NAACP Letter of Affirmation

For the marchers of the No Border Wall Walk, which took place less than a month ago, this past week has been one of nadirs and zeniths.  While April 1 saw Homeland Security Secretary waive 39 laws to barge ahead with the building of the border wall, yesterday saw his colleagues and elected officials calling into question this unconstitutional negation of Justice.  Should the REAL ID Act be dismantled, either through such a committee or by the Defenders of Wildlife Supreme Court lawsuit, there is little doubt in our minds that the law would stop such an invasive devastation which the Secure Fence Act presents.

Today was yet another breath of fresh air, as one of my fellow organizers on the walk, Kiel Harell, received a letter on NAACP stationery.  It stated:

Thank you for your kind letter.

I wish I could have joined you, but I am afraid I could not.

Congratulations to you on this undertaking, and best wishes. Dr. King would be proud of you.

It was signed Julian Bond, King confidante and current Chairman on the NAACP National Board of Directors.  While grassroots organizing can sometimes seem like an agonizing effort for little effect,  it is heartening to see the far-reaching ramifications of a nonviolent, positive campaign aimed at our nation’s hearts and minds.  We pray that the good people of these United States will say “Basta!” to such retrogressive acts as the construction of a wall on any border, and instead push mankind’s frontiers with legislation which could further integrate our great land, granting human rights and recognizing the personhood of 12 million men and women and children living extralegally in our land, as well as holding out hope to the millions and millions of refugees and Americalmosts who look to this land in their pursuit of happiness and self-fulfillment.

Thank you.

The Dawn after the Darkest

Martin Luther King spoke often about the night being darkest just before the dawn. In his book Stride Toward Freedom, King writes about a lawsuit in the Birmingham Bus Boycott as being one such night, “darker than a thousand midnights. It was a night in which the light of hope was about to fade away and the lamp of faith about to flicker. We went home with nothing before us but a cloud of uncertainty” (A Testament of Hope, 455).

April 1 saw Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff waiving 39 laws to rush the construction of a border fence along our nation’s southern border. April 7, then, marks a return to law and a callback to conscience. Chairman of the Homeland Security Chairman Bennie Thompson (D-MS) convened with 14 Members of Congress to submit an intent to file an Amicus Curiae brief regarding the Defenders of Wildlife case (which would bring the environmental law waivers to Supreme Court). These Congressman urge the Supreme Court to grant certiorari in this case, because they hold that the REAL ID Act’s waiver of laws is unconstitutional.

Grassroots groups like No Texas Border Wall, Border Ambassadors, and the Texas Border Coalition rejoiced today to hear Congressman echo our shock and disbelief at this massive waiver. Thompson joined these men and women in opposition to the REAL ID Act:

• Energy & Commerce Committee Chairman John Dingell (D-MI);
• · Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers (D-MI);
• · Transportation & Infrastructure Committee Chairman James Oberstar (D-MN);
• · Education and Labor Committee Chairman George Miller (D-CA);
• · Rules Committee Chairwoman Louise Slaughter (D-NY)
• · Veterans Affairs Chairman Bob Filner (D-CA);
• · Intelligence Committee Chairman Silvestre Reyes (D-TX);
• · Congressman Solomon Ortiz (D-TX);
• · Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren (D-CA);
• · Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX);
• · Congresswoman Susan Davis (D-CA);
• · Congressman Raul M. Grijalva (D-AZ); and
• · Congresswoman Yvette D. Clarke (D-NY).

Chairman Thompson stated before these legislators that the Secretary of Homeland Security’s use of the waiver was “a direct challenge to Congress’s Constitutional role. The American people entrust Congress to ensure that the laws of this land are faithfully executed not excused by the Executive Branch” (Amicus Curiae). Grassroots organizers should feel proud at their efforts to raise this particular waiver to the national eye, while its use in Arizona went unnoticed and largely unopposed.

Congressman John Conyers (D-MI) might well have walked with the 300 marchers this past March 8-16 from Roma to Brownsville. He understands with us that this wall is an environmental blight, a piecemeal political gesture, and an ineffective strategy. He stated that it is “our responsibility to be stewards of the earth cannot be thrown aside for the sake of an ill-conceived border fence. The Administration exempts itself from a duty to protect the environment, sacred burial sites, and centuries-old farms, but conveniently spares wealthy landowners from the bulldozers” (Amicus Curiae). We applaud the truth of his statement and welcome him or anyone on this Committee to come down to see this Valley, visit the people of Granjeno and Los Ebanos, swim in the beautiful river, walk the trails of endangered ocelots, and witness the wonderful coexistence of both sides of the broder.

Intimating that Congress has been worried about such disregard for law before this, Rep. John Dingell said, “Congress’ efforts to seek justification for this waiver from DHS have been stonewalled, which leads me to believe none exists” (Amicus Curiae). Much like J. Edgar Hoover’s refusal to release proof for his Communist accusations of civil rights leaders like Stanley Levison and Martin Luther King, Homeland Security’s Secretary has voiced the fact that it is unnecessary to explain this action or to study the wall’s effects on the environment and local communities. It does the Valley’s heart good to know that these Congressman and many others understand the gravity of this situation.

And so it is with much rejoicing in my heart that I write this. Though the Secure Fence Act of 2006 will still be a long fight and the REAL ID Act has not yet been overturned, we are moving in the right direction. Though the arc of the moral universe is long, it does bend toward justice. It is bending faster and more distinctly as of today. The conscience of this country and the minds of this nation’s residents are bending toward a place of reconciliation and true progress. We are beginning to communicate – may this nonpartisan committee be just a beginning.

Please write these brave men and women to congratulate them on their stance for Truth. Write your other state legislators to urge them to oppose both the REAL ID Act and the Secure Fence Act.