They were compelled by conscience and faith to stand against an unjust law — a faith leader, a student, a retiree, and citizens who were once undocumented immigrants. A mother with her baby also joined the prayers and singing to protest the way the law “rips mamas from babies” and causes children to live in fear of losing their parents.

This law causes good people to face unjust arrest every day. They risk arrest when they go to work to support their families, when they drive to church or the grocery store, and when they take their children to school. Today love moved us to risk arrest for them.

Responding to the mocking of churches by some Legislative leaders, Rev. Fred Hammond said, “When moral and religious teachings are dismissed as exaggerations, then it is necessary for people of faith and of conscience to step up and do everything in their power to prevent such laws. To remain silent is to be complicit with such evil.”

They came because they had been there.

They came because they wished they had been there.

They came because they don’t want to go back there again.

They came because of HB56.

They came because they felt called to do something about a mean spirit set loose in our country. A mean spirit that wants to turn back the times, to go back to “the good old days” that weren’t so good for people without privilege. A mean spirit that once denied access to voting booths and lunch counters and water fountains, that still denies full access to justice and dignity to people with certain pigment, and that now seeks to deny access to people without papers.

And so they marched. They whispered, “We are standing on holy ground, walking in holy footsteps.” Walking in the footsteps of people who 47 years ago marched this same road to overturn the tables of injustice, like Jesus did when he overturned the tables in the Temple.

Standing on holy ground: When Moses stood on holy ground, God told him to take off his shoes. As soon as he did, God gave him his marching orders: go to Egypt, and set my people free!

Walking in holy footsteps: as soon as the disciples dropped their nets to follow Jesus, he gave them their marching orders: If you want to be my disciple, pick up the cross and follow me.

Walking in holy footsteps, standing on holy ground. Marching orders seem to follow.

You are standing on holy ground, My Beloveds, not just when you enter the sanctuary of the church but every time your foot touches the earth, because every speck of dirt that God ever created is holy.

So what about walking in holy footsteps? Remember when you were a child at the beach, running behind someone much larger than you, trying to stay in their footsteps, leaping from footstep to footstep quickly before the next wave washed the footstep away, running without looking up because their legs were so much longer than yours? Trying not to make your own footprints, trying not to miss a step, not caring where they were going, just not wanting them to end?

It’s time to look up, time to pay attention. Whose footsteps are you walking in? Consciously or not, we are all walking in someone’s. Are they the ones you really want to follow? And where are those footsteps taking you?  Is it really where you want to go?

Standing on holy ground, check. Walking in holy footsteps, check. It must be time to take off your shoes, drop your nets, and get ready for your marching orders. “Ain’t gonna let nobody turn us around.”

Rev. Angie Wright

Give Us Our Daily Bread

My mother loves to cook.  She always loved to try out new recipes, which unfortunately did not go over very well with her four young children.  Unfortunately, her culinary skills were lost on us when we were young.  Often she would spend hours preparing a new exotic dish, only to be met with cries of, “Oh, gross!  What is this?”

That’s what the freed but hungry slaves said when God sent them out to gather food during their journey toward the promised land.   The word “manna” actually means “what is this??”

A people set free from slavery prayed, “Give us our daily bread.”  Manna was God’s answer.

God gave instructions to these pilgrims about the divine provisions:

  Each morning the heads of households were go out and gather manna for that day.

  Each householder was to gather the same amount for each person in his household.

  On the 6^th day they were to gather enough for 2 days.

  On the 7^th day they were not to gather at all.

Some funny things happened.  Some gathered more than God instructed, but even so, they had nothing left over.  Some gathered less, but still had enough.  Those who tried to hoard for future days found that the manna spoiled overnight and became infested with worms.  Those who went out to gather on the 7^th day, found none.

This is the economy of God.

There is miraculously enough for each person, each and every day.  God provides, we participate.  We gather and we distribute.  We are entrusted with this holy duty.  If we keep too much for ourselves, it will spoil and become infested with worms.  This may be metaphorical, but it’s worth considering during this season of Lent.  We are entrusted with providing for all who are in our care, all who are unable to care for themselves.  This is not metaphorical, and our failure to do so is also worth considering during this season of Lent.

God could feed the world without us, but for some reason, we are given the blessing and burden of putting food on the tables of the world.  Our own children may scrunch up their noses and say, “gross, what is that?,” but many are hungry for the bread of Life.  That is both metaphorical, and not.

Rev. Angie Wright

Rep. Alvin Holmes (D-Montgomery) has been working for years to add sexual orientation to the hate crimes statute, and Rep. Patricia Todd (D-Birmingham) has lobbied for the addition of gender identity as well. This year she has introduced HB28, which would amend the statute to “provide for those additional penalties for crimes motivated by the victim’s sexual orientation or gender identity or expression.”

The House Judiciary Committee has failed to move on HB28.

However, this week the Senate’s Judiciary Committee approved SB27, which would amend the state’s hate crimes statute to “provide additional penalties against any person who commits arson, burglary, or criminal mischief in any degree against religious property, such as churches and cemeteries.” The bill has one sponsor, Majority Whip Sen. Gerald Dial (R-Lineville), and no co-sponsors. It has received a second reading in the Senate, which means it will come up shortly for a vote.

While it is abhorrent to me that anyone would desecrate a sacred space, I find it really disturbing that our legislature would put property above people when making changes to the hate crimes statue.

Advocates gathered just last Sunday in Montgomery for the 14th Annual Vigil for Victims of Hate and Violence, an event that started after the vicious beating and murder of Billy Jack Gaither in 1999. There have been far too many others lost to us over the years – and too many who are forever marked by beatings and abuse intended to terrorize and punish them because of who they are and who they love.

If we are to add protections to our current hate crimes statute, let us remember that our LGBT sisters and brothers are persons of sacred worth to God. As much as we value our sacred spaces, we must value our fellow human beings more.

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If you would like to share your feedback on SB27 and/or HB28, please contact your legislators as soon as possible. You can find their names and contact information by entering your nine-digit ZIP code here.

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There are differences of opinion regarding the usefulness of hate crimes laws. Some people say a crime is a crime and the punishment should be the same regardless of the reason the perpetrator targeted the victim. On the other hand, the criminal justice system has always considered motivation when determining punishment for a crime — mitigating factors, aggravating factors. I think most people consider terrorism-related murders to be more heinous than a robbery gone bad because the intent is to terrorize not just the murder victims but an entire community.

Unfortunately, when the community is an already marginalized group of people, it’s far too easy to blame the victim (“black people should know to stay out of that part of town”, “she looks Mexican, so she must be illegal”, “he’s gay, and I think he made a pass at me”, etc.) and let the perpetrator off with a lighter sentence than s/he would have received if the victim had been more privileged.

My daughter is singing “Colors of the Wind” in her upcoming voice recital. I’ve always loved the song, with its evocation of the beauty we can find in our differences as well as our commonalities, and it seems newly relevant in light of the struggles we face in Alabama today. Angie wrote recently of reading the Bible with a new lens:

I’m going to start reading the Bible back to front. Or maybe hanging off of a limb upside down, like a bat. Then maybe I’ll see the things I need to see, the first time around.

The lyrics to “Colors of the Wind” encourage us to look at the world around us through a new lens. “Walk the footsteps of a stranger.” How often do we do that, really? How many of us spend significant time building relationships with people who don’t look and think like us?

Birmingham is still, unfortunately, a city stratified by lines of race and economic circumstance. Most of us live, work, and worship with people who share a similar skin tone and pay grade. We tend to stick with people who share our political views, fearing we can’t build coalition with those who think differently. And political leaders use these divides to their advantage, preaching a politics of scarcity that tells us we’ll lose something if someone else gains.

What do we miss when we stay inside the lines, letting our fears and prejudices keep us from taking a breath and leaping out into the amazing world that surrounds us?

For me, I would have missed hearing the “inside story” of the civil rights movement in Birmingham from the mouths of the people who lived it and are still living it today, a story that is so much deeper and broader and more compelling than the one I learned in school.

I would have missed the opportunity to get to know the Dreamers who are giving voice to undocumented young people who want to live out their lives and give back to the only country they’ve ever known. Sure, I would have written about the evils of HB56 on my own blog, and I would have attended the rallies, but it’s unlikely I would have had real conversations with the students who are putting their lives and safety on the line to speak out against injustice.

I have been an activist ally for LGBT equality for most of my adult life, but were I not where I am now, I would have missed the opportunity to learn from LGBT people of color about their experiences of trying to live authentically in a culture that doubly oppresses them because of who they are and who they love.

What we miss most, I think, is living into the reality of a culture of abundance. We miss the joy of knowing that lifting up our neighbor lifts us as well. We miss the wisdom we can gain by sitting at the feet of people who have lived the powerful experiences that shape our world. We miss the beauty and richness that is all around us, if we will only “walk the footsteps of a stranger”. We will surely learn things we never knew we never knew. Shall we?

People who are daily labeled illegal are now labeled Leaders.

People who’ve been told it’s time to leave now know it’s time to lead.

People who’ve been told to move now know it’s time for a movement.

Men in work shirts, university professors, mothers and grandmothers, college students, civil rights icons, teenagers and children, all calling out their vision for a beautiful Alabama. In a moment of quiet, a latina child calls out, Roll Tide! Everyone laughs, but I think we all feel the painful irony. That’s just how deeply rooted in Alabama our immigrant neighbors are, and yet the intent of Alabama’s new immigration law is to force them to leave or to live here in fear.

Roll Tide? Oh yes, the tide is turning in Alabama, and it will not be turned back. We are One family, One Alabama. Brown, black and white, in Alabama, of all places. HB56 is bringing us together. It’s a miracle. Thanks be to God. Gracias a Dios.

Bob Ekblad writes of speaking to don Feliciano, a Mixtec farmworker who pastors a Mixtec congregation in the Pacific Northwest.   Don Feliciano said, “This is the biggest problem we have – maybe you too were coming to tell me that this is wrong that we are illegal.” *

Reading this, I brace myself. How many times this man must have been lashed with that label: Illegal.

Ekblad responded as I would: “In the kingdom of God there are no borders, and God views us all as beloved children.” Simple. He went on: “If salvation were about obeying the law, then all of us are damned.” Surely. A stark expression of traditional Christian theology: we are saved by grace alone.

Then he knocked me off my feet. “I’ve been seeing Jesus more and more as our Buen Coyote,” he says to don Feliciano.

Buen Coyote. It’s nearly impossible for anyone to come to the U.S. legally from south of the border. You need strong family connections, advanced education, highly technical skills, thousands of dollars, and years to wait. Many who lack that winning combination depend on human smugglers called “coyotes” to get them across the border. It’s a harrowing, life-threatening journey that no one would take if what they were leaving behind wasn’t even worse.

So I find this image irresistible: Jesus as the Buen Coyote, the Good Coyote, the human smuggler who spirits immigrant families — like Joseph, Mary and Jesus –  across the border, away from danger, into a land of promise and security. The Border Patrols and Immigration Authorities are like the Pharisees and Scribes, the ones for whom the love of the law trumps the law of love.

Traditional Christian theology teaches that Jesus forgives our sins in order to bring us into the kingdom of God. In the Lord’s prayer, the prayer that Jesus taught his disciples, Christians across the centuries and the nations pray together: “forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.” To Jesus the Buen Coyote, our trespasses are no more or less than those of people who “trespass” the borders drawn on a map. And the forgiveness of our trespasses depends on our ability to forgive the trespasses of others.

As Martin Luther King wrote with such eloquence from the Birmingham Jail, “We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.”

Likewise the apostle Paul wrote, “You are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and the members of the household of God.” (Ephesians 2:19)

This is good news to the poor and the oppressed. It is good news for people without papers. It is good news for all of us.  Why are we are so unwilling to let love trump an unjust law?

We are faced with the moral challenge of our times. A new people are in our midst, and they are ensnared by a new net of unjust laws. This demands much of us who have, prematurely, staked out, laid claim and put borders around our 40 acres of the kingdom.

Come, Jesus Buen Coyote, Come.

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* Liberating Bible Study, ed. Laurel Dykstra and Ched Myers, 2011.

On April 27, deadly tornadoes swept through Alabama, leaving wide swaths of the state devastated. The tornadoes didn’t respect the boundaries we often set between rich and poor, but recovery for people living in lower income areas has been slower than we hoped. GBM received an outpouring of generous donations following the tornadoes, which enabled us to assist families directly and pass on resources to on-site relief organizations.

On June 9, devastation of another type hit the state when Gov. Robert Bentley signed the most punitive, far-reaching and unjust immigration law in the nation. Although the law was not scheduled to take effect until September 1 and court rulings delayed implementation of some sections, the damage was immediate and far-reaching.

Over the course of the next few months, immigrants (many of whom are part of “mixed” families – documented as well as undocumented) left the state, and left employers without the skilled workers they needed. Because the law criminalizes assistance to undocumented immigrants, those who remain here have been fearful of asking for the help they need. Not one Hispanic family signed up for holiday assistance through GBM this year. Utility companies around the state began demanding citizenship papers as a condition of providing service. Hispanic students disappeared from Alabama schools, and those who remained faced bullying from other students who called them illegal and told them to “go back to Mexico”.

GBM has been at the forefront of the faithful opposition to Alabama’s new immigration law, and we will continue to work for repeal.

We’ve been busy this year – check out the highlights after the jump. We’re grateful for your interest and support in 2011, and we look forward to partnering with you in 2012! If you’d like to make a financial gift to support our work, click HERE.

• Thanks to our generous donors, GBM provided food, clothing, and/or financial assistance for 2,693 families (7,086 people, including 3,029 children) as well as holiday food, new clothing and new toys for 250 families (1,058 people, including 697 children).
• When the city of Birmingham planned to withhold $3 million in funding for the Birmingham-Jefferson County Transit Authority and cut fourteen bus routes, GBM staff and volunteers organized bus riders to push back by contacting the mayor and city council members. The city reversed the decision to cut funds and routes, and Mayor William Bell credited GBM with “making me do the right thing”. We continue our ongoing work of building broad and deep support for affordable, reliable, sustainable regional public transit, working with local allies, the Center for Social Inclusion, the Los Angeles Bus Riders’ Union, and PolicyLink.
• GBM and volunteers from Prince of Peace Catholic Church and other faith communities organized the first major faithful pushback against Alabama’s punitive new immigration law on June 25, drawing nearly 4,000 people to an interfaith candle march in downtown Birmingham. The march was followed by a rally on September 1 that drew around 3,000.
• GBM, as part of the Alabama Coalition for Immigrant Justice, spearheaded congressional field hearings on the impact of HB56. The hearings, held before a packed house at the Birmingham City Council chambers, were followed by the official kickoff of “One Family, One Alabama”, the campaign against HB56. Sixteenth Street Baptist Church and Kelly Ingram Park were filled with people gathering to express their opposition to the law.
• On December 17, GBM and the Alabama Coalition for Immigrant Justice brought Jim Wallis of Sojourners to Montgomery. Before Jim spoke in the evening, Lisa Sharon Harper, Sojourners’ Director of Mobilizing, led a faith-rooted organizing training, following a one-day training conference to educate grassroots organizers and a rally at the governor’s mansion to demonstrate support for repeal of HB56.
• GBM, in partnership with Western States Center, began the work of “Uniting Communities”, addressing issues of justice and equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people of color. The people of this community face bias, bullying, and violence both because of their sexual orientation or gender identity and their race. We have built a diverse and committed core group that meets monthly to share information and ideas. As part of this effort, GBM has partnered with Beloved Community Church for our LGBT/Racial Justice Film Series, which has featured “Brother Outsider: The Life of Bayard Rustin”, “Anyone and Everyone”, and “Through My Eyes”. Each film drew a diverse audience and engendered powerful sharing of stories.
• GBM has produced another informative calendar to illuminate how everyday struggles relate back to Alabama’s deeply flawed 1901 constitution and highlight the need for a new and improved basic governing document.
• We continue to bring together the poor and non-poor in our community to identify and address the barriers that keep people in poverty and to acknowledge and celebrate both our common dreams and the richness of our diversity.

A kind donor has gifted GBM with eight collector’s edition Barbie dolls, all in the original packaging, and is graciously allowing us to sell them as a fundraiser. So if you’re still looking for the perfect gift for the collector on your list, here’s a perfect opportunity to give something truly unique. If you’d like to bid on individual dolls (minimum bids below) or all eight (minimum bid $600), email me at kathy@gbm.org. We can deliver if you’re local; we’ll ship if not. Auction ends December 21.

Drum roll…. And here they are:

Days of Our Lives Marlena Evans Barbie - min. bid $200

Special 2004 Edition Holiday Barbie - min. bid $100

2005 Bob Mackie Holiday Barbie - min. bid $50

Holiday Angel Collector Edition Barbie - min. bid $70

Holiday Angel Barbie (second in series) - min. bid $50

Hollywood Cast Party Barbie - min. bid $40

Princess of China Collectible Barbie - min. bid $60

Gemini Barbie Pink Label Collection - min. bid $40

The Alabama Coalition for Immigrant Justice will kick off the campaign against HB 56 at 2:00 PM Central Time tomorrow with a news conference in advance of an Ad Hoc Congressional Hearing being held at the Council Chambers on the 3^rdFloor of Birmingham City Hall. Present will be a number of key members of Congress, including immigration reform champion, Rep. Luis V. Gutierrez (D-IL), who will listen to stories of those who have been affected by the law. Other members of Congress in attendance are as follows:

• Rep. Luis V. Gutierrez (D-IL), Congressional Hispanic Caucus Immigration Task Force Chair;
• Rep. Terri A. Sewell (D-AL);
• Rep. Joe Baca (D-CA);
• Rep. Yvette D. Clarke (D-NY), Secretary of the Congressional Black Caucus;
• Rep. Charlie Gonzalez (D-TX), Congressional Hispanic Caucus Chair;
• Rep. Al Green (D-TX);
• Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-AZ), Congressional Progressive Caucus Co-Chair;
• Rep. Shelia Jackson Lee (D-TX);
• Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA), Immigration Subcommittee Ranking Democrat;
• Rep. Grace Napolitano (D-CA); and
• Rep. Silvestre Reyes (D-TX)

The members of Congress will hear from a number of people in the community who have witnessed the adverse effects of the law. On panel one, members of Congress will hear from Sheriff Mike Hale, Jefferson County; Dr. Craig Witherspoon, Superintendent Birmingham City Schools; Mary Bauer, Southern Poverty Law Center Attorney; and Mayor William Bell, Birmingham.

Panel two will consist of testimony from Jose Antonio Castro, La Jefa Radio; Y.J., 17 year old student; Angie Baylon, ESL Teacher Woodlawn and Huffman High School; Alma, concerned parent; Trini, undocumented immigrant from Tuscaloosa; Evangelina Limon, an Alabama business owner; and Francisco Garcia, Alabama Business Owner.

Later in the evening, from 7pm to 9 pm, members of Congress will attend a rally at the 16^th Street Baptist Church in Birmignham, Alabama (there’s a map here, in case you don’t know where it is). The event will officially mark the launch “One Family, One Alabama” Campaign to Repeal HB 56.

Eleven members of Congress, including Rep. Terri Sewell (D-AL), along with civil rights leaders from around the country, will speak to express the nation’s solidarity with the people of Alabama. State Senator Billy Beasley, sponsor of the proposed bill to repeal HB56, will also speak, along with people whose lives have been damaged by the law.

Also slotted to speak at the event are Zayne Smith, Grassroots leader at ACIJ;Wade Henderson, National Conference on Civil and Human Rights; Mitch Ackerman, SEIU; Hillary Shelton, NAACP, among others. The speakers will address thousands of Alabamians who will gather to challenge Alabama’s state lawmakers to repeal House Bill 56, the nation’s most vicious immigration reform law.

You can check out the full schedule — complete with all the speakers — here. There’ll be more on the events tomorrow. Keep checking back on our page for updates throughout the day, or follow us on twitter @ALimmigrant – we’ll be live-tweeting, using the hashtag #CrisisAL. Stay tuned!