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ARIZONA: NO MORE DESERT DEATHS!
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CPTer Elizabeth García pours water on a cross remembering migrants who've died crossing the Mexico-U.S. border in desert region, near CPT’s project based in Douglas, Arizona. |
CPT’s summer-long Arizona Borderlands
project works with the “No More Deaths” coalition to protect the
lives of those crossing the U.S./Mexico border in Arizona desert regions, and
to promote humane and sustainable immigration policies.
U.S. policymakers openly designed border enforcement to channel migrants into
the most inhospitable areas of the desert. Residents fear legal prosecution
for helping migrants in distress.
CPT provides food and water in the deadly-hot desert as an act of resistance:
challenging fear and opening space for residents, law enforcement, and lawmakers
to respond in Christian ways to our migrant brothers and sisters. It must never
be illegal to give life-saving assistance even when the person’s presence
has been declared illegal.
Based in Douglas, Arizona, near the largest Border Patrol station in the U.S.,
CPT-Arizona helps to staff a movable respite-care desert camp or “Ark
of the Covenant,” and organizes “Samaritan patrols” - driving,
walking or biking into the desert searching for migrants in medical distress.
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CPTer Cliff Kindy participates in the Migrant Trail Walk |
MIGRANT TRAIL
WALK
The “Migrant Trail Walk”
from Sasabe on the U.S.-Mexico border to Tucson, Arizona, June 7-13 kicked off
the sum- mer “No More Deaths” movement. Between 23 and 200 walkers
partici- pated each day fol- lowing the blistering desert trails 75 miles north
over the week. Steady news coverage placed the issues before the public. Even
with abundant water, three people suffered heat exhaustion and had to stop walking.
“We ‘legal’ walkers did not face death,” reflected CPTer
Cliff Kindy, “but risking the Migrant Trails pulled us into an entirely
different level of commitment to this cause.”
DESERT FAST AND MEMORIALS
Hundreds of migrants die every year
as they cross the harsh desert. U.S. Border Patrol reports only the few hundred
bodies they find; many more are never found.
As a prayer for all migrants, CPTers and residents from Douglas, AZ and Agua
Prieta, Mexico, conducted a memorial service for Wilma Machado. They built a
rock cairn and cross near the location where she was found dying, just west
of Douglas, Arizona, and less than a mile north of the U.S.-Mexico border. Since
the project began in late May, CPTers have memorialized the deaths of five migrants
in Arizona’s Cochise County.
Wilma, 42, from Brazil lay dying on July 1 as her friend desperately sought
help from nearby residents. Tom Bassett from Douglas noted, “Wilma died
in the shadow of the largest Border Patrol station in the U.S. With homes all
around.” CPTer Mark Frey added, “She died surrounded by people --
people afraid to help because they fear the legal consequences of aiding people
in need. Something is very wrong.”
In early July, CPTers conducted a six-day desert fast to pray for the safety
of migrants crossing the U.S./Mexico border, and to demonstrate publicly that
it is not illegal to give food and water to those who are hungry and thirsty.
By the end of the first day, the team had distributed its entire supply of food
and water to more than thirty migrants.
In addition to the inhospitable climate, migrants must contend with mistreatment
by Border Patrol agents, threats by local vigilante landowners, dangerous travel
with often-unreliable coyotes (paid guides), and assaults by bandits on both
sides of the border. Human rights activists estimate that 20-30% of migrants
are assaulted in this area of the desert.
BLESSED BY THE STRANGER
by Elizabeth Garcia
“For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and
you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed
clothes and you clothed me.” - Matthew 25:31-34
On July 24 at 7:00am, I was riding my bike around the camp in Douglas when I
spotted a small group of migrants walking. As I got closer, I could sense that
they were afraid. I asked if they needed food or water and, when they finally
stopped, I explained our work.
All five migrants were starting to feel weak after three days and nights without
food or water. Ana was vomiting and experiencing headaches and cramps in her
legs and fingers. Miguel had injured both knees in a fall the day before and
was in a lot of pain.
When I asked if they knew where they were, Mario said, “Yes, we are getting
close to Los Angeles,” pointing toward Douglas. (Los Angeles is 600 miles
west of Douglas.) Like many who get separated from their coyote (guide), they
had been wandering in the desert in circles.
They came to the camp where we gave them food and water and then took them into
our house to shower and change clothes. They told us they had been with a group
of sixteen people and were hiding just a few feet away when five of their group
were captured by the Border Patrol.
When they had recovered from their heat exhaustion and dehydration they started
to think of continuing on their way. I asked them if they were afraid. Looking
at me with tear-filled eyes, Ana said, “Yes, but I have two kids back
in Mexico, and I promised them a better life. Even if it costs me my own life,
I will keep walking. I hope God will hear my prayers.”
A week later, Mario phoned from North Carolina to say, “My family wants
to talk to you. We are so grateful for what you all did for us.” Areli
also phoned from Washington with her thanks.
In the Arizona desert we can find that hungry one, that thirsty one, that naked
one, that stranger. In the Arizona desert we are offered a unique blessing in
a time that otherwise knows only how to fear the stranger, a time when the stranger
is suspected of bringing not blessings, but terror to our homes. We all have
a choice. I choose to be blessed by their presence.
Arizona team members May-August were: Claire Evans (Chicago, IL), Mark Frey (Chicago, IL), Ron Friesen (Loveland, CO), Elizabeth Garcia (Brownsville, TX), Scott Kerr (Downer’s Grove, IL), Cliff Kindy (N. Manchester, IN), Joanne Lingle (Indianapolis, IN), Murray Lumley (Toronto, ON), Doug Pritchard (Toronto, ON), Janet Shoe- maker (Goshen, IN). Arizona delegates were: Suzanna Collerd (River Forest, IL), Noah Dillard (Tempe, AZ), Amy Fry-Miller (Fort Wayne, IN), Paul Horst (Evanston, IL), Tim Kortenkamp (Felton, CA), Miriam Pukuma (Philadelphia, PA), Sara Rickard (Chicago, IL), Thomas Scanlan (Denver, CO).
CARRY IT ON: A LETTER FROM GENE STOLTZFUS
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Outgoing CPT Director Gene Stoltzfus |
In August CPT completes an 18-month
transition process that welcomes Carol Rose, Co-director for Operations, and
Doug Pritchard, Co-director for Program as my replacements. I hope you will
get to know and love them as much as I do.
The seeds for this peacemaking experiment were planted long ago in the two millennium
old struggle for enemy loving. As mean and angry voices calling for ever-more
daunting weapons of destruction continue to assault us, a new Spirit of clarity
calls the human family to another way. Even when almost all hope has been swallowed
up by violence, pain, death and unfairness, we are learning to see the signs
and become allies of transformation. The moment of opportunity is now.
Organizations like CPT are created to carry forth that movement of the Spirit
for fairness and integrity. Over the last 17 years we have learned that the
combination of training, disciplined teams, spiritual rootedness, and sustained
commitment can make a major difference in the local areas where we work and
in the way grand structures, both corporate and government, do business. I am
repeatedly surprised at what a few people can do with careful organization and
preparation. I could paper my office walls several times with inquiries from
church bodies and other groups all over the world requesting information on
how to get started.
CPT will change dramatically as it grows to include many more participants from
beyond North America and adapts to the demands of cross cultural work, healthy
team life, and timely, prophetic engagement. I pray that you join me in giving
complete support to the 35 full-time CPTers, 130 Reservists and hundreds of
partners, volunteers and co-workers around the world who risk life every day
to push back the forces of violence. Blessings to all!
COLOMBIA: ‘THEY’RE GOING TO KILL MY DADDY’
An eight year-old girl ran from her
house screaming, “They’re going to kill my Daddy!” Two CPTers
arrived moments later to find members of the illegal right-wing paramilitaries
holding the girl’s father at gun point. A guerrilla fighter, whom the
paramilitaries had captured a few hours earlier, accused him of collaborating
with that left-wing illegal armed group. His family, friends and CPTers plead
for his life, asserting his civilian status.
Within minutes of CPT’s arrival on the scene the paramilitaries took their
machine guns and marched on down river, leaving the girl’s father and
a barrage of insults and threats behind. Still trembling, everyone joined together
in prayer for protection and peace. All those present expressed a clear sense
that if CPTers had not arrived, this beloved community member would have been
killed on the spot.
The day after the paramilitary incursion, CPT encountered three guerrillas passing
through civilian yards. CPT and local residents exhorted the commander to keep
his troops at a distance and not involve civilians in the conflict. The continuing
presence of the guerrilla forces and their threatening insistence that people
bring them food supplies attracts paramilitary incursions and accusations and
increases the risk that civilians could be caught in a battle.
In the wake of such terror, the community’s resolve to live in peace emerged
stronger than their fear. Over forty residents of Los Yeques signed an open
letter requesting active response from government authorities, human rights
groups and the general public (see page 4). CPT later accompanied a government
human rights official to the community who provided assistance for the threatened
community member to seek refuge in a different part of the country.
The residents of Los Yeques and neighboring La Florida reaffirmed their commitment
to their united “Process for Life, Dignity, and Freedom.” They are
determined to face the threats of violent forces together rather than leave
each family to withstand in isolation. They are building the community through
common action, strengthening connections with nearby communities, and developing
the local economy through agricultural projects. They have asked for allies.
The Catholic “Peace and Development Program,” and CREDHOS, a regional
human rights organization, are working with the communities of the Opón
River in this process that aims to improve security without the use of weapons.
SILENCE TO SPEECH
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Residents of Los Ñeques compose an open letter denouncing paramilitary incursions and death threats |
What does it take to move from silence
to daring speech? The community of Los Yeques has made courageous shifts from
individual families dealing with threats, to a practical and risky solidarity.
Below are excerpts from their bold open letter signed by 44 community residents.
They ask us to stand with them.
To government authorities, nongovernmental organizations, and the general public:
“...We, the civilian population, denounce the violence perpetrated against
us and call upon the authorities to come to our community and address our concerns.
We are tired of threats, pressure, verbal abuse, and deaths... As we assert
our insistence on respect for our status as civilians, we need your support...
Right now, we are accompanied by God and the CPT team.”
“In the morning, upriver from our community, we heard a shootout... At
about 1:00pm a group of paramilitaries arrived...and threatened a man from our
community... When CPTers heard the shouts and cries...they ran and stood between
the man and the paramilitaries. So the paramilitaries left the man alone.
“We are more afraid now than before our companion was threatened, which
puts us all under death threat. With all the conflict that has happened lately,
we have hope in God and the CPT team, which has worked arduously for us. But
again, we reiterate, when the CPT team is not in the region, what will happen?
We are waiting for your presence as soon as possible before a massacre occurs.”
CPT Colombia team members, delegates,
and interns June-August included:
Scott Albrecht (Kitchener, ON), Adaía Bernal (Bogotá, Colombia),
Jonathan and Sara Brenneman (Hershey, PA), Jenny Dillon (Washington, DC), Duane
Ediger (Chicago, IL), Anton and Charlotte Flores (La Grange, GA), Kim Freeman
(Kitchener, ON), Julie Hart (Newton, KS), Celeste Kennel-Shank (Washington,
DC), Carmen Kingsley (Elkhart, IN), Ra- chel Long, (North Liberty, IN), Anthony
Nocella (Houston, TX), Jessica Phillips (N. Newton, KS), Sandra Rincón
(Madrid, Colombia), Chris Schweitzer (Fairfield, CT), Pierre Shantz (Blainville,
QC), Dwayne and Andrea Wenger-Hess (Baltimore, MD), Keith Young (Gobles, MI).
HEBRON:
HAIR YE, HAIR YE
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CPT
trainee, Annaliese Watson |
Land confiscation in the Hebron district
has escalated at an alarming rate to make way for Israel’s “Security
Wall.” The Israeli military seized 1,059 acres in 2003 and destroyed 97
homes in the past two years, according to Abdel Hadi Hantash of the Hebron Land
Defense Committee.
Palestinians describe the Israeli military’s bulldozing of fields, orchards,
vineyards and homes as “shaving the land.” The perimeter of Palestinian
land is “shaved” by hundreds of large and small actions of the Israeli
government, including:
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- building a new settler road within feet of a Palestinian mechanic shop which only settlers can access through a small opening in the fence. Palestinians predict that the military will close this opening in the fence, allowing no access to the shop.
- prohibiting one Palestinian family in the Beqa’a Valley to access more than 15 meters of their land.
- smashing nine toilets in the southern part of the Hebron district in May 2004.
In June, reflecting on the absurdity
of these so-called “security” actions, CPTers Kristin Anderson,
Maia Williams, and Christy Bischoff decided to shave their heads.
“Land confiscation is absurd. Shaving our heads is absurd. The occupation
is absurd,” Williams noted. “But having a shaved head has simplified
and focused my speaking about the work we do in Hebron. My family gets it, the
boys on the street understand why I am in Palestine.”
Inspired by the women of the Hebron team, participants in CPT’s summer
peacemaker training erected a mock “Security Wall” across from the
Israeli Consulate in downtown Chicago. Echoing the words of Pope John Paul II,
who said, “In reality, the Holy Land doesn’t need walls but bridges,”
panels of the mock wall reversed to reveal a bridge of peace.
Set against the backdrop of the mock wall, ten individuals took turns sitting in a pose of powerlessness while their heads were shaved. The striking image of the public shaving caught the attention of the media and hundreds of passers-by over the lunch hour. Representatives of the group then gathered up the locks of hair and later delivered them to Israeli Consulate officials.
HEBRON ACTION: TALK ABOUT LAND CONFISCATIONS
Israel’s “security barrier” is heading inexorably toward Hebron, heralding the confiscation of ever greater amounts of land, and the further diminution of civil rights for those who would be trapped behind it. For two weeks, talk to one person every day about land confiscation and the Wall. Please send CPT Hebron a note about one of your conversations.
MABROOK, ALA’A!
In mid-July students all over Palestine
get the results of the tawjihi, the final examination of their senior year.
Friends and family visit the graduates to say "Mabrook!" -- Congratulations!.
CPTer Dianne Roe sent this note to one such graduate, Ala’a Al Ja’abari,
whom she has known since he began high school.
It was a joy to see your smiling face when you handed me the report of your
examination.
I remember your Freshman year in the fall of 2000. You had to make your way
past stone throwing and shooting to get to school. Then the Israeli soldiers
declared a curfew and would not let you leave your house. Sometimes you had
to stay overnight in another part of town just to go to school.
While you were gone, Israeli settlers vandalized your house. Toward the end
of your Sophomore year, Israeli soldiers re-entered Hebron and placed the whole
city under curfew. Your school was closed, but still you persisted in your studies.
In your third year I tried to visit your family. I stood near the checkpoint
as your neighbor, Um Abdullah, begged the soldiers to let her have visitors
to no avail. Even in those difficult times you were always smiling.
Curfew was lifted for most of your final year, but you had to pass by Israeli
military checkpoints to get to and from school. I know how embarrassed you were
last April when the soldiers kicked your legs apart and frisked you. You said
to me, “Don’t worry, I will be OK. This happens almost every day.”
So now, Ala’a, we pray for the future. We know you wish to be at peace
with everyone and that you will work for that. We know Israeli students who
will work for the same thing. It has been an honor for us who know you. “Mabrook!”
NEW LIFE IN THE OLD CITY
by Maia Williams and Kristin Anderson
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CPT and Library on Wheels for Nonviolence
and Peace sponsored a “Festival Day for Shopping in the Old City of Hebron”
on June 3. The organizers hoped to encourage people to “bring new life
to the Old City,” which has been choked by the Israeli military’s
stranglehold on Hebron. To entice people to come to the Old City, all shoppers
were eligible to win a new refrigerator.
A CPT delegation, together with team members and volunteers with the Library
on Wheels, passed out books of raffle tickets to shopkeepers the day before
the festival. On the festival day, Old City shops that had been closed for months
were opened and many shopkeepers were eager to receive more raffle tickets after
they had distributed their first book. Shopkeepers told CPTers, “We wish
the situation would turn back to the way it used to be. Now there are no people
here. Without people, we cannot survive.”
The Israeli military closed the Ibrahimi Mosque checkpoint during the festival
day, allowing no one to enter including children carrying buckets attempting
to go to the local soup kitchen. The Israeli military also detained Palestinians
next to the other main entrance to the Old City, at the Beit Romano checkpoint.
The winner of the refrigerator was an 11-year-old boy whose family lives in
the Old City. The family has few resources and the boy’s mother was delighted.
The sponsors plan to hold a shoppers’ day festival on the first Thursday
of each month, in the hope that more people will support renewed life in the
Old City.
‘BREAKING THE SILENCE’
In the winter of 2002, Hebron team
members had frequent contact with Yehudah Shaul, a young Israeli soldier in
the Nahal Brigade. Shaul told them he admired their work and was appalled by
the way soldiers and settlers treated Palestinians in Hebron.
Recently, Shaul helped organize an exhibit, “Breaking the Silence,”
in Tel Aviv that documented soldiers and settlers abusing Palestinians in Hebron.
He told an interviewer, “The exhibit has two goals: for the Israeli public
to know what we’re really doing in Hebron, and what it’s doing to
us.”
Photos in the exhibit include pictures taken through the scope of a gun (including
one of a Palestinian boy feeding his pigeons), of detained and blindfolded Palestinian
men, of Palestinian shops with the Star of David painted on them, and of settler
graffiti such as “Arabs to the gas chambers!” The exhibit also contains
a display of keys that Israeli soldiers confiscated from Palestinian drivers,
which serve as a mute contradiction to statements from official Israeli military
spokespeople that soldiers do not confiscate keys.
Several CPTers visited the exhibit on June 15. A week later, Israeli Military
Police raided the exhibit, confiscating video clips of soldiers describing their
service in Hebron and a folder of articles about the exhibit. The military police
interrogated three of the reservists who organized the exhibit for over six
hours, ostensibly because the military police suspected them of committing the
abuses they are trying to make public. The military reservists told Ha’aretz
newspaper that they thought this treatment was a move to punish those soldiers
who had given evidence about what had happened in Hebron and to intimidate others
who are thinking of breaking their own silence.
Hebron team members June - August were:
Kristin Anderson (Willmar, MN), Benno Barg (Kitchener, ON), Christy Bischoff
(Asheville, NC), Chris Brown (San Francisco, CA), Cal Carpenter (Minneapolis,
MN), Donna Hicks (Durham, NC), Maureen Jack (Fife, Scot- land), Diane Janzen
(Calgary, AB), Rebecca Johnson (Parry Sound, ON), Kathy Kamphoefner and Paul
Pierce (East Jerusalem), Kim Lamberty (Washington, DC), Jerry Levin (Birmingham,
AL), Rich Meyer (Millersburg, IN), Lorin Peters (San Leandro, CA), Doug Pritchard
(Toronto, ON), Dianne Roe (Corning, NY), Jim Ronyon (Archbold, OH), Jim Satterwhite
(Bluffton, OH), Char Smith (Gibson City, IL), Kathie Uhler (New York, NY), Maia
Williams (Dale City, VA); and intern Anna Bachman (Pt. Townsend, WA).
Hebron delegation participants were: John Davis (Milford, OH),
Edward Favilla (Phoenix, AZ), Bret Kincaid (Brentwood, MD), Kevin Rempel (Kitchener,
ON), Michelle Stanley (Canadaigun, NY), Barbara Za- borowski (Phoenix, AZ).
ASUBPEESCHOSEEWAGONG: DISPLACEMENT AND COURAGEOUS RETURNS
by Lisa Martens
In Chiapas, Mexico, it was high drama -- hundreds of Indigenous people walking many miles to return to the homes from which armed groups had violently displaced them.
Here in the Anishnaabe Nation (including
Grassy Narrows), when Anishnaabe women Roberta, Kaaren and Barbara return to
the land from which they have been displaced, it means that they build trapping
cabins and trails. Their return does not make the newspapers.
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Other Anishnaabe do not make it home.
The father of a friend of mine moved to the nearby town of Kenora after his
displacement and died, perhaps of alcohol poisoning, in a police holding cell.
In Colombia armed groups have displaced millions from their homes. Here in the
Anishnaabe Nation, the deaths happen more slowly and are disguised as the victims’
fault. Police killed Geronimo, a young Anishnaabe man, probably intoxicated
with alcohol, in August 2003. In Kenora, a town near Grassy Narrows, another
Anishnaabe man, Max Kakegamic, was beaten to death in 2000. Police charged one
person and later released him. The other person seen at the crime scene, a nephew
of one of the investigating officers, was never arrested.
In Palestine and Israel, settlers have been occupying Palestinian land for over
50 years. Instead of giving in to genocide, some Palestinians try to rebuild
bulldozed homes, go to school, and raise their families.
Here, in North and South America, Settlers have occupied Indigenous land for
over 500 years. In the Anishnaabe Nation around the Grassy Narrows area, the
displacement has been going on for over 120 years. Instead of giving in to genocide,
some of the Anishnaabe at Grassy Narrows have slowed and stopped logging trucks
trespassing on Anishnaabe land. They slow the clear-cutting of the their home.
Instead of giving in to genocide that stretches wider and longer than clear-cutting,
the Anishnaabe in this region: trap, pray, harvest medicine, laugh, work to
support their families, put on community Art Shows, teach their children old
and new things, grieve the occupation of the land, educate their occupiers,
plan next steps, and tell stories.
The immediate threat of violence between loggers, police and community members
has receded, but CPT will continue a project in this region. The team will focus
on racism by whites in Kenora, while maintaining contact with the community
of Grassy Narrows. It is good to work against our violence here.
LITANY: BETTER NEIGHBOURS
by Lisa Martens
Response from congregation after each line is read: “we will work
to be better neighbours.”
By giving back what we have taken...
By listening carefully to Indigenous people...
By walking gently as part of God’s creation...
By respecting the spirit of sharing in our treaties with Indigenous Nations...
By participating in economies that include everyone and destroy no one’s
ways of life...
By learning alternatives to the clear-cutting of forests...
By not taking the land and waters for granted...
By being grateful for creation...
By practising Jubilee...
By providing for the redemption of the land...
By remembering that the land is God’s, not ours...
HEALING NEEDED
by Matt Schaaf and Lisa Martens
A local business owner found Anishnaabe
man Stewart Smith in a pool of blood behind the United Church in Kenora on April
30, 2004. Beaten nearly to death in the early morning, he was rushed to Winnipeg
where he lay in a coma for weeks. CPTers and a group of Anishnaabe and white
citizens of Kenora gathered in the alley on May 14 to pray for Stewart and his
attacker(s).
“The police are doing all we can do,” in deterring violence against
Anishnaabe people, reported Kenora police Deputy Chief Dan Jorgensen, but they
have not identified a suspect. The Anishnaabe Coalition for Peace and Justice,
in which CPT is involved, is forming to take more responsibility for what goes
on in Kenora’s streets.
Racist attacks in the Kenora area span recent decades, and happen both to people
who live on Kenora’s streets and those who live on reserves and come into
town to shop. “I have a real, deep-in-my-stomach, deadly fear,”
explained one Grassy Narrows woman to CPT member Lisa Martens. In the late 1970s,
the woman’s father and cousin had been driving to Kenora when they stopped
to help four strangers with their car. The strangers beat the father, left the
car running, plugged the exhaust pipe, and raped the cousin. She died. The family
reported the incident to the police but have heard of no follow-up.
Beatings of Anishnaabe people, displaced from their lands and living on the
streets of Kenora, is not widely known. Community organizers identify a youth
gang, the Kenora Indian Bashers, as one of the aggressors.
This is how an Asubpeeschoseewagong man described generational racism in the
nearby town of Kenora to CPT member Matt Schaaf. “White youths beat native
people when they are teenagers, then they grow up to become mayors, business
people, police officers. And their kids, the next generation of civic leaders,
do the
same.”
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WHAT WOULD YOU
LOSE?
CPTers and delegation members passed
out flyers showing the above map on the streets of Kenora, ON, July 12. The
10 km walk was equal to the perimeter of a medium-sized forest clear-cut. The
group circled the 260 acre area with coloured flagging tape to demonstrate the
impact clear-cutting has upon Kenorans and their Anishinaabe neighbours. Indigenous
people rely on the forest not only for food and shelter, but also for education,
recreation, and worship.
Asubpeeschoseewagong/Kenora team members
June - August were: Tricia
Brown and her daughter Madison (Newberg, OR), Chris Buhler (Waterloo, ON), Erin
Kindy (Tiskilwa, IL), Lisa Martens (Winnipeg, MB), Doug Pritchard (Toronto,
ON), Matt Schaaf (Winnipeg, MB), Char Smith (Gibson City, IL). Delegation partici-
pants July 4-15 were: Krista Harrison (London, ON), Sarah Shepherd, Bob Holmes,
Dean Jalonen and Jim Loney (Toronto, ON), Jenn Geddes and her son Zachary (Ottawa,
ON), and Sheila and Dwyer Sullivan (Kitchener, ON).
DIALOGUE
In Dialogue, we highlight exchanges from our web site and e-mail networks regarding CPT’s vision and peacemaking ministry. This issue focuses on reactions to 1) CPT’s work protecting undocumented immigrants along the U.S./Mexico border and 2) CPT’s efforts to secure justice for Iraqis imprisoned by U.S. Forces.
CPT Arizona
Scott Hess, Lancaster, PA: Regarding your efforts along our southern border,
what part of illegal alien do you not understand? Your sick policy of inclusion
is degrading the country for all of us. Stop it!
Doug Pritchard, Toronto, ON, CPT Program Director: The scriptures contain many
commands to care for the aliens and foreigners among us. Our team on the border
is responding to emergency needs for first aid and advocating for a fair and
humane immigration policy to reduce these emergencies.
William Zabel, Denver, CO: Nobody wants to see any human being die, but the
people that your group is helping are in many cases not innocent refugees. Cities
spend millions of dollars to feed them, give them medical care, and educate
them in their native language. These people care little for America, and many
of them end up committing atrocious crimes against Americans. You should help
the Border Patrol send them back across the border.
Elizabeth Garcia, Brownsville, TX, CPT-Arizona: I still don’t understand
why some people think having troops on our border is a good idea. Many forget
that this is not our land, it is God’s land. Borders are not physical,
they are inside us. Borders are choices of the heart. We need a change of heart.
Mark Frey, Chicago, IL, CPT-Arizona: Our efforts in Arizona to turn the spotlight
on the real human tragedy of U.S. immigration policy has met both support and
criticism. Here are the team’s responses to some of the most common critiques
and stereotypes about immigrants from the South:
“Why don’t the Mexicans just stay in their own country?” - Church member from an Arizona border town
Jobs. Migrants tell CPT that very few economic opportunities exist in Mexico. Bread-winners who take seriously their responsibly to support their family see migration to the North as the only option. Even the U.S. Border Patrol admits that 98% of migrants are coming for positive, non-criminal reasons. Workers in the U.S. and Canada send money back home; last year, money sent home was second only to Mexico’s oil industry in generating revenue for the country.“Migrants are taking our jobs.” - Arizona border resident who immigrated 25 years ago from Australia
Migrants are often hard workers and willing to do jobs that other North Americans are not: garbage collection, hotel cleaning, construction, restaurant work. Employers enjoy a better profit margin through cheap migrant laborers, who are easy to bully because of their vulnerable undocumented status. Consumers benefit from lower costs. Are those who criticize migrants willing to pay more for houses and dinner entrees?
“Putting out water only encourages them to come. You are part of the problem.” - Customs and Border Protection officer in Douglas, Arizona
People are going to cross the border whether or not we give water to migrants dying of thirst. The solution lies in addressing the issues of economic inequality.
“Illegals drain our tax dollars.” - Border resident
Some research institutions argue migrants contribute $80,000 more in lifetime taxes than they use in social services. Others contend each migrant will cost U.S. taxpayers up to $60,000. What is clear is that sectors of the U.S. economy would suffer huge blows without these undocumented workers.
“Those stupid Undocumented Aliens leave trash all over my ranch.” - Border RancherMigrants do leave water bottles and abandoned clothes, backpacks and small personal items in the desert, often on ranchers’ property. Because thousands are crossing the border every day, the trash mounts quickly. Ironically, the same migrants who leave garbage along the southern states’ borders for people to clean up, disproportionately fill service jobs that frequently clean up after people in the northern states. U.S. residents on the border suffer all the costs of migration and enjoy none of the economic benefits.
CPT Iraq
John Brushaber, Shephenville, TX:
Stewart Vriesinga’s comments [regarding mistreatment of Iraqi detainees
on CTV news] do not reflect the beliefs of all Christians. News flash! These
are prisoners! They were previously haters and killers of American soldiers,
many whom are Christians! I am preparing to go to Iraq and support
the fight against aggression as a soldier. The last thing I want to see is a
Christian group aiding the enemy by not sharing hope to the lost. Your comments
do nothing but spark further flames in the effort to win others to Christ. The
plan for this country is bigger than you or I and all Christians must work together.
The hatred that is flowing throughout the world goes farther than pointing at
the U.S.A; it’s pointed at God and God’s people. I’ll die
fighting if I must, but I’ll be fighting to share the love with those
that will receive it.
Stewart Vriesinga, Lucknow, ON, CPT-Iraq: The assertion that these detainees
were “haters and killers of American soldiers” is not accurate.
The majority were arrested during house-raids and military sweeps, often based
on misinformation and faulty intelligence. Coalition Forces presumed that the
investigative work would take place after the arrest and detention and that
most detainees would eventually be released.
Wrongfully imprisoning and mistreating thousands of innocent Iraqis is neither bringing “hope to the lost,” nor is it “winning others to Christ.” Treating Iraqis with less dignity than U.S. citizens sends the message that they are inferior to Americans, and are less loved by God. To imply that what “Christian” countries are doing to Iraqis is part of God’s plan is as offensive and destructive as the rhetoric of Muslim extremists who claim that God is calling all Muslims to a holy Jihad against western countries.
I agree that Christians must work together to share the love of God -- we must work with each other and with the overwhelming majority of Muslims in Iraq who agree that killing and abusing fellow human beings in the name of God is a sin. CPT will continue to work with Iraqis who nonviolently seek peace and justice through the love of God -- that Love that has the power to transform not only us but also our enemies.
IRAQ: POST-TRANSFER
CPT Iraq offers these simple “signs
of the times,” which reflect the tapestry of both changes and status-quo
since the June 28th transfer of power from the United States to the new Iraqi
government.
The park across the street from CPT’s apartment used to be a desert waste
along the banks of the Tigris River. Today it is as green as Ireland and offers
sculpted paths and bright-colored swing sets. But the park is empty -- parents
and children are too afraid of militants or wayward mortars to venture beyond
the security of their homes.
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House raids and detentions continue.
One soldier CPTers met on the street said, “Yeah, today we’re on
duty here, last night we were breaking down doors.”
Clean-up crews of young men and boys fill the streets of Baghdad, toting buckets
and brooms and waving at passing cars.
U.S. humvees and armored personnel carriers still roll through the streets.
Now one also sees soldiers from the Iraqi Civil Defense Corps on training exercises
alongside the U.S. troops.
College students speak energetically about their future in Iraq. “I want
to work for the Ministry of Justice,” says one young woman studying law
at a college in Baquba.
Iraqi Police patrol the skies in their own helicopters, direct traffic at intersections
choked with cars, and organize raids searching for criminals throughout Baghdad.
Families in our neighborhood speak wearily of the water and electricity shortages.
“I used to have to wait three months to visit my son,” said a man
standing in the dust outside Abu Ghraib prison. “Now I visit every ten
days. The [prisoner abuse] scandal did that for us at least.”
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CHURCHES: REACH OUT TO TROOPS
“When you return home, we believe
that you will want to be able to tell your families that you acted with honor
and compassion,” states a leaflet CPTers handed out to U.S. soldiers in
Iraq.
CPT invites you to take this leaflet
to a military recruiting office near you to alert recruits that they can be
held liable for their actions even if they are under orders.
Before wide-spread news broke of U.S. soldiers abusing Iraqi prisoners, CPT
members Scott Kerr and Gene Stoltzfus took the leaflet to a recruiting office
in Downers Grove, IL, along with signs saying: “14,000 Iraqi detainees”
and “Stop Terrorism. Love our Enemies.” A barber next door to the
recruiting office told the two he didn’t like their message and called
the police, who arrested Kerr and Stoltzfus on charges of trespassing.
Kerr and Stoltzfus went to trial August 5. Lawyer Ed Osowski represented them,
prepared with a briefing on U.S. citizens’ First Amendment (freedom of
speech) rights. When the complainant did not appear and Osowski objected to
a continuance, the state voluntarily dismissed the charges.
Back to Top
IRAQ ACTION: ADOPT A DETAINEE
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CPT launched the Adopt-a-Detainee
Campaign in February, 2004, after Iraq team members had spent over six months
documenting testimonies of Iraqis detained by the U.S.-led Coalition Forces.
To date, at least 500 individuals and groups from five countries have been involved
in the Campaign. Although the U.S. military has not significantly reformed its
detention system, your actions have produced positive results.
In April, the Senior Advisor on Detainee Affairs for the Coalition Provisional
Authority told the Iraq team that he received letters from CPT supporters writing
on behalf of several individual detainees. Consequently, he checked up on these
individuals and reported his findings to CPTers, who relayed the information
to the detainees’ families.
We also shared your letters with detainees’ families, all of whom greatly
appreciated your efforts. The uncle of Yasser Hameed Ahmed, one detainee in
the campaign, wrote, “We do not know how to express our feelings for you
because you care for our suffering under the occupation . . . [All] of our gratitude
and respect for you. God be with you to help you work for the good.”
Iraqis continue to suffer violence and indignities within the U.S.-run detention
system. CPTers continue to work to reduce these injustices. You can make a difference
as part of the Adopt-a-Detainee Campaign.
For more information on the campaign, including how to participate, visit the
Iraq page on the CPT website: www.cpt.org/iraq/iraq.php. Contact Rick Polhamus:
Tel: 937-313-4458.
IRAQ: STARING DOWN A GUN
by Greg Rollins
At the end of our street, there is
a small gang with nothing better to do but loiter around shops. As the heat
rose off the pavement one evening, CPTers Sheila Provencher, Stewart Vriesinga
and I passed the gang at the far end of the block. Often they are friendly with
us, but this time they stood in our way.
One of them pulled out a gun and pointed it at Sheila. I screamed, “Allahu
Akbar!” -- God is greater! Muslims yell this whenever they are distressed.
I thought it might disorient the guy with the gun, but it didn’t. He laughed
and with the gun, squirted Sheila. (Did I mention it was a squirt gun?) He then
turned and squirted Stewart and me.
The three of us ran to our apartment, filled balloons with water, and grabbed
our own squirt gun. We spent the next while wrestling for water balloons and
squirt guns and chasing each other up and down the street.
This kind of thing doesn’t happen much to CPTers, but maybe it should.
Iraq team members June - August included:
Mabel Brunk (Goshen, IL), Anita David (Chicago, IL), Peggy Gish (Athens, OH),
David Milne (Belleville, ON), Anne Montgomery (New York, NY), Maxine Nash (Waukon,
IA), Doug Pritchard (Toronto, ON), Shiela Provencher (South Bend, IN), Greg
Rollins (Surrey, BC), Stewart Vriesinga (Lucknow, ON).
IRAQ: CHURCHES BOMBED
by Doug Pritchard
Two churches in the Karrada District
in central Baghdad were bombed on the evening of Sunday, August 1. Three more
churches in Iraq were attacked at the same time. This is the first time Iraqi
churches have been targeted in this way, adding a new element to the present
violence in Iraq.
CPTers Sheila Provencher and Greg Rollins were worshipping at St Raphael’s
Catholic Church when the first bomb exploded at 6:25 pm at the Armenian church
about 400 yards away from them. At that moment in the service, there had been
a time of silence, and the priest then continued with the next words of the
liturgy, “Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, have mercy
on us.”
CPTers Peggy Gish and Doug Pritchard were worshipping at St Yousef’s Chaldean
Church in the same neighborhood. As people were leaving the service at
6:50 pm, the second blast occurred at the Syrian church three blocks away. While
leaving the church, Gish and Pritchard asked worried residents for details.
One family pulled them inside their home and shared their experiences.
The young woman of the family wept and said, “My father was killed recently
because he sold alcohol. I was too afraid to go to my church today. Now it has
been bombed. I don’t know if my friends there are alive or dead.”
REGIONAL GROUPS
Washington, DC: Hooded and handcuffed, members of the Washington, D.C. regional CPT training group recounted testimonies of Iraqis detained by American forces in front of the U.S. Supreme Court May 14. The training group and CPT supporters then processed to the Senate building, and presented Senators with the report CPT’s Iraq team had compiled from interviews with seventy-two detainees and their families conducted in 2003.
CPT-UK Group Launched: Two Iraqi Christians
were among 16 people who attended the initial gathering of the CPT-United Kingdom
Regional Group on June
8. David Cockburn, the first British CPT reservist, reported on Hebron and presented
an overview of CPT. The group from Britain and Ireland hopes to eventually hold
a regional training. If you know people in the UK or elsewhere in Europe interested
in connecting with a regional group contact Tim Nafziger: Tel:
020-8341-6807.
PEACE BRIEFS
Colombian to visit Canada: Colombian
CPTer Sandra Rincón will visit churches and other groups in Canada this
September and October. Groups interested in hosting Sandra may contact Scott
Albrecht at CPT’s Toronto office: Tel: 416-423-5525
Korea Partnership: CPT Reservist Jerry Stein (Amarillo,TX) attended a Peace
Camp in East Timor July 27-August 27, sponsored by World Christian Frontiers
(WCF), an ecumenical group based in South Korea. CPT continues to build our
relationship with WCF for deeper peace ministry in war zones.
LETTERS
Recently, several people suggested that we publish too many negative messages. We share these because critical and even vicious communications are part of our world which still predates the culture of nonviolence we seek to create. We answer every letter, supporting each other to grow in our nonviolent literary competence without shedding firmness.
- Gene Stoltzfus, Director
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CREDITS
“This is the final issue of
‘Signs of the Times’ that I will be part of producing.
This newsletter is the creation of so many people -- Kryss Chupp my companion
here for the last 11 years, Claire Evans and Sarah Phend who organize the mailings,
Scott Albrecht who recently joined us as publications coordinator, Kathy Kern
who sets a very high standard for all of our CPT writing, Mark Frey and Sara
Reschly who help us focus on what is important and do so much of the hard organizational
work. It’s been an honor working with you all.” - Gene
Signs of the Times is produced four times a year. Batches of 10 or
more are available to institutions, congregations and local groups for distribution.
Any part of Signs of the Times may be used without permission. Please
send CPT a copy of the reprint. Your contributions finance CPT ministries including
the distribution of 17,000 copies of Signs of the Times.
The work of CPT is guided by a 16-person STEERING COMMITTEE:
Bob Bartel and Walter Franz (Mennonite Church Canada), David Jehnsen (On Earth
Peace), Cliff Kindy and Orlando Redekopp (Church of the Brethren), Susan Mark
Landis (Mennonite Church USA), Lee McKenna (Baptist Peace Fellowship of North
America), Tony Brown, Maxine Nash, Jacqui Rozier, and Hedy Sawadsky (at-large),
Rick Polhamus (Corps Rep.), Ben Richmond and Brian Young (Friends United Meeting),
John Stoner (Every Church a Peace Church), Rick Ufford-Chase (Presbyterian Peace
Fellowship).
CHRISTIAN PEACEMAKER CORPS: Scott Albrecht, Kristin Anderson, Chris Brown, Cal Carpenter, Matt Chandler, LeAnne Clausen, Claire Evans, Mark Frey, Elizabeth García, Diane Janzen, Kathleen Kern, Scott Kerr, Cliff Kindy, Erin Kindy, Jerry Levin, JoAnne Lingle, Lisa Martens, Rich Meyer, Maxine Nash, Jessica Phillips, Sheila Provencher, Sara Reschly, Sandra Rincón, Dianne Roe, Greg Rollins, Matt Schaaf, Pierre Shantz, Kathie Uhler, Stewart Vriesinga, Maia Williams, Keith Young.
RESERVE CORPS: 130 Reservists from 24 U.S. states, 4 Canadian provinces, Bahrain, Colombia, Israel, Philippines, and the United Kingdom supplement the work of the full time Peacemaker Corps.
ADDITONAL SUPPORT STAFF:
Bob Holmes and Doug Pritchard (Canada office); Kryss Chupp, Carol Rose, and
Gene Stoltzfus (Chicago office), and Janet Shoemaker (Goshen, IN).