FOR-USA has been headquartered in Rockland County, New York since the 1950s. So when a press conference was called by the local immigration rights group Proyecto Faro in response to the county refusing to allow buses of refugees to enter and be sheltered at a local hotel, we set off to pray with our legs. County Executive Ed Day had accused the refugees of being “child rapists,” gang members and “criminals” and declared a so-called state of emergency to prevent the busses from coming in.
There is an actual state of emergency in Rockland County and the broader U.S., but it isn’t refugees seeking shelter. It’s the xenophobia, hatred and white Christian nationalism that are preventing us from fulfilling our obligations to “Love Thy Neighbor” and “Welcome the Stranger.”
As FOR-USA Director of Operations Susan Smith said at the May 11 press conference, “Each and every one of us — with the exception of the Indigenous peoples — we, our families, our parents, our grandparents, came from somewhere else. We came here as children of God. We are all brothers and sisters, created by God, to take care of and provide refuge for each other.”
Since 1918, the Fellowship of Reconciliation has published the award-winning print magazine Fellowship. It is also now online, offering original grassroots analysis, movement research, first-person commentary, poetry and more to help people of faith and conscience build a nonviolent, compassionate world.
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