Who Are We Who Can Be This Way?

On June 17, an article by Zacks Equity Research appeared on the Yahoo! Finance web page titled, “Is Geo Group Inc (GEO) Stock Outpacing Its Finance Peers This Year?” The article notes that “GEO is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy)” and it concludes, “Investors with an interest in Finance stocks should continue to track GEO. The stock will be looking to continue its solid performance.”[1]

What the article did not say is that GEO is the second largest private prison operator in the world. Nor did it mention that in 2012, the GEO Group was part of a lawsuit, involving a youth detention facility that GEO ran called Walnut Grove. The judge in the case said that Walnut Grove “has allowed a cesspool of unconstitutional and inhuman acts and conditions to germinate” when he ordered a Consent Decree banning the practice of subjecting kids convicted as adults to solitary confinement and requiring the state (Mississippi) to move them out of the privately run prison.[2]

And the article did not mention that the lobbying arm of GEO Group “spent $1.56 million on lobbying in 2018, deploying only lobbyists who previously worked in government” or that it receives multi-million dollar contracts from the US DHS to run detention facilities.[3]One of those contracts is the Adelanto Detention Center in San Bernardino County, where the city of Adelanto recently decided to end their intergovernmental service contract with ICE.[4]

And, finally, what the article did not mention is that the $800,000,000 industry of for-profit detention centers is underwritten by US taxpayers.[5] 

There are a lot of complex matters behind the operations of companies like GEO and their relationships with different levels of government. There are a lot of complex matters behind immigration and border crossings. Much of that complexity falls to the background when a photo of a Salvadoran man, Oscar Alberto Martinez Ramirez, and his 23-month-old daughter Valeria, taken by photojournalist Julia De Luc, appeared in the Mexican newspaper La Jornada, after they drowned in the currents of the Rio Grande. We have to suppress our core humanity not to look at that photo and ask deep and troubling questions about who we are, what we are willing to abide, how we speak about the desperation of immigrants, where our treasure is, and whether we truly believe in a God of justice. 

As a way of approaching these questions, I want to begin with the simple observation that a June 17 article by Zacks Equity Research on GEO concluded that “Investors with an interest in Finance stocks should continue to track GEO. The stock will be looking to continue its solid performance” and never once raised any of the troubling questions about how GEO would make their stunning profits. Apparently, the article assumes that “Investors with an interest in Finance stocks” have such clear compartments that they can look at this matter from a strictly financial perspective, leaving the troubling questions aside. It’s hard to imagine a more damning description of human nature. 

Mark of St. Mark

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[1]https://finance.yahoo.com/news/geo-group-inc-geo-stock-133001752.html. Accessed on June 28, 2019.

[2]https://www.aclu.org/blog/smart-justice/mass-incarceration/picture-such-horror-should-be-unrealized-anywhere-civilized?redirect=blog/prisoners-rights-criminal-law-reform/picture-such-horror-should-be-unrealized-anywhere.

Accessed on June 28, 2019. 

[3]https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2019/04/detention-center-contractors-keep-reaping-profit-after-dhs-upheaval/. Accessed on June 28, 2019.

[4]https://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-adelanto-immigrant-detention-20190408-story.html. Accessed on June 28, 2019. 

[5]https://www.thedailybeast.com/dollar800-million-in-taxpayer-money-went-to-private-prisons-where-migrants-work-for-pennies?ref=scroll.  

World Refugee Day again

Have you ever wondered what a “refugee” is, as distinct from an “immigrant”? “Refugees” are persons fleeing persecution, war, or violence in their home country. It is a difficult and excruciating choice to leave one’s homeland and most refugees tend to settle in countries that border their own, with the hope of returning when the danger has passed. That is why – as much as we have been led to imagine that the US is bearing a tremendous load of refugees – it is actually countries like Uganda and Lebanon that see the greatest influx of people fleeing violence and chaos. For example, the U.S. has settled about 3 million refugees since 1980. If we hosted refugees in the same proportion as Uganda, that number would be closer to 8.5 million. 

Last December, the United Nations General Assembly affirmed the Global Compact on Refugees, after two years of extensive consultations led by UNHCR with Member States, international organizations, refugees, civil society, the private sector, and experts. The Global Compact on Refugees is a framework for more predictable and equitable responsibility-sharing, recognizing that a sustainable solution to refugee situations cannot be achieved without international cooperation.

Its four key objectives are to:

• Ease the pressures on host countries;
• Enhance refugee self-reliance;
• Expand access to third-country solutions;
• Support conditions in countries of origin for return in safety and dignity.

During the 220^th General Assembly (2012), the Presbyterian Church (USA) passed a resolution advocating for comprehensive immigration reform intended to show the church’s solidarity with immigrants and refugees in the United States. The Assembly’s vision of U.S. immigration policy is one that emphasizes the important of family unity by avoiding the separation of families. We continue to work towards this objective by observing World Refugee Day and advocating for the rights of refugees and immigrants. To be part of this work, here are four things you can do this week:

1. Share a Message on Social Media: Whether you are on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Linked-In, or some other form of social media, you can raise awareness of others by posting simply, fact-based information about Refugees, justice, or specific legislations. Sample tweets available here. Sample graphics are available here: bit.ly/WRDGraphics2019. Follow @RCUSA_DC on Twitter and “like"Refugee Council USA on Facebook for more. If you post something, tag #WRD2019 in all of your postings so that others who are looking to connect over these issues will see it.

2. Attend the World Refugee Day Event at Temple Bat Yahm on Sunday, June 30, from 3:30 – 5:30pm. St. Mark is a sponsor and I hope to see many of you there. You can sign up for free tickets here.  

3.  Call on Senators to Protect Immigrant Children and Asylum Seekers by opposing the “Secure and Protect Act of 2019”: Senate billS.1494, the so-called “Secure and Protect Act of 2019,” would eliminate protections for children and victims of human trafficking, dismantle the U.S. asylum system, and further reduce refugee admissions.For a Sample script and click-to-call tool, click here. 

4. Support Local Refugees Welcome Resolutions: Ask your state & local policymakers to pass Refugees Welcome resolutions before the month is up. Click here for a sample resolution. Visit contactingcongress.org/local and usa.gov/elected-officials for contact information. Tweet at your governor and state legislators. Don’t forget to use the tag #WRD2019!

As we face refugee crises throughout the world, the Presbyterian Church (USA) believes Presbyterians have a moral obligation to advocate for the entry and integration of the refugees in the United States, and to resist anti-refugee actions and policies. I hope you do too.

  

   

World Refugee Day

While June is Gay Pride Month (Wear Rainbow!) and June 7 was Gun Violence Awareness Day (Wear Orange!) and June 9 was Pentecost Sunday (Wear Red!) and June 15 is Father’s Day (tell a bad joke!), there is another day during the month of June that I invite you to find a way to observe. This Thursday, June 20^th, is World Refugee Day. 

I think the best way for a person of faith to approach World Refugee Day is to begin with the word, “Refuge.” Did you know that in the Torah – the first five books of the Old Testament – God’s people were required to establish six cities of refuge, where anyone who was fleeing for their life could go and find safety? It is a command that is repeated throughout the Torah, appearing again in the book of Joshua as the people of Israel end their wilderness journey and establish themselves in the Promised Land. It is a concession that no matter how ordered or chaotic society can be, there will always be people who need to flee their homes and find safety. And it is a command that people of God provide that safety. 

The idea of finding refuge became a motif in the Psalms about how God provides shelter, help, and rescue. That idea is one of the meanings behind the words “save” and “salvation” that became more familiar ways of speaking about God’s activity in the New Testament. The church in many parts of the world remember this connection. A song in our hymnal, that is popular in Pakistan and India, uses the word “Sarunam” over and over, which can mean both “refuge” and “I surrender.” The fluidity of the term “Sarunam” shows how our relationship with God is inextricably tied with the way we regard refugees. In the church in the US, many expressions of faith have separated thorny political, economic, and ethical issues around refugees from personal issues of salvation, which is a travesty that is contrary to the Scriptures and the Christian faith. It is critical to remember that God’s transformative activity in our lives is not separate from the command to provide refuge for persons fleeing for safety.

That is why people of faith need to take World Refugee Day seriously – not just as a one-day celebration, but as a call. Especially in a moment when people in positions of power hurl horrendous insults toward refugees, setting the tone for placing more restrictions and hurdles on the path to safety for people who are, literally, fleeing for their lives. People of the Christian faith need to engage this problem, not just on behalf of other Christians who are facing oppression or those who are oppressed by our “enemies,” but also for those who are being oppressed by Christians and countries with whom we have strategic alliances. 

So, here’s the call: Get involved. And here’s how, straight from the Refugee Council USA’s web site: 

Join National Call-in on Thursday, June 20th: Call (866) 961-4293*

*Please call this line 3 times to be connected with your 1 Representative and 2 Senators.

Sample Script: “I’m your constituent from [CITY/TOWN], and as a person of faith I urge you to protect refugees & asylum seekers and to be bold in choosing moral, just policies that provide refuge for vulnerable individuals seeking protection. I call on you to:

• Hold the administration accountable to meeting this year’s 30,000 refugee admissions goaland urge them to commit to resettling 95,000 refugees in Fiscal Year 2020, rebuilding the program and returning it to historic norms – and support the capacity and infrastructure of local communities to welcome refugees.
• Co-sponsor the GRACE Act(S.1088 and H.R.2146), which would set a minimum refugee admissions goal at 95,000 (the historic average since 1980).
• Co-sponsor the NO BAN Act (S.1123 and H.R.2214), which would end the harmful refugee, Muslim, and asylum bans put in place by this administration and establish vital protections against future discriminatory bans.
• Join the bipartisan Congressional Refugee Caucus(for Representatives only).

My faith community welcomes refugees, asylum seekers, and immigrants, and I urge you to do the same.”

If you want to do more, click hereand hold on to your hat, because there are tons of things one can do. 

Next week, we’ll look specifically at what the Presbyterian Church (USA) has urged all of us to do. Our individual and concerted action will make a world of difference. 

Mark of St. Mark

Embrace the Fire

This weekend is Pentecost weekend. Embrace the fire! Wear Red!

Everyone looks good in red!

As many of you know, I grew up in the Pentecostal Holiness Church and now serve in the Presbyterian Church (USA). While many folks find that journey to be curious, it has enabled me to make the following observations regarding both Presbyterians and Pentecostals. 

1. I should begin by saying that my blended experience of the ecstatic ‘speaking in tongues’ quality of the Pentecostal Holiness Church and the erudite inquisitive nature of the Presbyterian Church has left me expertly capable of speaking in tongue-in-cheek. I’m sure it drives people mad when I do it, but it’s my gift, so you have to accept it. In fact, I’m writing in tongue-in-cheek right now! If you don’t have the gift of interpretation, it’s on you.

2. Very few non-Pentecostals can spell ‘pentecostal’ correctly and very few non-Presbyterians can spell ‘presbyterian’ correctly. My last trip to the Apple Store – which prides itself on its efficient system of entering your order into an iPad, connecting it automatically to your account, and sending the receipt directly to your email address – took a long time. Why? Because the guy waiting on me simply could not spell ‘presbyterian’ each time he had to enter it. I finally said – very sympathetically – “Dude, if you don’t figure this out and hurry up the manager’s going to come out and take away your goatee.” That really motivated him. The bottom line is that one thing Pentecostals and Presbyterians hold in common is that we belong to unspellable denominations that begin with P. Sadly, I must admit that most Pentecostals misspell ‘presbyterian’ and that most Presbyterians return the favor. 

3. You can tell Pentecostals and Presbyterians apart by the way their Bibles open, or don’t open, to the second chapter of Acts. In college – I attended a Pentecostal Holiness college – we often joked that if a Pentecostal dropped their Bible, it would naturally open up to the second chapter of Acts, because that is where the spine on the Bible had worn out over the years. In seminary – I attended a Presbyterian seminary – we often joked that in a Presbyterian’s Bible the gilded pages were still stuck together at Acts 2, because it has never been opened to that page before. One of the pitfalls of the digital age is that we are losing this ability to tell Presbyterians and Pentecostals apart. 

4. There is a great irony about Pentecostals and Presbyterians, when it comes to the story of the Day of Pentecost: The thing that attracts Pentecostals to it is the very thing that drives Presbyterians away from it. Pentecostals tend to see the ecstatic experience of speaking in tongues as a validating sign of the presence of the Holy Spirit in one’s life that connects a modern-day believer directly to the early church. Presbyterians tend to see that same phenomenon as a vestige of the past, like when the Gospels attribute what seems clearly to be epilepsy to being possessed by demons. And each group thinks the other is misguided, to put it kindly. 

5. The sad thing that some Pentecostals and some Presbyterians hold in common is that we can be so attentive to the ecstatic phenomena of the Pentecost story that we miss the point. You can go to my translation blog here and scroll down to the blue print to read more about it, but in short let me say that the Day of Pentecost was originally a harvest celebration established in Leviticus 23:15-22, which ends with the command that someone harvesting their field needs to leave the edges untouched, so that the landless gleaners behind them can have grain. It’s an ancient entitlement program of ensuring that even the poorest have access to food. My argument is that the fire of Pentecost is less about an ecstatic personal experience (whether Pentecostals find that compelling or Presbyterians find it repelling) and more about energizing the church to revive justice. That’s what I think both Presbyterians and Pentecostals tend to overlook in this marvelous story. And that is the one observation that I am making here without speaking in tongue-in-cheek. 

6. Finally and joyfully, one thing Pentecostals and Presbyterians hold in common is that we all look great in red! So, this weekend, whether you are celebrating the Day of Pentecost on Saturday or Sunday, wear red! Embrace the fire! Come to St. Mark and bring a Presbyterian with you. Or a Pentecostal. Either way, embrace the fire!