Thread: IL: Pastor’s Hunger Strike Reaches 31st Day

Pastor’s Hunger Strike Reaches 31st Day
Produced by Chip Mitchell on Wednesday, June 16, 2010


A south-suburban Pentecostal has gone a full month without food. He’s demanding that President Obama’s administration suspend most deportations. He’s also wondering why no one seems to be paying attention.

From the energy of an evening prayer he leads, you wouldn’t know Rev. MartÃ*n Santellano’s last meal was May 16.

But when it’s time to climb a short flight of stairs, the 42-year-old pastor can hardly gather the strength.

SANTELLANO: Right now I feel very weak, especially at this time of the day. I usually speak louder. I’m a preacher, remember?

Santellano leads New Hope Apostolic Ministries, a mostly Mexican congregation in Glenwood.

SANTELLANO: There are a lot of families here in the church. The children are suffering emotionally a lot because they’re afraid that one of these days their mom, their dad, is going to be pulled over by police and never make it home.

Pastor Santellano says that’s what led to his hunger strike. His family and friends say he’s had nothing but water and fruit juice for a full month.

SANTELLANO: We’ve been e-mailing, faxing, to the senators, to the representatives. Over a hundred faxes to the White House. Red envelopes, a little bit over a thousand. Simple message: ‘Please, Mr. President, stop separating families.’

But Santellano says he’s received no responses.

SANTELLANO: Not even from Gutiérrez.

He means Luis Gutiérrez, the congressman of Chicago. Gutiérrez is leading a push to provide millions of undocumented immigrants a path to citizenship. The congressman applauds the pastor’s commitment.

GUTIERREZ: He is living truly the spirit of his own suffering and saying, ‘I’ll put my life on the line. I’ll put my own personal comfort on the line so that others can have fairness and justice.’

But Gutiérrez says he hadn’t heard of the hunger strike until I told him about it this week. Pastor Santellano has also gone virtually unnoticed by English-language news media. And it’s been about two weeks since a Spanish-language outlet has mentioned the hunger strike.

In New York City this month, some undocumented students fighting for legal status had a different experience.

MATEUS: We had the Daily News, El Diario, New York Times, NBC, ABC, Telemundo...

18-year-old Aura Mateus helped organize a hunger strike that lasted just 10 days but got attention.

MATEUS: A lot of preparation has to be made, a lot of contacts. Press releases have to be written. Managing a schedule, getting permits. We handed out fliers to over 5,000 people. We had a lot of people who were working in D.C., getting us coverage. And so it’s really not smart to be at it alone. It just disappoints people, whether it’s reporters or friends and family, because they see you suffering. And you think it’s for a good cause but you’re just only hurting yourself.

Immigrant-movement ranks are beginning to swell with evangelicals like Pastor Santellano. They don’t have much organizing experience or many political connections.

In Chicago, a Methodist pastor named Walter Coleman says he started hearing from them in 2006. That’s when Coleman’s church took in Elvira Arellano. She’s a Mexican-born mother who stayed there more than a year in open defiance of immigration authorities.

COLEMAN: We were contacted by evangelical pastors around the country -- churches that were offering sanctuary without ever telling the press. They just did it out of their faith. And I think that’s what he represents.

MITCHELL: What do you suggest he do now? It’s been four weeks. He’s got four young children.

COLEMAN: He needs to say that he’s made his statement and come off his hunger strike and recuperate a little bit and join us in the next stage of this.

Thirty-one days since his last food, Pastor Santellano seems to be getting the message.

SANTELLANO: I’m willing to take it all the way until I hear something from the federal government. But I’m human. And I don’t know if I can last another 10 days.

Now an Anglican pastor in Chicago is offering to take over the fast. Santellano is accepting the offer. He says he’ll start eating again tomorrow.

http://oneoldvet.com/

http://www.wbez.org/Content.aspx?audioID=42616

I call BS, yes you can go a long time on water..but 31 days, and he is still preaching, he is supplementing , even if it is sugar and vitamin water

A south-suburban Pentecostal has gone a full month without food. He’s demanding that President Obama’s administration suspend most deportations. He’s also wondering why no one seems to be paying attention.

It's best not to encourage foolish behavior by acknowledging it.

Dixie

He’s also wondering why no one seems to be paying attention.

Because everyone understands why you're starving yourself. No illegal aliens, no congregation, no collections.

The only time you can fool an Americans is when we're not paying attention. Well, we're paying attention now.

When are people like the "good rev" going to realize no cares if he starves himself to death so breakers can continue breaking the law? What ever happened to obeying the laws of the land?

Sorry Rev but starving yourself in order to get an amnesty for illegal aliens so they can take our jobs and continue to rape and pillage our country, is not going to get you ANY sympathy...
We have seen so many sob stories from people trying to get something for their special interest group that we can easily see through which ones are legit and which ones are bogus scams that will just cost us an arm, a leg, and our southwest territories...
We are fed up. Get it through your thick skull.

SANTELLANO: We’ve been e-mailing, faxing, to the senators, to the representatives. Over a hundred faxes to the White House. Red envelopes, a little bit over a thousand. Simple message: ‘Please, Mr. President, stop separating families.’

But Santellano says he’s received no responses.

Maybe because your parishoners can't vote. That's what it's all about to these politicians, getting votes.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE June 15, 2010
To: ALL MEDIA
From: 　Fr. Jose Landaverde, 773-968-4258
Re: Press Conference: Thursday, June 17th, 2010, Federal Plaza, 230 S Dearborn

Chicago Pastor’s 32 day hunger strike begins chain of Pastors on Hunger Strike

Pastor Santellano will hand off his 32 day hunger strike to well known
Chicago Pastor Father Jose Landaverde

Hunger Strike Demands an end to Raids and Deportations Now !

On Thursday June 17 at 10:30AM, Pastor Martin Santellano, 42, the
pastor at New Hope Apostolic Ministry, during a press conference and
prayer vigil, will announce an end to his 32 day Hunger Strike begun
on May 17th . Pastor Santellano’s body has weakened and he is
responding to pleas from his family and congregation to stop before he
further risks endangering his health.
Padre Jose Landaverde is stepping into take his place. "The message is
simple. President Obama must implement an immediate moratorium on
raids, deportations, separation of families, the use of racial
profiling through 287g, and secure communities act programs, and
Arizona type laws such as 1070, until just immigration reform
legislation is adopted and implemented," said Padre Landaverde
Although they represent different denominations, Pastor Santellano,
and Padre Landaverde are both pastoring congregations of Latinos that
have suffered the consequences of the failure of President Obama to
fulfill his promise to the Latino community to pass immigration
reform.

Hunger strike to move to Federal Plaza

Thursday June17th

10:30AM

230 S.Dearborn

Padre Jose Landaverde
Our Lady of Guadalupe Anglican Catholic
773-968-4258
2500 S. Harding Chicago,ILLinois 60623
joseslandave...@hotmail.com

http://groups.google.com/group/chicagom ... cf67b5c3a9

a hunger strike for open borders ?

i don't think so .

Maybe if he was going on a hunger strike for a righteous cause people would have sympathy for him. But supporting amnesty for illegals is wrong.