Returning to Arizona, Ready for Action
This week in Arizona things are gearing up. My fiancé and I drove back from the east coast – 36 hours straight- to be here for the Day of Non-Compliance and other events. We returned early from vacation to act with hundreds of others gathering in Phoenix to protest the unjust and racist law, SB 1070. During my vacation, I spoke with friends, family and even a few strangers about Arizona’s law. I found a wide range of opinions even within my own family about how 1070 is being perceived around the country.
Some people agree with it and think Arizona was right for doing what the Federal Government has neglected for so long. Others think it is a travesty. Everyone agrees the immigration system is broken and wants to see it repaired. How to repair this system seems to be the sticking point.
As we drove across this vast county, passing through the Smokey Mountains with the mist rising in the hollows above the trees, the plains of Colorado vast and green as far as the eye can see, the small ramshackle homes and trailers in New Mexico and the rolling hills of Tennessee, inspired by the changing landscape and the diversity of the relationships among the flora I began thinking about evolution, our evolution as human beings on the small blue planet called Earth. (Which, by the way, did not seem so small as we drove and drove and drove almost 3000 miles to reach Phoenix.) I thought about what evolution means: to evolve, to grow and change, to diversify, to improve and I could not help thinking what does it mean to grow and change? What does evolution look like for us as human beings?
To me evolution is about moving away from isolation and dislocation and towards community and caring. It is about moving away from competition, greed and destruction, moving toward a symbiotic relationship with the planet and with others. SB 1070 is a law that encourages and supports dislocation and separation. It moves us away from each other and emphasizes “otherness”. As religious and spiritual people we seek connection for the purposes of increasing understanding, to build peaceful relationships, to further the evolution of human beings and increase our spiritual potential to care for each other.
We can no longer live in a hostile relationship with the earth and with each other. Parasites kill their host. Finding a way to live in sync, in cooperation, is essential for us and our continued growth as human beings. The voice of Unitarian Universalism is loud and clear: We need to love, to care for each other and understand the value of our diversity. Our Unitarian and Universalist heritage reminds us that all religions speak of the need to place love at the center of all we do and all we are- that all people are unique and have inherent worth and value- not just the people who look like us, or the people with whom we agree.
My friends and family have a wide range of opinions about 1070, most of them think it’s a misguided move. Many of them think we need to find a solution: a solution that limits the number of people coming over the border without documentation; a solution that offers a guest worker program; a solution that limits the ability of employers to take advantage of undocumented people; a solution that gives people their dignity, that supports families, and honors the basic principles of our nation.
I love this country, and having just driven almost 10,000 miles, across it and back again, there is no place on earth quiet like it. The beauty of the land is reflected in the people: the farmers we saw in the field checking the crops and tending the soil, the workers we interacted with in restaurants and stores, the generosity of strangers who helped us out along the way. America is a great nation, powerful and proud in our diversity. It is our adaptability that makes us strong.
It is also a nation full of fear and trepidation about what will come next. What comes next is up to us. How we evolve is up to us. We stand at yet another cross road in history and our choices now will determine the course of our future. Will our fear lead us to make the same mistakes of history: mass deportation, internment camps, lynching and gang violence. Or will we take a new course of action one untried and untested, one that recognizes the face of God in each of us regardless of our national labels. I pray that we find our spiritual voice, the voice that calls us to cooperate and collaborate rather than dominate and compete. The voice of hope is in us, each of us.
May we act with compassion and love. May we see the light of the divine reflected in each face. May we work for justice. May we be a small but essential part of the evolution of humanity in reaching toward all that is good, all that is holy, all that is sacred.
Rev. Paul Langston-Daley
West Valley Unitarian Universalist Church
Glendale, Arizona
