¡VIVA!

¡viva México!

16 de Septiembre: Mexican Independence Day

PROVIDED BY UNC INSTITUTE FOR THE STUDY OF THE AMERICAS

Parades, fairs, dancing, and fireworks mark the celebration of Mexican independence. (Image source. More about the photograph)

SLIDESHOW

View a slideshow of photographs from celebrations of Mexican Independence Day.

Every year on the 16th of September the President of Mexico addresses the Mexican people from the balcony of the National Palace with the modern version of the famous Grito de Dolores. He shouts Vivas! to the leaders of the Mexican Revolutionand ends with a cheer echoed three times by the huge crowds that have gathered: “Viva México!” His cry is echoed throughout Mexico by the governor of each state. The Grito, or shout, caps a day of festivals in Mexico City and other urban areas and ushers in a new year of independent Mexico. Perhaps most importantly, it reminds the people of the origins of their nation and those that fought and died so that Mexico may be free.

The Grito commemorates 16 September 1810, when a parish priest in the town of Dolores in the State of Guanajuato, Miguel Hidalgo, rang the church bells and called his parishioners to fight for independence. The movement for Mexican independence, officially proclaimed in 1821, had several precursors. In the eighteenth century there were over 100 small, ill-advised rebellions, but none came close to realizing the goal of a Mexico independent of Spain and rule by criollos, or people of Spanish descent who were born in the colony of Nueva España, or New Spain. The movement that began in 1810 was the first that attracted large numbers of the population, most notably the indigenous peasants.

Miguel Hidalgo was a criollo who was more concerned with the daily needs of his parishioners than their spiritual ones. He was tired of the constant poverty and mistreatment the people received from the peninsulares, or the Spanish administrators who came to New Spain for profit. Hidalgo introduced new industries such as wool weaving, carpentry, and bee keeping to help the economic condition of the peasants and started a reading group with like-minded criollos.

The Interfaith Welcoming Coalition in San Antonio

So far as I know, the White House has not appealed the final decision for the Flores case.  The for-profit detention centers for women and children from Central America must shut down.  I'm going to try to post a short video here from the house in San Antonio where mothers just released from these detention centers were given respite and resources for their long bus journeys across the country to reach sponsoring family and friends.   It shows Melanie, who is barely 5 years old, dancing.  Her mother Yanira is nearby.  Yanira brought two teenage boys and little Melanie out of Guatemala, went straight to ICE to ask for asylum, and then was put into detention for several months.  Yanira and her children were asked to stay on at the hospitality house in San Antonio maintained by the Interfaith Welcoming Coalition to assist in helping others released from Karnes City and Dilley.     Below is a recent e-mail

Updates and Urgent Needs We have recently seen a significant increase in the number of families being released and needing overnight hospitality. In the past two weeks, we have provided overnight housing to over 300 people. One night last week, we housed 56 people! We are very excited that more families are being released and hope this trend continues until family detention is ended. U.S. District Judge Dolly Gee recently found that family detention violates the Flores settlement - read more here! As a result of this increase, we have a high need for volunteers at La Casa. We have four shifts - morning, afternoon, 7:30pm-11pm, and overnight. We have a new full-time volunteer through the Mennonite church - Luz Varela. We are very happy to have her! She has been here a week and has already become a vital part of the work we do. She will be at the house in the mornings and evenings this week to train new volunteers. To sign up to volunteer with Luz, please email sanantoniowelcome@gmail.com with your preferred day and time. If you are not fluent in Spanish, daytime volunteering is a great option. Morning and afternoon volunteer times are flexible.

Copyright © 2015 Interfaith Welcome Coalition, All rights reserved. Our mailing address is: 300 Bushnell Ave. San Antonio, TX 78212 sanantoniowelcome@gmail.com

                                                 

Poem found at northern border, a prayer for women and children detained at the southern border:

Aqui en la biblioteca de un pueblecito, Barton, Vermont,  donde un archivo guardado el año pasado todavía está en la computadora,  yo lo pongo aquí para las mujeres en Tejas que están, con sus niños, carcelados aún que ellos no son illegales.  No son illegales porque ellas fueron inmediatemente despues de cruzando la frontera a la migra, los oficiales de ICE, para pedir asilo.  87% passaron el "credible fear test," pero sin embargo estuvieron pusos en los centros de detención en Dilley y Karnes City, Texas donde han tendio quedar por tan mucho como un año.  Tienen que pagarfianzas grandes, como $10,000 (U.S.) -- todo esta sistema nueva es muy, muy rentable para los dueños de las prisiones!

But now with the Flores case decided, these prisons are to be closed!  We are hoping now that the U.S. Federal Government, or Obama -- as some people call it -- will not appeal the decision of the Flores Case.

I was privileged to work as a  volunteer in a hospitality house in San Antonio, Texas, this spring; I was honored to meet many, many mothers risking their very lives to bring their children out of the drug-cartel-controlled realities of El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras.  So the prayer I've found up here very near the northern border, near Quebec, is for these many women and children whom I was able to meet and for all the thousands whom I was not able to meet. We don't have to be Catholic or even Christian to appreciate this prayer from Pax Christi and share its hope for "a society of justice."

Prayer for Our Immigrant Sisters and Brothers

Blessed are You, Lord Jesus Christ.

You crossed every border

between Divinity and humanity
to make your home with us.
Help us to welcome you in newcomers,
migrants and refugees.

Blessed are You, God of all nations.
You bless our land richly
with goods of creation
and with people made in your image.
Help us to be good stewards and peacemakers,
who live as your children.

Blessed are You, Holy Spirit.
You work in the hearts of all
to bring about harmony and goodwill.
Strengthen us to welcome those
from other lands, cultures, religions,
that we may live in human solidarity
and in hope.

God of all people, grant us vision
to see your presence in our midst,
especially in our immigrant sisters and brothers.
Give us courage to open the door to our neighbors
and grace to build a society of justice.

Je suis, nous sommes ...

Faut-il des mots plus?

Hello. I've found a way into the blogspot again. I'm still at the border. Yesterday crossed to Stanstead. But it's a story of something that happened in Philadelphia that I want to tell. (I'll have lunch first.)

(It's well over a month later, now. Long lunch. Hope it was enough to eat. Hope it was more than $1.00 could buy.):


So here was that Philadelphia story: We were walking along, crossing a street, when a young man, African, I think, reached the corner having crossed the perpindicular at the same time as our group of four. He was on crutches and walked as though newly using them.

He asked for money for something to eat. I won't try to say exactly what he said, but it was a simple sentence. It did not quite sound like English, though. Maybe he said, "Something to eat."

This is not really a story. This is just telling how I stopped and searched for a dollar. The others went on ahead, quickly. One turned back to make some kind of face at me, something that might have meant, "Poor you. You're such an easy mark."

O.K., so I found a dollar. But in return for the dollar this young man on crutches, perhaps in pain, perhaps hungry, had to listen to me tell him, "This won't work. You need more help than this. You need help from social services...."

He just looked at me. I'm sure he didn't understand me. He tried to say "Thank you," and walked on, probably confused, probably in pain, certainly no closer to a meal with my $1.00 than he'd been before he asked.

I caught up with my party. The child among us said, "He didn't seem very grateful." I told her that wasn't what concerned me.

It's many months later, now, when I'm finally finishing this Philadelphia story. I've wondered often about this young man. How did he get hurt? Was he a newly arrived refugee? Was I right to think he was new to English? Was it really awful of me to fuss at him in exchange for the measly $1.00, talking to him like a child, saying he had to find a better way?

The others chided me. Then they let me pay for their various drinks and snacks. It came to nearly $30.00, though we barely had anything.

I hope he's all right. I always think of him with embarassment for myself, for those with me, and for a city where -- if it's the case -- a young man on crutches has to beg for something to eat.

How I learned something in half the time

The clock on kitchen wall here is about a half hour behind time. It probably needs new batteries, but I haven't felt like finding a ladder or standing on a chair to replace them. I don't mind it too much, having to add the half hour.

Last night, though, I remembered how someone in Quebec told me that one of the Canadian provinces is a half-hour different, not a whole hour. I tried New Brunswick but it wasn't. It's Newfoundland and Labrador. And that's one province, not two. Now you know.

Newfoundland is where Celtx has its headquarters. Celtx is a play writing platform I've used for a long time.

A friend is going to Quebec City for New Year's. I can't do that, but I'm thinking how nice it would be to see the Rio Grande Valley again, walk across the river to have a cup of coffee in Mexico.