Faith Leaders Protest Anti-Immigrant Arizona Law
by: Dave Belden on July 28th, 2010 | 2 Comments »
Racial Profiling, by Gary Oliver (golliver@sbcglobal.net)
A judge agrees! “Judge Blocks Key Parts of Immigration Law in Arizona.” Judge Susan Bolton said:
“There is a substantial likelihood that officers will wrongfully arrest legal resident aliens,” she wrote. “By enforcing this statute, Arizona would impose a ‘distinct, unusual and extraordinary’ burden on legal resident aliens that only the federal government has the authority to impose.”
Also nice to get this email today:
On Eve of Anti-Immigrant Arizona Law Taking Effect, U.S. Faith Leaders Descend on State
Launch Coordinated Weekend of Protest
TODAY at 2 p.m. EDT, religious leaders from across the country, all of whom are in Arizona to protest SB-1070– the anti-immigrant law there, will hold a telephone press conference to denounce the law, which is scheduled to go into effect on Thursday, and unveil their weekend of coordinated action to stand against punitive laws that divide families and communities. These faith leaders will stand alongside hundreds of other people of faith who are leading events in several cities as part of the National Weekend of Prayer and Action for Immigrant Justice, coordinated by Interfaith Worker Justice July 29- August 1.
Interfaith Worker Justice affiliates in Chicago; Oakland; Cincinnati; Milwaukee; Toledo; San Francisco; New York City; Houston; Philadelphia; Charlotte, North Carolina; and Albany, New York will march, rally, hold prayer vigils and educational forums, preach from the pulpit about immigration, and engage in civil disobedience to voice their opposition to SB-1070 and demand a just solution to the broken immigration system that gave rise to this draconian law.
In Arizona, people of faith will gather at Trinity Episcopal Cathedral in Phoenix for a prayer vigil on Thursday morning, followed later in the day by a rally at the Sandra Day O’Connor Federal Courthouse in downtown Phoenix and an interfaith vigil at the state capitol.
WHAT: Press Conference Call on the National Weekend of Prayer and Action for Immigrant Justice
WHEN: Wednesday July 28, 2:00 p.m. EDT
WHO: Kim Bobo - Executive Director of Interfaith Worker Justice
Rev. Trina Zelle – Lead Organizer of the Arizona Interfaith Alliance for Worker Justice
Rev. Peter Morales – President of the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA)
Hussam Ayloush – Southern California Executive Director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR)
I notice that Rev. Peter Morales is one of the speakers at the press conference announced. TikkunDaily readers may find the following sermon given by Rev. Morales in Phoenix the day after a demonstration there against SB 1070 two months ago.
http://www.phoenixuu.org/?q=node/3872
I’m not judging the merits or shortcomings of this law but as a general observation, I am suggesting that the U.S. reduce its legal immigration quota. We simply don’t have the resources to be home to everybody who wants to come here. We’re ripping the country apart, trying to satisfy energy demands. Some states are already experiencing water shortages and they will worsen with global warming. We don’t have enough jobs to go around and we could be in a permanent state of high unemployment. Yet we bring in more people.
I’ve said it before—if we can find a way to make the country bigger and to clone resources, all would be welcome. What the world should be focusing on is population control, rather than shifting populations around. Earth is like a spaceship. There’s only so much room.