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An Open Letter in Response to the Immigration Crisis from Faculty and Administrative Leaders AT WAKE FOREST UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF DIVINITY [september 2018]

Haga clic aquí para leer la carta en español.

Dear members of the Wake Forest and Winston-Salem community,

The prophet Isaiah called for Judah to “Give counsel, grant justice” to refugees from Moab. “Do not betray the fugitive; let the outcasts of Moab settle among you; be a refuge to them from the destroyer" (selections from Isaiah 16:1-4, NRSV). These words ring fresh as we hear the cries of children separated from their families at our Southern borders and throughout the country. As we see children with outstretched hands and parents struggling against armed guards to be reunited with their children we cannot stand idly by.

A policy born of fear incites hatred and division rather than compassion, reconciliation, and justice.

The mission of Wake Forest University School of Divinity is to equip students as “agents of justice, reconciliation, and compassion in Christian churches and other ministries.”

As faculty, we cannot be silent in the face of this continuing immigration crisis. As practitioners and ministers of a Gospel that envisions the well-being and equitable treatment of all persons, we raise our collective voice in protest.

At the beginning of this summer, the separation of immigrant children from their families at the border rocked the nation. Though the outcry has waned and many families have been reunited, thousands of children have been traumatized and hundreds remain separated from their families.

Older policies of separating children from their undocumented parents via parental detention and deportation persist. In addition to the traumatizing effects of these policies on families, the rhetoric surrounding them is racist and dehumanizing for all persons of Latin American origin, including those who are citizens or reside in this country with legal documentation.

Top left: pro-immigration vigil in Erie, PA (Christopher Millette/Erie Times-News) ; top right: Flyer for Week of Witness, Define American; bottom: New Sanctuary Coalition Vigil, New York City (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

The gospels teach us that God can dwell in humanity and that Jesus, as God made flesh, came to bring sight to the blind, freedom to captives, and good news to the oppressed.

We call on people of faith and all people of good will to open their eyes to the suffering of our immigrant siblings, to seek freedom for those who are forced to live in the shadows of their towns and cities or behind bars of a detention center, and to demand the reform of an oppressive immigration system designed to protect the privileges of citizenship at the expense of our vulnerable neighbors.

Left: Winston-Salem, NC immigration rally (Allison Lee Isley/Winston-Salem Journal) ; middle: North Carolina Council of Churches billboard on Interstate 40 near Statesville, NC; right: Green Street Church, Winston-Salem, NC (Tina Vasquez/Rewire)

This week we also join friends and colleagues across the nation for the Week of Witness, an effort sponsored by Define American as a multifaith movement to increase awareness about children still separated from their parents. Vigils and gatherings are being hosted across the United States.

May a spirit of justice, compassion, and reconciliation lead us in these efforts and guide us to a workable solution for all.

In grace and peace,

The undersigned faculty and administrative leaders of Wake Forest University School of Divinity:

Header photo: Fair Immigration Reform Movement Holds Vigil at Supreme Court (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

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