He who has compassion on them will guide them and lead them beside springs of water. Isaiah 49:10

Tuesday, June 10, 2008

Lead or Move Aside

Fidel "Butch" Montoya

The struggle for justice and righteousness for undocumented immigrants is becoming a more difficult proposition. The Bush Administration is pushing for more and more enforcement of the antiquated immigration laws on the books.

Undocumented immigrants are now being held in new detention centers while they are being sentenced for up to five months in jail before deportation. This creates a basis to arrest the undocumented immigrant if they return to the USA as “criminals.”

The Homeland Security Department, specifically ICE is beginning to squeeze more and more communities with high “Latino” populations. There are more and more reports of ICE arresting and deporting USA citizens.

ICE has no inclination to trying to verify citizenship, only deportation. The government does not care if you are a citizen or not, if you don’t carry the necessary paper work, you are bound to be deported.

The New York Times reported that, “At the same time, in the last year, local police departments from coast to coast have rounded up hundreds of immigrants for nonviolent, often minor, crimes, like fishing without a license in Georgia, with the end result being deportation.”

In Oklahoma, the reports continue to come out that the police continue to target Latino drivers at roadside stops where documents are demanded by the police. Some of the Latino USA citizens are now carrying passports or birth certificates to avoid being jailed.

All across the country, Latino Evangelical churches are suffering in attendance as more and more of our brothers and sisters are afraid to go to church.

Afraid to go to church because we have seen the tentacles of corrupt ICE officials stalking Latino Christians in camp grounds, churches, homes, jobs, grocery stores, and schools.

It is a very sad time in our country where gasoline prices are at record high prices and continuing to climb with no end in sight.

The war in Iraq almost forgotten in the news media and the American memory of men and women who continue to die in a war with no end.

The American economy whirling out of control with higher prices for food, unemployment getting higher, and a recession causing more havoc with the economy and no one seems to really care.

Yet with all of these problems, many Americans continue to refuse to take the blinders off and continue to blame “Mexicans” for all of our problems.

Meanwhile, because the American economy is sliding downward, it is beginning to seriously affect the worldwide economies of other countries as well. Imagine a serious world wide recession on the horizon which I suppose we can blame on “the Mexicans” as well?

For many of the pastors and ministers who have not stopped to realize the consequences of a broken immigration policy and being run amuck by the Bush Administration’s policies, it is time to pray and seek God's wisdom.

Yet, I continue to be amazed at the apathy and uncaring attitude by many Latino Evangelical ministers who refuse to acknowledge that God demands that we “act justly, seek mercy, and walk humbly with our God.” (Micah 6)

To “act justly” is seek justice for the lost and unrepresented and not to use our Bible as blinders.

To “seek mercy” is to ensure that we do not allow injustice to create lack of respect for humanity as we pray in our stained glass churches.

To “walk humbly with our God,” means to understand we are not to be arrogant with our titles and knowledge…but to be servants to serve the needs of the people.

But as we continue to ask and beg pastors and ministers to pray for undocumented immigrants in our country who are being abused by unscrupulous businesspeople, a mean-spirited government, racism and bigotry of our neighbors and fellow Christians, we must continue to find more avenues of service beyond prayer.

We can encourage those members of our congregations who meet the requirements to become citizens to do so. We must encourage ALL who have not registered to vote, but who are qualified to do so, to register to vote. And most importantly, vote in greater numbers than Latinos did during the primaries.

Es Tiempo de Votar, It is Time to Vote! It is time for our community to vote and express our indignation at the failed policies of the past, and to vote for change that will bring solutions to the broken immigration policy of our country.

WE must not become the political pawns of any party. We must stay true to our community’s values and principles of family, life, and justice.

We do not seek the attention of any candidate that does not carry in his heart the values we hold true.

The Latino community must also demand that the politicos in the church and in the political parties to listen carefully to the demands we have for justice, liberty, and righteousness for all.

To our fellow Church “religious leaders” who have forgotten we must speak for those who cannot speak for themselves, lead or move aside.

Fidel “Butch” Montoya
H. S. Power & Light – Latino Faith Based Initiative
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1 comment:

Jose Kennard said...

A recent book on this subject missed the mark.

Tony Perkins, President of the Family Research Council and Bishop Harry Jackson, chairman of the High Impact Leadership Coalition, recently published a book titled Personal Faith-Public Policy that calls for unity among the black, white, and Hispanic churches in order to effectively do spiritual warfare and aggressively be engaged in the social action arena. Unfortunately, it did little to draw Hispanic evangelicals. The text of a letter written to the authors is below:

June 21, 2008

Dear Mr. Perkins and Bishop Jackson,

I read your book with considerable interest and found that many of its points resonated with my beliefs. You are to be particularly complimented for calling upon the church to widen the action tent and infuse its entire body with a sense of unity in order to effectively serve the Lord with greater determination. With great respect for your effort to enlighten and to lead in a positive way, I find, however, that I must offer some personal insights and suggestions on being truly inclusive with our Hispanic brothers and sisters.

Your words on p. 154, �There is growing evidence that the failure to engage in the shaping of public policy will ultimately limit the church�s ability to openly evangelize the lost and encourage the spiritual awakening that is needed,� says it extremely well. Your views reinforce how, for example, the �Great Society� experiment injured our country � and yet was uncontested by the church for too long. The seeds of such a failure may well have been a church divided.

Thus, the need for unity to do spiritual battle and to get engaged in social justice, or as you more appropriately termed, �Biblical justice,� is vital. It also seems to me that if the �end game� is to win souls for the Kingdom, we must all work with vigor and with truth to unite the church.

You are indeed on target to emphasize the need for unity in the church�s body, especially when you say: �They have seen us as being separate and disconnected � a black church, a white church, and a Hispanic church. Therefore, we must ask the Lord to give us wisdom concerning increasing the momentum of racial reconciliation within the entire body of Christ (p.41).� Overlooked, it seems, is what it will truly take to bring the Hispanic church into the desired fold.

This is the point of my letter, which is sent with respect and in the spirit of optimism that it might help to gain the perspective that is needed to produce real inclusiveness, that is, achieve a truly wider tent that you speak of in your book.

The Hispanic church is the fastest growing segment within the evangelical community � and as such will play a major role in waging the spiritual battle that you identified. It seems logical to expect that full inclusion of this vast resource is essential if we are to deal effectively with Biblical justice issues.

While it is recognized that the pain inflicted on blacks in this country and its aftermaths are much greater than what has been inflicted on Hispanics, there are nevertheless deep wounds for this new and vulnerable group � and these new wounds are becoming increasingly evident.

Chapter Five of your book addresses some of those wounds but unfortunately its thrust may inadvertently drive a deeper wedge of division between the three largest branches of the evangelical church in America, especially in its rendition of immigration, which is a key issue affecting Hispanics.

A small minority is exploiting the issue of illegal immigration and their rhetoric is beginning to impair Hispanics in general, whether they are native-born or illegal immigrants. Hispanics tend to perceive the issue not as anti-illegal-immigration, but anti-Hispanic.

The Rev. Samuel Rodriguez, President of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference says it well in an interview taped earlier this year. I urge you to watch the interview, at the link below:

http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/02082008/watch2.html

To Hispanics, the tone of the debate as it has evolved during the past two years has grown increasingly hostile. To fully understand what is driving this emotional debate one has to understand the underlying cause. It is not the threat of terrorism or the threat of higher violent crimes as many have postulated, rather it is in the form of arguments that have largely been discredited by government statistics and officials. In my view, the false arguments are driven by a vocal minority of individuals who feel threatened by the changing face of America.

The Hispanic population in the U.S. is expected to more than double by the year 2050. According to a study by the Pew Institute released in February, 2008, and verified by other data including statistics from the U. S. Bureau of Census, the Hispanic population will grow from 14% of the population in 2005, to 29% of the population by the year 2050. The study shows that immigration policy will have little effect due to the higher birth rate for Hispanics than for the rest of the population. Please see the table below drawn from the study.


Racial/Ethnic groups 2005- 2050

Foreign-born 12%- 19%

Non-Hispanic white 67%- 47%

Hispanic 14%- 29%

Black 13%- 13%

Asian 5%- 9%

This significant trend apparently has caused considerable consternation within some groups in our country � the primary cause for the failure of a comprehensive immigration reform bill last year. At the same time, it has generated hate crimes against Hispanics in various parts of the country.

Hispanic evangelicals have spoken out and taken strong stands that range from calling for comprehensive immigration reform that would include a non-amnesty path to documentation of those working here illegally. Their views, however, in large part have not been mirrored by most black and white evangelicals. The following link provides the clear stance of Hispanic evangelicals on this issue:

http://www.nhclc.org/about/immigration_reform.html

Unfortunately, many in our country have submitted to nativist group hysteria, often fueled by some cable news and talk radio personalities. Lou Dobbs, Sean Hannity, Bill O�Reilly, and Rush Limbaugh have skewed news events to show Hispanic immigrants in the worst light.

Most recently they have been joined by Laura Ingraham of Fox News, on her new program, �Just In.� She has attempted to link the criminal activities of the drug cartels to those millions of hard-working immigrants who have come to America to take on jobs natives reject. In addition to their hard work, they pay taxes, and support their families � and often set an example of sending financial help from their meager wages to their elderly and needy relatives. This is real responsibility � this is family love, which many America can certainly emulate. Yet, these humane actions are conveniently overlooked.

The worker�s crime, a federal misdemeanor, was to come to America in search of a better life for their families. Often there are accomplices. Many immigrants are lured by unscrupulous human traffickers passing themselves off as �labor contractors� aided by willing employers who need workers and thus fudge the rules, and by a government system that looked the other way because of the economic benefits of the �arrangement.�

The chapter on immigration not only is in alignment with the position of the nativist group-talk show coalition, it adds to the xenophobic fears with examples such as Tony�s stay in a hotel in Atlanta (p.85). Anyone taken a cab in D.C. lately? These are legal immigrants as are the fast-food restaurant workers and others you cited.

I live in the northwest, which has a heavy immigrant population from Asian nations, the Middle East and Eastern Europe � and it is not unusual to encounter workers who do not speak English well. But isn�t that a byproduct of the rich cultural diversity of our nation, rather than the direct result of illegal immigration. Well-documented studies, by the way, show that historically it takes three generations for the native tongue to die out. Linguistically, what is happening now is historically �normal.�

I fear that the nature of the arguments posited in that chapter will do little to draw the Hispanic church or to generate the much needed unity with the black and white churches. Take for instance the narrative about the meeting with a few Hispanic pastors in Los Angeles two years ago. By inference it leaves the impression that the Hispanic church is against the twelve million already here.

The National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference website clearly shows that that is not the case. What is presented from the meeting tracks closely to what all Americans feel. The polls show 70% of Americans are against illegal immigration and close to the same number are opposed to amnesty. Do Hispanics agree? Absolutely.

The narrative is unfortunately silent on that issue about the twelve million. I suspect the two dozen Hispanic pastors in L.A. would poll the same as all Hispanics and other Americans, that is, over 70% of Americans favor some form of legal documentation so immigrants can stay here and work, provided they have not committed a felony crime and that they pay a fine.

The American people, in general, favor what President Bush proposed two years ago, which is exactly what the Hispanic church desperately seeks now. But instead of calling for a statesman-like recommendation for black and white evangelicals to strongly support a call for comprehensive immigration reform, the book�s opportunity is squandered � for the message simply echoes nativist arguments.

In my view, black and white evangelicals may well have contributed to the failure to enact comprehensive immigration reform. This has harmed immigrant Hispanic families and produced anger within the Hispanic church.

Perhaps the greatest resentment is about the failure of the rest of the evangelical community to openly decry the treatment of citizen children, ripped from their undocumented parents in deportations. Over three million Hispanic children have been deported �de-facto,� split from their deported parents, or lie away at night in fear of the knock on the door that will lead to the separation from their parents.

Despite many in the Hispanic church calling for the president to order a moratorium on any further deportations of parents of U.S.-born children until the congress passes legislation providing for a legal means to family unification, the rest of the church remains silent or in opposition. Is it unreasonable to say, at the very least, that any comprehensive reform legislation should give priority status for family unification? And yet, your coverage on families on p. 92 includes a calling for what many feel would require a constitutional amendment that is particularly repulsive to most Hispanics.

Most legal experts feel this is settled law and that a constitutional amendment is necessary. Once adequate provision is made in immigration law for workers to come here legally, the question of citizenship for the children should not matter.

It is of concern to note that some white evangelicals during this presidential primary season have strongly aligned themselves with the nativist, non-Biblical position for deportation, to the dismay of the Hispanic church. Gov. Mike Huckabee, for example, hoping to capitalize on this stance to gain the support of evangelicals, did an about-face on his previously compassionate view of these immigrants. He unveiled a plan to deport the twelve million, and in a nationally televised interview called for rounding all of them up, loading them on busses, and driving them to the nearest border crossing to be deported.

This was not lost on the Hispanic community, for in Florida, Hispanics, led by Cuban-Americans, by huge numbers came out in opposition of Huckabee, effectively derailing his bid for the presidency. By contrast, John McCain favors a plan acceptable to Hispanics and should do well with Hispanics in November.

I point out these political facts to support the position that the white evangelical church is largely seen as an adversary because of its stance on immigration. Unfortunately, the black church seems to be on the same path.

While the Hispanic church has traditionally supported the black church in civil rights issues, the black church has failed to support Hispanics on a number of issues, including immigration. Part of the lack of support among blacks may stem from a false perception that Hispanics are taking their jobs. That perception has been supported by many evangelical whites, even as farms in their communities are in danger of bankruptcy for lack of field workers.

You provided a quote from the Rev. Martin Luther King, and said on page 136, �As compelling as we may find this language now, on the whole, evangelicals failed to support blacks in their struggle for civil rights.� Is it d�j� vu � with respect to Hispanics?
A failure by black and white evangelical communities to support Hispanics on immigration today may well cause evangelicals to experience the same regret in the future as well.

But a paramount spiritual question now surfaces: Will the failure to offer hospitality and inclusiveness to the Hispanic church prevent the united church to effectively address the Biblical justice issues to which God has called us?

Jose Kennard,
Edmonds, Washington

June 21, 2008 at 5:42 PM

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