Imagine that you live in a place where you do not have enough food, clean water or medicine. You work long hours for little pay. You are lucky to even have a job when most of your neighbors do not. Your children are sick and hungry. You become too sick and hungry yourself to help them. When a friend offers to help you immigrate to the considerably wealthier country to your North, you jump at the chance. There you will still have to work long hours, but you can make a lot more money. Unfortunately, you cannot afford to pay the fees to apply for a visa. Especially, when, in all likelihood, your application will be rejected, and the fees are non-refundable. Nor can you wait much longer, because your family is starving. You know that the journey is long and very dangerous, but you cannot bear the idea that your children—if they survive childhood without proper nutrition and healthcare—will face the same poverty you have always known.
As U.S. citizens and residents, we know that there is poverty and strife in the world. We understand that places in Africa, Latin and South America, the Middle East and Asia are impoverished and that millions of people do not have food, clean water, or medicines. We do not have the opportunity to interact with people in absolute poverty on a daily basis, as this type of destitution is rare in the United States. However, if you approach the average day laborer of Mexican origin, you will meet someone who has experienced the hopelessness of extreme poverty.
Half of the population in Mexico live in poverty. The majority of this 50% are of indigenous descent, usually characterized by their darker skin and smaller stature. Mexico has no welfare and few social services to speak of. If laborers are able to find work, they work long, labor-intensive hours for little pay without the benefit of sick-leave or vacation. The country is considered to be one of the four worst places in Latin America in terms of income distribution. Unemployment in Mexico is estimated at 40% caused by extreme corruption in the private and government sectors. The statistics surrounding child and maternal mortality are sobering as so many of the Mexican poor do not have access to quality healthcare.
So, many Mexicans (an estimated 500,000 per year), enter the United States without documentation. They do so, because legal immigration is prohibitively expensive, complicated and time-consuming. Acceptance is also extremely unlikely as the United States generally only allows immigration papers to skilled workers of the middle class. They face great danger in traveling to and crossing the Mexico-United States border. Many immigrants--mostly women and children--die of dehydration or exposure while walking through the desert. However, these 500,000 people a year continue to risk their lives and the lives of their children and families to escape destitution in Mexico. Like the exodus of the Jews out of Egypt, they seek a better, happier life away from slavery to corruption and poverty. There is no doubt that U.S. immigration policy is in need of reform. However, to those Latinos living in our own community, we must extend a hand of welcome.
“Assimilation” is a word many U.S. citizens use when bemoaning the influx of immigration. Many of those arriving on U.S. soil do not speak English and know very little about our American way of life--something that, we claim, they should learn quickly. It is true that immigrants will benefit from learning English and adapting to American culture and that it is important for them to do so. However, if we continue to isolate the Hispanic communities from our “American” communities, businesses, and churches, we must take the blame for an immigrant’s inability to assimilate. There are two essential elements to inviting the Latino community to participate in American life.
First, we must recognize the importance of their language, Spanish. We take for granted our ability to communicate so easily with our ubiquitous tongue. However, when thrust into a culture that does not speak English, we would cherish our language as part of our identity and a reminder of home. If a church service were offered in our language, would we not jump at the chance to hear such familiar words? Would we not wish to worship God in the most comfortable fashion? Services that mix English and Spanish, like the ones at St. Paul’s, are especially helpful and effective, as it will allow both parties of speakers to worship God easily and yet emphasize the importance of English in American life.
Second, we must reach out to the U.S.-born children of undocumented immigrants. These children are a generation of Americans with a rich cultural heritage of both Mexico and the United States. They take pride in this and, yet, often suffer for it. As a minority in the Newport School system, the children of immigrants are viewed as outsiders. It is difficult for them to navigate our American world, because their parents do not have those skills to pass on. Many do not attend college, because the FAFSA is prohibitively complicated to their parents. Welcoming these children into American fellowship and teaching them the skills they need to succeed in the United States will empower them and end the circle of poverty that plagues so many immigrant families.
St. Paul’s website says that “when we worship we are called to see the risen Christ in the persons around us” and that “we are called to seek and serve Christ in all persons, to strive justice and peace among all people, and to respect the dignity of every human being.”
For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in; naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me. Matthew 25: 35-37.
The King will answer and say to them, “Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.” Matthew 25: 40.
We, as Christians and as members of the common nation of humanity, are called by our faith and goodness to serve others. Ministering to the Latino community of Newport is simply the right and Christ-like thing to do.
