Cincinnati Sisters Head to DC For Dream Act Push

Sr. Andrea Koverman, Sr. Tracy Kemme and Sr. Jean Miller left Cincinnati on their way to DC yesterday for the Catholic Day of Action with Dreamers organized by PICO, Faith in Public Life and others. These sisters will risk arrest as they participate in nonviolent civil disobedience after a press conference starting at 10:30. We will share a live stream of IJPC’s Facebook page.

Jose, Sr. Jean, Sr. Andrea and Sr. Tracy

We asked for our friends to share their reasons for participating in this day of action and risking arrest.

Sr. Tracy Kemme:

 I’ve worked with immigrants for more than a decade, both pastorally and in pursuit of comprehensive immigration reform.  Recently, I’ve done all I could to support the movement for justice that brave Dreamers are leading across the country: call and visit my legislators, join rallies, write op-eds, and participate in an Ohio letter campaign that collected 17,000+ letters.  Our elected officials are not listening.  Protecting our immigrant youth should be a no-brainer, and yet Congress fails repeatedly to do their job.  I’m ashamed and outraged by the immoral inaction that holds Dreamers and their families in limbo.

So when the call came from D.C. to participate in nonviolent disobedience in support of Dreamers, I felt drawn into discernment.  I knew how strongly I felt about the issues, but was God indeed calling me to risk arrest?  Did the action make sense strategically?  Would Dreamers support us doing this? I spent much time in prayer and conversation, and particularly talking to IJPC’s own Jose was helpful to sort through motivations, hesitations, passion, and prayers.  In the end, the call became clear.  As a follower of Jesus, I cannot sit idly by while our country oppresses young people and uses them as bargaining chips.   Our Dreamers aren’t giving up the fight, and I want them to know that we won’t either.  They are here to stay!

When I risk arrest with other Catholic leaders on Tuesday, I will hold in my heart the hundreds of immigrants I know and love dearly.  I will stand for Jose, all the Y.E.S. members, and their families.  I will stand for my fellow parishioners at Holy Family Church who live in daily uncertainty because of our unjust immigration policies.  I will stand for Maribel Trujillo and all the families that have been torn apart.  And I will stand for all those who have given their energy to this movement across the country.  We go in hope that the Holy Spirit may change hearts, and we count on your prayers.  Clean Dream Act now!


Sr. Andrea Koverman:

Our concern and apprehension has grown with each day that passes without a moral resolution to the expiration of DACA. We have signed petitions, made phone calls, written letters, met with elected officials, and stood in local demonstrations all to no avail. We feel the sting of injustice and pangs of guilt as we helplessly witness the escalation in arrests and threats of deportation of young immigrant community members that we promised to protect through DACA. We have betrayed their trust. These are the young people who we have helped shape and educate, who have grown into some of the most hard-working ambitious people we know, who are eager to contribute to the well-being of the county they call home. They embody all the values and characteristics Americans espouse but lack the legal status to experience the freedom of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness the rest of us are granted through our citizenship.

As a Christian and a Sister of Charity of Cincinnati, I take very seriously the gospel mandate to love one another as God loves us. It is not a choice but our responsibility to take care of one another, to stand up for one another not only in words and prayers but in action. We don’t need to know someone affected by our broken immigration system to be called to this responsibility, but I have been blessed to know many. In the years I spent living on the border near El Paso and crossing regularly into the area of Mexico around Juarez, this issue became very personal as I witnessed the poverty and violence that pushed people to risk crossing the border. I heard stories that broke my heart open and gave my nightmares as any jugement I had about the legality of their actions dissipated. They have as much right to be safe and prosper as I do. I saw people I met as God does, beloved members of my own family.

When I moved to Cincinnati and began working at the Intercommunity Justice & Peace Center, I was further blessed to have a young colleague, Jose Cabrera  who is a “Dreamer.” He manages the YES program-Youth Educating Society-made up of young DACA recipients and their allies. They help society understand the realities of the immigration issue by sharing their personal stories. Through them people come to learn what it is like to have been brought here at an age to young to remember, being raised as an American full of the promise of thier potential and the opporutunity to be successful with hard work and determination, only to then be denied what they’ve worked for while threatened with deportation to countries that would often be as foreign to them as they would be to you or me.

I am willing to risk personal arrest as I take a public stand to demand a clean DREAM Act with a path to citizenship for Jose and the other 800,000 estimated Dreamers. I want to raise awareness of how critical it is not to let them be used as negotiation pawns in the broader conversation of comprehensive immigration reform. This needs to happen now; all people of good conscience need to take action and demand that it does. I will stand firm at our nonviolent demonstration when told to step aside to communicate that we will not stand by and let our Dreamers lose their status. When faced with an injustice, a prophetic sister in my community quoted what Martin Luther said in 1521, “Here I stand. I can do no other.” Me, too.


Sr. Jean Miller:

My call to stand with DACA Recipients and Dreamers came 65 years ago when I committed myself to the Gospel of Jesus with my vows to the Sisters of Charity. That call challenged me to stand with the vulnerable, the poor, those treated unjustly or violently. These Dreamers and DACA recipients are surely being treated unjustly and sometimes violently.

The Gospel called me to other countries where I saw the suffering, violence, poverty as well as the beauty, strength, wisdom, compassion of the people of those countries. Sadly at times I even discovered that our country was partly responsible for the pain and suffering in those countries from which parents and young people needed to escape.

Since returning to the United States I continued to walk with many Dreamers in a variety of different ways. I am sorry that they must struggle so much here in our country that claims immigration roots. They are my neighbors, my co-workers, my friends. I watch them giving so much of their culture, wisdom, economics and joy to our country. Risking arrest is the least I can do for people who welcome

me in their homes, hearts and Lives. May every letter sent, call made, vote taken, rally held and prayer said finally give them what they deserve, A Clean Dream Act.

I would like to add one of the many stories that will be in my heart and prayers on Tuesday when we raise our voices and bodies for them. This story is about a Honduran Mother and her 10-year old son. They had experienced the death of a relative, who would not collaborate with the drug cartel. This Mother worried for the future of her son so they left family behind and traveled the dangerous trip through Honduras, Guatemala, Mexico and finally crossed into the U.S. seeking safety but finding detention centers and lengthy processes. They continue to do whatever is required so that one day the freedom we cherish may be theirs.

The post Cincinnati Sisters Head to DC For Dream Act Push appeared first on IJPC | Intercommunity Justice and Peace Center | Cincinnati Ohio.

California Supremes Say 50+ Years in Prison for Juvenile Non-Murder Crimes Is Unconstitutional

In a 4-3 decision Monday, the California Supreme Court ruled that juvenile sentences of 50 years or more for non-homicide crimes are unconstitutional in that they don’t give minors who are “constitutionally different from adults for purposes of sentencing” a reasonable chance for release during their lifetimes.

The defendants in the case, Leonel Contreras and William Rodriguez, were convicted of kidnapping and raping two teenage girls at knifepoint in 2011. Contreras and Rodriguez, both 16 at the time of the crimes, were charged in as adults and sentenced in 2012 to 58 years to life and 50 years to life, respectively.

In 2010, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Graham v. Florida sentencing juveniles to life without parole (LWOP) for crimes other than murder constituted a violation of the Eighth Amendment ban on cruel and unusual punishment.

In a related 2012 case, People v. Caballero, the California Supremes held that a minor’s 110 years to life sentence for three counts of attempted murder would effectively serve as a life-without-parole sentence, in violation of Graham.

The high court looked at whether the sentences handed down to Contreras and Rodriguez violated the Eighth Amendment based on the Graham, Caballero, and/or the U.S. Supreme Court’s Miller v. Alabama decision, which found mandatory life sentences without a possibility of parole for juveniles who commit murders to be unconstitutional. On Monday, the California Supreme Court found the Contreras-Rodriguez sentences to be “unconstitutional under the reasoning of Graham.” According to the CA justices, sentences must give juveniles a chance of some life on the outside, otherwise, the sentences are the functional equivalent of LWOP.

According to the majority opinion, Rodriguez will be 66 and Contreras will be 74 years old when the two first become eligible for parole. The California Attorney General’s Office has stated that “any term of imprisonment that provides a juvenile offender with an opportunity for parole within his or her expected natural lifetime”–based on life expectancies calculated by the Centers for Disease Control–“is not the functional equivalent of LWOP.”

A 2010 CDC report estimated that 16-year-old males in the U.S. are expected to live a total of 76.9 years.

“For any individual released after decades of incarceration, adjusting to ordinary civic life is undoubtedly a complex and gradual process,” Justice Godwin Liu wrote for the majority. “Confinement with no possibility of release until age 66 or age 74 seems unlikely to allow for the reintegration that Graham contemplates.”

Liu points out that according to Graham, “[a] young person who knows that he or she has no chance to leave prison before life’s end has little incentive to become a responsible individual.” The majority in Monday’s opinion agreed that the same would be true for a juvenile serving a 50-year sentence.

And although 50 years to life is not as harsh a sentence as LWOP, it remains an “especially harsh punishment” for a minor, according to the majority. And as with an LWOP sentence, a 50-year sentence for a juvenile will mean “more years and a greater percentage of his life” behind bars than an adult who receives a similar sentence.

The ruling garnered a 38-page dissent from California Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye, who said as long as there is a chance for parole in a juvenile’s lifetime, a lengthy sentence like those given to Contreras and Rodriguez are justified.

The chief justice argued that the teens’ initial sentences granted them a chance at parole no later than age 60 because of AB 1448, a bill signed into law at the end of 2017, which established an Elderly Parole Program. Through this program, prisoners who have served at least 25 years of a prison sentence and are at least 60 years old are eligible for a parole hearing. According to Cantil-Sakauye, a “sentence offering an opportunity for parole no later than age 60 is not invalid under Graham.”

Justice Liu disagrees with Cantil-Sakauye’s reliance on a bill passed just a few months ago. The chief justice’s interpretation of the bill “is not the only plausible reading of the elderly parole statute, and we decline to issue a definitive interpretation less than five months after the statute’s enactment, before any Court of Appeal has filed a published opinion applying it in the context of juvenile sentencing, and before CDCR has adopted any implementing regulations.” It’s not clear that the new law would ensure that juvenile offenders the “meaningful opportunity to obtain release based on demonstrated maturity and rehabilitation” that Graham intended.

Cantil-Sakauye also pointed out that Graham said that a life without parole sentence was the “second most severe” punishment allowable by law.

“Today, the majority declares unconstitutional a range of sentences that most certainly are not the second most severe penalty permitted by law; that do offer hope of restoration of basic liberties; that do not necessarily mean that defendants will remain in prison for the rest of their days; and that do give a chance for fulfillment outside prison walls, do give a chance for reconciliation with society, and do offer hope,” Cantil-Sakauye wrote. “In short, the majority extends Graham to invalidate an array of sentences that are qualitatively different from the sort of punishment that Graham was concerned with.”

According to the chief justice, her colleagues are asserting “unconvincingly” that within the Graham ruling lies “a more far-reaching intent to invalidate all sentences that do not provide juvenile offenders convicted of nonhomicide crimes with an opportunity for parole at an age when release would, in the majority’s view, be sufficiently conducive to their full reintegration into society.”

Both Contreras and Rodriguez will be resentenced under this latest ruling. The California high court has directed the sentencing court to “to consider, in light of this opinion, any mitigating circumstances of defendants’ crimes and lives, and the impact of any new legislation and regulations on appropriate sentencing.” The sentencing court will also have to select a time at which the defendants will be able to seek parole.

Arctic warming: scientists alarmed by ‘crazy’ temperature rises

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Record warmth in the Arctic this month could yet prove to be a freak occurrence, but experts warn the warming event is unprecedented

An alarming heatwave in the sunless winter Arctic is causing blizzards in Europe and forcing scientists to reconsider even their most pessimistic forecasts of climate change.

Although it could yet prove to be a freak event, the primary concern is that global warming is eroding the polar vortex, the powerful winds that once insulated the frozen north.

Continue reading…

“This is my older sister’s business. I’m just helping her out….

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“This is my older sister’s business. I’m just helping her out. I barely knew her for most of my life. We come from a village, and she moved to the city when I was a baby. She supported our whole family. Everyone depended on her. She sent us money every month, but I barely knew her. I only spoke to her on the phone. A few years ago I followed in her footsteps and moved to Jakarta, and now we’ve become very close. I can finally witness the sacrifices that she’s made for us. She works all the time. She owns this small restaurant and runs a furniture business out of her home. Even though she’s a woman, she does all the marketing and negotiating herself. She wakes up early in the morning to search for wood in torn out buildings. When she comes home at night, her body is so tired that she goes directly to sleep. I want to become like her so she can rest. But I’m afraid I’m too naïve. When I watch her, I feel like she can do anything.”

(Jakarta, Indonesia)

Months after shattering his skull, IDF arrests teen in pre-dawn raid

Mohammed Tamimi, cousin of Ahed Tamimi, was released several hours later. The Israeli army arrested nine others in Nabi Saleh, and video shows soldiers spraying the village with putrid ‘skunk’ water.

By +972 Magazine Staff

Mohammed Tamimi, 15, was shot in the head with a rubber-coated bullet by the Israeli army shortly before the video of Ahed and Nur was filmed. (Activestills/Oren Ziv)

Mohammed Tamimi, 15, was shot in the head with a rubber-coated bullet by the Israeli army shortly before the video of Ahed and Nur was filmed. (Activestills/Oren Ziv)

Israeli soldiers arrested 10 young Palestinians in a pre-dawn raid on the West Bank village of Nabi Saleh early Monday, including Mohammed Tamimi, the cousin of Ahed Tamimi whom soldiers shot in the head with a rubber bullet several months ago, shattering his skull.

Mohammed is currently awaiting surgery to reconstruct the part of his skull that was removed. The Israeli army released him Monday afternoon, according to Gaby Lasky, Ahed and Nariman’s attorney.

Video of the arrest raid published by local citizen journalist Bilal Tamimi (above) also showed Israeli soldiers spraying the village with putrid ‘skunk’ water during the night-time raid. The ‘Skunk’ is meant for crowd control, but Israeli forces have been documented using it punitively against homes and schools in the past.

The now-famous video of Ahed Tamimi attempting to push two armed soldiers off of her family’s porch was filmed shortly after Mohammed was shot.

Ahed has been in Israeli military custody since her arrest on December 19, following the publication of the video. A judge ruled in January that she will remain in prison until the end of her trial. She faces 12 different charges, including incitement to violence and assaulting a soldier, which could potentially land her in prison for several years.

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While the case has garnered significant international attention, the Israeli military prison system’s treatment of Ahed and Mohammed is not unique. According Palestinian human rights group Adameer, Israel was imprisoning over 300 Palestinian minors as the end of December 2017, .

Earlier this month, dozens of American cultural luminaries, including Alice Walker, Rosario Dawson, Cornel West, and Danny Glover called for Tamimi’s release.

+972 Magazine asked the IDF Spokesperson why Mohammed was arrested. No response was received by the time of publication. It will be added here if and when it is received.

Jordan stands with Christian leaders after Holy Sepulchre closure

Nathan Schmidt / Bethlehem

Jordanian government spokesman Mohammad al-Momani affirmed Jordan’s ‘full solidarity’ with Jerusalem’s Christian leaders after their controversial decision to close the Church of the Holy Sepulchre on Sunday in protest to what they describe as ‘racist’ legal measures taken by the Jerusalem municipality.

‘Momani emphasized that Jordan, under the historic Hashemite custodianship on Islamic and Christian holy sites in Jerusalem, will continue to take all possible steps, to strengthen the steadfastness of Palestinians, protect holy sites and preserve the historical status of Jerusalem and its holy sites as a key to peace and a symbol of tolerance and harmony,’ read a statement on the Jordanian state website.

The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, under King Abdullah II, retains jurisdiction over the holy sites at Haram esh-Sharif. In a 2013 deal with the Palestinian Authority, Jordan retained ‘the right to exert all legal efforts to safeguard (the sites)’ according to the official website of King Abdullah II.

Momani warned of the seriousness of the proposed Israeli legislation, and that it may violate international law.

He called on all parties to embrace the historically religious diversity of Jerusalem and its importance to all faiths.

In an unprecedented move, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem’s Old City was closed on Sunday, and will remain closed indefinitely in protest of municipal legislation that would allow Israeli authorities to expropriate Church land.

The heads of the churches who jointly manage the Church of the Holy Sepulchre announced the closure outside of the church on Sunday.

Copies of their written statement called the ‘Church Land’s Bill’ a ‘flagrant violation of the existing status quo’ that ‘breach(es) existing agreements and international obligations which guarantee the rights and privileges of the Churches, in what seems as an attempt to weaken the Christian presence in Jerusalem.’

‘The systematic campaign of abuse against Churches and Christians reaches now its peak as a discriminatory and racist bill that targets solely the properties of the Christian community in the Holy Land,’ the statement continued.

The religious leaders, representing the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate, The Custody of the Holy Land, and the Armenian Patriarchate, likened the legislative measures to the ‘dark periods’ in Europe in which Jewish land was often subjugated and expropriated.

The bill in question concerns land that was sold by the Greek Orthodox and Roman Catholic churches since 2010.

Previously, the land, which amounts roughly 50 hectares and containing more than 1,000 housing units, was leased to the Jewish National Fund by the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate for housing purposes.

The decision made by the Greek Orthodox authority to sell the land complicates the matter, and drew the ire of the Christian community in Israel and Palestine.

The new bill proposes that should any land leased by the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate to the JNF or to any other party be sold, it would be assumed by the state who will compensate whoever makes the purchase.

The bill would grant the state ultimate authority over lands sold by the church.

The bill is set to be presented before a ministerial comity on Sunday.

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