A national train tour aims to close the gap between immigrants and citizens on their views of immigration reform by encouraging the sharing of personal family immigration stories.
The Dreams Across America Tour which launches June 13 will include some 100 immigrants, citizens, clergy and others stopping in ten or more cities across America talking to people about their family's American dream. They will be joined with on-air support by a popular radio personality.
The interactive, multi-media effort also seeks to create an "American Conversation Place" where thousands of immigrants and citizens can share their stories via video, audio, or a blog on www.dreamsacrossamericaonline.org and begin to reach common ground on immigration reform.
For Luz Diaz, participating as a "dreamer" on the train ride from Los Angeles to Washington, D.C. gives her the opportunity to share her family's story of struggle, perseverance and hope. Diaz told The Tidings how her mother Rita worked as an undocumented migrant worker picking grapes in the 1970s. Her mother was deported when Diaz was four years old and did not return until the girl was eight.
Diaz, who lived with various relatives during that time, said that the Pledge of Allegiance, which she recited in school, enabled her to hold onto hope that one day she would see her mother again. That's because the word "indivisible" meant everything to her.
"I really feel strong about families not being divided," said Luz, 41, a mother of three children and a recent graduate of nursing school. "I really hope that [the country] can become one with a decent immigration reform that is humane and fair to all."
At a Los Angeles press conference May 30, Winona Feliz Spears of Bellflower talked about growing up as one of 13 children in her native Belize. "I always heard of coming here for a better life," said Spears, the mother of three adult children, one of whom has served in Iraq.
Virginia Franklin, a U.S.-born citizen living in Los Angeles said she was choosing to participate in the eight-day tour because of her belief in America being a place "where people come to fulfill their dreams." Franklin said she looked forward to stopping in various states and meeting people. "We'll be doing a lot of listening," said Franklin.
Quoting Scripture, Scalabrini Father Giovanni Bizzotto, an Italian immigrant and a priest working in the San Fernando Valley promoting vocations, said he was motivated to sign on to the tour by the Exodus passage in which God commands Moses to tell the Israelites: "Do not mistreat or oppress a foreigner; remember that you were foreigners in Egypt."
Father Bizzotto told The Tidings he looked forward to telling his immigration story and relating the stories of "honest, hardworking immigrants waiting many years" for immigration reform while simultaneously contributing to the country's economy and culture.
Father Luis Angel Nieto, associate pastor of Resurrection Church in Los Angeles, noted that "every story is a reason to keep fighting for immigration reform."
Renán Alemendárez Coello, the popular radio personality known as "El Cucuy," said that he and millions of others come to the U.S. with dreams of having a dignified life that includes a home, a job, and the opportunity to raise a family. "Liberty," he said, "comes from work and from education." Coello will spearhead the national call for Americans to share their immigration stories on the Dreams Across America website.
The tour is endorsed by numerous religious, social service, and labor organizations. Maria Elena Durazo, executive secretary-treasurer of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO, emphasized that Dreams Across America would not be taking a position on the specifics of the immigration bills being debated in Congress. The focus, she added, is on the stories.
"We want all legislators to reflect on the dreams of people and to make decisions based on the human impact, not on politics," she said.
On the website a video clip features Cardinal Roger Mahony talking about his views on anti-immigration rhetoric and what happens when Americans get to know a family that has immigrated recently.
"The minute we start sharing our personal stories, all of our differences tend to dissolve into wonderful common ground that we are one human family with many roots, but all nourished by the same God," said Cardinal Mahony on the video.
A Mass and blessing ceremony for the dreamers will take place June 10 at Our Lady Queen of Angels Church (La Placita), 535 N. Main Street in downtown Los Angeles, beginning with liturgy at 11 a.m., followed by the procession of Corpus Christi at 12:30 p.m. Auxiliary Bishop Oscar Solis will celebrate the benediction and blessing ceremony for the dreamers and their supporters at 1 p.m. |