I’ve written before about the wide gulf between what I hear, see, and experience at the border and the tenor of our political debate. Never has the contrast been as stark as what I experienced last week.
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Migrants from Latin and South America are frequently the victims of exploitation and extortion in their home countries or along their journeys north. Unfortunately it doesn’t get much better for some once they get here. Instead of cartels, they face unjust corporations. Nowhere is there a better microcosm of multifaceted immigrant exploitation than in Colony Ridge.
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I remember when I heard the news that migrants were being pushed into the Rio Grande and getting trapped in razor wire. I’ve never felt such horror and shame, and I know you felt that too.
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The conversation in Austin seems so very far from the realities of those making their way to our southern border.
Last week, as elected officials at the Capitol were debating further militarizing the border and passing punitive policies hoping to deter migrants, Fellowship Southwest was coordinating teams of volunteers to offer those same neighbors a warm welcome, and to work alongside our partners who do so every day.
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Imagine que tratar de cruzar hileras de alambre de púas fuera más seguro que quedarse en casa.
Imagine que el sumergirse en un río embravecido con su bebé les ofreciera una mejor oportunidad de sobrevivir que el regresar a su país.
Ahora imagine que aquellos que toman tales decisiones fueran blancos y hablaran inglés. ¿Podría usted imaginar que se pusieran en efecto las actuales políticas y tácticas del Gobernador Abbott que resultan en más muertes innecesarias?
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Imagine that trying to cross rows of razor wire was safer than staying at home.
Imagine that plunging into a raging river with your toddler offered them better odds of survival than going back to your country.
Now imagine if those making such choices were white and spoke English. Could you imagine Governor Abbott continuing policies and tactics that result in more unnecessary deaths?
Fellowship Southwest is active at the Capitol in Austin during this legislative session. This week we have registered support or opposition to bills related to public education, immigration, and predatory lending. We most often do our work in coalition with others. For a list of coalitions and organizations we pay attention to, see last week’s newsletter.
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Fellowship Southwest is committed to pursuing justice and equipping others to do the same. We feel called to use our voice, influence and privilege to advocate alongside, and on behalf of, those who are too often ignored or disempowered. We’re not out to advance a narrow agenda but to promote the common good. It is one way we love our neighbors.
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When our family moved to Dripping Springs, Texas, a little over a year ago, the reputation of the local public schools was a big factor. Though we mourn the lack of diversity as compared to our school in Georgia, so far we’ve had a mostly excellent experience.
Imagine my surprise then when I clicked on the Texas Monthly cover article from March, “The Campaign to Sabotage Texas’s Public Schools,” and the first photo of a school was my kid’s elementary school.
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As the year ends it is appropriate to reflect on where Fellowship Southwest has been and what we’ve accomplished thanks to your support and our numerous partners. I’m immensely grateful for the opportunity to lead this organization, proud of the work we’ve done, and believe our best is yet to come.
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Fellowship Southwest supporting congregation Broadway Baptist Church in Fort Worth, Texas, is doing impactful, courageous, and faithful advocacy we think you should know about. Take a few moments to read this in-depth article from Baptist News Global about Broadway’s Justice Committee and their local advocacy work. The church has been a leader in the city calling for improved conditions and procedures at the Tarrant County Jail and for an independent investigation into why 39 inmates have died since 2019.
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We’re at the hanging stuff on the walls phase at our new house in Drippings Springs. Yes, finally. It has been a busy fall. This week I hung a sign above our kitchen table that reads “Gather Here with Grateful Hearts”
Consider this newsletter column a grateful gathering.
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It has been a little over a year since I made my first trip to the border for Fellowship Southwest. I’ve been back several times since and I’ve stayed in consistent contact with the pastors in our border network. Thanks to your generosity we’ve been able to maintain our support of their ministries and respond to unexpected critical needs.
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I am a gun owner. A Remington 870 pump 12 gauge shotgun to be exact. I bought it while I was in law school in Lubbock close to family land I could hunt on. I enjoy quail and dove hunting. They are part of my family history, culture, and tradition.
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Ten days before the massacre in our own region, there was Buffalo. Friend and partner to FSW, Starlette Thomas, offers this reflection in Good Faith Media of what transpired at her mom’s local grocery store and the racist conspiracy theory behind the attack.
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Last week I wrote about the four words we hope define Fellowship Southwest - faithful, thoughtful, courageous and kind. I hope these characteristics also define our public witness. How do we, as a faith-based organization speak and act in the public square in response to the suffering and injustice we see and hope to help alleviate?
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Keen observers of our weekly newsletter might have noticed something a little different last week. The four descriptive words displayed prominently at the top of each addition had changed. For a while now Fellowship Southwest has described ourselves as faithful, agile, ecumenical and kind. We still hope these all describe our ministry. But two of these words seem to describe more of how we want to do our work, rather than the characteristics we hope to embody.
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Do you have a book you can say changed your life? I do. I was a freshman in college when I read “Dead Man Walking” by Sister Helen Prejean. It had a profound impact on what I thought, believed, and ultimately upon the trajectory of my life and career.
Since reading that book over 25 years ago I have been adamantly opposed to the death penalty. I recall this conviction as the first time I came to my own conclusion about an issue apart from what I gleaned from my community, culture, and family. It certainly influenced my decision to pursue law school and once there take an advanced criminal law course on the death penalty in Texas.
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The images from Ukraine are horrific. The widespread destruction unseen in decades except for that caused by hurricanes or earthquakes. Many folks alive today have never witnessed war at quite this scale. The fact that it seems so unprovoked and unjust makes it even more shocking. The whim of an isolated madman.
The millions of people now fleeing the attacks is also a rare phenomenon …for Europeans.
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David Brook’s essay in the New York Times from February 4th is worth your time. “The Dissenters Trying to Save Evangelicalism From Itself” may not have a lot of new information for Christians paying close attention, but it is well done and full of hard truths.
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