The New Jim Crow in Texas

Registration is open for
The New Jim Crow in Texas

Register now for the May 14 special NT-NL event, The New Jim Crow in Texas – Toward a New Consensus on Justice.
Click here to go to on-line registration. Register as a Guest.

Tuesday, May 14 at King of Glory Lutheran Church,
6411 Lyndon B Johnson Freeway, Dallas

1:00 Afternoon workshop ($25 includes a light meal)
7:00 PM Michelle Alexander speech (free admission)

Click this link to download a detailed brochure.

The New Jim Crow in Texas will feature an afternoon workshop with religious and community leaders discussing racial disparity in Texas criminal justice, schools and social services. Michelle Alexander, author of The New Jim Crow, will speak that evening.

The event will be available online via live-streaming video. The link for taking part this way will be at the NT-NL website: www.ntnl.org

Michelle Alexander is a civil rights lawyer, advocate, and legal scholar.  In recent years, she has taught at Stanford Law School, where she was an associate professor of law and directed the Civil Rights Clinics.  In 2005, she wrote The New Jim Crow - Mass Incarceration in an Age of Colorblindness.

The afternoon workshop will offer a presentation by Joyce James, Director of the Center for the Elimination of Disproportionality and Disparities, and Maxine Jones-Robinson, Regional Disproportionality and Disparity Specialist, introducing the process of "Courageous Conversation." 

Bishop Kevin Kanouse will provide a theological foundation for the day. A panel of resource people will discuss the intersection of race with criminal justice, education, the church and community. There will be time for discussion and interaction with the presenters.

The New Jim Crow in Texas is organized by the Northern Texas-Northern Louisiana Mission Area’s Public Witness Team and its Table Talk program, together with the Center for the Elimination of Disproportionality and Disparities (Texas Health & Human Services Commission) and King of Glory Lutheran Church.

 

LIRS Welcomes New Bipartisan Immigration Framework, Awaits Obama Speech

Linda Hartke, President and CEO of Lutheran Immigration & Refugee Service, affirms the immigration ideas unveiled by bipartison senators in her blog. Click here to read the article.

Hartke writes, "It’s encouraging to see the framework for comprehensive immigration reform released today (Jan. 28, 2013) by a bipartisan group of senators. This, together with President Barack Obama’s speech tomorrow in Las Vegas, gives me hope that lawmakers will move rapidly to pass fair and compassionate reform legislation.

"The principles unveiled by the group of eight senators confirm that now is the time for Congress to pass immigration reform. We at LIRS look forward to working with Democratic and Republican leaders in Congress as they come together, for the well-being of our nation, to answer the president’s call to build an immigration system that works for America. The principles put forward today, if enacted into law, would provide a workable process for migrants to continue contributing to the United States." Click to Read Linda Hartke's blog at this link.

LIRS released a press statement: LIRS Welcomes New Bipartisan Immigration Framework, Awaits Obama Speech.

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This is the website for Goal Team C - Giving Public Witness to Peace and Justice - the Northern Texas-Northern Louisiana Mission Area (ELCA). 

Stand for Welcome with LIRS

Stand for Welcome during Epiphany

Across the country, Lutheran congregations are setting aside one Sunday in the spring of 2013 to dedicate a few intentional moments of worship or study time to increase awareness and connect people to action. Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Services invites us to find the best way for NT-NL Mission Area congregtaions to take part.

Engage your congregation in discussion about immigration issues and share the tools to speak up for migrants through faith-based advocacy and prayer. LIRS resources will give you everything you need to plan a Stand for Welcome Sunday.

As you plan your Stand for Welcome emphasis Sunday, take a look at this interview with author/attorney Richard T. Herman (Immigrant Inc.). Herman makes an impressive case for the economic advantages of welcoming immigrants, and thinking like an immigrant!

Hearing on an ELCA Draft of a Social Statement on Criminal Justice

Join the Public Witness Team and others from our mission area for discussion at the NT-NL Hearing on the ELCA Draft Social Statement on Criminal Justice. We will welcome Sue Berry, an attorney and member of the ELCA Task Force that developed the draft social statement. It's Saturday, September 15, 10:00 a.m. - Noon, at Shepherd of Life Lutheran Church, 715 E. Lamar Blvd, Arlington. There will be an optional light lunch following the hearing. Sorry, no live streaming. Click this link for more information.

ELCA NEWS SERVICE

June 19, 2012 

ELCA leader grateful for halt in some youth deportations, but more to do
12-40-MRC

     CHICAGO (ELCA) - Calling the Obama administration's decision to stop
the deportation of young undocumented immigrants who meet certain
criteria a step in the right direction, the Rev. H. Julian Gordy said
there is still more to do.
     Gordy said the administration's policy change, announced June 15,
follows an action of the 2011 Churchwide Assembly of the Evangelical
Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) that calls for comprehensive federal
immigration reform and support for the DREAM Act -- legislation that
would provide a path for citizenship for undocumented immigrant youth.
     The administration's decision, however, falls short of what's called
for in the DREAM Act, according to Gordy, who is bishop of the ELCA
Southeastern Synod, Atlanta, and chair of the ELCA Conference of Bishops'
Immigration Ready Bench.
     "It doesn't allow a path for permanent legal status or citizenship,"
he said. The policy change "is simply a two-year renewable opportunity
for young people to be in the United States legally and temporarily to
search for work. It accomplishes some of the goals of the DREAM Act but
not all of them. So there's more to do, but we're glad this much has been
done."
     The change would halt deportations and grant work permits to
undocumented immigrant youth if they arrived in the United States before
turning 16 and are younger than 30, do not have a criminal record, lived
in the United States continuously for at least five years and have some
educational achievement or military service, along with other criteria.
     Gordy said that the ELCA and other U.S. mainline denominations have
stressed the humanitarian aspect of immigration reform, "operating out of
a sense that Scripture calls us to love the immigrant among us." He said
businesses and many people in law enforcement also support immigration
reform "because they believe it's good for business and better public
safety."
     Although the DREAM Act failed in the Senate in 2010, some senators
have recently expressed support for different versions of the act,
according to a Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service news release.
     The Obama administration's announcement "builds on bipartisan
interest in protecting immigrant youth from deportation and investing in
them as future leaders of our great nation," said Linda Hartke, president
and CEO of the Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service.
     Based in Baltimore, the agency is one of the nation's leaders in
welcoming and advocating for refugees and immigrants, working on behalf
of the ELCA.
     ELCA congregations and Lutheran social ministry organizations
provide critical services to migrant populations, spread the word of
welcome and advocate for fair and humane immigration reform.
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About the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America:
The ELCA is one of the largest Christian denominations in the United
States, with 4.2 million members in 10,000 congregations across the 50
states and in the Caribbean region. Known as the church of "God's work.
Our hands," the ELCA emphasizes the saving grace of God through faith in
Jesus Christ, unity among Christians and service in the world. The ELCA's
roots are in the writings of the German church reformer, Martin Luther.

For information contact:
Melissa Ramirez Cooper
773-380-2956 or Melissa.RamirezCooper@ELCA.org
http://www.ELCA.org/news
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/Lutherans
Living Lutheran: http://www.livinglutheran.com

World Week for Peace in Palestine/Israel

Announcement: Peace Not Walls - Stand for Justice in the Holy Land

"PRAY, EDUCATE and ADVOCATE FOR JUSTICE IN PALESTINE"
World Week for Peace in Palestine/Israel
28 May - 3 June 2012
THEME: Displacement
Visit and share: www.worldweekforpeace.org.

In just a few days the WORLD WEEK FOR PEACE IN PALESTINE/ISRAEL will get underway. Are there ways that you can bring the message to your communities in a special effort next week? Social networking is crucial. There is a Facebook page dedicated to the World Week for Peace; it needs more focused participation, I think. You can be part of it.

There are a number of pages linked from the World Week for Peace home page. I think the most helpful is this one devoted to What you can do: http://www.oikoumene.org/en/programmes/public-witness-addressing-power-affirming-peace/churches-in-the-middle-east/pief/world-week/what-you-can-do.html

Here is information provided by the World Council of Churches.

The Palestine Israel Ecumenical Forum (PIEF) of the World Council of Churches invites member churches, faith-based communities, and civil society organizations to join together in 2012 for a week of advocacy and action in support of an end to the illegal occupation of Palestine and a just peace for all in Palestine and Israel.

Congregations and individuals around the globe who share the hope of justice shall unite during the week to take peaceful actions, together, to create a common international public witness.

GET INVOLVED:
During World Week for Peace 2012, from 28 May to 3 June, participants are encouraged to plan their activities around the following three principles:
1. Praying with churches living under occupation, using a special prayer from Jerusalem and other worship resources prepared for the week.
2. Educating about actions that make for peace, and about facts on the ground that do not create peace, especially issues related to displacement.
3. Advocating with political leaders using ecumenical policies that promote peace with justice.

WHY:
This annual observance of a week of prayer, education, and advocacy calls participants to work for an end to the illegal occupation of Palestine, so that Palestinians and Israelis can finally live in peace. It has been more than 63 years since the partition of Palestine hardened into a permanent nightmare for Palestinians. It is now more than 44 years since the occupation of East Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza overwhelmed the peaceful vision of one land, two peoples.

Yet the dream of one nation cannot be fulfilled at the expense of another.

The message for this week of action is NOW:
- It's time for Palestinians and Israelis to share a just peace.
- It's time for freedom from occupation.
- It's time for equal rights.
- It's time for the healing of wounded souls.

For further information, or to share details about your plans for World Week for Peace in Palestine Israel 2012, please contact Rev. John Calhoun, the convenor of World Week for Peace 2012, by email at calhoun.wwppi@gmail.com, or visit www.worldweekforpeace.org

Lutheran Leymah Gbowee at SMU tomorrow night

It would be great to see some NT-NL folks turn out to hear Leymah Gbowee at SMU tomorrow night. Call 214-965-8412 for tickets ($35).

More information is at this link: http://blog.smu.edu/forum/2012/05/16/nobel-laureate-leymah-gbowee-to-speak-at-smu-may-23-2012/

A few of us are going, that  I know of. I heard Leymah Gbowee at an ELCA Global Mission Event several years ago. She will change the way you think about peace and power. 

Ann Hafften

Public Witness Team