These days it’s nearly impossible to take in any news without the topic of immigration popping up. Living here in the land of cherries and family farms (Michigan’s second only to California for the variety of agricultural products produced), immigration issues are often in the forefront of our thoughts. This year is a particularly difficult one for local farmers. The steady stream of migrant workers of the past years has turned into a trickle. As if farmers don’t have enough to contend with, a shortage of workers is a grave situation for our local economy.
Migration issues weigh heavily on the coffee farming communities we buy from, as well. In Chris’s last post he talked about Maya Vinic, a farming co-op located in the Mayan Highlands of Chiapas. Tucked along breath-taking mountain tops, the villages of Mayan people who comprise Maya Vinic are isolated and, as a result, most folks still speak their Mayan language - Tzotzil - and carry on their traditional customs. In 2001 when coffee prices hit their lowest (real) price in over 100 years, it was reported by CIEPAC (an economic investigation organization in Chiapas) that 500 families were emigrating from their villages EACH WEEK.
Imagine, picking up your family, your belongings and moving to a place that you are completely unfamiliar with . . . you don’t speak the language, you don’t know the cultural norms, etc. This is not something people do on a whim.
Where are the people migrating to? Why aren’t they arriving, as usual? Are they stuck along the border - a dangerous place to be with many desperate people? These are some of my immediate questions. It’s important for us to understand the issues around migration in order to create judgement and, ultimately, policy.
So, here’s an invite to an upcoming event featuring two dear friends - Wayne Dziekan (officiated at our wedding) and Gladys Munoz (a true angel) with the hopes you’ll attend and learn more. I hope to see you there (at Kejara’s Bridge)!
6p: doors open for coffee (Higher Grounds, of course) and a special IndyFlix light-supper menu……
7p: LIVE: Immigration & Border issues: local impact………….
an interactive presentation and discussion regarding the US/Mexican Border and the impact of US Immigration Policies felt locally….update by slides and discussion on the border situation and its implications for the current growing and harvesting season…View a 19 minute documentary, The Other Side by local border activist, Mary Pierce….Participate in discussion on migrant support systems now in place and opportunities for local involvement concerning the migrant situation and prospective human rights issues………..
presenters:
Gladys Munoz a migrants’ rights advocate and pastoral worker, currently with Northwest Michigan Health Services, Inc., aka migrant and seasonal farmworkers’ clinic, as the Language and Cultural Diversity Services Coordinator.
Fr. Wayne Dziekan recently appointed as the Awareness and Action Coordinator for Justice and Peace in the Diocese of Gaylord……..
Gladys and Wayne are the founders of JPAC, the Justice and Peace Awareness Center based in Traverse City, MI. They are both members of the Alliance for Immigrant Action also based in Traverse City.
