Meeting the Moment...

Dear friends...

I write to you after another busy week.  Busy nationally, busy locally.  While not all of our local happenings reach the attention level of national events, I believe they are every bit as important... because the threats we see exercised elsewhere are present here, too.  And while community is learning through resistance... so is the opposition.  Dig in.  Here.

THIS PAST WEEK:

First of all, thank you to all who came together in our sanctuary last Sunday.  We shared some updates, then some dialog -- oh, and soup!  Big thanks to those who made soup and watched kids, all of the less-obvious but important contributions that make gatherings like these possible.

This past Wednesday, a multi-faith, multi-racial cohort of religious and community leaders sat down with Springfield Superintendent of Police Larry Akers and four of his captains.  The intent of our meeting was, in a word: relationship.  Relationship can be collaborative; relationship is also accountable.  We approached the chief with concerns about public safety, human dignity, and community care, especially amidst increasing (and often violent) federal immigration enforcement.  We were glad to hear that the Welcoming Community Trust Ordinance is an active part of ongoing training and operations.  (Remember: we showed up to get that law passed!  Many of us supported it publicly from the onset, and again after a mayoral veto.  I remember being in Council chambers with many of you for those important evening meetings downtown.  That law is now the basis for the SPD's relationship to federal immigration enforcement.)

I'll share my own thoughts of the meeting in another forum.  Important now, however, is that the SPD also enthusiastically accepted our invitation to a community forum; in fact, they went so far as to say they hoped it wasn't a one-off.  More to come on that.

Deep gratitude to the organizers and attendees, including police leaders.  It was a hopeful meeting.

COMING UP: 

Several of you last week asked what you can do.  We decided to focus our efforts on local frontline organizations.  There are a few events coming up:

• This Sunday (2/8) @ 1PM at UUSGS -- PVP is hosting a "Know Your Rights" training, which will also include some organizing of mutual aid.
• Thursday (2/12) @ 6PM -- Bystander Training hosted by PVP, ACLU, Pioneer Valley Workers Center, and LUCE Immigrant Justice Network.  This is an important step for those seeking deeper engagement.
• Sunday (2/15) @ 9:30 & 11AM -- UU Mass Action organizer Claire Karl Müller will offer the morning message.

Also, we've been asked by the Workers Center to collect some non-perishable items for distribution to their network.  They very grateful, but they are only able to accept the following items (so please nothing else right now):

• Vegetable oil in containers 48 fl oz or less
• 4lb Packages of MASECA (white bags) (linked to Target; also available locally)
• 1lb or 2lb bags of Dry Beans
• 1lb or 2lb bags of White Rice
• 1lb packages of pasta (any shape)

OTHER:

We've been informed that the Western Mass Area Labor Federation (AFL-CIO) is hosting a "Working People Against ICE" gathering at the Federal Courthouse tomorrow (2/7) at 1PM.

CONCLUSION (FOR NOW):

Work is ongoing.  Coming together is a priority.  In the organizing world, this is called base-building.  We often call it community.  But a particular kind of community.  Deep community.  The kind of community that is rooted in the deepest of shared values, those we seek to discern and embody as people of faith, bonded by a deep sense of one another's humanity and of the life we share.  So may we be.

Rock on, dear ones.  Love to you & yours...

Jason