Thread: Rev. Coleman's hunger strike against ICE raids.

From: "Wrevcoleman@aol.com" <Wrevcoleman@aol.com>

The Ya Basta Campaign kicked off in Chicago on October 1st with a press conference and prayer service at Adalberto United Methodist church. Led by Catholic, Evangelical, Methodist, Congregational and Baptist pastors, the service began a 14 day fast as pastors throughout Chicago pledged to move their congregation to fight for a moratorium on raids, deportations and separaton of families and to participate in a series of activities over the next 14 days aimed at getting candidates running in November to commit to the moratorium. On Wednesday of this week, hundreds will join the Latino alderman in the chicago city council to suspend the rules and pass a resolution urgin all candidates running for office in novemeber to support the moratorium. On the 12th, Pastors will dedicate their Sunday services to the moratorium. On the 14th, over 60 organizations have joined together to hold a "Moratorium rollcall" to b held in Rahm Emanuel's district. The powerful service of prayer was preceded by a press conference. The statement read at that press conference follows: "Fast for Family" Statement, October 1st, 2008

Rev Walter L Coleman

Adalberto United Methodist Church

2716 W Division St., Chicago, Il.

773/671-1755



WHY WE FAST

We begin today a 14 day Fast for Families as we take the next steps in the Ya Basta national campaign for a moratorium to stop the escalating war of terror and heartbreak that is being waged against families and indeed against the entire Latino community.



The objective of the October campaign in Illinois and throughout the nation is to establish a moratorium roll call for all candidates running for office in the November elections. Next week, the Latino Aldermen will ask the Mayor and City Council of Chicago to join us in this effort and on October 14th we will convene our official moratorium roll call to which all candidates are invited to attend.



We are convinced that a moratorium on raids, deportations and separation of families until legalization of the undocumented is enacted by Congress should be the demand of all people of faith in this nation and of all people who are committed to fundamental family values and the right of people to work, provide for and raise their families in the ways of the Lord. We believe it is inconsistent with our faith to remain silent in the face of the terrible injustices we are now seeing visited on families almost everyday.



CANDIDATES MUST BE HELD TO A HIGHER STANDARD
While the National Ya Basta campaign is committed to the enactment of a program of legalization in the first 100 days of the new Congress, we cannot wait on Congress to agree on immigration reform to call a halt to the raids, deportations and destruction of families. Candidates must be held to a higher standard than simply a general statement in support of comprehensive immigration reform. While Congressional factions debate, trapped in narrow political considerations, an escalating campaign of ethnic cleansing is going on before our eyes. Candidates must be judged on their commitment to an immediate moratorium until Congress can agree on the best way to fix our broken immigration system.



Almost everyone now agrees that this nation’s immigration system is broken. To put it simply, if you have a boat with holes in it, you bring it on shore and fix it. You don’t send it out on the water and let families and whole communities drown.



AN IMMEDIATE SOLUTION HAS BEEN OFFERED
IN CONGRESS

We take note of the letter sent this week to President Bush by the Congressional Hispanic Caucus calling for a moratorium. The dramatic escalation in I.C.E. raids and deportations is discretionary and this President could and should put a stop to it. Certainly the increasingly scarce resources of this nation can be put to better use than to conducting search and destroy missions against hard-working families.



We take note also of the position of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus that the first step in immigration reform is to provide legalization in the form of a five year renewable visa to all those who are working or caring for U.S. citizen children. Recognizing their full rights as workers will end the double standard that undermines labor today and coupled with employment verification will end the system of undocumented labor and stop the terrible persecution of families. It appears that this is the necessary first legislative step and that other issues of citizenship and future foreign workers can come later. The CHC proposal is a legislative form of the moratorium that this nation is morally and economically required to enact immediately.



Those congressmen who have stood in the way of a solution to this gigantic human crisis do not deserve our support.



As we begin our fast today, we focus on two mothers, from which you will hear today.



FRANCISCA LINO

Francisca Lino faces an order of deportation on October 21st. She is the wife of a U.S. citizen and the mother of four U.S. citizen children. She is facing deportation because of a defective immigration law that did not allow her to travel to Mexico for emergencies while her husband’s 245i application for her was pending. She has committed no crime. She poses no threat to this nation. Her husband and her children need her. Without her, the Lino family will not be able to care for Mr. Lino’s mother who is undergoing cancer treatment. Mr. Lino will not be able to care for their children and work a full-time job. Without her financial contribution and support for the family, the Lino family will default on their mortgage and lose the home they have worked for. Most importantly, her deportation will break the sacred bond between a mother and her children. Why is the United States of America doing these things to this family and millions of families like them?



FLOR CRISOSTOMO

Flor Crisostomo came to this country from Mexico because the Free Trade agreements between the governments of the United State and Mexico made it impossible for her to support and feed her three children. She worked for the IFCO company and sent money back home for her children’s basic necessities. Caught up in the first of many workplace raids, she fought her case until January of this year when she entered sanctuary in this church. She is in sanctuary to Make America See that 12 million people will not self-deport because they cannot feed their children. She is one of the almost half a million people who have not complied with deportation orders who have no criminal records that I.C.E. is now targeting with 104 teams of agents to seek out and arrest where they are living in their homes with their families.



We focus on these two beautiful and loving mothers today because they show us the human face of a broken immigration policy. Enforcement only has no reasonable objective except terror and heartbreak. I.C.E. cannot deport 12 million people. It is absolutely clear that millions of people will not self-deport precisely because they will not abandon their families here or in Mexico. Enforcement only is cruel, inhuman and senseless.



These two mothers did not create the system of undocumented labor that offered employment to millions of people, the broken immigration system, or the financial restructuring and trade agreements that drove people here from their own communities. They have done nothing but try to survive and raise their children within the de facto system that governments have created and corporations have profited from. To torture them and destroy their families is a great hypocrisy. To fan the flames of a campaign of hatred and racism against families and children is a sin against God for which this nation will be judged.



THE BEGINNING OF A NEW NATIONAL CAMPAIGN

IN PRAYER AND FASTING

Today we begin with 14 days of prayer and fasting. Actions will be taken throughout this month here and throughout the nation. It is the beginning again of a mighty movement of faith. As Joshua and the Israelites marched seven times around the city, so we will mobilize for seven months in obedience to God and his commandments until the trumpets sound and the leaders of this country feel an earthquake of prayers and footsteps of millions beneath their feet.



We know that God is with us and with these families, for they are his children and He is Their God. He will give them the victory. We can only pray that God will be merciful to a nation whose Greed, Irresponsibility and Racism have caused so much hate and suffering.

We can only pray that God will be merciful to a nation whose Greed, Irresponsibility and Racism have caused so much hate and suffering

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Rev. Walter L. Coleman is a shining example of what is wrong with those types of allegations. IGNORANCE, with capital letters. He can join the lacks of Jessie Jackson and Al Sharpton who are always preaching “giveâ€