News for Amigos de Casa San José: April 24, 2017

Dear Casa San Jose Amigos,

Welcome back to our weekly message!  Here’s what’s new:

Your help is much needed: 

To help children with activities (read books, color pictures, etc.) on Saturday, April 29, while their parents attend an event sponsored by the Mexican Consulate and Casa San Jose concerning passports, foster care, and their immigration rights.  Any time 10-3; there will be space and art materials and books (if you can bring more that would also be great.)  Located at Central Catholic High School in Oakland, STEM building, entrance on Neville, parking available. Please email Sister Valerie if you can do this and the times you can be there: srvalerie@casasanjose.org.

Please come, and also share with your social media friends: the Mayday March for Immigrant Rights (and following fiesta with music and food.)

Date:  Monday, May 1

Time and Place: 

·       March: 3 pm, South Water and Hot Metal Street (near South Side Works)

·       Fiesta: 5:30-7:30 pm, Pittsburgh Federation of Teachers (10 S. 19th St.).

Also, Phone bankers are needed to tell people about this May 1 March – if you can help:

·       For English speakers at Thomas Merton Center – please contact Gabe at gabriel@thomasmertoncenter.org.

·       For Spanish speakers at Casa San Jose – please contact Monica at monica@casasanjose.org. 

For the Cinco de Mayo street festival on Saturday, May 6, at Las Palmas in Beechview, we need:

Some strong people to set up chairs and tables at 10:30 am, and some more to take them down at 9:30 pm. It will be held in the parking lot of Las Palmas IGA supermarket, 2056 Broadway. Please contact Monica at monica@casasanjose.org if you can do this.

Decorative and treat-filled baskets for raffling off, with proceeds to go to Casa San Jose. Themes:  kids, summer, gardening, dogs, cooking, anything people will like, with objects valuing about $50 - $100.  A group could do this together. Bring to Casa San Jose (933 Brookline Blvd. inside St. Mark’s Lutheran Church) by Friday afternoon before 4 pm, May 5.  It will help if you let us know if you’re donating one – email srvalerie@casasanjose.org.

Political action:

Monica is planning a visit to Harry Readshaw’s office to try to talk him out of supporting anti-immigrant bills in the PA House.  Are you in his district?  (Find out here – scroll down to enter your zipcode.) If so and you can help, please contact her at monica@casasanjose.org.  If you’d like to see another such visit, here’s a video showing her and other supporters talking with Tony DeLuca recently.  He said he now opposes SB10 (which de-funds sanctuary cities,) and will work with Monica to come up with something that would actually help immigrants.

Let Senator Toomey know you support immigrants on Tuesday, May 2 at noon, outside his office at 310 Grant St. downtown.  Tuesdays with Toomey, which stages weekly demonstrations to let him know what his constituents want, is focusing on immigration and refugees that day.  Monica from Casa San Jose will speak as will other rights groups.  Please come and help us represent them!

Keep telling PA Legislators to #StoptheHate – there are now 12 bills pending in the PA legislature that attack immigrants – so please don’t stop calling and emailing. Here’s how.

           

Still going:  make some great posters to carry to the May 1 March!  Express your creativity and have some fun with fellow supporters at the Art Build poster-making sessions, with materials donated by the Pittsburgh Center for Creative Reuse.

Place:  Babyland (460 Melwood across from PGH Filmmakers). 

Wednesday - April 26th at 7PM

Sunday - April 30th from 12-8PM 

“Our Story” episode 6: “Lupita” (in her own words, at a workshop held by Jeimy Sanchez, our Youth Community Outreach Coordinator, in January before the Trump presidency was in force. Lupita is not her real name; she lives in Pittsburgh.)

My name is Lupita, I come from Mexico. There has been violence in my country ever since I can remember. When I was seven, a peaceful demonstration of young people in the Plaza de Tlatelolco was attacked by cannons and flares. Hundreds of young people died. Many went missing. This impacted all of Mexico. It was October 2nd, 1968, a day Mexicans now remember as the "Massacre of Tlatelolco". That was a new word for me that day-- “Masacre.”  I remember my family was crying, and as a child, I started to cry too.

Mexico is a beautiful, rich country, unfortunately filled with poor people ruled by a narco-government. As time went on, the same government corruption continued, and the violence never changed. My husband I owned a baby clothes store. One day, we went to buy baby clothes to sell. We had the van all packed when men appeared, and we were robbed at gunpoint. The robbers stole everything. On the way back home, we were crying, and we felt many feelings between us of sadness, despair, not knowing what to do next.

I told my husband, "Thank God." My husband said, "Why? What do we have to be thankful for? " I explained, "Because we have our lives and they left us the car. We can start again." This was the first of many times that we experienced violence. We eventually reached a point where we could no longer enjoy our lives - everything was very difficult. We felt much despair, and sadness. Around us where we lived there were many addicts who sold drugs, committed violent assaults, and I did not want that for my children. So my husband decided to immigrate to the United States. He arrived first, and three years later I followed with my children.

When I started studying English it wasn’t easy for me. It’s crazy, I have difficulty pronouncing certain words. One day, I went to my English class and I said “Hi, Gays” but I meant to say “Hi Guys!” My teacher smiled.

In the US there is no violence, I feel safe. I have met many good people. Sister Janice is a person who helps the Latino community in Pittsburgh. Casa San Jose supports Latinos, they fight for the rights of immigrants.  I give thanks to God for being here, I feel safe and free. This is a country of immigrants and each one of us abroad misses our country, our culture, our family, traditions, and community. But everyone has something to contribute and that is what makes this country great - the diversity and hard work of immigrants is important to the United States.

Suggested if you’d like to read or see more:

·       Article: The Immigration Policy That Ate the Justice Department:  Under Sessions’ latest orders, the border is everywhere.

·       Book:  Enrique’s Journey – taken from a Los Angeles Times series that won 2 Pulitzer Prizes, it is “an astonishing story that puts a human face on the ongoing debate about immigration reform in the United States.”  Also available free from Carnegie Library.

Thank you for your interest in this cause!