Acting in Faith

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(May 22, 2013)

Haitian student in AFSC citizenship class

Haitian student in AFSC citizenship class

Haitian student in AFSC citizenship class

by Lucy Duncan

My husband is British. I remember sitting in what was then the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) office soon after our wedding waiting to be interviewed so that he could get his green card. It was October, 2001 and there were very few people in the waiting room. Our immigration lawyer said that since 9/11 many of his clients had been showing up for their interviews and getting arrested, so many had stopped coming.

Though our joint credit card...

(May 17, 2013)

Newark, 5-1-2013

Immigration rally in Newark on May 1, 2013.

This morning, May 17, we received this message from Elissa Steglich—a staff member of AFSC’s Immigrant Rights Program—about a client who is being detained and set to be deported by ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement).

If you are moved to take action after reading this story please click here to send an email to your Senators to tell them not to tie access to citizenship to immigration enforcement tactics described below. -Lucy

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(May 16, 2013)

by Madeline Schaefer

Nearly ten years after its doors opened in 1952, owners of the Friends Housing Cooperative on 703 North 8th Street in Philadelphia could state with confidence that cooperative, interracial living was possible.   “The Friends Housing Cooperative is no longer an experiment—it’s a nice place to live,” a poster from 1962 reads.  This housing “experiment” had been first of its kind, part of the American...

(May 9, 2013)

Pamela with many of her children and their partners

Pamela with many of her children and their partners

Pamela (third from right) with many of her children and their partners

Note: Pamela Haines has written extensively on nonviolent parenting. In honor of Mother's Day, Madeline asked her to write a piece from her experience and she shared this—a very inclusive way of thinking of parenting and family. –Lucy 

by Pamela Haines

I started claiming children in the usual way—having my own. Then, when the boys were two and five, that claiming took a whole new turn.

...

(May 7, 2013)

Lucy with her brothers in Iowa

Lucy with her brothers in Iowa

Lucy with her brothers in Iowa

Note: I sat down to write a reflection piece on the White Privilege Conference, which I attended with other AFSC staff and board members and a number of Quakers in April, and I ended up exploring how I learned racism instead. This piece is dedicated to my teachers: Niyonu Spann, Vanessa Julye, Pamela Haines, Pat Jennings, kamillah fairchild, Rosa Silveira, Nancy Duncan, Frances Hoover, and so many others. – Lucy

by Lucy Duncan

 “I think my own biggest fear...