Religious leaders and other concerned Michiganders
journeyed to Texas to protest U.S. policies regarding
immigrants and asylum seekers.
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SAT-SUN, DEC. 1-2, 12-6 PM
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“We take our own values seriously. We take
care of the stranger. It is our Torah and
our value, especially given our history.”
— RABBI JOSH WHINSTON
continued from page 12
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Summers-Knoll School in Ann Arbor.
“Whatever we were doing when a bus
went by, we stopped to wave to the chil-
dren. We saw little arms reaching out
from the window to wave back to us. I
couldn’t stop thinking that those could
have been my relatives or my students.
“The last bus that came in while we
were there had shades over the win-
dows, so we could not see the children,
and they could not see us.”
Lawrence, also a teacher at Summers-
Knoll, had a strong reaction to standing
outside the facility.
“As we stood outside Tornillo, I
thought that we have a support system,”
she said. “The multiple generations of
congregants from our temple, the high
school students from a local Catholic
girls’ school, the clergy of different
faiths, all stood together.
“We were in an unfamiliar, threat-
ening place, but we had a support sys-
tem. The children who go into this pris-
on have no family support system. They
are all alone.”
SOME DIRECT AID
When asylum seekers get released from
a detention center, they are released
with nothing, just the clothes they are
wearing, Lawrence said.
Goldberg notes that shelters, usually
run by Christian faith-based charities,
provide food, clothing and shelter to the
released detainees.
So, after leaving the outskirts of
Tornillo, the members of the group
proceeded to shelters, splitting up for
volunteer work at about 10 different
14
November 29 • 2018
jn
venues, ready to do work that Rabbis
Whinston and Terlinchamp of Ohio
had arranged.
Whatever Goldberg and Lawrence
had planned to do at the shelter,
though, got pre-empted, as a new con-
tingent of detainee families arrived. The
women helped provide the newcomers
with clothing, bed sheets and, for the
children, one toy each.
Lawrence noticed the adults wore
ankle monitors.
“As the parents were doing adult
things, like figuring out paperwork, the
kids were not getting into the normal
mischief that kids get into while their
parents do adult things,” Goldberg
said. “The kids looked exhausted and
dejected.”
The pilgrimage participants also
provided — and served — a meal for
people at the shelter.
“How has this experience changed
me?” Lawrence mused. “It brought
into sharper focus what I knew but
wasn’t paying attention to. It is easy to
ignore. We have to force people to see
what is happening because otherwise
it fades into the background, and that’s
how the dark wins. As soon as we stop
talking about it, that enables those in
authority to do this to who knows how
many more kids.”
To that end, some of the partic-
ipants shared their thoughts at an
annual pre-Thanksgiving service last
week at Temple Beth Emeth/St. Clare’s
Episcopal Church; the two religious
organizations share a building in Ann
Arbor. ■