Immigrant

'Statue of liberty' photo (c) 2011, Rakkhi Samarasekera - license: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/

"I will call them my people, who were not my people. And her beloved, who was not beloved." (Romans 9:25 referencing Hosea 2:23)

Estranged, alienated, and removed; anyone living in an industrialized modern society in the 21st century would be able to define, or at least identify the sentiments of these words. Our time is one of mass communication and instantaneous access to knowledge. And yet our lives are too compartmentalized, increasingly divided, and our society reflects this. Indeed the existential writers of yesteryear were correct in diagnosing the iron cage that would befall us, ultimately leading to an eclipse of reason.

Laurna Strikwerda 7-07-2011

Ten days after 9/11, Rais Bhuiyan, an immigrant from Bangladesh, was working at a gas station in Dallas, Texas when a man walked in with a gun. Thinking the store was being robbed, Bhuiyan opened the cash register

Lonnie Ellis 6-30-2011
The youngest person in a crowd of teenagers and young adults at the Dream Act Senate Judiciary Subcommittee hearing on Tuesday was an 8-year-old girl.
Jeannie Choi 6-24-2011
Here's a little round up of links from around the Web you may have missed this week:

This hymn was originally used for the dedication of the 180 solar panels on the sanctuary of Limestone Presbyterian Church in Wilmington, Delaware where I am the co-pastor.
Jim Wallis 5-19-2011

Just over one month ago, a few dozen fired employees demonstrated outside a Chipotle one block from Sojourners' office. The employees reported that they were taken to the back of the store during their 30-minute break and were dismissed without warning.

Marcus Hummon 5-16-2011

I was recently arguing the case of my friend Rosanna with an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) official over at the Nashville Municipal Auditorium, a major performance venue in Nashville, Tennessee.

Troy Jackson 5-16-2011
Back when President Obama was candidate Obama, one of his favorite mantras on the stump was the need to recapture what Martin Luther King, Jr.
The world around us is teaming with meaning. Words are lush with meaning. One word can point to many different ideas, emotions, expectations.
Will Coley 5-11-2011
[Editors' Note: This month, Sojourners and Christians for Comprehensive Immigration Reform will be featuring "The Stories of Immigration" blog series.
[Editors' Note: This month, Sojourners and Christians for Comprehensive Immigration Reform will be featuring "The Stories of Immigration" blog series.
Maryada Vallet 4-26-2011
This week marks the one-year anniversary of the signing of SB 1070 in Arizona, the controversial bill that mobilized thousands around
[Editors' note: Below is a hymn written by Carolyn Winfrey Gillette to celebrate Palm Sunday.
Jake Olzen 4-12-2011

The immigrant rights movement is getting extreme. In the past two years, in addition to some of the largest mass gatherings in the country, undocumented students and their allies have shifted their protest from street marches to civil disobedience.

It is time for those of us who have been advocating for comprehensive immigration reform to rethink our strategies.
Troy Jackson 3-25-2011
On the morning of Saturday, March 25, 1911 more than 600 employees, mostly immigrant women, reported for work at the Triangle Shirtwaist Company in New York City.
Maryada Vallet 3-14-2011
As the world is watching Libya, I am keeping close watch and prayers over the sea.
Brian McLaren 3-10-2011

With all the angst about the economy, the deficit, and a looming government shut-down, I'm still concerned that we're treating symptoms rather than diagnosing the underlying disease.

I know something about this. I spent a week in the hospital last year having loads of tests done -- blood work, heart scans, stress tests, and sonograms. I was discharged without a diagnosis, merely with hopes that by treating the symptoms, whatever was wrong would go away. It didn't. It turned out my real problem was a tick-born disease, and once it was diagnosed, a ten-dollar prescription of antibiotics cured me. Without that ten-dollar prescription to treat the real problem, I could have experienced life-long disability.

Cesar Baldelomar 2-16-2011

On May 30, 2009, a terrorist attack in Arizona ended the lives of two U.S. citizens -- a Latino man and his 9-year-old daughter.