We began our day at 6 am on July 29th, the day that SB1070 was law, in an Episcopal Cathedral in downtown Phoenix. The processional was led by those who had maintained a vigil for 104 days, from the time that Gov. Brewer signed 1070 into law. They came in bearing Our Lady of Guadeloupe and were followed by clergy of many faiths, including many, many UU’s. The cathedral was filled with supporters of the vigil, Puente, the organization that invited us to support them, and about 150 more UU’s.
That service marked the passing of the baton to us to keep bearing witness to the struggle for human dignity and freedom in Arizona, an Arizona that is the front line in the struggle for human dignity. From the cathedral we all marched together to the center of Phoenix and there parted. Those who had kept vigil returned to the vigil site for a last rally. I believe there were no arrests there and the people left for home and well-deserved rest.
And we took up the cause as allies of Puente and all Latina/o and all other people of color in Arizona. We took over the intersection in front of the sheriff’s office and unrolled a huge banner designating the corner as a human rights zone. As about 50 or 60 of us – UU’s, Puente supporters and others – were arrested, still others raced to the jail and blocked one of the entrances in an effort to prevent the raids that the sheriff said he had been planning for months. Together we did stop many of those raids, at least on that day. Some families had a bit more time to be together.
While I was waiting to be booked, I talked with two young men who believed that they were being deported. They had been stopped for minor driving infractions. One was the primary caretaker for his 3-year old son. He was openly crying. Imagine how heart-broken a man has to be to cry in jail!
The human rights zone banner in the middle of the intersection outside the sheriff’s office was a vital, life-giving symbol. The laws and the way the sheriff implements them amount to sheer terrorism. The stated goal is to make day to day life so horrible that immigrants of whatever status will leave.
When we were out of jail we just had time for a shower before we gathered at the Valley UU Church for a legal debrief, potluck and Taize service. When we finished the Taize service, the plan was to go to the Puente office to meet again with those we went to jail with to share stories and tears and hugs. In the middle of our service the call came in. Salvador Reza, the Puente leader who came to General Assembly to invite us to work with them, had been arrested and was being held without charges in a van. Would we come down immediately and support their vigil? Knowing what a difference it made to us when we were in jail to hear the drumbeat and know that it meant that a crowd of people were outside the jail standing with us, we responded, even though we were in the same spot that Senor Reza was arrested.
There we found out that those who had trained us in non-violent direct action and actively supported us as we took over the intersection and blocked the jail entrance had themselves blocked the exit used by the huge and hugely intimidating sweeps vans and been taken to jail. Their one role ended, they had taken on a new role, taken up the baton.
As I returned to the church from the vigil, driven by someone who had just arrived from California a few hours before, I found Carolina, the tireless organizer of homestays and transportation still there working on getting many to the airport and homestays for the people who are arriving. The sheriff has not completed his sweeps, his terrorizing. Every Latina/o in Maricoupa County is subject to that oppression regardless of citizenship or immigration status.
Every Latina/o that organizes and stands up for human rights in Arizona risks so much more than the majority of UUs do. Those of us in jail saw it play out again and again within our own group. The UU’s of color were treated demonstrably differently than other UU’s were.
We have an important role to play in Arizona on the front lines of the struggle for human rights. As of Saturday morning I put down my baton there, to assume a new role of telling people in my congregation and my community the stories of Arizona. Will you take up the baton in Arizona and run with it for a while?
Jolinda Stephens
DRE, First UU Church of Columbus
