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Help Refugee Children Here in California

6/24/2020

Dear Friends:

We are sharing a message from our friend and ally, Fred Morris, a United Methodist Church minister who has long championed the plight of immigrants and refugees. He has made it his life's work to protect especially children in need of protection from the dangers to their well being in their home countries and now the threats to their lawful status here.

Last Friday was Juneteenth that we celebrate annually to commemorate the end of slavery and to affirm our belief that all men, women and children are created equal. Saturday, June 20th, was World Refugee Day. Let us carry both ideal through our lives by helping raise funds for the children from the San Fernando Valley Refugee Children Center. This is the organization Fred founded in 2015 to aid the hundreds of children who came to us, unaccompanied, fleeing from gang violence in their home countries in Central America.

With so much going on in the world, we can’t forget that hundreds of children are still fleeing life-threatening violence and traveling to the United States looking for refuge. The Covid-19 pandemic has limited the Center’s ability to raise funds, which means we are struggling to provide children with the resources they need to survive.

As a big win this week, the Supreme Court blocked Trump from ending DACA. However, we still have a lot of work to do.

You and I have the influence on social media to bring awareness to this issue and help raise enough funds to help the hundreds of children at the Center. If you’re able to make a donation, please go to tinyurl.com/world-refugee-day to donate, and give a child the support they need and deserve. A donation of even $25 can make a big difference to us. And if you could do that on a monthly basis, it would be even more wonderful.

Help us spread the word through social media by sharing the three images attached or click on our Digital Toolkit for suggested copy, videos, more images, hashtags and other ways you can help. #WorldRefugeeDay #SFVRefugeeChildrenCenter

On behalf of the hundreds of children at the Center we thank you for your support.

The Council thanks you for remembering these children. While we fight for the little ones still locked in cages at our border, let's make sure no other child is further endagered by our fear of "the alien among us". Please help Fred help the children with care and legal assistance to keep them safe.

Thank you.

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June 24th, 2020

6/24/2020

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Dear Friends:

Once again we share an insight from our friend and ally, Jim Burklo. His posts, "Musings" always give us uplift and something to reduce our stress and worries. We share this with you today.

Sighs Too Deep: Breathing in a time of pandemic and protest

More MUSINGS by Jim Burklo

"Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words." (St Paul, Romans 8: 26)

I needed to sigh.

So up to the mountains I went this past Saturday, and hiked among the huge slabs of sandstone at 4,000 feet on the desert side of the San Gabriel Mountains. I paused to stand under a scrubby piñon pine tree and listen to the voice of its stubby needles in the cool clear wind.

Last week, while I was teaching a mindfulness meditation class for USC students and staff on Zoom, we got into a discussion after I led the group through a "body scan" meditation, guiding them to attend to any emotions that might be associated with sensations in their bodies. Several said that their breath was the focal point. One woman said she found herself sighing in the meditation - and sighing a lot in general. Others reported the same experience. Then a graduate student in the class spoke up: "Isn't this what's up for everybody now? The coronavirus takes away your breath. George Floyd, as he was dying under the policeman's knee, cried 'I can't breathe!' And we are all sighing because of the mix of emotions we are feeling!"

Her astute observation reminded me that when the virus started spreading, and the lockdown began, I found myself sighing a lot. What was happening to the entire human race, all around the planet, was truly breathtaking. In recent weeks I have noticed that the sighing stopped. I habituated.

I also habituated to police violence against black people. When the news about George Floyd's murder came out, I was saddened and disgusted, but my breath was not taken away. Just another incident in a long series of examples of the lingering scourge of racism in America.

Until I read a Facebook post written by a fellow member of Mt Hollywood Church in Los Angeles. Hilary's anguish was palpable. As a black woman with a son, she was in despair that what happened to George Floyd could happen to her own child. Her despair broke through my spiritually-insulated, white-privileged soul. With hers, finally, my sighs were too deep for words.

I'm grateful that Hilary took my breath away. I'm grateful to belong to a church where the Spirit can blow down the walls that inhibit our vulnerability, as she did for me.

If we're sighing, we're not alone. We're sighing with the Holy Spirit of divine Love who comisserates with us. The biblical Greek word for "spirit" is "pneuma", which also means "breath". If we're sighing, we're feeling emotion. And emotion is energy. Mindfulness practice and contemplative prayer are not about breathing deeply and being relaxed. They are about paying attention to our experiences and thoughts and emotions and letting them be, even if they're hard. And if we know our emotions, we'll be in touch with their energy, and then we can channel that energy into creative, positive work to relieve the suffering and injustice around us.

Contemplative practice is the very opposite of withdrawal from the world and its struggles. It is what we do in order to feel again when we've become hard-hearted, and to get clarity about how best to direct that power for the good of others. When I am hard-hearted, when I am complacent, I don't know how to pray as I ought. I need help. Hilary helped. And so did that piñon tree in the mountains.

Each kind of pine has its own voice in the wind, tuned to the length of its needles. I stood and listened to the piñon, until divine Love made me sigh once more.

JIM BURKLO
Blog: MUSINGS
Senior Associate Dean of Religious and Spiritual Life , University of Southern California
JIM BURKLOSenior Associate Dean, Office of Religious Life,
University of Southern California

Copyright © 2019, Jim Burklo. All rights reserved.

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Avoiding consumer/healthcare scams in the Age of Pandemic - you're invited to a webinar

6/17/2020

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Dear Friends,

We always appreciate ingenuity and intelligent responses to our world's crises. The current crisis is no exception. Families are uniting via conference calls, Zoom, Skype, and other social media. Classes and even concerts are being offered the same way. These are wonderful offerings to break isolation, learn something new, share a moment of collective joy.

What also arises are efforts to exploit people, to extract money from people with big hearts wanting to help others. New cottage industries of scams have arisen, and it can catch even the most computer and social media savvy people off guard. Rather than putting energies to good, too many spend that effort trying to maximize their own benefits at the cost of your well being.

Through our allies at Consumer Action, we are posting an invitation for a Webinar you might find useful. There are many scams that have appeared along with the Coronavirus. This webinar will help people wade through what is real and what is fraudulent to avoid harm in already stressful times. Dear Community Partner,

It’s the same old story, but this time it has a scary twist. Whenever disaster hits, greedy scammers and fraudsters begin to pounce on unsuspecting victims. Even during these strange times, nothing has changed. As the coronavirus spreads throughout our communities, disrupting our way of life and instilling fear among us, we must remain vigilant. If not, enterprising criminals will take advantage of that fear to perpetrate consumer fraud.

Scammers are expert at shifting tactics and changing their message to catch consumers off guard. They are using phone, text, mail, email and fraudulent websites to tout everything from fake COVID-19 test kits to miracle cures. Their schemes also take advantage of the fact that medical supplies and equipment for combatting the virus, along with basic living essentials, have become difficult or nearly impossible to obtain.

On Wednesday, July 15, Consumer Action will host an informative “COVID-19 Scams and Healthcare Fraud” webinar to address fraud that seeks to exploit consumer confusion and fear in the coronavirus era. The webinar will be led by Micki Nozaki, director of the Senior Medicare Patrol project at California Health Advocates.

The webinar will cover:

Scams that are flourishing during the COVID-19 pandemic
COVID-19-related investment scams
How charitable giving scams work
Healthcare scams and fraud
Consumer warnings and safety tips
How to complain

Register to participate:
Wednesday, July 15, at 10:00 a.m. PDT/ 11:00 a.m. MDT/ 12:00 p.m. CDT/ 1:00 p.m. EDT
Register here

There will be a live encore presentation the same day, at 1:00 p.m. PDT/ 2:00 p.m. MDT/ 3:00 p.m. CDT/ 4:00 p.m. EDT.
Register here

Tweet chat: You’re invited to join us on Twitter (follow us @consumeraction) for a live chat during the webinar. Follow the hashtag #CAWebinars to participate.

If you have any questions, please contact Linda Williams at linda.williams@consumer-action.org or 800-999-7981, Ext. 766. We look forward to your participation.

We at California Council of Churches hope this helps. Please feel free to share with your congregations, family, friends.

Thank you.

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Considering white privilege one right at a time

6/10/2020

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Dear Friends,

The following was created by the daughter of a friend. In the midst of our nation's confrontation with the "original sin" of racism, she deliberated on the facts behind the deaths of many Black people. She considered how she, as a young white woman, could easily do what they had done without being murdered. I find it compelling. We wanted to share it with you.

If you click on the highlighted names, it will take you to Facebook pages others have written about these horrid deaths. You don't need a Facebook account to access the pages.

I have privilege as a White person because I can do all of these things without thinking twice about it…

I can go jogging (#AmaudArbery).
I can relax in the comfort of my own home (#BothemJean and #AtatianaJefferson).
I can ask for help after being in a car crash (#JonathanFerrell and #RenishaMcBride).
I can have a cellphone (#StephonClark).
I can leave a party to get to safety (#JordanEdwards).
I can play loud music (#JordanDavis).
I can sell CD’s (#AltonSterling).
I can sleep (#AiyanaJones)
I can walk from the corner store (#MikeBrown).
I can play cops and robbers (#TamirRice).
I can go to church (#Charleston9).
I can walk home with Skittles (#TrayvonMartin).
I can hold a hair brush while leaving my own bachelor party (#SeanBell).
I can party on New Years (#OscarGrant).
I can get a normal traffic ticket (#SandraBland).
I can lawfully carry a weapon (#PhilandoCastile).
I can break down on a public road with car problems (#CoreyJones).
I can shop at Walmart (#JohnCrawford) .
I can have a disabled vehicle (#TerrenceCrutcher).
I can read a book in my own car (#KeithScott).
I can be a 10 year old walking with our grandfather (#CliffordGlover).
I can decorate for a party (#ClaudeReese).
I can ask a cop a question (#RandyEvans).
I can cash a check in peace (#YvonneSmallwood).
I can take out my wallet (#AmadouDiallo).
I can run (#WalterScott).
I can breathe (#EricGarner).
I can live (#FreddieGray).
I can ask someone to put a leash on their dog when it is required in the public park we are in (#ChristianCooper).
I CAN BE ARRESTED WITHOUT THE FEAR OF BEING MURDERED. #GeorgeFloyd)

White privilege is real. Take a minute to consider a Black person’s experience today and read their stories.
#BlackLivesMatter
-------------------
Please share this with others who might either understand - or need to.

Thank you.

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The Arc of Justice in an Age of Extremism: Which Side Are We On?

6/3/2020

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Dear Friends:

Sacramento is under curfew. The National Guard is in our streets. Glass still litters our sidewalks, and a friend dubbed the Sacramento downtown "Plywood City". .The whole city is in mourning, over 130 businesses shattered by violence. The original protests for justice have been overshadowed by mindless rampages not from within the protest but inimical to it.

These scenes are being played out across California and also across our nation.

We are under siege and have not seen the likes of this since the end of the Civil War.

The protests against police violence that kills and harms so many Black and Brown people are not the cause of but the excuse for the violence sweeping our land. By and large the rioters seem to be white, have their own nihilistic agendas. They pay no attention to Black community leaders trying to keep their movement peaceful, the issue focused on harm to people of color by excessive police actions.

The rioting has its own momentum, takes no heed of anyone. Too many times the community has found neo Nazi graffiti, anti -"Black Lives Matter" slurs, hate messages against many groups. It's not clear who is behind the violence at all. And yet the White House and media keep referring to the protest on racial justice as the source. It is not. It is just the extremists' excuse.

There are now threats from the White House that active military will be sent to places with unchecked rioting and looting. The president told Governors on a conference call Monday that he would use the Insurrection Act to bring control. The threat is horrifying. Yes, this happened in limited ways during the 1950s school desegregation uproar. Again it was applied during the Los Angeles riots of 1992. It has never before been threatened against an entire nation.

The laws are clear: the 1807 Insurrection Act can be triggered by civil unrest, but only with the consent of Congress who are not likely to give it. That was briefly changed in 2006 giving more unilateral power to the president, but the provision was repealed in 2008 thus restoring the original meaning of the dominant Posse Comitatus Act (1878) that limits federal power over troops on domestic soil and removed the president's unilateral authority from the Insurrection Act. No one person can order the placement of active military into our communities, our states, our lives.

Following the phone call with Governors. we witnessed active military from Fort Bragg, NC arriving in Washington, DC. The District of Columbia is the one place troops can be placed without Congressional approval since it is federal jurisdiction. At their arrival, the president directed that protesters be tear gassed and removed from the White House area despite the fact they were peacefully standing and sitting, nothing else. In the ensuing assault, clergy at nearby St. John's Episcopal Church, compiling medical kits for the protesters, were also gassed and driven off their property. The president then walked from the White House to the church to simply hold up a Bible for a photo op.

This, according to analysts who understand the symbolism, was not just an odd public relations moment. This gesture was an affirmation to ultra conservative Christians that the actions the president was taking were being done under the rubric of fundamentalist Christianity. He was signaling his belief he would be both king and prophet, bringing End Times and the Second Coming through his work. It was affirmation to his followers that he was indeed acting our their version of the Lord's business as read by them in prophecy. It was a sign he is the "Chosen". He is their man.

But that vision is not ours. It also isn't that of our members in the Episcopal Church. where he stood. Bishop Mariann Budde of the District of Columbia dioceses was infuriated. She denounced both his use of force against protesters and clergy and his use of St. John's without anyone's permission. She said it was craven and that they at St. John's were on the side of the protesters seeking justice for people of color.

And here is where we are. We are called to respond to the great schism of today. Which side are we on? We at the Council have long embraced the principles of justice, of equality and equity, of love and compassion, care for our fellow humans. We seek to Bend the Arc toward Justice not capitulation to the anger of either mobs on one hand or tyranny on the other. Which side are we on?

We have military in our streets, troops in DC and National Guard elsewhere.. We still have Black men and women, elders and children begging America to respect their worth and protect their lives while seeking justice, seeking changes in policing, seeking safety in our society. Which side are we on?

These are dark days. Choices and actions will have to be taken by us individually and by us together. Which side are we on?

We at the Council stand with those in pain, those who are hurt and left behind by our society. We stand with justice and love and community. We stand with joy and laughter and kindness. We stand with all good people of good heart whoever they may be, protester and police officer alike.

We stand for what Jesus taught us in the two commandments. Love thy God and Love Thy Neighbor. They are equal in our lives.

We will stand by that. We hope our nation will do the same.

May God shed blessings on this nation to be what our Constitution promises and upon us all to have the strength to carry that promise to fulfillment.

Thank you.

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Help Refugee Children Here in California

June 24th, 2020

Avoiding consumer/healthcare scams in the Age of Pandemic - you're invited to a webinar

Considering white privilege one right at a time

The Arc of Justice in an Age of Extremism: Which Side Are We On?

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