On Tuesday, I logged into Moodle (a course-management platform) for the first time in a couple of months. I began a class titled "Comprehensive Overview of Immigration Law." Myself and about 120 others will be taking this course "together" online over the next several weeks learning about immigration law to better serve participants in our various organizations and fields. Hopefully by March, I'll be able to better answer some of your questions about immigration. And yes, I did print out the entire book. I think my eyes will thank me when I don't have to read on a screen for several hours a week.
On Friday evening and Sunday morning Shalom Fellowship hosted Sarah Augustine, author of "The Land is Not Empty," and the co-founder and executive director of the Coalition to Dismantle the Doctrine of Discovery. This is where my housemate, Michaela, works two days a week. On Saturday, a group of us went to the San Carlos Apache Reservation where we met with Apache leader and community member, Wendsler Nosie, Sr. He shared with us about life on the reservation and welcomed us to the Old San Carlos memorial before we continued on to Oak Flat, a sacred site that the mining company, Resolution Copper, is trying to mine. This was a day full of in-person factual and spiritual learning. You can find more information about the Coalition and Oak Flat at the sites that I've linked in this blog.
It was important to be at those locations and was a good, full day. Throughout the weekend, both Sarah and Wendsler challenged us with questions about what it means to make systemic change in addition to individual action. We were also encouraged to think about how our individual actions can contribute to systemic change in decolonization efforts and other justice work.
This will be a short work week with all four VSers having or taking Monday off from work for MLK day, giving me time to sit with some of those questions. Systemic change is on the forefront of my mind with my work at the Florence Project and immigration in general. That is a very clear example of where systemic change is desperately needed.
Applause - an Anabaptist accessing the challenges of immigration law and systematic change through Catholic Immigration Network study and learning! And through Shalom MF‘s commitment to dismantling the doctrine of discovery repair network. I so would like to be in Tucson this winter to join the intentional community that you are privileged to engage in during your MVS year Cade.