And yet, in spite of the richness,
the craziness, and the beautiful expectation of this season, I am not writing about Advent. Instead, it looks like I cannot help but write
more about a situation that is senseless and inhumane, unlawful and entrenched. Do you remember that post I wrote a while
back regarding my first-time visit to Stewart Detention Center? That place where immigrants, having
committed nothing more than a civil infraction in coming to the U.S.
undocumented, are treated as prisoners?
At the time of writing I was not able to offer all that many details
about the man with whom I spoke, only that together we laughed a lot and that
he reminded me of particular family.
Well, that has now changed, as he, in one very, very, very brave move, is
publically speaking out about the alarming conditions of detention through
participation in Detention Watch Network’s national “Expose & Close”
campaign.[1] Pretty, pretty please, if you've got a moment check out his
interview here:
http://www.change.org/petitions/release-maxi-sopo-from-prolonged-detention-he-was-granted-political-asylum-in-2004?share_id=vJPLpJeHga&utm_campaign=signature_receipt&utm_medium=email&utm_source=share_petition
Now, for
those of you who just watched this, I know that one response might be, “Ok,
Janelle, yeah that sounds pretty rotten.
But he did commit a crime, right?”
And that is a valid response because yes, in fact, he did. But, the thing is, he has already served the full length of his time for the
nonviolent crime he committed. So the truth of the matter is that, by any and all
interpretations of the law, Maxi should be free right this very minute. Instead, having fled political persecution in
his country and been granted asylum in
ours, he has now perversely and inexplicably become trapped in one heck of a
messed-up system. A system that ensnares
immigrants in for-profit prison facilities whose practices are in direct
violation of U.S. Constitutional law (think 5th, 8th, and
14th amendments) and which inarguably breach the international human
rights framework not to mention countless U.N. conventions and resolutions.
As a detainee in one of the ten
most notoriously abusive detention centers in the country, Maxi is undeniably a
victim. However, just as equally
undeniable is the truth that the sentence does not and cannot end with
“victim.” Not for any of the detainees
in general, and certainly not for Maxi in particular— Maxi, the philosopher,
who takes delight in questioning all things and who is gifted at thinking
critically about his surroundings. Maxi,
the mentor, who has been using his educational background to help other
detainees become more informed about their situations. Maxi, the human,
who, though forced into a prison-styled jumpsuit that seeks to brand him as
criminal, is reaching out to remind us fellow humans that the way things are— the
status quo that can be quite comfortable when we do not dare to examine it— is
unequivocally wrong.
Pastoral care theologian Donald
Capps explores the notion of what he calls wild patience as a means for us to cultivate and sustain hope:
‘Wild patience’ has nothing remotely
to do with passivity, or even with waiting without complaint. It has everything to do with steadiness,
endurance, or perseverance…It endures—not passively, though, but with a
vengeance.[2]
This, I
would argue, is a trait that Maxi fully embodies, and goodness knows it is a thing I hope
to learn to live into too. I'm not sure if you noticed, but following the link to the interview is a petition, one that calls for Maxi's freedom and that will be delivered to Immigration Customs Enforcement only if it receives another 387 signatures. I wonder, would you consider signing it with me, perhaps? I know that, at least to me, this measure feels small. But maybe, just maybe, it is a small yet significant way that we can engage in the sort of powerfully participatory, justice-seeking, hope-planting patience that eventually cannot help but begin to add up...
One final thought and then I
promise I’ll leave you be for a good ’nother week or two or three: while group-studying
for this week’s impending finals, a friend shared with us about her family’s annual
Advent practice of giving something up for the duration of the season, just as one might do in Lent. While I had never considered doing this before, it seems like such a strikingly beautiful way to honor
the waiting interval that is Advent. How easily I forget that the season of Advent is in some ways a time of darkness, a dimness that builds up and eventually culminates in the birth of Light himself.
It reminds me of the fact that, though God through Jesus has already
drawn near to us and continues to dwell with us today, we are nevertheless
still waiting. Waiting with hope and with
longing, with patience and urgency, waiting for the inbringing of the Kingdom. Waiting for that time when justice and peace and joy will be experienced fully right here
on this earth; when war and poverty and
loneliness and, yep, you got it, oppressive systems of immigrant detention truly are
no more.
Perhaps this is a post
about Advent after all.
[1] Want to learn more about
detention centers? A truly great resource
is American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Georgia’s handbook report Prisoners of Profit: Immigrants and
Detention in Georgia. Find it here: http://www.acluga.org/download_file/view_inline/42/244/
[2] Donald Capps, Agents of Hope: A Pastoral Psychology. p. 149.
