak for themselves (or aren't allowed to), for the poor in spirit whether locked in jail or the single mom in my own block.

My hope is that just as I saw my father and family love mercy, do justice and walk humbly with their God, our children see me doing the same.

Have a great day.

Into the future,

davidT

Immigration Rally and Vigil

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Over the last few months my wife and I have been attending prayer vigils, signed petitions and been a part of a visitation center group advocating for comprehensive immigration reform.

It's been an amazing journey, new to us to some degree, although I've been dealing with immigration issues my whole life. Tonight, we signed a petition to ask our congress representatives and senators in CO to do something about immigration reform.

If you want to sign the petition go here.

Have a great day.

Into the future,

davidT

Mujeres arrestas en Postville, Iowa, recibieron permisos temporales de Inmigracion

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A good sign among the cruel realities of the biggest raid in the history of the US, May 12 2008 in Iowa, 389 people were arrested or deported, mostly from Guatemala and Mexico.

Spanish: Mujeres arrestas en Postville, Iowa, recibieron permisos temporales de Inmigracion

"Pero casi 50 mujeres quedaron en libertad por razones humanitarias (cuidado de hijos menores de edad), aunque desde entonces deben llevar un brazalete electr�nico y cumplir con otras condiciones impuestas por la justicia federal."

Have a great day.

Into the future,

davidT

Immigration, Language - How to Communicate

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Language and communication is such an important issue with regards to Immigration (and I don't mean learning Spanish). I mean, how do you present it so that both citizens and non-citizens can put fear or anger aside and have a conversation.

Yesterday, Jenn Piper from the Americans Friends Service Committee, an Immigration Reform Advocacy group, came to EL Foster Elementary, a 50% Latino school where our children attend and we volunteer. We set-up an immigration info table and sat together at the table, met parents and staff and pointed to the ticket table a lot (we were between the ticket and college fund tables).

Our sign said "Knowing Your Neighbor"/"Conociendo a Nuestros Vecinos". Jenn used great language to communicate with people:

"learn about other cultures"
"adults coming together to educate one other"
"a conversation on immigration"
"we're talking ABOUT Immigration, we're not FROM Immigration"
"we advocate Immigrant reform"
"our system is broken"
"my brother also struggles with undocumented workers, we talk about it"
"do you think a follow up seminar would be a good thing in the Fall"

We met over 20 staff and key leaders, 10-12 parents that spoke to us and had about 200+ parents see our table. An amazing start. Jenn taught me a lot regarding language and communication in dealing with this difficult issue.

Have a great day.

Into the future,

davidT