"Nashville is at a crucial juncture in its history. We are not yet a truly diverse city,
but we are about to become one, and the real question is, Can we do it right?"
Hondurans inspire Nashville teens, doctors, hospital, church
Surgery, Spanish majors, call to missions result from visits to Central American nation
The Nashville City Paper reported here about Escarleth Betancourt-Gutierrez, a 15-year-old Honduran girl, and her spinal surgery in Nashville courtesy of support from Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital, Dr. James Netterville, Dr. Greg Mencio, and Harpeth Hills Church of Christ:
Netterville discovered Escarleth’s condition two years ago and pulled strings to bring her to Nashville. Dr. Greg Mencio performed the spinal surgery for free and Netterville’s congregation donated the $5,000 for materials needed to perform the procedure.
Young members of the Harpeth Hills congregation have been inspired by their trips to Honduras, according to this report by proud grandfather Bailey McBride:
Savanna and her brother, Luke, have gone to Honduras since he was 16 and she was 13. They immediately made a connection with the children of Jovenes en Camino, an orphanage near Tegucigalpa. Through the years, they have strengthened their connections in Honduras. Both have studied Spanish in high school. Luke has recently returned from a Spanish immersion program in Costa Rica and will graduate from college with a Spanish major. Savanna will go to college this fall with five years of high school Spanish and plans to major in Spanish and prepare for a life of missions.
Dominic de la Osa finishing strong for Vandy baseball
Vanderbilt's Dominic de la Osa is finishing his senior year on the varsity baseball team with impressive performances in regular season play. From the Tennessean:
Though de la Osa hasn't been able to reprise the numbers he posted his junior year, he has heated up for the Commodores' stretch run. All four of his hits against Georgia were for extra bases, including a pair of homers. At the same time, it's not as if professional talent evaluators aren't familiar with his capabilities.
According to his official profile, de la Osa is from Miami and is the son of Catherine Valdes and Carlos de la Osa. Coach Corbin calls him "one of the best players in the country."
The Tennessean reports today on the award and ceremony as reproduced below.
Three Nashville-area public school principals were among 18 in Tennessee whom an education-focused organization recognized this week for excellence. In a ceremony Monday at the state Capitol, the Education Consumers Foundation honored principals whom it called "the best of the best" in advancing students academically. Among them are: • Mary Lou Del Rioof Paragon Mills Elementary in Metro Nashville. • Brian Bass of Fairview Middle School in Williamson County. • Johnny Chandler of Dickson Middle School in Dickson County. The winners were selected from the more than 1,300 public elementary and middle schools statewide, based on year-to-year gains in reading and math. Schools whose students make the greatest annual achievement gains earn the highest value-added scores.
Mrs. Mary Lou Del Rio, an educator with more than 30 years of experience, is the wife of Mr. Luis del Rio, a retired coach, bilingual interpreter, and a prominent Cuban-American in the advisory board of COPLA (Comitede Padres Latinos, the council of Hispanic parents with children in Metro schools).
Jaci Velasquez and Nic Gonzalez talk family, music, and Nashville
"I no longer find my identity in my music anymore."
Contemporary Christian Music (CCM) artists Jaci Velasquez and Nic Gonzalez recently gave this joint interview to Christian Music Today. Velasquez is a popular CCM solo artist, and Gonzalez is the lead singer of the band Salvador.
The two married on December 17, 2006, and this interview focuses on how their relationship so far, dubbing them as "young Latin lovers." The couple lives in Nashville and gave birth to a son, Zealand David Gonzales, on November 3, 2007.
From the interview:
Jaci, you've been at the top of the charts for a long time and a favorite in Christian pop. Have the aspirations changed for you now that you're a mother?
Velasquez: My career, my ministry is all important, though I no longer find my identity in my music anymore. My identity is now in my relationship with God and my two boys. That's what I love the most, though I still love making music. And Zealand loves me making music—[I could tell when] he was in my tummy making the [latest] record. He would wake up in my stomach, and to soothe him, I would have to sing. He would also get really upset if someone was singing off key on the TV or something. So I'd sing to him and it would soothe him and he'd listen to me. Now he's still the same way—when his mommy or his daddy sing, it soothes him. It's really sweet.
It made for a different experience making a record, putting things into perspective. It used to be that I would remember what was going on in my life by the record that I was doing at the time. The reality of it was [my life] was only based around that. Making music is a big part of my life, but it's just not my life.
Nic, you're a lifelong Austin boy. What was it like making the move to Nashville?
Gonzalez: I don't want to speak ill of Nashville because it's a good city, but it's not Austin. My wife lives here, and I love my wife, so that made it easy. It was easier for us because we both have careers here and she just happens to have a couple of things going on a little bit more than I do. I was able to live in Austin to hide away from all of it, but Jaci's face is a little more identified with this area. She works more out of here, so it only made sense [to make the move].
The Nashville Scene let Music City know here that Tim Chávez has started his own blog - Political Salsa. The Scene reported last September (see here) that Chávez had been fired as a columnist of the Tennessean after his absence due to leukemia. At the time, Chávez said that "he regrets more than anything not having a farewell column to thank his readers for their good wishes."
Chávez tells the Hispanic Nashville Notebook that his goal for the new site is to "concentrate at least four to five days a week on political happenings nationally and locally for Hispanics."
Deaths of ordinary immigrants puts Corrections Corporation of America on front page of NYT
Thirteen lose their lives behind CCA walls, some cases never previously made public
"Basic standards of decency and fairness... means lifting the veil"If you have a loved one who was born outside the U.S. and is not yet a citizen here, please read the front-page Monday New York Times article about deaths in immigrant detention. If you live in Nashville, not only are your tax dollars paying to incarcerate non-criminals in some cases, but the name of your corporate neighbor Corrections Corporation of America is part of the story. And it's not the first time CCA's connection to the federal immigration bureaucracy enforcement is the subject of major media scrutiny. Just two months ago, the New Yorker put the spotlight on CCA for its former prison facilities which now house ordinary children and their families. And to my knowledge, this streak of bad press about a Nashville corporate citizen has still not been the subject of any investigative journalism in the Nashville papers, either in a story about CCA itself or in the context of the nomination of CCA in-house counsel Gus Puryear to the federal bench.
Put yourself or your loved one in the shoes of the detained immigrants and families featured in these stories.
Mr. Bah’s relatives never saw the internal records labeled “proprietary information — not for distribution” by the Corrections Corporation of America, which runs the New Jersey detention center for the federal government. ... Four days after the fall, tipped off by a detainee who called Mr. Bah’s roommate in Brooklyn, relatives rushed to the detention center to ask Corrections Corporation employees where he was.
“They wouldn’t give us any information,” said Lamine Dieng, an American citizen who teaches physics at Bronx Community College and is married to Mr. Bah’s cousin Khadidiatou. ... The Public Health Service did not respond to questions, and the Corrections Corporation said medical decisions were the responsibility of the Public Health Service. ... Four sons in another family, in Sacramento, described trying for days to get medical care for their father, Maya Nand, a 56-year-old legal immigrant from Fiji, at a detention center run by the Corrections Corporation in Eloy, Ariz.
Mr. Nand, a legal immigrant from Fiji who was diabetic, had been calling his family with mounting desperation over a 10-day period, the sons said. Already ailing when he was abruptly taken into custody at the family’s home in Sacramento early in the morning of Jan. 13, 2005, he had deteriorated after a week at the Arizona detention center, which is run for the federal government by Corrections Corporation of America, a publicly traded prison company. ... Asked about Mr. Nand’s treatment, Corrections Corporation officials said in a written statement that he had been medically screened when he arrived at the Eloy center, seen and treated “multiple times” by its medical staff, and taken to a hospital. According to a government list of deaths in immigration custody, Mr. Nand was one of five detainees to die at Eloy within a 26-month period; none of the deaths have previously been brought to public attention.
Privately run centers had 32 percent of the deaths, even though they housed only 19 percent of detainees over all, according to Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
There are more than 300 detention centers around the country, but one private operator, the Corrections Corporation of America, had 13 deaths in its centers...
The government urgently needs to bring the detention system up to basic standards of decency and fairness. That means lifting the veil on detention centers — particularly the private jails and the state prisons and county jails that take detainees under federal contracts — and holding them to the same enforceable standards that apply to prisons.
The Tennessean reported here that among the approximately fifty people at last week's vigil were people identifying them as "'student,' 'musician,' 'woman,' 'Christian,' and 'advocate.'" Also in attendance were representatives from the AFL-CIO and the NAACP, according to the article.
Excerpts from the article:
"I wanted to show my support for these poor people who are essentially being punished for working hard," said Gregg Ramos, a Nashville attorney and self-described "advocate" who attended the vigil in Nashville. "I wish we in America would treat them better."
Representatives from the AFL-CIO, NAACP and other groups were present.
Ramos says there is virtually no way for most foreign-born workers to enter and work in the U.S. legally because only 5,000 visas are given to low-skilled workers each year. ... Consumers and companies have benefited from the labor of illegal workers. But, illegal workers are generally punished alone when caught, advocates say.
The Tennessean heads back to Lime for this review. Among the good stuff: "one of the best margaritas in town" and the "excellent sangrita from scratch."
I didn't even know there was such a drink as a sangrita (I would have thought sangrita was a typo for sangria), but Wikipedia backs up our local daily on this one (article on sangrita here).
La Chureca, the city dump on the outskirts of Managua, Nicaragua, could be the setting for a dreary, futuristic movie. A city of scavengers, many of them orphans, they live in the filthy heaps of refuse at this municipal garbage dump. Clothed in rags, they rummage for food, scrounging out a meager existence by selling the small trinkets or recyclables they find, or sometimes selling their own bodies to survive.
A graduating senior at Vanderbilt, Emily Lineberger, plans to dedicate a year following graduation this May to helping these otherwise hopeless orphans through Manna Project International, a humanitarian organization formed by Vanderbilt students to bring hope to some of the poorest communities in the Western Hemisphere.
Senior Duncan Fulton, a Spanish and European studies major, also has signed on with Manna. After graduation he’ll spend a year in Quito as a program director for Manna’s newest site in Ecuador. A Dallas native, who studied for a year in Madrid and visited Nicaragua on a spring break trip, has deferred entrance into Tulane University Law School until after his year in Quito. He hopes to create educational and legal aid programs there.
Seniors Holly Ward and Tressa Hoektra have signed on to go to Ecuador and Nicaragua, respectively.
Formed in 2004, Manna is run and staffed predominantly by Vanderbilt students and alumni. The organization is best known for its year-long immersion experience in Managua, and more recently, Quito, but also offers a spring break trip and a summer program.
Lineberger, a human and organizational development major from Winston-Salem, N.C., counts herself among the many in her class who have not lacked for “the creature comforts in life.” While she could have taken the summer off to prepare for graduate school, law school or the corporate world, instead she plans to shed “the Vanderbilt bubble” to serve as a program director for Manna’s Managua site for 13 months.
“I want to stay for a year so that I’m not just another American stepping in to ‘fix’ things and then leave,” Lineberger said. “It’s about me saying, ‘Let me enter into this with you.’ It’s about shedding my vanity, being stripped of materialism and getting outside this beautiful, sheltered place called Vanderbilt.”
During her sophomore year at Vanderbilt, Lineberger heard about Manna from a friend and decided to sign up for a spring break trip to Nicaragua. Her week there included working with children at a pre-school, repairing a playground facility and helping teach English and nutrition classes.
Lineberger thought she was prepared for the country’s living conditions, but found herself overwhelmed when she arrived at La Chureca. An estimated 1,500 people call the city dump home – more than half of them under the age of 18 – and are plagued by malnutrition, disease and heartbreak.
“It was animalistic; I have never seen anything like it,” she said. “It was shocking to hear personal accounts from the children, who sniffed glue because they were so hungry – it was their only escape. And to hear girls saying that their fathers sent them out to prostitute themselves to the garbage collectors in order to get the best scraps – you can’t describe it.”
Lineberger said that week in Nicaragua was less about making a difference in the Nicaraguans’ lives than being changed herself.
“You can’t make much of a difference in a few days. It’s just not possible,” she said. “But once you’ve seen what goes on there, you are forever changed. Once you have seen it, you can’t go back home and forget about it. You have to do something.”
Lineberger will live in a rented house in Managua with other college graduates, many of them from Vanderbilt. Like her fellow volunteers, she has raised $7,000 to pay for her food, housing and program fees for the year. During that time she will set up community outreach programs based on her interest in health education.
“I like the idea of counseling, emotional stability and health,” she said. “I want to work with kids and families and show them how to have a sense of pride in having a healthy body.”
Fulton agrees that the students won’t be able to change the world but they will do what they can.
“I can’t change the legal system,” Fulton said. “But I want to try setting up some programs that will help people. In the end, I think the experience will affect how and in what areas I choose to practice law.”
One of Manna’s founders, Lori Scharffenberg, has been in Nicaragua since the program’s inception. She and others designed the organization to provide a tangible way for students and recent graduates to make a long-term investment in community service. They also wanted students to be able to serve in areas that they enjoyed and were passionate about. That formula seems to be working.
“We believe that by bringing the community together, each with our individual passions, we can serve another community with a holistic approach,” Scharffenberg said.
The organization currently has three staff members and 13 volunteers, and more than 400 individuals have participated in the program since its creation. In addition, approximately 65 Vanderbilt students have traveled under Manna’s banner to other international sites hosted by partner organizations for spring break trips, including Peru, the Dominican Republic, Costa Rica, Mexico and El Salvador.
While traveling abroad presents concerns for personal health, safety and maybe even homesickness, Lineberger is more anxious about how she’ll be changed emotionally by the experience.
“The biggest challenge right now is the idea that I am about to have my whole worldview rocked,” she said. “It’s different than a short-term trip. When you live somewhere for a year, it becomes your community and you are forced to see the issues right in front of you. You can’t hide. It’s going to be scary, but it’s also going to be life-changing.”
Tim Chavez: with Papal call for hospitality, Our Lady of Guadalupe raises almost $1 million for new space
Church officials push to retire building debt
"God has provided us with a new, young and church-going workforce"By Tim Chavez
In his recent visit to our country, Pope Benedict XVI repeatedly asked that this nation and especially its Catholics reach out to the growing number of Hispanic immigrants.
In middle Tennessee, Catholics have an immediate and blessed opportunity to honor the pontiff's wishes. And the checks they'll be receiving in the mail from the federal government can be the stuff of making an ongoing miracle here a permanent inspiration and institution.
The Rev. Joseph Patrick Breen, pastor of St. Edward Catholic Church in Nashville, is starting a campaign to retire the debt of the Nashville diocese's only Hispanic Catholic Church, Our Lady of Guadalupe.
Father Breen and his congregation have put the financial viability of their own parish and K-8 school on the line to make Our Lady of Guadalupe in Nashville a reality. It opened amid much celebration last December. But the church's future can only be secured if the debt incurred to open its doors can be retired by June.
Father Breen and the good people of St. Edward have so far raised $900,000 for the $1.5 million in debt. The diocese is not going to ride to the rescue. So this one congregation and this one priest have made it their responsibility to meet the needs of all of the Nashville area's Catholic Hispanics.
That's an incredible weight to carry. But Pope Benedict's plea to America's Catholics to help our growing immigrant population shows clearly that this responsibility should be shared by more than one parish and priest. And middle Tennessee Catholics and their parishes are fortunate to have Our Lady of Guadalupe available to make the kind of difference the Holy Father wants. While he surely appreciated all the waves and ovations during his visit, acting on his words would be the most fitting tribute.
Here is what has already happened at Our Lady's since it opened in December. About 5,000 Catholics crowd into the church for weekend masses. It is so crowded that St. Edward parish council member Sunny Brown stood out front on busy Nolensville Road to direct traffic.
"It is on its way to becoming the biggest Catholic church in the diocese," Brown told the St. Edward congregation at last Saturday's 5 p.m. mass. "Most of the families are less than 35 years of age. Many of the families are less than 25 years of age."
How blessed by God we Americans are. At a time when this nation is fastly aging as more and more baby boomers retire, God has provided us with a new, young and church-going workforce. The Social Security fund is supposed to go bankrupt by the year 2019 without congressional action. The fund would go bankrupt two years earlier if not for the payroll contributions of these new Hispanic workers, according to the Associated Press.
Some people, however, have decided to choose political sides concerning the growing Hispanic presence here. The people of St. Edward instead have simply chosen God's side as expressed by the pope in his visit.
Father Breen and his parish council and finance team are now asking parishoners to give all or part of their tax rebate checks they'll be receiving to retire Our Lady's debt. That's a lot to ask amid rising gas prices and a recession.
But there truly is good work ongoing at Our Lady's. Surrounding Hispanic businesses donate vats of food every week so that every churchgoer will be assured one complete meal a week on Sundays. English language classes and programs to familiarize newcomers to local laws and requirements are conducted. For instance, Father Breen and Father Fernando Garcia, Our Lady's pastor, have started a child car seat collection drive to make sure Hispanic families keep their young ones buckled up the right way.
What's transpiring at Our Lady's truly is a miracle. Where there was previously a Baptist church that was losing its congregation to the suburbs is now a thriving Catholic church in a revitalized urban setting of small and prosperous Hispanic businesses. But to ensure its future and to serve so many, its debt must be retired by a June deadline.
Please, consider being a part of this miracle. Your donation of a check can be made out to "Our Lady of Guadalupe Church". Send it to the attention of Father Breen at St. Edward Catholic Church, 188 Thompson Lane, Nashville, TN 37211.
Or you can sign on to the St. Edward Web site at www.stedward.org. On the left side of the opening page under "Main Menu" is a place to click on information about Our Lady of Guadalupe and a place to make a credit card donation.
More than 55 years ago, my mother married my father at Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Church in Topeka, Kan. It was a place of refuge and respect for Hispanic Catholics there and then, including my father and his four brothers who had just returned from World War II.
The need for refuge continues for a new set of immigrants and hopefully new Americans. Pope Benedict XVI has made the plea for them. And Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Church in Nashville is the place where middle Tennessee Catholics can honor the Holy Father's wishes.
Tim Chavez is a former political columnist for The Tennessean in Nashville. His mother, Vita H. Chavez of Oklahoma City, OK, made a $3,000 donation on Saturday to Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Church in Nashville.
Tim can be reached at timchavez787@yahoo.com
Photo Copyright 2008 by Susan Adcock. Used with permission.
This Tennessean article contains its own roundup of Cinco de Mayo events at Agave Tequila Lounge, Lot 7, Sam's Place Sports Bar and Grill, The French Quarter Cafe, Lime, and Alleycat Lounge.
Then there's these other events:
The Fiesta Belmont on May 3, which the Tennessee Hispanic Chamber of Commerce* is sponsoring:
FIESTA BELMONT is a one day event that will be held at the campus of Belmont University on Saturday May 3 from 11 AM to 7 PM. This family oriented event will have food stands as well as LIVE MUSIC interpreted by several of our most prominent Hispanic performers including Belmont Salsa All-Stars, San Rafael Band, Ocho Treinta, Carlos Negron & Trabuko as well as our local Mexican Folkloric Dance Group. There will be games for children and most of all a wonderful opportunity to meet new friends and celebrate together our Cinco de Mayo.
There is a Cinco de Mayo Fair running now through Sunday May 4 at the Nashville Fairgrounds.
The Middle TN Hispanic Democrats (MTHD) are hosting a Cinco de Mayo Celebration and Fundraiser ($25 donation appreciated) on May 5 at 5:30pm. Contact info@mtnhd.org for details.
The Nashville Area Hispanic Chamber of Commerce* sent more details about the French Quarter event listed in the Tennessean article above:
Every year on the fifth of May, party-goers look for the most unique venues to commemorate Mexican heritage and pride with festive music, décor, and drinks. This year, Nashvillians are in for a treat when Cerrito takes the stage at the French Quarter Café at 7:30 PM for his celebratory Spanish-English performance, and they can feel great about supporting the event as all proceeds from tickets will be donated to the "Make A Wish Foundation" in the hopes of fulfilling the dreams of terminally ill children.
"Cinco de Mayo is such a great time of year to show appreciation for Spanish-influenced music, and we are really looking forward to putting on a great show," says Cerrito.
"We are so delighted to celebrate Cinco De Mayo with Cerrito, and help grant a wish in the process.
Events like this are a wonderful opportunity to raise awareness and support for wish kids in the 38 counties that we serve," says Michelle Rosen with Make a Wish Foundation of Middle Tennessee.Make a Wish will have a child on-site that will personally benefit from the donations and share the story behind their wish.
Cerrito became immersed in the Spanish-English music scene while performing for years with legendary flamenco guitarist Charo. Cerrito then moved on to San Antonio, TX where he headlined his own show at the Arneson River Theatre on the river performing traditional country music (in English and Spanish) in front of ravenous audiences who seemed to want more. Cerrito found his place in the Country Music scene.
Cerrito's interest and success in learning to translate traditional country music to the Spanish language opened doors to a number of opportunities. Renowned Nashville producer Byron Gallimore approached Cerrito with the request to translate Tim McGraw's hit record "Re-fried Dreams," and the Country Music Association, Nashville, solicited him to perform on stage at the first "Fiesta Nashville" show--Fan Fair 2001.
Fans are guaranteed an evening full of entertainment, some culture, as well as some great prizes for their donation at the door!
Juan Pont Lezica is "Face of the Week" in Nolensville
Buenos Aires native is looking for studio space
Juan Pont Lezica was the "Face of the Week" on page 2 of the April 30 Brentwood Journal, which is a print mailer the Tennessean distributes to mailboxes in the Brentwood area.
The feature noted that Lezica was looking at the empty storefronts and vehicle traffic in historic Nolensville, with the possibility of relocating his photography business to the former Gifts by Marishell space. He commented on "the flavor of the countryside and kind of a vintage feel."
Lezica told the Brentwood Journal that he is from Buenos Aires, Argentina and has been in Middle Tennessee for 14 years. Lezica's web site showcases his portfolio and also tells the story of how he met his wife Kimberly in Madrid.
Car seat education for Hispanic Catholics, from police and St. Edwards
Tennessee was first state with seat belt law in 1978
72% of U.S. parents do not use car seats correctlyThe Tennessean reports here that the Metro Nashville Police Department and St. Edwards Catholic Church are teaming up to provide car seat education to Hispanic members of the St. Edwards and Our Lady of Guadalupe congregations.
According to this article in the Murfreesboro Post, before 1978 there were no U.S. state laws requiring seat belt use, and Tennessee was the first state to pass one:
More than 30 years ago, Dr. Robert Sanders of Murfreesboro became a passionate advocate for child safety and led the effort to protect children while riding in automobiles. Senator Douglas Henry, the late Representative John Bragg and former Representative Mike Murphy sponsored legislation to make Tennessee the first state to require the use of safety seats for child passengers. The law became effective on January 1, 1978.
The Murfreesboro Post article also states that, nationwide, "72% of parents are not using car seats correctly."
Vigil Tuesday for five Chattanooga women held for deportation
Bear-trap bureaucracy sparks statewide outpouring of support
One hour of silence and prayer
"Sold to the public as a way to take dangerous criminals off the streets"
No criminal chargesThe Tennessean reported here that women from the recent immigration raids in Chattanooga are being held in Nashville awaiting possible deportation. According to this web page produced by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the detained Chattanooga women are held and will be processed for deportation without being charged with a crime.
Source: U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement
Davidson County public defender Ivan Lopez was quoted in this front-page article in the Tennessean on Sunday as saying that a Nashville-ICE partnership program called 287(g) "was sold to the public as a way to take dangerous criminals off the street" but that "[i]n reality, what's happening is you are breaking up families." The 287(g) program and the Chattanooga raids have in common that ordinary people are being put through extraordinary suffering, primarily for regular work that has been made into an outlaw act.
The detentions are another example of how our immigration system isn't broken; it's a fully functioning bear trap for ordinary immigrants (see stories here and here).
A vigil for the detained women and their families will be held on Tuesday outside the Nashville detention center on Harding Place, in coordination with other vigils in Chattanooga and Memphis. Details about the vigils from the Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition (TIRRC):
VIGILS TO BE HELD ON TUESDAY, APRIL 29th in CHATTANOOGA, NASHVILLE, and MEMPHIS
Join us as we stand in solidarity with the workers affected by these inhumane acts. Click here for more information
As many of you know, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) performed major raids across the country on April 16th, including one in Chattanooga, Tennessee. The raid in Tennessee—at a "Pilgrim's Pride" Poultry Processing plant—resulted in the arrest of 156 immigrants.
The raids have devastated Chattanooga's immigrant community, and have sent shock waves across the region.
Men in Georgia—women in Nashville. While it should be noted that 32 women who were identified as mothers were released on Thursday, families have still been torn apart and are struggling to reconnect. Immigrant rights groups across the region are attempting to assimilate a complete list of the workers detained. However, many workers are still missing and their locations remain unknown.
“The raids in the poultry processing plants in the southeast are disheartening and immoral. Even worse is the breaking up of families. We will pray for these women and their families."
Rev. Jeannie Hunter, Associate Pastor of the Second Presbyterian Church.
“All workers and their families deserve being treated with dignity. The workers who are detained are victims of the employers and the broken immigration system. It is the federal immigration system that needs to be held accountable. The workers need their rights protected. ”
Megan Macaraeg with Jobs with Justice
Vigil for Worker Rights and Dignity "All labor that uplifts humanity has dignity." Martin Luther King, Jr.
Vigils will be held in Memphis, Chattanooga, and Nashville.
Where: Harding Detention Facility (5115 Harding Place, Nashville TN 37211) where five women from Chattanooga raids are being held.
Join us as we stand on the sidewalk in silence and in prayer for an an hour. Organizers will provide signs with the MLK quote. All people deserve to be treated with dignity.
Information on the Chattanooga and Memphis vigils will be available shortly.
Vigils, Forums, and Organizing has been made possible thanks to the hard work of the following organizations and individuals: THANK YOU
Justice for Our Neighbors
The Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund (MALDEF)—Elise Shore
La Paz de Dios—Sylvia Rangel and Stacy Johnson
St. Andrew's Center—Mike Feely
Coalicion de Lideres Latinos—America Gruner
ACLU of Tennessee—Tricia Herzfeld
The Steel Workers Union
Jobs with Justice
The many immigration attorneys throughout the state and beyond who have offered their advice and assistance throughout this emergency.
All the individuals who have given their time and energy towards helping the familes affected by the raids.
Contribution by Cesar A. Muedas
The Nashville Scene let Music City know here that Tim Chávez has started his own blog - Political Salsa. The Scene reported last September (see here) that Chávez had been fired as a columnist of the Tennessean after his absence due to leukemia. At the time, Chávez said that "he regrets more than anything not having a farewell column to thank his readers for their good wishes."
Bilingual in the Boonies has links here to a Talk of the Town piece on Mamamade, a group of businesses owned by Nashville-area mothers.
The Tennessean reported here that among the approximately fifty people at last week's vigil were people identifying them as "'student,' 'musician,' 'woman,' 'Christian,' and 'advocate.'" Also in attendance were representatives from the AFL-CIO and the NAACP, according to the article.
The Tennessean heads back to Lime for this review. Among the good stuff: "one of the best margaritas in town" and the "excellent sangrita from scratch."
Photo by Michael Dietsch. Licensed under Creative Commons.
Lineberger thought she was prepared for the country’s living conditions, but found herself overwhelmed when she arrived at La Chureca. An estimated 1,500 people call the city dump home – more than half of them under the age of 18 – and are plagued by malnutrition, disease and heartbreak.
Fulton agrees that the students won’t be able to change the world but they will do what they can.
