Dear friends,
While incarcerated, Bounchan Keola and Kao Saelee worked as firefighters, battling massive wildfires in California for $3 a day. Keola nearly died of injuries sustained last fall while fighting the Zogg fire in Northern California; he had just two weeks left on his sentence. When the two men were released from prison, they were sent immediately to ICE detention in preparation for deportation to Laos.
Newsom’s pardons mean both men will no longer face deportation threats, can return to being legal permanent residents, can get work authorization and eventually apply for citizenship.
They sound like citizens to me.
The policy to transfer people released from prison into ICE custody preys on “vulnerable immigrant communities, including refugees who were criminalized as children.”
There is a class action lawsuit against ICE to stop the practice of paying a private company, G4S Secure Solutions, Inc., to arrest people upon their release in order “to funnel them into the deportation pipeline.” The suit was brought by Asian Americans Advancing Justice.
Support Asian Americans Advancing Justice.
We've already written a lot of emails to stop National Grid’s North Brooklyn fracked gas pipeline:
This project is not a replacement of leaking pipelines, it is an expansion to charge us, the rate-payers, millions of dollars in rate hikes to fill their shareholders pockets, and keep us locked into fossil fuels when we want to move onto affordable and clean renewable energy like geothermal, solar, wind and energy efficient buildings.
Meet at noon today at 1 Metrotech, National Grid’s headquarters, to protest the expanded pipeline.
Sixteen months into a pandemic and many New Yorkers still don’t have health care. The state legislative session is coming to an end in just ten days.
Tell Albany to Pass the NY Health Act. This is a ready-made action to your representatives and legislative leadership.
I have been thinking about the tendency to focus on what we’ve lost and what we’ve missed, rather than what we’re building. In this category, there has been a great deal of discussion of “pandemic learning loss.” This deficit model seems punishing to both students and teachers and fails to account for what young people have learned.
I read some commencement messages from high school valedictory speakers around the country, who are challenged to be optimistic and honest with their classmates at the end of an extraordinarily difficult school year. This one, from Carmelina Komyatte of Indiana, stayed with me:
“I think it’s important we don’t get discouraged because of everything that’s happened and know that it is our job and our responsibility to create the world we want to live in and to demand better from society and from the world. You have to demand the things that you want to see. Demand respect and dignity and equal treatment and equal opportunities for people.”
This spring, I’ve had the pleasure of working with fourth graders in Emily Sanderson and Kit Leung’s class at PS 131. On Friday, I went to their class to preview the presentation they’re making tomorrow for their Students Taking Action Today project. The project involved a process of “research, action, and reflection” about food insecurity and mutual aid.
They appreciated the field trips to our fridge and purple pantry, which was part of their research. And I appreciated their enthusiasm and their excellent presentation.
They gave a new home to Lisa Wilde’s compost mural, The Cycle of Life.
This is their purple pantry, the installation of which was one of the outcomes of their project.
And finally, here’s a little excerpt from “The Good News” by Thich Nhat Hanh, which a friend read to me this morning:
Look at each of our special editions.
We always offer the things that are not wrong.
We want you to benefit from them
and help protect them.
The dandelion is there by the sidewalk,
smiling its wondrous smile,
singing the song of eternity.
Have a great day!
with love,
L