Archive Page 2
April 25th, 2012 by Youth Envoy Coordinator
The April 12-14 UU-UNO Spring Seminar was a great success. Our seminar title was Beyond Borders: Breaking Barriers of Race and Immigration, and we did just that. 
We achieved both diversity in our speakers and participants and greater understanding and communication across the diversity. There was a clear message from our speakers and participants that immigration must be decriminalized. We heard how important immigration is to the life of any great nation. Population is to be feared less than we thought. It had been predicted that India and China would decline due to their massive populations, but instead they enjoy amazing economic growth. Japan which has severely restricted immigration is suffering economic
decline. We looked at race from many different aspects and found ways to understand the appreciate our differences. Rev. Shawn Newton conducted an amazing service based on “Love Thy Neighbor,” which emphasized that trying to love our neighbors, even when it is difficult can produce wonderful results of friendship and love. We ended the seminar with wonderful poetry from UU-UNO intern Dylan Debelis and UU poet and member of the UUA nominating committee, Christopher Sims. We had 119 participants from across the USA and Canada.
April 24th, 2012 by Youth Envoy Coordinator
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Ryan Schwartz,
ryan@hummingbirdink.com,
713.446.3736
ORAM releases first how-to guide for US LGBT and accepting communities to
support increasing numbers of LGBT refugees
April 18, 2012, San Francisco…. As increasing numbers of LGBT refugees flee to the United States, ORAM (the Organization for Refuge, Asylum & Migration) has released the first ever guide for American LGBT and accepting communities on welcoming people fleeing persecution in their home countries.
Rainbow Bridges, a 48-page guide developed in a pilot project to resettle LGBT refugees in San Francisco, offers practical step-by-step guidance on welcoming new refugees, ensuring their mental and physical wellbeing, and helping them find support in their new communities. It includes sample forms, a suggested code of conduct, and outlines the avenues for refugees to receive housing, employment, and federal assistance. Rainbow Bridges is available at: http://oraminternational.com/publications
“There are immediate ways those of us in the U.S. can support members of our LGBT community facing persecution overseas,” said Neil Grungras, Executive Director of ORAM. “Uniting in support of queer asylum seekers and refugees is a powerful way of building community and reversing homophobia.”
ORAM estimates the US receives about 2,000 refugees a year who are fleeing persecution based on their sexual orientation or gender identity, representing 6% of all refugees in America. Unlike other refugees, those who are LGBT or intersex often undergo the integration process alone, facing exclusion from the religious and immigrant communities that form the safety net for most newly arrived refugees and asylees. Rainbow Bridges will help U.S. LGBT, faith-based, and welcoming communities support these refugees as they build new lives in the United States.
“LGBT refugees need a different reception for our differences and culture. If I were not gay, I would have easily been accepted into the African-American community and offered the services I needed; instead I faced further discrimination and restricted resources,” said Buchi Miles-Tuck, a gay asylee from Nigeria who fled two days before he was going to be killed. “If you have support from the LGBT community, you can get off the plane and experience how to be free in your own skin.”
Neil Grungas and Buchi Miles-Tuck are available to interview.
About ORAM
The Organization for Refuge, Asylum & Migration (ORAM) is the only organization focused exclusively on helping vulnerable LGBTI refugees worldwide find safety and rebuild their lives in welcoming communities. ORAM increases global support for refugees and asylum seekers through advocacy and education, as well as technical assistance to people and groups interested in working with refugees, asylees, and asylum seekers. Learn more at www.oraminternational.org.
April 23rd, 2012 by Youth Envoy Coordinator
STANDING ON THE SIDE OF LOVE
On April 25, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments on Arizona’s anti-immigrant law, SB 1070, in United States v. Arizona. The court’s ruling, expected in June, will determine whether the U.S. will have one immigration policy or fifty. If the court rules to uphold Arizona’s SB 1070, it will legalize state-directed discrimination, allow racial profiling by state and local law enforcement, and tear apart immigrant families.
The interfaith community is planning a major witness at the Supreme Court with an opening worship on Monday, April 23rd, a round the clock prayerful presence, and a Jericho March, rally, and press conference on Wednesday, April 25th. There will be a large witness in Phoenix and many other “echo” vigils held in cities across the country. If you plan to hold an echo vigil in your community, please register here. If you are able to come to the Court next week, here is a detailed calendar of events including information on how to participate by way of social media. Even if you can’t attend one of the vigils, please join us by praying for the court to exercise wisdom and compassion.
The purpose of SB 1070 and other copycat bills is to make life here so difficult for immigrants they will be forced or frightened into leaving. Such a policy is the opposite of compassion. As Unitarian Universalists, our faith calls us to insist on justice, equity, and compassion for all people.
The poem at the base of the Statue of Liberty was written by Emma Lazarus in 1883. It concludes with these lines:
Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!
It is a fitting poem for a nation mostly composed of immigrants. The intended effect of SB 1070 and similar legislation, though, is to douse that lamp and close that door. Is this the kind of country we want to be? I don’t think so. I want to live in the country envisioned in the promise contained in the Pledge of Allegiance. “…one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”
One of the people traveling to Washington, D.C. next week is Julie Erfle. She is a Unitarian Universalist who was spurred into activism not only because SB 1070 is inhumane but because it is ineffective. We are less secure with SB 1070 than we were without it.
She says, “As the wife of a former Phoenix police officer who was killed in the line of duty by an undocumented immigrant, I understand the personal cost of a broken immigration system and a government unwilling to fix it. If we wish to find solutions, we must put aside the myths and rhetoric that have clouded this debate and create laws consistent with our values. Those values demand that we put safety and humanity on an equal footing.” You can read Julie’s blog here.
Please join us in praying for the Court to exercise wisdom and compassion in their ruling. Rev. Marta I. Valentín, minister at First Church Unitarian in Littleton, Massachusetts, composed a prayer for this purpose. Please include it in your Sunday bulletin and use it in your Sunday services.
In faith,
Rev. Craig C. Roshaven
Witness Ministries Director
Unitarian Universalist Association
April 22nd, 2012 by admin
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April 15th, 2012 by admin
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April 8th, 2012 by admin
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April 4th, 2012 by Envoy Coordinator
We want to pass on this exciting message sent to our office from
Charles Radcliffe of the
Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. The term SOGI stands for Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity and is the all-encompassing term used at the UN when discussing issues that affect lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people.
Hello everyone,
Just wanted to bring to everyone’s attention the latest remarks of the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on SOGI-related matters, delivered at the end of a speech at Columbia University in New York earlier this week on the topic of “youth” (see extract below). The full transcript can be found here: http://www.un.org/apps/news/infocus/sgspeeches/statments_full.asp?statID=1498
The Secretary-General’s comments follow the strong statement he sent to the Human Rights Council last month (and which was recently re-mixed into a danceable YouTube hit — thanks to our friends at All Out!). For those that have not yet seen that statement, it is available on YouTube in its original, official format here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qtxU9iOx348
The remix is at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lUizJUQIbq4
Best,
Charles
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U N I T E D N A T I O N S N A T I O N S U N I E S
THE SECRETARY-GENERAL
| I have spoken today about youth because I believe we can change what is often called a ‘population explosion’ into a global transformation.
But let me say a word to the elders in the room. After all, I am one of you.
It is fashionable to say, “Youth is a state of mind.”
People like this expression because it implies that we can always be young.
It is a kind of consolation.
But I would frame it differently. “Youth is a state of mind,” is not a consolation – it is a challenge.
Youth are idealistic and brave. They do not cower to authority.
I am not young. But I recently had the chance to speak about an issue where too many people have been silent:
The terrible violence and discrimination against people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender.
Last month, we had the first ever formal UN debate on this issue.
Like many people of my generation, I did not grow up talking about sexual orientation – but I learned to speak out because lives are at stake.
Delegates from some 50 countries walked out in protest. They did not want the Council to even discuss the issue.
But my message to them is up on YouTube, and I hope they hear it.
After I spoke up for my beliefs, I received great praise from some and brutal criticism from others.
But my response to both was the same: human rights are human rights.
I am not in this job just for the easy issues where everyone already agrees.
My point is we can all be young in our attitude. The determination to right wrongs that drives young people can motivate all of us. |
March 25th, 2012 by admin
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March 18th, 2012 by admin
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March 14th, 2012 by intern
The blog post below was written by Dylan Debelis, an undergraduate intern at the UU-UNO.
On February 29th the academic groups of UMI Transitions, CRNS, and NYU ran a symposium in New York City entitled “Latin-American Migrations, Patterns of Settlement and Transnational Dynamics.” It’s goal was to bring together experts from around the world in the field of Latin-American Immigration and put them into dialogue with one another. Though the best-represented group on the series of panels was Sociologists, Anthropologists and Economists were also present. The regions looked at in the presentations were primarily from Western Europe and the Eastern United States. London, Barcelona, Buenos Aires, Philadelphia, and New York City, were the primary cities discussed.
At the heart of the day-long conference was a battle of two theories discussing the best way to approach talking about the transnational migration of Latin Americans. It seemed that regardless of if they were talking about education, gender relations, economic structures, or the role of culture-specific enclaves, the panelists argued about whether a linear-assimilation model of understanding migration or a segmented-assimilation model of understanding migration was a more efficient model for describing the reality of transnational immigration. These two theories represent a larger debate being waged across the world right now in the academic and international community.
Under the layers of academic jargon the discussion can more easily be expressed by a difference in emphasis. The linear-assimilation model sees a group of immigrants as “other” to the society they are migrate to and emphasizes that the primary goal of the immigrants is to assimilate into their new culture. For example, someone who believes in this model would see a Mexican migrant in Philadelphia who has a child in the American schooling system, has a wife fulfilling a general idea of what an “American wife” is, participates flawlessly in the “American” economic system, and otherwise lives an “American lifestyle,” as the most successful migrant. The assumption of this model is that the main obstacle for migrants is achieving assimilation. Therefore, what the model wants to change about society is that it wants to create better channels for assimilation to take place.
The segmented-assimilation model on the other hand believes that there is a wider context that needs to be recognized and that there is never a single process or path of assimilation that immigrants must go through. Academics subscribing to this model reject that there is a threshold of assimilation or that assimilation is ever a single experience. Rather, they state that what the society receiving immigrants needs to alter is more foundational. For example, this model would not blame an immigrant who does not lead an “American” lifestyle for not working hard enough to assimilate but would instead point to the race-based inclusion and exclusion in particular areas of American housing or job markets that would stop the immigrant from participating. This camp believes that we must first change the keystone morals of the host country before justice and acceptance can be reached for migrants.
These models that were referenced throughout the symposium are at the center of the academic debate. Both have at their center the quest for immigrant justice world-wide but with very different points of emphasis. However, the deeper question that was rarely asked in academic circles is how these theories permeate actually into the real world and outside of the echo chamber of a lecture hall. In such a setting it is easy to forget that immigrant populations world-wide are real populations facing real injustices that must be addressed now. These models help us piece together the big picture, particularly in our rapidly globalizing world. But it must be remembered that the goal for the global community is justice and well-being for every person and that it is only when these models are implemented that we may move closer to that goal.
A summary of the theories referenced here and in the field and a case for why they are relevant can be found here: http://www.migrationinformation.org/Feature/display.cfm?ID=442
decline. We looked at race from many different aspects and found ways to understand the appreciate our differences. Rev. Shawn Newton conducted an amazing service based on “Love Thy Neighbor,” which emphasized that trying to love our neighbors, even when it is difficult can produce wonderful results of friendship and love. We ended the seminar with wonderful poetry from UU-UNO intern Dylan Debelis and UU poet and member of the UUA nominating committee, Christopher Sims. We had 119 participants from across the USA and Canada.
