Hello, friends. It’s Bishop Mary Ann Budde from Washington, DC. The eyes and ears of the nation are rightfully fixed on what’s happening in Minnesota now. We’ve seen and heard how ICE agents and immigration patrol officers are doubling down on incredibly aggressive tactics against all manner of people, with no accountability and complete guarantees of immunity from the federal government.

We’re seeing children being detained. We saw how a child was used as bait to lure his parents outside. We’ve seen people dragged from their homes and their cars. We’ve seen peaceful protesters being attacked simply for filming what they see, and in two instances we’ve witnessed via video two Americans shot and killed.

We are also seeing across the state of Minnesota hundreds and thousands of people who are determined to care for their neighbors and to stand up for the communities that they love. People are volunteering to help teach children who are sequestered in their homes, donating food, delivering groceries. We’ve seen doctors and nurses protect their patients. We’ve seen neighbors hold candlelight vigils in the dark, and on one Friday afternoon, tens of thousands walking in sub-zero weather to show, in common witness, solidarity and support for those in Minnesota who are being targeted with a policy of fear.

And they are asking us not only to tell their story, but to connect the dots and to see how what is happening in Minnesota is related to a national policy of extreme immigration enforcement that we are witnessing in state after state.

And you may be wondering, as many of us are: what is yours to do? And I’m here to say that this is a moment for all of us across the nation, and we all can do something - something large, something small. We can look around and see who among our neighbors are in need of our care. We can donate our resources to agencies and organizations that are providing protection and care, and also subscribe to and support those media outlets that are determined to show us what is happening on the ground.

We can use our intellectual power, our willingness to learn, to understand our constitutional rights and what the federal government has the right and authority to do, and what they cannot do according to the Constitution.

We can use our political power. We can, of course, vote when the elections come up in the coming year, but we can also express our thoughts in local media. We can subscribe to petitions. We can write our senators - particularly now, in this week when funding for these agencies is being debated.

We can care for each other. And that perhaps is the largest and most important message of all: that this is our moment to determine who we are as Americans, who we are as the United States of America. And I believe, and I have seen, how Minnesota is showing us all the way. And we can follow their example wherever we are and do what we can to recreate and restore fabrics of decency and kindness that sustain us all.

Quelle: https://www.facebook.com/bishopmariannbudde