On a phone-based meeting with the UUA Board this week, we were faced with the dilemma of what to do about our 2012 General Assembly in Phoenix, given the recent Arizona law which seems to promote and legalize racial profiling. Ultimately, we decided to put the decision before the delegates to General Assembly next month. But the motion we're asking people to discuss and amend or vote on says:
1. We should boycott, and not hold GA in Arizona in 2012
2. We should raise funds to pay for cancellation costs (roughly 600k)
3. We should raise an equivalent amount to pay for anti-racist work in Arizona (another 600k)
4. We should renew and re-double our own work to become a multicultural faith movement, looking at systemic racism in our communities, congregations, and in our own lives.
What do YOU think is the right thing to do?
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I think the right thing to do is to know your neighbor, help your neighbor, and when he tramples and pilfers your garden, ask him to please stay in his own garden and work it so that he can have the pride of accomplishment.
ReplyDeleteThis is an effort by the people who are most affected to preserve their communities against problems they have there caused by illegal immigrants.
I applaud Arizona for taking action toward a very real and threatening problem that they have there.
This is not about racism. This is about illegal immigration.
The $600K in cancellation costs could greatly benefit communities in Mexico. Do something constructive, not punitive, with the money.
ReplyDeleteOkay, this is a first take on the news... I'm looking at the $600K cancellation fee, at EATING the $600K cancellation fee. I'm thinking that it might be smarter to use that money for our benefit, AND hold the meeting as scheduled.
ReplyDeleteSo, some ideas.
Everyone wear a tee shirt depicting their own most recent immigrant ancestor. In my case this would be my great grandmother, Agnes Miller Barteaux, who came from Nova Scotia sometime around 1880. SHE, as 90+% of our immigrant ancestors, did not have any "official" papers.
Nor did the "Native" Americans, who were simply the first to arrive. Hey, it was somewhere between 15,000 and 30,000 years ago, but they did not have immigration papers!
If someone wanted to enact this idea, I bet there are plenty of genealogy fans who would be willing to discover at least one immigrant ancestor for each attendee. If we each did just our church delegates, it would be manageable and fun!
Part B, of course, is to engage the press continouously during GA about how every American has immigrant ancestors! Keep talking! Talk some more!
Lalia