Thread: Black-clergy group backs immigrant fighting deportation

http://www.chicagotribune.com

Black-clergy group backs immigrant fighting deportation


By Oscar Avila
Tribune staff reporter

August 25, 2006

Nine influential African-American ministers Thursday prayed and laid hands on Elvira Arellano, an illegal Mexican immigrant defying a deportation order.

Arellano had faced a backlash in recent days after comparing herself to Rosa Parks, the black Alabama seamstress who refused to give up her bus seat to a white man in 1955.

But the ministers, part of a broad coalition called Clergy Speaks Interdenominational, said Arellano is contesting an immoral government policy as Parks did. They say even though Arellano broke the law, she should not face the prospect of being separated from her young son, who is a U.S. citizen.

Speaking from the pulpit at Adalberto United Methodist Church, where Arellano has lived as a fugitive since refusing to report for deportation last week, Rev. Albert Tyson said he hopes their support would increase the bonds between Latinos and African-Americans.

"Injustice is injustice. Period," said Tyson, president of the group and pastor at St. Stephen AME Church on the West Side. "We have so much more in common than we do that separates us."

The group was formed this year to lobby for issues of social justice, such as police brutality, after State Sen. James Meeks (D-Ill.) was pulled over in a traffic stop some considered racial profiling.

The group met Monday and voted to take up Arellano's cause, which was presented to them byRev. Walter Coleman, pastor at Adalberto and a member of the organization.

Those in attendance Thursday included Rev. Marshall Hatch, a key member of the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition, and Bishop Larry Trotter, senior pastor of the massive Sweet Holy Spirit Church.

Arellano, 31, has gained international notoriety during her nine-day stand in the Humboldt Park church. She is president of United Latino Family, a Chicago group that advocates for families with undocumented immigrants. She was arrested in 2002 while working at O'Hare International Airport.

Arellano said Thursday that she had first heard about Parks when she attended a memorial service at Beloved Community Christian Church, where U.S. Rep. Bobby Rush (D-Ill.) is pastor. Rush had already worked closely with Arellano's organization and offered his political support.

Arellano said she considers Martin Luther King Jr. and Cesar Chavez to be role models but is inspired by Parks because she was also a young woman.

"I know that because she fought, the laws were changed," Arellano said.

But others have taken issue with the comparison. The church had been buzzing in recent days after Mary Mitchell, a Chicago Sun-Times columnist, wrote a piece that blasted the comparison. "She is using Rosa Parks' name to buy herself more time, and that disgusts me."

Ted Hayes, a Los Angeles-based activist and board member of a group called Choose Black America, which opposes illegal immigration, called it a "blasphemy" to make the comparison. Hayes is planning to come to Chicago to organize the first counterprotests outside the church since Arellano took refuge there.

"The comparison is bogus. Rosa Parks was a U.S.-born citizen. This lady is a foreign national," Hayes said. "If she wants to use Rosa Parks as an inspiration, that's fine. But do it in Mexico."

Rev. J. Leon Thorn, pastor of St. James AME Church on the South Side, said he grew up in Alabama and recalls the discrimination black citizens faced every day. He agrees that many African-Americans do not like the comparisons to Parks because, unlike Arellano, the civil-rights icon was law-abiding until confronting a law now universally viewed as unjust.

Thorn said Arellano should not have entered the United States illegally but says African-American leaders should support her efforts to fix a "broken" immigration system.

"We need to stay united as a people. If we don't stick together, God help us all."

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oavila@tribune.com

This just keeps getting better and better?!!

They should be outraged that she is comparing herself to Rosa Parks. There is no comparison. It is absurd.

They say even though Arellano broke the law, she should not face the prospect of being separated from her young son, who is a U.S. citizen.

Oh geez, here we go again with the "separating a mother from her son" speech. No one is advocating a separation of mother and child - NO ONE. Why do these people persist in using such rhetoric - there is not one grain of truth to it. The child is more than welcome to depart with his mother. Hello............anyone in the media listening?

Most of these Reverends that are jumping on this bandwagon have been activists in the Chicago area with the pastor "Slim Coleman" (along with his latino wife) of the Methodist church that Arellano is hold up in. This is a way of seeking publicity for their causes.

Misguided fools. If I was black, I would be be infuriated comparing her to Martin Luther King

I would have thought they would have been royally ticked. I'm curious to see how much trouble they get into with their own congregations and with African-Americans nation wide. I know sometimes it doesn't happen, but sometimes it does.

No one should be surprised by this.

Left wing politics long ago took control in most churches. This is simply another attempt to forge a coalition to radically alter the structure of this nation.

As I've said before, churches should have their tax exempt status revoked, since they are now political institutions rather than religious ones.

The group was formed this year to lobby for issues of social justice, such as police brutality, after State Sen. James Meeks (D-Ill.) was pulled over in a traffic stop some considered racial profiling.

A traffic stop is police brutality??? Just like that McKinney woman, they blame everything on racism. I have never seen such paranoia!

Originally Posted by steelerbabe

Misguided fools. If I was black, I would be be infuriated comparing her to Martin Luther King

Guarantee you that if this Mexican invader was white, these same blacks that are championing her cause would be outraged.

No one should be surprised by this.

Left wing politics long ago took control in most churches. This is simply another attempt to forge a coalition to radically alter the structure of this nation.

As I've said before, churches should have their tax exempt status revoked, since they are now political institutions rather than religious ones.

Agreed on all fronts.