News from the Field

Let me begin by stating the obvious, Ferguson is about more than Michael Brown, the unarmed, eighteen year old African American who was slain in the street by Darren Wilson, a white police officer. It is even about more than the disregard shown for his body---which was desecrated and left out in the street for four hours to rot, left on display to serve as a public service announcement to his community. While it is definitely about these things, it is also about much more! At its core, Ferguson is about declaring the inherent worth of black people.

What Thanksgiving story do you know? As our American sisters and brothers celebrate Thanksgiving we listen to a sister's retelling of "the first Thanksgiving". 

"It is the people who must save the environment. It is the people who must make their leaders change. So we must stand up for what we believe in.” Wangari Maathai, founder of the Greenbelt Movement, began planting trees as a response to the lack of resources and the degradation of the environment in rural Kenyan villages. She empowered women across the country to join her, despite deep political and gender repression. This is the trailer for the documentary about the life and work of Maathai, the first African woman to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

What does hair have to do with anything? For Navajo people, it can mean a lot. “I have often heard that, for Navajo people, hair is our memory.” Many families still have to make the decision to keep their hair, and the memories and identity tied to it, or sacrifice it for more societal mobility.

In recent years the global community has become increasingly aware of human trafficking around the world. We talk about the root causes of trafficking like lack of opportunity and extreme poverty, which we see too often see in countries like Thailand and India. However, a less common conversation and less conceivable reality is the trafficking that is happening in our own backyards. This is a story of how a high school girl fell prey to human trafficking in her upper class Michigan town.

I support Bill C-36. It’s a start, a good one, towards protecting those who are vulnerable. But it’s not black and white.

In December 2013, the Supreme Court of Canada struck down certain prostitution-related laws and gave the government a year to either let the laws remain null (essentially decriminalizing prostitution) or respond with legislation. Choosing to respond with legislation, the government unveiled Bill C-36 “Protection of Communities and Exploited Persons Act” this past June.

Shortly after the birth of my second son, Sam, I went back to work. After months of being home all the time, I was once again immersed in one of the unspoken trials of modern parenthood: daycare drop-off. Crying, whining, begging, clutching, bribing, peeling-toddler-legs-from-mom’s-waist…there must be mommy support groups for this kind of daily trauma.

“If you go to any small town and ask about the local church, it is certain that you will find one…the church has been an important space for all those who have suffered from acts of violence. Listening to them, you can understand how their faith as allowed them to process what has happened and support their acts of resistance,” says Angelica Rincon, reflecting on her work in the Political Advocacy and Historical Memory program.

You’ve most likely read about the unprecedented number of unaccompanied children arriving at the U.S.-Mexican border, more than 50,000 since October of last year, with 40,000 more projected to reach the border by this coming October. That’s more than 245 children showing up at the border each day without their parents.

I was so self-conscious. I felt like everyone was looking at me, at my blue eyes. I am not Native American, and these were not my ancestors we were honoring at this cemetery.