Lessons from my time in Maricopa County Jail

Dear Friends,

Last week, as I blocked the entrance to the Maricopa County jail awaiting inevitable arrest, I was reminded what my mother would tell me as a little girl when I asked her about God. Quoting the Gospel of John, she said, “God is Love.” And as those who were arrested by the Sheriff’s Department witnessed the brutality inside the jail and the firsthand accounts of neighborhood raids, I remembered the admonitions of Paul Tillich and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. that we not separate love from power-for love without power is sentimental and anemic, and power without love is reckless and abusive.

On the days leading up to and following July 29th, the National Day of Non-Compliance with SB 1070, we stood powerfully and courageously on the side of love. Despite the heat and tension of the day, there was a spirit of peace among us protestors. When I, and 28 other Unitarian Universalist clergy and laypeople — including UUA President Rev. Peter Morales — joined scores of others in being arrested for acts of peaceful civil disobedience, we expressed a love grounded in power, compassion and courage. As a result, Sherriff Joe Arpaio and his county police faced tremendous resistance to their ongoing campaign of sweeps and raids, as well as worldwide scrutiny.

Will you please help me continue our important work of standing on the side of love with immigrant families? Please ask President Obama to halt all Immigration Custom Enforcement (ICE) ACCESS programs that enlist localities and states in the enforcement of federal immigration law.

Click here to tell President Obama to stand with immigrant families.

By enlisting our local police to enforce federal immigration laws, we threaten our wholeness as a nation by criminalizing immigrant communities; separating families; fostering the profiling of immigrant, Latino, and indigenous communities; and contributing to vigilantism that threatens the safety of everyone.

To send your message to President Obama now, click here.

To all of you who heeded the call to stand on the side of love — whether that meant joining us in Arizona, supporting a local vigil, or donating your time or resources to our efforts — I cannot put into words the depth of my appreciation.

Together with Puente, the National Day Laborer’s Organizing Network, and Somos America, we made it clear that what is happening in Arizona in not just about Arizona. It is not just about immigration. It is about the future of the United States, and whether we will approach that future with fear and division, or with love and unity.

As fear of our neighbors grows in our community, we — as people of faith — must continue to bring the strength and hope that is only found in love to offer a new vision, a hopeful vision of how we might live together in peace, in solidarity, and in a multicultural America. With your help, I know that we will overcome.

Yours in love,

Rev. Susan Frederick-Gray
Minister, Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Phoenix