This is What White Supremacy Looks Like

Post by ECCO President Rev. Dr. Andre Bennett

On January 6th, thousands of White rioters violently stormed the US Capitol.  They smashed windows, desecrated national monuments, vandalized the offices of national leaders, and planted pipe bombs in the offices of both the DNC and the RNC.  The response from police and government was at best anemic and unprepared or at worst malevolently planned.

We often chant, “This is what democracy looks like!”  Today, I want to chant, “This is what White Supremacy looks like.”  When White rioters violently mob the Capitol, police showed a remarkable lack of resistance and arrested only 52 people.  When people protested nonviolently Black Lives Matter this summer, police showed up with tanks and riot gear.  They arrested 427 peaceful DC protesters from May 31st-June 2nd alone, and 14,000 nationally over the course of the summer.  Yesterday was a heartbreaking demonstration of how differently police and government behave when the lives of the people they serve and protect actually MATTER to them. 

Though some in the media are presenting yesterday’s events as being only about our president, we would be wise to realize that White nationalism and White supremacy are a powerful force in our country that we must expose and confront together.  Yet for many of us, yesterday’s events leave us feeling despair, hopelessness, anger, exhaustion.  We ask, “How long, Lord?  How long?”

There will be time for analysis and action, but immediately following, the ECCO community gathered together on Thursday the 7th to lift each other up. ECCO clergy invited us lament, comfort, pray, and process. I can’t think of anywhere else I would have wanted to be than with all of you.

Action Alert on Racial Justice!

Yesterday, the MA Legislature passed the long-awaited Racial Justice Policing Reform Bill and it is good. Certainly not perfect, but good.  There are strong police accountability measures, significant bans and limits to use of force, mandates for data collection, transparency, and future study on racism and policing.  If passed, MA will take a significant step forward in dismantling the systemic racism that has been embedded in our policing and criminal justice systems for centuries.   

Unfortunately, the bill is in danger.  Police unions are lobbying strenuously for Governor Baker to veto the bill or at least sections dealing with meaningful police accountability and limitations on use of violent force that are at the heart of the bill.  The margin it passed in the House yesterday is short of the votes needed to override a veto by the Governor.  

Call to Action

It is up to all of US to make sure this bill gets passed!  If you care about this issue, please contact Governor Baker and urge him to sign the bill as is, and encourage your friends to do the same!

**Contact the Governor: Phone: (617) 725-4005  / Email: charlie.baker@state.ma.us

**Sample Message: Please sign the Racial Justice Policing bill, Senate 2963. It's a fair compromise between the House and Senate versions and includes some provisions of the bill you proposed. Please sign it to keep the faith for racial justice.

Your voice and matters.  It is only because of the voice of the people that we have gotten this far.  We cannot let up now.  We must continue to walk in our community’s public purpose and speak out for truth and justice. Please contact the governor today and every day until he signs it! 

ECCO leaders marching for racial justice in policing

ECCO Clergy meets with ICE

Rabbi Margie Klein Ronkin, Director of Clergy and Leadership Development, ECCO

Update on Clergy Meeting with ICE
A week ago, Pastor Kent Harrop, Pastor Eduardo Caceres, Alexandra, and I met with the Deputy Field Office Director and the Assistant Deputy Field Office Director of the Northeast Region of ICE, Immigration and Customs Enforcement.  Following our strategy to improve relations with the Lynn police, we took a human approach, reaching out to ICE leadership person to person. Though we have been deeply troubled by ICE’s actions separating immigrant families, our team asked ICE leadership about their motivations and priorities and listened pastorally about what feels hard about their work.  

When the ICE directors reiterated their position that they are only targeting violent criminals, we asked whether we could bring cases to them where we see upstanding members of our communities being targeted and ask them to use their discretion to prevent those people from detention and deportation.  They not only said yes but also proposed meeting quarterly with ECCO clergy to go over such cases.

We are not naive.  Of course, the possibility of our intervening on individual cases does not change federal policies or keep our communities safe.  Of course, we must still take public action to shift public opinion, change public policy, and hold ICE and law enforcement accountable.  And we must still build our sanctuary network so that we can protect families when our advocacy fails. But according to our partners in Faith in Action (our national network), the idea of quarterly meetings is basically unheard-of and represents a huge victory since it may establish a channel of communication.

Good News for Blanca/Rally Cancelled
At our meeting, the ICE directors let us know that Blanca’s lawyers successfully filed to reopen her case, and so ICE will wait until USCIS (US Customs and Immigration Services) determines the outcome of that appeal.  Given this, we are no longer holding the rally, though several clergy will still be accompanying Blanca to her visit. You are welcome to do so as well. We will be meeting as planned at 8:30am at the ICE Headquarters in Burlington.

What Is ECCO's Long-Term Strategy?

Alexandra Pineros-Shields, Executive Director, ECCO

The Rev. Dr. Stephen Ray, President of Chicago Theological Seminary, describes our current situation as a pre-genocidal moment. He identifies 3 factors commonly present before genocide happens. First, a group of people is targeted and demonized. Second, some kind of registry is created to track the people who are targeted. Third, concrete plans are developed to remove those targeted people from the nation.

A pre-genocidal moment begs the question, will we be Poland or will we be Denmark? At the end of World War II, almost all the Jews in Poland had been killed. In Denmark, almost all the population put on yellow stars, even the King. The Danish people worked together to save almost all the Jews in Denmark. Will we be Poland or will we be Denmark? Who gets to decide? Does the federal government get to decide? Do we get to decide?

As we witness the horrific violence increasing towards those who are judged not to belong, Muslims, Jews, Black folks, immigrants, and others, we are called to act in the spirit of the Hebrew prophets - boldly, courageously, and creatively! Our collective power is prophetic resistance!

Over the past several months, ECCO leaders have been engaged in conversations about what prophetic resistance looks like and prophetic imagination what kind of world is possible. We have been asking ourselves - how can we create real transformation?  How can we truly be led by those closest to the pain fueled by the systems of mass incarceration and economic inequality?

You Stood With Me And Gave Me Courage

Blanca Martinez, ECCO Leader

I am writing to share my story, to tell you why your solidarity and support has meant so much to me.  And I am writing to tell you how you have already made a difference in my life and the lives of many other immigrants like me.

My Story
I was born in Honduras and suffered from polio at a young age, which left me paralyzed in one leg. Because of the stigma of this disability, my family rejected me and left me in an orphanage. I was taunted and excluded for my disability even as an adult.  Four years ago, a man assaulted me because he knew I couldn’t fight back. He told me he was coming back to kill me.

My Decision to Flee
I was faced with the decision of whether or not to leave.  Leaving meant risking a serious and dangerous journey through Mexico on foot, when it is hard for me to walk long hours and days.  But to stay meant to risk being killed. My fear was greater than my limitations, and so I decided to leave and made the treacherous journey to this country to seek asylum.  

You Stood with Me and Gave Me Courage
Even though my life is clearly in jeopardy if I return, and even though the criteria for asylum is credible fear of violence in one’s home country, the US government has denied my applications and appeals for asylum.  Yet, when I had all but given up, ECCO clergy and leaders stood with me as I reported to ICE, and because of your solidarity, I was granted a stay of deportation for three months. Your support gave me the courage to fight harder and tell my story to Congressman Moulton and to the offices of Senator Warren and Markey, to let them know that ICE funding is being used to hurt so many people like me, who are here only because we fear for our lives.

Victories
Because of our advocacy and stories, Congressman Seth Moulton has now written a public letter to Congress advocating the limitation of ICE funds for detention, deportation, and removal.  And, because of ECCO’s meeting and longtime advocacy with her, MA State Senator Joan Lovely has become co-sponsor of the Family and Worker Mobility Act to allow all qualified drivers to obtain drivers’ licenses.

Invitation to Stand with Me on June 5th
Now, I must face ICE once more time, on June 5th at 9am.  I am grateful to share that ECCO clergy and leaders will be meeting at 8:30am at the ICE Headquarters in Burlington to accompany me and ask that I not be deported.  I ask you to join me if you can.

Because of your support and solidarity, I believe that change is possible
I don’t know what will happen to me on that day.  I don’t know if I will be able to stay. I don’t know if I will survive this year if I am forced to return.  But I do know that there are people in the world who care enough to risk to make things better, and that our actions for justice can make an impact.

Police-Community Conversations

Rev. Bernadette Hickman-Maynard, Racial Justice Organizer, ECCO

We are halfway through an initiative that is building Beloved Community in the Greater Lynn area - one conversation at a time.

Since January 30th, 58 people from St. Mary’s and Sacred Heart Churches, Zion Baptist Church, Bethel AME Church, St.Stephen’s Episcopal Church and other congregations had  barrier-breaking, eye-opening, bridge-building and power-generating one-on-one conversations with 101 Lynn Police Officers during the Police-Community Conversations In-Service Training.  These early morning Wednesday out-of-the-box in-service training sessions for every member of the Lynn Police Department are making a difference. And we’re not finished yet!

We pause midway to celebrate courageous leaders who worked through feelings of fear and anger to share painful stories of police brutality and corruption, and were willing to listen to and see the humanity in the officer before them.  We honor the leaders with no personal stories of negative interactions with the police who stood in solidarity with others in the community and shared their experiences so that they, too, could be part of a movement to improve community-police relations.  We are grateful for everyone’s thoughtful engagement, challenging questions, and hopeful reflection as we build the trust and generate the power necessary to bring to fruition the Beloved Community in Greater Lynn through better, community-oriented policing.

We also want you to know that it is not too late. The last Police-Community Conversation In-Service Training Session is Wednesday, May 1st.  You can still be part of this important work! Reply to this message and let Rev. Bernadette know that you are interested in participating. Whether you think you have a "story to tell" or not, your willingness to sit down with a police officer and be part of a solution to improve the relationship between the Lynn Police Department and all of the community members it serves, speaks volumes.  You can be part of the larger story that is being told - the story about a community that is daring to tackle big problems one conversation at a time.

Onward, in peace and power!