Kairos-Milwaukie UCC participated in conversations about immigration in July that helped us understand the complexities of the issue. One such conversation was among members who gathered to discuss the book The Far Away Brothers, the story of two El Salvadoran teenagers who entered the United States without documents to escape gang violence in their town.
Summary from the publisher:
The deeply reported story of identical twin brothers who escape El Salvador’s violence to build new lives in California—fighting to survive, to stay, and to belong.
Growing up in rural El Salvador in the wake of the civil war, the United States was a distant fantasy to identical twins Ernesto and Raul Flores—until, at age seventeen, a deadly threat from the region’s brutal gangs forces them to flee the only home they’ve ever known. In this urgent chronicle of contemporary immigration, journalist Lauren Markham follows the Flores twins as they make their way across the Rio Grande and the Texas desert, into the hands of immigration authorities, and from there to their estranged older brother in Oakland, CA. Soon these unaccompanied minors are navigating school in a new language, working to pay down their mounting coyote debt, and facing their day in immigration court, while also encountering the triumphs and pitfalls of teenage life with only each other for support.
Book group members’ personal connection to immigration
Members’ stories of what makes them passionate about immigration issues were varied and fascinating. However, many had a continuing thread – a personal connection.
One person’s grandson’s girlfriend’s grandfather is from Yemen; another member’s uncle is Puerto Rican and her son’s closest friends are from all over the world. Another worked for the Providence Sisters, who are active in helping El Salvador’s families. One member, involved with immigration and refugees since she was a pre-teen, was a member of the old sanctuary movement and a UCC church that helped an undocumented immigrant. Another member is a middle school teacher who teaches a social justice unit to a predominately white class, helping them use another lens to know that not everyone thinks the same way.
One group member lived internationally and experienced many cultures, while another experienced being a minority in her first job in Chicago and got a wake-up call recently from a granddaughter who is an activist opposing current immigration policies.
One member, whose daughter is from Guatemala, became revitalized toward global issues in her and her daughter’s adoption journey and her own graduate studies.
Our book group leader, Kathy Anderson, shared that when she was 10 her family moved to a Klamath Indian Reservation. Other cultures fascinated her. Her immediate family is truly international. Kathy married an Iranian and values multiculturalism throughout her family and life.
Ideas for what is to come at Kairos-Milwaukie UCC
The group was energized to continue to learn about immigration. We will next read The Line Becomes a River, which we will discuss in September. Anyone is welcome to join!
We shared resources to learn more and will explore partnering with another church to further learn about and help with immigration. We plan to soon have table talks during coffee hour to explore the issue more. We are building toward congregation-wide vote on whether to become an immigration-welcoming church. Questions, concerns? Feel free to talk with Jeanne Randall-Bodman, Macy Guppy or Mary Crocker.