This is a short profile of Saul Aleman, the American Friends Immigrant Services intern at the AFSC Miami Office. Saul works with young people in South Florida and across the state to support the development of new leaders and to provide opportunities for the migrant community to tell their stories. Saul co-founded Homestead Equal Rights for All (ERA) and organizes in his own community of Homestead, FL.
Crystal Gonzalez is the Director of AFSC’s Roots for Peace Program in Los Angeles. Prior to joining AFSC in 2010 she had 10 years of experience as an organizer and educator in the Los Angeles area. I interviewed Crystal about her life and values and how she lives those out in her work with the Roots for Peace program. The following is edited excerpts of our conversation. - Genevieve
Genevieve Beck-Roe is serving as the Friends Relations Fellow with AFSC as part of Quaker Voluntary Service's Alumni Fellowship for 2015-16. Genevieve grew up in Chicago and graduated in 2014 from Earlham College. She has previously worked and been active around issues of mass incarceration and immigrant detention at the intersection of LGBTQ rights, and is excited to engage those issues in a Quaker context at AFSC. She swam in the ocean for the first time in August and it was great.
“There is no problem with immigration. Immigration is not the problem. People move. People have always moved. The problem is policies that criminalize our immigrant brothers and sisters. The problem is policies which are tearing apart families and which are not honoring the human dignity of our brothers and sisters who were born in another land.” – Lori Khamala
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The escalation of violence and tension in Jerusalem and the long term inequities, oppression and dispossession of Palestinians under occupation inspires Mati Gomis-Perez, AFSC's Israel-Palestine Director, to ask, "Until when?" - Lucy
As we start the morning in Jerusalem these days, one can only think, “let us see how many today." How many arrested, how many prevented from leaving their towns, how many clashes, how many protests, how many houses demolished, how many shot at, how many murdered, how many lynched, how many stabbings, how many and how many...
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Saida Khader is the regional finance and administrative assistant for AFSC in Jerusalem. Sahar Vardi is the AFSC Israel program coordinator.
The occupation and increased restrictions and attacks on Palestinians is causing enormous tension in Jerusalem in recent weeks. I asked two co-workers who work in Jerusalem to talk about what it’s like there now and what the international community can do. - Lucy
Pablo Ramirez, who is active with AFSC's local peace networks in Guatemala City, was a delegate to the recent Global Youth Peace Indaba in Cape Town, South Africa. This short profile tells the story of his experience.