I’ve been trying a lot of new things lately. Until Wednesday, I never used the forward button on my email and until yesterday, I never called a senator’s office. Yesterday I forwarded an email asking that people sign a petition to save AmeriCorps and today I forwarded an email asking people to contact their senators to keep funding for refugee programs.
I’ve sent many form letters and signed numerous online petitions in the past year or so, but today I also wrote my own personal letter and emailed it to Maine senators Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe.
Many things will be cut in the new budget for our country and I agree that we need to spend less money, but I’m not sure all the cuts are from the right places. The two cuts in funding that I asked the senators not to support in my calls and emails are the potential cuts to Migration and Refugee Assistance and the Office of Refugee Resettlement as well as the proposed cut in funding to the Corporation for National and Community Service (which includes AmeriCorps).
Congress proposed that we completely cut the AmeriCorps program and reduce funding for refugee assistance programs by a huge amount. Both programs are extremely important. As much as I hate the idea of cutting funding for either of these programs—I can understand the need to cut some, but all of the funding for AmeriCorps? And half of the funding for refugee programs?
What I am including below is part of an email the director of my program sent to all Catholic Charities of Western New York employees.
“On Saturday, February 19, the House of Representatives recommended massive cuts to various humanitarian assistance programs, including:
45% cut to Migration and Refugee Assistance (MRA);
10.4% cut to the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR); and,
67% cut to International Disaster Assistance (IDA).
"Since we are already five months into the federal fiscal year those cuts would basically shut down the refugee assistance program within the US and severely reduce refugee processing overseas. There would not be money available to resettle more refugees until October 2011. Since our funding is per capita performance-based, no new arrivals equals no more funding.”
I understand the desire to cut programs that serve non-Americans, but refugees are some of the most vulnerable people in the world who have experienced great violence, oppression, and human rights violations in their home countries, as well as in many of the refugee camps. In addition, refugees bring important diversity to our communities, rent apartments from Americans, work, pay taxes, start businesses, and by cars and homes in the United States. There are also many refugee resettlement and assistance programs similar to the one where I work that would either shut down or have to lay off many employees.
When our director told us of the possibility of these cuts, I felt sick to my stomach, but I’m sure my feeling was nothing compared to many of my coworkers who are themselves former refugees and many of whom are applying to bring their family members to the United States.
Especially in this economy, volunteers fill needed positions in many jobs that directly serve the most vulnerable Americans. Agencies that serve the disadvantaged are already under-funded and under-staffed and often rely on the help of full-time volunteers. Not only would fewer services be provided without AmeriCorps, but more people would need those services because at least some of the volunteers would be unemployed if they were not in full-time volunteer programs. AmeriCorps provides important job experience to More than 85,000 young Americans a year. I know that AmeriCorps is an expensive program, but it is far less expensive than having a regular, paid employee and paying for all the consequences of less services to those most in need.
Again and again programs that help the poor and vulnerable are the programs that are cut by the government because the people don’t have a voice and are forgotten. I disagree with the Catholic Church on many issues, but I strongly believe in the Catholic Social Teachings that tells us we need to have preferential options for the poor. Cutting programs for refugees and AmeriCorps (as well as other service programs) do not follow with this social teaching.
Please sign a petition, send a letter to your senator, or call your senator to help protect funding for refugee programs and AmeriCorps. I believe it is our moral obligation to help those most in need, which includes Americans and non-Americans.
It is becoming increasingly obvious that we have to take action and fight for justice for things that directly affect us and for people who are poor and marginalized. We are all in this world together and, as much as we might want to ignore people who are easily forgotten, there will never be peace and justice if we don’t include everyone.
Friday, February 25, 2011
Sunday, February 6, 2011
Same Old Sad Story
Last Friday a few of the other CCSC volunteers and I went to a program called “Telling Stories” at the University of Buffalo which was about sexual assault and domestic abuse/intimate partner abuse. The program consisted of an original play about campus sexual assault, a panel discussion with people associated from the university, a documentary called Telling Amy's Story which was about a woman who was murdered by her husband in November of 2001, and a panel discussion by people in the Buffalo community who work with victims of domestic violence.
The program went exactly how I expected (except for a fire alarm at the very beginning which I thought might be apart of the play until everyone started evacuating). First, it was very upsetting. Second, there was a lot about where a victim of sexual assault or domestic violence can go for help and almost nothing about prevention. Only one man on the first discussion panel briefly mentioned not being a passive bystander.
Don't misunderstand me, it's extremely important for victims to know where they can go for help and I'm glad there was education about that at this event, but it would be better for the assaults and abuse never to happen in the first place. This is another example of the relationship between charity and social justice: we need both until the actions for social justice work, thereby making the charity no longer necessary.
I want to go to a panel discussion on how to stop these things from happening in the first place. Sexual assault and domestic violence/intimate partner violence is something that's very scary, complicated, and difficult to prevent. Prevention is more difficult than helping victims after/during the abuse (though that's far from easy), so maybe it's too hard a subject to touch and people would rather not go there. A big part of it is a problem of culture, society, and gender expectations/norms and those are things that are not easy to change and the thought of changing them is very scary for some people.
Until the shame and stigma moves off the victim on to the abuser we'll have domestic violence and sexual assault. Until we stop simplifying these issues as women with low self-esteem staying in bad relationships and men with anger problems abusing their girlfriends/wives we'll have domestic violence. Until we stop shrugging and saying there is something wrong with men we'll have domestic violence and sexual assault. Until it becomes easier for victims to leave their abusers we'll have domestic violence. Until we start believing victims who speak up we'll have sexual assault and domestic violence. I could go on and on.
I don't know the solutions, but I'd like to have an open, thoughtful discussion about possible solutions.
The program went exactly how I expected (except for a fire alarm at the very beginning which I thought might be apart of the play until everyone started evacuating). First, it was very upsetting. Second, there was a lot about where a victim of sexual assault or domestic violence can go for help and almost nothing about prevention. Only one man on the first discussion panel briefly mentioned not being a passive bystander.
Don't misunderstand me, it's extremely important for victims to know where they can go for help and I'm glad there was education about that at this event, but it would be better for the assaults and abuse never to happen in the first place. This is another example of the relationship between charity and social justice: we need both until the actions for social justice work, thereby making the charity no longer necessary.
I want to go to a panel discussion on how to stop these things from happening in the first place. Sexual assault and domestic violence/intimate partner violence is something that's very scary, complicated, and difficult to prevent. Prevention is more difficult than helping victims after/during the abuse (though that's far from easy), so maybe it's too hard a subject to touch and people would rather not go there. A big part of it is a problem of culture, society, and gender expectations/norms and those are things that are not easy to change and the thought of changing them is very scary for some people.
Until the shame and stigma moves off the victim on to the abuser we'll have domestic violence and sexual assault. Until we stop simplifying these issues as women with low self-esteem staying in bad relationships and men with anger problems abusing their girlfriends/wives we'll have domestic violence. Until we stop shrugging and saying there is something wrong with men we'll have domestic violence and sexual assault. Until it becomes easier for victims to leave their abusers we'll have domestic violence. Until we start believing victims who speak up we'll have sexual assault and domestic violence. I could go on and on.
I don't know the solutions, but I'd like to have an open, thoughtful discussion about possible solutions.
Thursday, February 3, 2011
Happy Year of the Rabbit
As you may know, today is the Chinese New Year and it's now the year of the rabbit. I also realized that I was born in the year of the rabbit, not the year of the dragon like I always thought. Since the Chinese New Year starts in February (or sometimes the very end of January), it was still the year of the rabbit when I was born even though most of 1988 was the year of the dragon.
A rabbit makes much more sense for me since the characteristics of a dragon are that they are aggressive, loud, dominating, ambitious, and a risk taker (also independent and passionate--which does actually fit me). A rabbit is compassionate, peaceful, creative, a good student, intellectual, reserved, self-critical, sensitive, avoids conflict, values relationships, is prone to depression, can be self-centered, and holds in emotions. The only characteristic of a rabbit I don't have is that rabbits usually don't like to be alone and I value the time I have to myself. In addition to the 12 animals that define years, there are also 5 elements: water, wood, fire, earth, and metal. 1987 is a fire rabbit, which means that in addition to the above characteristics fire rabbits like adventure.
What is even more exciting than finding out that the year of the rabbit is supposed to be a year of respite from war, peace, persuasion and knowledge over force, and calm. I hope this year of the rabbit is just that.
Peace.
A rabbit makes much more sense for me since the characteristics of a dragon are that they are aggressive, loud, dominating, ambitious, and a risk taker (also independent and passionate--which does actually fit me). A rabbit is compassionate, peaceful, creative, a good student, intellectual, reserved, self-critical, sensitive, avoids conflict, values relationships, is prone to depression, can be self-centered, and holds in emotions. The only characteristic of a rabbit I don't have is that rabbits usually don't like to be alone and I value the time I have to myself. In addition to the 12 animals that define years, there are also 5 elements: water, wood, fire, earth, and metal. 1987 is a fire rabbit, which means that in addition to the above characteristics fire rabbits like adventure.
What is even more exciting than finding out that the year of the rabbit is supposed to be a year of respite from war, peace, persuasion and knowledge over force, and calm. I hope this year of the rabbit is just that.
Peace.
Search Away
A week or two ago one of my community members/housemates told us about http://www.goodsearch.com. It's a search engine that donates money to a charity or organization of your choice each time you search for something. Goodsearch donates half of the revenue it makes from advertisements, so it's at no cost to the person users.
I know it's been around for a few years and maybe a lot of people already know about it, but I never used it before because I didn't realize it was free. Yesterday I used goodsearch for the first time and now I just want to search for things randomly so money will go somewhere good. Of course, only a small amount of money goes to the organization, but—like everything else—if enough people use it enough times it adds up and that's why I'm writing about it.
My only problem now is choosing from the many worthy charities and organizations out there. The good thing is, you're not locked in to one organization—you can even change where your money goes every time you search.
A few of the organizations I've been using/I suggest are...
Catholic Charities of Western New York (which sponsors CCSC and which Refugee Resettlement is under—or you could find your local Catholic Charities)
Harvest House (where my housemate who brought goodsearch to my attention does his service)
UNHCR
American Heart Association
American Cancer Society
NOW (National Organization for Women)
HRC (Human Rights Campaign)
United Way
Of course, you can search for your favorite charity/organization on goodsearch. I know I sound like a commercial, but goodsearch is powered by yahoo, so it's just as useful as any other search engine.
Maybe you could do double good by searching for a place to volunteer or educating yourself about different social justice issues and what to do about them.
Happy Searching.
I know it's been around for a few years and maybe a lot of people already know about it, but I never used it before because I didn't realize it was free. Yesterday I used goodsearch for the first time and now I just want to search for things randomly so money will go somewhere good. Of course, only a small amount of money goes to the organization, but—like everything else—if enough people use it enough times it adds up and that's why I'm writing about it.
My only problem now is choosing from the many worthy charities and organizations out there. The good thing is, you're not locked in to one organization—you can even change where your money goes every time you search.
A few of the organizations I've been using/I suggest are...
Catholic Charities of Western New York (which sponsors CCSC and which Refugee Resettlement is under—or you could find your local Catholic Charities)
Harvest House (where my housemate who brought goodsearch to my attention does his service)
UNHCR
American Heart Association
American Cancer Society
NOW (National Organization for Women)
HRC (Human Rights Campaign)
United Way
Of course, you can search for your favorite charity/organization on goodsearch. I know I sound like a commercial, but goodsearch is powered by yahoo, so it's just as useful as any other search engine.
Maybe you could do double good by searching for a place to volunteer or educating yourself about different social justice issues and what to do about them.
Happy Searching.
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