Sanctuary is a voluble topic in California, taken seriously and now it's a fighting word.
The trump administration is suing California, Governor Jerry Brown and Attorney General Xavier Becerra because of three California laws. The Sanctuary laws restrict how state and local law enforcement may interact with federal immigration agents.
The Feds say the California Values Act and the Immigrant Worker Protection act are a deliberate attempt to hamper enforcement of federal immigration law. Brown says the state laws protect the progressive attitudes that California embodies.
The US vs. California on immigration, and other issues too, is a demarcation line. Relative to your view of course, California stands on the side of progress and modernity while the trump minions like Jeff Sessions represent regressive views and attitudes.
Jerry Brown calls the trump lawsuit "a political stunt." He adds, "It's not about the truth. It's not about protecting our state. It's about diving America."
Divisive pandering is what won trump the republican nomination.
California lives with one foot in the future and for that reason has been a cultural force and attitude determinate since mid 20th Century.
Then there is Jerry Brown's straight speaking. In defending the laws passed by the California legislature he said, "These Laws do not protect criminals. We have millions of of people here who are here without papers and some of them have been working for 10, 15, 20 years. They've been servicing the economy. A lot of them have been doing the dirty work, whether it's washing dishes, or picking the fruit and now the attorney general is basically initiating a reign of terror."
ACLU executives spoke about the Bill of Rights at a Dinner Fellowship meeting this week and the conversation turned to sanctuary and the attendant issues.
Could a group, a church or organization of some structure, provide sanctuary as an extension of the right to free speech and the right to petition the government for a redress of grievances? The logic here is to list unfair ICE enforcement or the enabling laws as the grievance and the establishment of a sanctuary as the act of the petition or the exercise of the free speech?
It gave the ACLU exec pause who said that kind of civil disobedience carried with it the risk of jail.
Jail for doing civil disobedience is a staple of American history and our path toward a fuller realization of liberty, freedom and the democracy component of our democratic republic. The suffragettes, the protests of veterans and most notably the lunch counter sit in and protest era of the civil rights movement.
Out here in the California Republic millions believe ICE, under trump and Sessions, is behaving like a gestapo. Sanctuary spaces are a way of fighting back.
I spoke with an activist pastor who said when a church decides to create a sanctuary they also assume responsibility for the person or persons; housing, food, and all forms of support because if someone seeking refuge were to leave they would be subject to arrest. Churches are doing it.
America 2018 and we are possessed of vastly different ideas of how to live together. When I read cases of good people, beloved by their community, tax payers, fully employed, parents, Sunday school teachers, and the like who have been here for 15 to 25 years being shackled and deported, I cannot help but to reflect on how my ancestors were part of the underground railroad that helped slaves escape. I am a descendent of one of the earliest abolitionists.
They violated bad laws that needed changing. They were changed, after effort.
If it were all left to regressives like Sessions and trump and their sycophants we might still have slavery markets.
The Feds say the California Values Act and the Immigrant Worker Protection act are a deliberate attempt to hamper enforcement of federal immigration law. Brown says the state laws protect the progressive attitudes that California embodies.
The US vs. California on immigration, and other issues too, is a demarcation line. Relative to your view of course, California stands on the side of progress and modernity while the trump minions like Jeff Sessions represent regressive views and attitudes.
Jerry Brown calls the trump lawsuit "a political stunt." He adds, "It's not about the truth. It's not about protecting our state. It's about diving America."
Divisive pandering is what won trump the republican nomination.
California lives with one foot in the future and for that reason has been a cultural force and attitude determinate since mid 20th Century.
Then there is Jerry Brown's straight speaking. In defending the laws passed by the California legislature he said, "These Laws do not protect criminals. We have millions of of people here who are here without papers and some of them have been working for 10, 15, 20 years. They've been servicing the economy. A lot of them have been doing the dirty work, whether it's washing dishes, or picking the fruit and now the attorney general is basically initiating a reign of terror."
ACLU executives spoke about the Bill of Rights at a Dinner Fellowship meeting this week and the conversation turned to sanctuary and the attendant issues.
Could a group, a church or organization of some structure, provide sanctuary as an extension of the right to free speech and the right to petition the government for a redress of grievances? The logic here is to list unfair ICE enforcement or the enabling laws as the grievance and the establishment of a sanctuary as the act of the petition or the exercise of the free speech?
It gave the ACLU exec pause who said that kind of civil disobedience carried with it the risk of jail.
Jail for doing civil disobedience is a staple of American history and our path toward a fuller realization of liberty, freedom and the democracy component of our democratic republic. The suffragettes, the protests of veterans and most notably the lunch counter sit in and protest era of the civil rights movement.
Out here in the California Republic millions believe ICE, under trump and Sessions, is behaving like a gestapo. Sanctuary spaces are a way of fighting back.
I spoke with an activist pastor who said when a church decides to create a sanctuary they also assume responsibility for the person or persons; housing, food, and all forms of support because if someone seeking refuge were to leave they would be subject to arrest. Churches are doing it.
America 2018 and we are possessed of vastly different ideas of how to live together. When I read cases of good people, beloved by their community, tax payers, fully employed, parents, Sunday school teachers, and the like who have been here for 15 to 25 years being shackled and deported, I cannot help but to reflect on how my ancestors were part of the underground railroad that helped slaves escape. I am a descendent of one of the earliest abolitionists.
They violated bad laws that needed changing. They were changed, after effort.
If it were all left to regressives like Sessions and trump and their sycophants we might still have slavery markets.
a flashback future
This is from Kyle Communications blog/newsletter. The Kyle is Kyle Niederpruem who founded a public relations, communications management and content company. I first met Kyle when she was a dogged, diligent and soon to be an award winning newspaper reporter. She was the best of old school journalism. Watching her career and the embrace of communications culture has been a kind of bellwether of how culture has changed. Kyle is still on point and leading the way. Here's link to her site.
on the march
Dave Congalton is a California central coast radio icon and host of an issues centered interview program. He's also a screen writer and former college professor. I substitute hosted for him one day recently and featured Dawn Addis, a founder of the Women's March out here. The next horizon event for the Women's March movement is The March for Our Lives, an outgrowth of the most recent school slaughter.
I first covered US protests back in the era of the civil rights movement and then the anti war movement. How could we not be impressed by the millions of Americans who marched after the election and then on the first anniversary.
This is a wave in American politics that is a high surf. And now I am stunned by the articulate and emphatic intelligence of the school kids who are in our face, as they should be. Dawn, and women like her across the nation, are mentoring and this generation is impressive. They are not really millennials who were born from the mid 90's to 2000. I interviewed Rutik, an 18 year old, who has grown up in the age of mass slaughter. That chilling reality gives them a unique perspective and we owe it to them to listen. More importantly we need to do a better job of protecting them. Rutik was quick to say they are different and will behave differently, and will not take the same old tired rhetoric from politicians. A high surf indeed.
See you down the trail.
If the Nancy Peolosi politicians got busy and solved the DACA problem with cross aisle legislation that included protecting our border instead of making it a political issue for the Democrats to use forever in future elections, perhaps you would not have anything to write about? Do not confuse this issue with going to the back of the bus. Meanwhile there are estimated to be two million illegals in California and I do not see ICE in the process of removing them from the state or that being the goal of the federal government. Is the real concern that the illegals may stop illegally crossing the border into California because they are afraid of being apprehended by ICE? The fact is that most of the recently apprehended illegals do have criminal records and many have committed violent crimes. To compare protecting our borders with the freeing of slaves is somewhat of a stretch to say the least. How progressive (socialist) California fairs in the future remains to be seen. This is not a Trump thing. It was going on with the Clinton, Bush and yes, even Obama regimes. It is interesting to watch what is happening as my fellow Cambrians and neighbors move to Idaho, Texas and Arizona. Not of course because of ICE but because of the out-of-control "progressive" California politicians and their laws and policies that make it impossible for those leaving for other states to live in California.
ReplyDeleteWhy anonymous? Where is support for statement re Cambrians leaving California because impossible for them to live here? More likely people would leave US because of the Idiot-In-Chief.
DeleteI don't think anyone complains when criminals are rounded up and afforded due process. But the ICE actions are targeting non criminals-read that as working and tax paying long time residents who've committed no crime other than look for a better life in the US. I think the repeated state election results would indicate the majority of us favor those you say are "out of control" leaving you in the minority of disgruntled. And remember, the opposite of a progressive is a regressive.
DeleteOur state has the 6th largest economy in the world and growing. Our state accounts for almost 14% of the US economy, our state has a budget surplus over 6 billion dollars, California is doing things right for it's citizens. People aren't fleeing California. Crime is down across the state, the majority of the departments we come in contact with, the DMV, the revenue departments, the licensing departments are efficient and the employees are easy to deal with. Our stat is diverse, I had an eye appointment this morning, my eye doctor's family came from India. The woman who did my lens fitting was a blonde, blue eyed All-American middle aged woman, he boss is an Asian woman.On my way home I stopped at our local convenience store owned an operated by Syrian immigrants. In the parking lot I chatted with my friend the retire two star Admiral. Our state is a great place to live. The way it looks, the way it runs and the way it works for the benefit for everyone, all of should be a beacon for other states. As it has for so long California is the America's future.
ReplyDeletePardon my typos, jeez.
DeleteAgree with you emphatically!
DeleteThanks for reminding us of the long tradition of churches providing sanctuary for the persecuted. Trump-Sessions tactics remind one of what the civil rights leaders went through in the 50s and 60s and how the racist thugs got away with their violence for too long.
ReplyDeleteThere was, and perhaps still is, a strain of US citizen and elected official who act with something called conscience.
DeleteInteresting but 56 of the 58 sheriffs in California are very frustrated with the handcuffs the governor is putting on them. Most of the DAs are of a like mind. Being in this country illegally for a lot of years should not be the criteria for being allowed to stay here. Because of the size of the illegal population I and many conservatives would accept a pathway to citizenship for many of them. Illegals who are here and are law breakers should be rounded up by ICE and sent home. We did it like that 50 years ago and it worked. Only when the government started protecting the "rights" of illegals did the population of them increase to the huge level they are today. Don't forget the people of the world who are standing at the door waiting for a legal way for them to come to America while progressives cater to the illegals here already. Better to tell your progressives in DC to let the President give a pathway to citizenship to 1.8 million dreamers. It sounds reasonable to many of us to end unlimited chain migration and end a lottery system for immigrants instead of basing most immigration on merit and value to our great country. My ancestors immigrated to America legally, never got any government handouts, had to learn English to survive and they did. They raised families, became proud Americans, sent their sons to WWII and pledged allegiance to our flag. I don't see much of this in the illegal immigrants in California. They are not all bad people by far. Lots of them do good things including doing all the agricultural work in California that no one else wants to do. All that is good and fine but I think there is a legal way to do this and the obstruction of justice by the Oakland mayor and the defiance of the federal government is not what I like to see my state doing. Thank you for the 1st Amendment.
ReplyDeleteBrian-Thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts. I will state again
DeleteI don't think anyone complains when criminals are rounded up and afforded due process. But the ICE actions are targeting non criminals-read that as working and tax paying long time residents who've committed no crime other than look for a better life in the US.
We certainly should provide a path for the Dreamers.
I think Governor Brown, elected what, 4 times by voters here, and the state legislature majority-also elected by the majority of California voters have it right.
I think it comes down to how an individual thinks and acts about other human beings and so far California is showing that companion and acceptance are important and at the top of how to behave. I understand not all people have that view of life.
I think the repeated state election results would indicate the majority of us favor those values and our state practices. And I have to remind you that progressive is not a bad word, or even a bad thought. It relates to progress-making improvements and in politics stems from the age of enlightenment-that is using science, economics and learning as a way to make human life better. In fact some of the first "progressives" came from Christianity. Jesus was a progressive. In fact he was even considered a radical. I think he'd probably against the ICE heavy handedness of dragging people away from families and leaving children without parents, which by the way happened here on the Central Coast.