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Anti-immigration group FAIR mars smart reform push by faith groups
Albor Ruiz - Ny Local
Updated Thursday, September 17th 2009, 11:56 AM
Harbus for News
Rev. Donna Schaper's Judson Memorial church located on Washington Square South.
One Family Under God.
That is the name leaders of several religious traditions gave to a multilingual prayer service they held in Manhattan a few days ago. Its purpose: to show solidarity for fair and smart immigration reform.
"The need for comprehensive immigration reform remains as pressing as ever," the religious leaders said in a written statement. "Our communities continue to suffer because of raids, anti-immigrant press, hate crimes against the immigrant community, and a broken immigration system that keeps at least 12 million people undocumented."
The immigrant and faith groups - Buddhist, Christian, Hindu, Jewish, Muslim and Yoruba - that took part in the prayer service at St. Mary's Church on Grand St. made an impassioned call for justice for hardworking, taxpaying communities.
The fact that thousands of immigrants who left behind country, culture and friends to search for the American Dream have found instead fear, persecution, prejudice and families divided was a huge motivation for the religious leaders.
"A lot of children have been brutally separated from their families," said the Rev. Donna Schaper, senior minister of Judson Memorial Church in Greenwich Village and one of the founders of the New Sanctuary Movement, one of the groups represented at the prayer service. "This is un-American," she added. "Family values don't stop at the Rio Grande."
The Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), a group that the Southern Poverty Law Center designated as a hate group, obviously does not agree. Tuesday and Wednesday, they held their annual lobby days in the nation's capital to push their anti-immigrant, enforcement-only agenda on the members of Congress. FAIR - an unintentionally ironic acronym - also hosted a "radio row" featuring far right anti-immigrant media personalities, including CNN's Lou Dobbs, who is said to be the group's favorite.
In response, the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), America's Voice Educational Fund, the Center for New Community and the Campaign for Community Change launched an ad denouncing the role of FAIR "in poisoning the health care and immigration debates with bigoted, xenophobic hate speech." To see the ad go to www.seiu.org/images/FAIRflyer.jpg.
"We will not allow such a raging extremist group to hide behind this false veil of reform," said SEIU Executive Vice President Eliseo Medina. "By continuing to fan the flames of hate and fear, FAIR has contributed to rising levels of hate crimes and discrimination that we are seeing in immigrant communities across the country."
Federal Bureau of Investigation statistics prove Medina right. They show that hate crimes are an increasing nationwide problem. Assaults against Latinos, the FBI reports, have been on the rise for the past four years. Similarly, the Southern Poverty Law Center has reported that the number of hate groups targeting Latinos across the country has also soared during the same period.
Closer to home, who can forget the senseless killings of Ecuadoran immigrants Marcello Lucero in Suffolk County, and Osvaldo Sucuzhanay in Brooklyn?
Lost in the bitter rhetoric of anti-immigrant extremists is the fact that immigrants are human beings with families, needs and dreams who deserve respect and compassion.
"It's time that everyone learns who FAIR's founders, leaders and followers truly are. They are not reformers, but a group of extremists whose leaders are fostering a bigoted, anti-immigrant, anti-American agenda that we must stop," Medina said. "America doesn't need zealots; we need smart, pragmatic reformers who bring communities together to solve our nation's most critical challenges."
Not to mention as many prayers as possible.
aruiz@nydailynews.com.
Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/bronx/2009/09/17/2009-09-17_antiimmig_group_mars_reform_push.html#ixzz0ROPNEcL0
Albor Ruiz - Ny Local
Updated Thursday, September 17th 2009, 11:56 AM
Rev. Donna Schaper's Judson Memorial church located on Washington Square South.
One Family Under God.
That is the name leaders of several religious traditions gave to a multilingual prayer service they held in Manhattan a few days ago. Its purpose: to show solidarity for fair and smart immigration reform.
"The need for comprehensive immigration reform remains as pressing as ever," the religious leaders said in a written statement. "Our communities continue to suffer because of raids, anti-immigrant press, hate crimes against the immigrant community, and a broken immigration system that keeps at least 12 million people undocumented."
The immigrant and faith groups - Buddhist, Christian, Hindu, Jewish, Muslim and Yoruba - that took part in the prayer service at St. Mary's Church on Grand St. made an impassioned call for justice for hardworking, taxpaying communities.
The fact that thousands of immigrants who left behind country, culture and friends to search for the American Dream have found instead fear, persecution, prejudice and families divided was a huge motivation for the religious leaders.
"A lot of children have been brutally separated from their families," said the Rev. Donna Schaper, senior minister of Judson Memorial Church in Greenwich Village and one of the founders of the New Sanctuary Movement, one of the groups represented at the prayer service. "This is un-American," she added. "Family values don't stop at the Rio Grande."
The Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), a group that the Southern Poverty Law Center designated as a hate group, obviously does not agree. Tuesday and Wednesday, they held their annual lobby days in the nation's capital to push their anti-immigrant, enforcement-only agenda on the members of Congress. FAIR - an unintentionally ironic acronym - also hosted a "radio row" featuring far right anti-immigrant media personalities, including CNN's Lou Dobbs, who is said to be the group's favorite.
In response, the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), America's Voice Educational Fund, the Center for New Community and the Campaign for Community Change launched an ad denouncing the role of FAIR "in poisoning the health care and immigration debates with bigoted, xenophobic hate speech." To see the ad go to www.seiu.org/images/FAIRflyer.jpg.
"We will not allow such a raging extremist group to hide behind this false veil of reform," said SEIU Executive Vice President Eliseo Medina. "By continuing to fan the flames of hate and fear, FAIR has contributed to rising levels of hate crimes and discrimination that we are seeing in immigrant communities across the country."
Federal Bureau of Investigation statistics prove Medina right. They show that hate crimes are an increasing nationwide problem. Assaults against Latinos, the FBI reports, have been on the rise for the past four years. Similarly, the Southern Poverty Law Center has reported that the number of hate groups targeting Latinos across the country has also soared during the same period.
Closer to home, who can forget the senseless killings of Ecuadoran immigrants Marcello Lucero in Suffolk County, and Osvaldo Sucuzhanay in Brooklyn?
Lost in the bitter rhetoric of anti-immigrant extremists is the fact that immigrants are human beings with families, needs and dreams who deserve respect and compassion.
"It's time that everyone learns who FAIR's founders, leaders and followers truly are. They are not reformers, but a group of extremists whose leaders are fostering a bigoted, anti-immigrant, anti-American agenda that we must stop," Medina said. "America doesn't need zealots; we need smart, pragmatic reformers who bring communities together to solve our nation's most critical challenges."
Not to mention as many prayers as possible.
aruiz@nydailynews.com.
Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/bronx/2009/09/17/2009-09-17_antiimmig_group_mars_reform_push.html#ixzz0ROPNEcL0
