Giving Thanks for Family Unity

I don't know about you, but I had a great Thanksgiving. On Wednesday night, I drove up to Boston to be with family and friends for the holiday. I was greeted on Thursday morning with the sound of scampering feet and yelps of joy as my five-year-old cousins joined us to watch the parade. Throughout the weekend, I found comfort in the warm presence of my family and in the rituals we have developed together - the walk around the neighborhood, the late-night movie, and the Turkey Terrific sandwiches of leftovers that we WILL eat on Thursday night, no matter how full we may be from the meal itself.

I have a large family and I'm very lucky to have them all together for Thanksgiving. There's really nothing like looking around a room full of 21 of the people closest to you in the world. This year, we were also joined by our close family friend, Rose, who helped us care for my grandmother for years. Rose is an immigrant from Uganda who has lived in the United States for over a decade. Because of the restrictions on her visa, she has been unable to leave the country. Doing so would mean that she would be unable to return. So, she has not seen her children for many long years, although she calls them frequently. As I reveled in my boisterous family and the fun times of the moment, Rose spoke of the distance between her and her loved ones.

At the Thanksgiving table on Thursday, I asked Rose how she was holding up. Times are hard, she said, and she is thinking that it is nearly time for her to go home. She has many concerns, the foremost being that she will need to develop a stable source of income when she returns to Uganda. Her children have relied on her regular remittances during her stay in the United States. Now, she will have to work hard to implement some of her entrepreneurial schemes in order to create a stable livelihood for herself and her family in Uganda. It is not an easy decision to leave the United States, knowing that it will be impossible to return even if hard times hit.

Rose's is just one of many immigrant families that are unable to be together during this holiday season. Many of these families cannot afford to cook a delicious meal for Thanksgiving because they must save their earnings to send as remittances to their relatives back in their countries of origin.

Immigrants support their families across borders and also contribute economically, socially, and culturally to the United States. They are courageous, entrepreneurial, and hard-working. However, instead of being welcomed into the United States, they are met with a broken immigration system.

The immigration system that these immigrants confront is one with tremendous visa backlogs, in which families wait years and even decades to be reunited. It is one in which police officers operating with little accountability regularly arrest and detain immigrants on account of the color of their skin. It is one in which undocumented immigrants remain vulnerable to exploitation because they are unable to regularize their status and come out of the shadows.

There is some good news in all of this, some holiday cheer to be found for those who are unable to celebrate with their families as I have been so fortunate to do. Immigration reform is around the corner. Representative Luis Gutierrez (IL) intends to introduce his progressive bill on comprehensive immigration reform this month, and Senator Charles Schumer (NY) plans to release his comprehensive bill in early 2010. Communities around the country have been coming together to say that the time for immigration reform is now.

These changes may come too late for Rose. However, comprehensive immigration reform would strengthen communities across the United States and improve the lives of thousands of immigrant families both now and in the future.

Stay tuned for updates on what you can do to urge Congress to make comprehensive immigration reform a reality!

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Feast of Cultural Exchange

Thanksgiving comes at a perfect time for us at FCNL to rest after our successful annual meeting November 12-15, to relax and reflect on the year with friends and family. Personally, I am extra thankful for the opportunity to return to the familiar traditions of my small family after being abroad in Bethlehem last year. As great as it was to visit my relatives by Skype call, I will relish actually eating the tasty treats and bonding in person.

Interestingly, as many in the U.S. recover from eating tons of turkey, this Friday the world's 1.6 billion Muslims will be celebrating one of the most significant holidays of Islam: Eid-al-Adha, the Feast of the Sacrifice, sometimes called the Greater or Larger Feast. It recalls the obedience of Ibrahim to God, demonstrated by his willingness to sacrifice his son Ishmael. Those observant Muslims who are financially able usually sacrifice a sheep, goat or other animal according to the religious tradition and local custom. This meat is divided and given to friends and to charity while some is kept by the family for eating as part of a huge feast of holiday delicacies that lasts several days and includes travel to visit extended family.

Eid-al-Adha follows the lunar Islamic calendar and so it moves every year. But this year, the popular feast of Thanksgiving day (in the U.S.) coincides nicely with this Muslim festival and offers a wonderful opportunity for religious and cultural dialogue as both feasts focus on charity and community. I found that one of the most powerful moments of annual meeting this year was listening to Dr. Sayyid Syeed who encouraged Quakers and others to be bold in engaging with the American Muslim community to see how we can work together. FCNL's policy committee had been perfecting a minute for quite a while and at the meeting, the FCNL general committee approved the final product: "An Epistle Encouraging Quaker Engagement with American Muslims."

Part of this statement encourages Quaker organizations, meetings, churches, and individuals "consider similar bridge-building for fellowship, joint service, and advocacy work as they discern openings." I urge you to seek openings this weekend as holiday celebrations offer great opportunity for discussion, learning and fun. Take this chance to find out if there are Muslims within your community that you can get to know or Muslim organizations your meeting can build a relationship with. Happy Feast!

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Memories - "I thought they took this down?"

This week is one that marks a pretty historic event - one which, for better or worse - I only really know about from news and history books, considering I was only about 3 years old the day the wall 'fell.' As news-media, historians, and the general public around the world consider what the historic implications of this event have been and might yet still be, I find myself thinking back to my own experience with an impossibly large wall - one that snakes it's way through the neighborhoods of Belfast, Northern Ireland.

It was my first big trip abroad and I had been in Ireland for 3 weeks before traveling north. I can remember getting off the bus, standing in front of the wall, and instantly thinking - "I thought they took this down?" That moment and the weeks that followed likely set me on the path I find myself on today - and yet those walls still stand as constant reminders of past pain, triumph, security, conflict, and in some places community. So when is it the right time to consider taking down a wall? I have often thought, with the understanding that I am most certainly an outsider, that taking these physical walls down would help in the gradual healing of nations and peoples. Interesting that on this 20th anniversary of the 'fall' of the Berlin Wall, this article appeared in the Belfast Telegraph about young people in Northern Ireland's capitol city and their thoughts on the 'interface/peace' walls.

In my limited experience, I have come to feel that while such walls might initially serve the purpose of tempering the direct threat of violence and therefore bringing about a sort of 'negative peace,' such walls do not in the end serve the purpose of producing a 'positive peace' but rather hamper people's abilities to access each other and learn from their collective pains and histories.

Having shared this memory of a place quite important to me, I'd invite others to share their thoughts and stories on peace and walls and how/if they ever work together. Berlin and Belfast are certainly not the only places where walls of some sort have or still exist - so share your thoughts.

In peace,

~Rachael

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Tribal Nations Conference (part 2)

As I mentioned in my last two blog posts, on November 5 the White House hosted a nation-to-nation conference with representatives from each of the 564 federally recognized tribes in the United States. This all-day event included participation by the members of Congress, the current administration and the President. It was a great opportunity for dialogue between nations and a symbol of the change in policy the President is committed to in the U.S. government’s relationship with our country’s native citizens.

The event was opened and closed by President Obama, beginning with a speech and interactive session. However, as the President said, "the most important opportunity that you will have today is to interact directly with the department heads, the secretaries who are in charge of implementation on a whole range of these issues." He urged tribal leaders to "present to them your concerns, your specific recommendations. They are here to listen and to learn and to advise." A range of topics were discussed over the course of the day, including our current key legislative opportunities:tribal law and order, and health care. At the White House website, you can watch videos from the different panels:

• Public safety and housing
• Education, health care and labor
• Economic development, natural resources, energy, environment, and agriculture

If you are unable to watch streamed videos on your computer, I highly recommend at least reading the text from Obama's opening statement and interactive session. Here are a couple of choice snippets that relate to some of the issues we work on:

"More than half of all Native Americans and Alaska Natives, especially those in remote areas with limited access to care, rely on the Indian Health Service for their most basic needs. And that's why we invested $500 million under the Recovery Act in strength-ening and modernizing the IHS, and that's why my budget proposes an increase of 13 percent in IHS funding."

"Up to 15 percent of our potential wind energy resources are on Native American land, and the potential for solar energy is even higher. But too often, you face unique hurdles to developing these renewable resources. That's why I'm very proud … [w]e're stream-lining and expediting the permit process for energy development and transmission across tribal lands. We are securing tribal access to financing and investments for new energy projects. And thanks to the Recovery Act, we've established an Energy Auditor Training Program that could prepare Native Americans for the green jobs of the future."

"The shocking and contemptible fact that one in three Native American women will be raped in their lifetimes is an assault on our national conscience that we can no longer ignore. … I strongly support the Tribal Law and Order Act, and I thank Chairman Dorgan and Represen-tative Herseth-Sandlin for their leadership on this issue. And I look forward to Congress passing it so I can sign it into law."

I was really impressed by him when reading his remarks. His words were inspiring and his message felt sincere. I also want to point out, because I certainly noticed it, that when taking questions and comments Obama was careful to call on roughly equal parts men and women. What a guy!

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Senate Rejects Amendment on Second-Class System of Justice

Great news! Yesterday at 6:24 PM the Senate voted against an amendment that would have compelled all Guantanamo detainees suspected of participating in the attacks of September 11, 2001 to be tried by military commission. If this amendment had passed, it would have delayed the closing of the Guantanamo prison and would have prevented Guantanamo detainees from being prosecuted fairly in U.S. civilian courts. With a 54-45 vote, the Senate voted against the amendment.

Thank you to those of you who called your Senators yesterday and the day before, for speaking out against military commissions as a second-class system of justice. Thanks to your efforts, Congress and the Obama administration still have the opportunity to shut down the Guantanamo prison, which has become an international symbol of torture and human rights abuses.

Looking for more information? For a news release by the ACLU on this amendment, please click here.

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Tribal Nations Conference

I mentioned the Tribal Nations Conference in my last blog post, but I forgot to mention that it is being webcast live! The conference started at 9am eastern time, and will go until about 5:30pm eastern. You can watch the whole thing, streaming live, here. President Obama, in a really unprecedented move, has invited one representative from each of the more than 550 federally recognized tribes to this exciting nation-to-nation conference.

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Take Action: Tell Your Senators to Uphold Justice by Voting NO on the Graham Amendment

Your Senators need to hear from you! They will vote tomorrow (Thursday) on an amendment that, if passed, would block access to the most effective and humane courts for criminal prosecutions of Guantanamo detainees.

This amendment favors military commissions, which do not achieve the same standard of justice as federal civilian courts. The amendment, introduced by Senator Graham (SC), would prohibit funding for Guantanamo detainees to be prosecuted in U.S. civilian courts. Detainees would instead be tried by military commissions. However, military commissions are fundamentally flawed. The ACLU has released a press statement calling military commissions a "second class system of justice."

This amendment would needlessly tie the President's hands in determining how to process Guantanamo detainees' cases. President Obama signed an executive order in January 2009 stating that the U.S. government would close the Guantanamo prison within one year. The Graham amendment would likely delay the closing of Guantanamo.

Call your Senators today and tell them to vote NO on the Graham amendment (S.A. 2669) to the Commerce-Justice-Science Appropriations Act of 2009 (H.R. 2847). By telling your Senators that Guantanamo detainees should be tried in federal civilian courts, not military commissions, you can help to repair the standing of the U.S. as a country committed to human rights and the rule of law. Call your Senators today at (202) 224-3121.

Looking for more information? Click here for a news article on the Graham amendment. Click here for a coalition letter against this amendment signed by prominent human rights organizations.

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Happy Native American Heritage Month!

November is Native American Heritage month, but Christmas came early (so to speak) for Indian health! On October 22, Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced her intention to include the full text of the Indian Health Care Improvement Act (IHCIA) in the House health care reform bill. Then last Thursday, October 29, the House introduced its amended health care reform bill, H.R. 3962 -- and it contains the IHCIA, including permanent reauthorization! Legislation to reauthorize this vitally important program passed the Senate in 2008 but did not become law. The program has not been reauthorized since it expired in 2001, which means Congress hasn't reauthorized it since 1992. However, because it's one of the less controversial items in the health care bill, we're hopeful that it will make it through to the end. Please consider writing to your Representative to urge them to support H.R. 3962, which includes the IHCIA.

There are several other exciting Indian-related things going on this month:

• Opening of the Embassy of Tribal Nations (November 3)
• PBS to air Power Paths (November 3) and other Indian-related programs (please check your local listings for the most accurate information
• White House to host nation-to-nation conference, November 5
• United Nations Special Rapporteur on adequate housing to attend briefing on Indian housing at new Embassy of Tribal Nations (November 7)

Are there events going on in your area? Tell us about them!

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Blogs I Love

Maira Kalman has a fabulous blog at The New York Times website titled "And the Pursuit of Happiness." The subject of her blog is pretty common, American democracy, nothing too novel in terms of today's blogosphere. What is remarkable, however, are her illustrations and her style of writing; I just adore this blog, and no mater what the subject of the entry, I always come away from reading it with a smile on my face. I think it's because her drawings are filled with such bright, happy colors.

Maira publishes a new entry once a month and the most recent entry is all about her visit to D.C. She talks about visiting the Capitol Building, meeting the dedicated staff members who work there, and visiting with Representatives and Senators. Her enthusiasm in describing the art and architecture found in the Capitol Building reminds me of why the art lover in me is always excited by a visit to this glorious building. Past subjects of the blog include observations on immigration, the inauguration, Benjamin Franklin, and the cost of war. Each entry is filled with a mix of Maira's beautiful drawings and photographs as well as her beautiful, hand-written poetry.

I actually first became aware of Maira Kalman's art and poetry when I was very young. My aunt gave me Maira's book, Max Makes a Million, probably when I was around six or seven. I have loved it ever since. When I was younger I was fascinated with the illustrations as well as the unorthodox style of presenting the writing on the book pages: the letters got progressively bigger, they weren't always in a straight line, they arched and curved around the illustrations. It was the perfect marriage of text and illustration.

I also loved the main character, the dog Max, who's dream was to move to Paris and be a poet. That sounded like so much fun. And it helped fuel a lifeling passion for all things French, and an intense desire to visit Paris (which finally came true when I was 17). I read Max Makes a Million hundreds of times by myself when I was young, and when I was old enough, it became one of my favorite books to take with me when I babysat.

Maira Kalman has written and illustrated many children's books, including a few more about Max, and has also illustrated a recent edition of the Strunk and White classic, The Elements of Style. You can visit her website here.

I really hope you'll visit her blog on the NYT website and take a look around. I know I can't wait until next month's entry.


--Lacey

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