Moreau Center Social Justice Programs

National

Growing up amidst the Civil Rights Movement

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Tuesday, May 10, 2022

A special treat of our time in Montgomery is a dinner hosted by our Resurrection Catholic Mission hosts with current leaders in the work for racial and social justice in Montgomery and people who are veterans of the Civil Rights movement of the 50s and 60s. It’s a gift to hear from people like Mr. Nelson Malden, Dr King’s barber and friend, and Deacon Williams, one of many people who became drivers for the thousands of African-Americans in Montgomery during the 1955 bus boycott.

I had the opportunity to sit at a table with Mary and Jeffrey Reese. Mary shared growing up in Montgomery during the 60s and how much of the history of marches, meetings, and civil rights victories, as well as segregation and intimidation from white supremacists felt almost normal since it was just what she knew growing up in that place and time. The day of the famous Selma to Montgomery march for voting rights, she and her mom walked out the door of their home and joined the crowd of 25,000. It was hard to hear Dr King speak in that large of a crowd but she was there as a 9-year old girl for a moment that I was learning about in museums and in past history textbooks. She also told us about her sister who was in college at Alabama State at the time, getting involved in some of the student organizing for civil rights. She was at a church for a meeting one night when the students got news that they may be in danger from a white mob. They had to lock themselves in the church and hide in the basement, but luckily the attack didn’t end up happening. Reading about the number of church and home bombings and killings of organizers of the time, I was awed at the calmness that Mary shared this story. Her sister and her family understood the risk but that it was what happened at the time. She expressed that while to me this was history, to her, it was her reality of growing up and the only one she knew. 

I have been pausing to reflect since then about where I might be walking in steps of future history. Where if I walk out my front door, I could walk into a movement for justice. Where I could accept the risks, different from the 60s but risk of some form, and accept those for the work that must be done. The civil rights movement was not just one or two powerful leaders but a movement of ordinary people doing extraordinary things in community. There is much left to be done and that can begin, as it did for Mary, walking out into a community of people fighting for justice.

-Tyler Wagner

GOOD MORNING MONTGOMERY!!

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Sunday, May 8, 2022

Hallelujah. It’s church time. This morning we started off Mother’s Day by attending Resurrection Catholic church’s service. Let me tell you, our kind friend Michelle at RCM told us not to show up at 9AM or else we would be greeted by none other than the ghosts. But what did we do? We showed up on time at 9 AM. And sure enough, we were some of the only people there because the people of the church community use the first 30 minutes of mass to socialize and catch up with their fellow church members. So this was really special to see take place. Everyone was so nice and welcoming! The whole church even introduced our group one by one as they called us up to the front of the church and gave us each a T-shirt. Such a genuine community!  

From the very get go, the gospel choir blew us away. Hand clapping, hips shaking, feet stomping rhythm began to flow through our bodies. Being in the presence of an African American gospel choir was amazing and such a beautiful experience. No wonder music and the church community fueled the civil rights movement and its activists. You can truly feel the presence of the Holy Spirit and all of the soul in the room when you are in the midst of the gospel choir. 

For the second half of the day, we traveled long and far, a total of 10 minutes by car into the downtown Montgomery area. We smothered ourselves in sunscreen and took off on our self-guided (shoutout to Anita & Sophia) walking tour of Montgomery. First stop: Rosa parks statue and Black Lives Matter statue in the middle of Court Square. Second stop: Southern Poverty Law Center Third stop: Alabama State Capitol 

All in all, not a bad first introduction to Montgomery & all this city has to offer in terms of hospitality and educating us on our mission to rebuild, re-educate, and reconnect. We are looking forward to our next few days here in Sweet Home Alabama! 

Anita Moreno

How To Fold An Origami Fortune Teller

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Friday, May 6, 2022

“It’s ok if you all need help,” I tell them. We’re folding an origami fortune teller. My fingers feel the white printer paper and the children around me shape their colorful construction paper. Just a couple of hours ago, we transformed the Trinity Community Center to a green jungle using paper rolls, construction paper, glue, and our hands. Now, the local children from the Hollygrove neighborhood are keeping cool under the dense jungle from the bright New Orleans sun. But this is no ordinary jungle, this is a jungle full of potential.

“I need help making a square. Can you help me, please?”

“You fold it like this, right?”

“What else can you make?”

The children ask me questions. It’s 5 pm, their school day has already ended; yet, they still seek answers. This is our third full day in Louisiana and today we are volunteering in the Trinity After School Kids program lasting from 3-6 pm. While the inside of the Trinity Community Center is decorated with green paper, the outside is marked with a horizontal blue line 5 feet above the grass. Now this is the waterline of hurricane Katrina that occurred 17 years ago.

Inside, the children, ranging from ages 5-11, finish making their fortune tellers. We fold the four corners of the square to the center of the paper. We then repeat the process to shape the paper to an origami fortune teller. The children are shaping their world. Today, the children created their own fortune tellers. But what makes this origami model different from others is the ability to write your own fortunes in the paper.

“You’re cool”

“Be my friend”

“You’re ugly”

“You can now fly”

Everyone is free to write anything on their paper. The children wrote on their paper and played with it until their parents came. In the near future, these children, along with many more in this country, will find themselves upon the fortune tellers of society. Whether or not we spread words of encouragement or act on behalf of oppression, what we write down on our paper will affect the life of these kids.

– How to make a fortune teller

Materials: One square paper of any color. One writing utensil.

Step 1: Fold the four corners of the paper to the center.

Step 2: Flip the paper around then fold the four corners of the paper to the center again. This creates a smaller square.

Step 3:  Fold and unfold the square in half both ways, horizontally and vertically.

Step 4: Open the paper up using the crease lines and make sure the 4 flaps spread out.

Step 5: You are now free to write anything on your fortune teller. I would recommend choosing words of love over hatred.

-Eduardo Gonon

Starting our Immersion in New Orleans

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Wednesday, May 4th, 2022

On Wednesday morning we woke up and had breakfast and made some lunch at the University of Holy Cross. We then travelled to City Park where we ate beignets and explored the sculpture garden.

Our main stop of the day was Studio Be, which is an art gallery. Studio Be was established by Be Mike, a New Orleans artist, and focuses on the generation Black American activists who became known during Obama’s time in office, the resurgence of interest and activism related to law enforcement violence, and the emergence of the self-care movement. There were a variety of art mediums from sculptures to paintings to videos. One piece of art that stood out to me was a upside down police car on the bottom and on top were two living room chairs. According to the artist the art was created out of the question about what would society look like if we had more mental health and community resources.

For dinner we went to Wednesday at the Square and ate dinner, walked around, and listened to live music. It was a good way to start our time in New Orleans.

-Brooke Niemer

Thursday, May 5th, 2022

Today’s day was rather interesting. Our first task of the day was going through the French Quarter and studying the historical slave market through a self-led tour and visualizing the past presence of slave history. After that we had lunch at Congo Square, a celebratory ground where people who were enslaved used to meet and sing.

In the afternoon, we visited Leona Tate, an extremely inspiring woman that led us into a path that explained her journey of desegregation. Her organization is a rather inspiring reminder of the importance of respecting all people and communities.

-Prarthna Chona

Connecting Abstract Ideas to Our Concrete Experiences

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March 6th

Today was our last day on site with Habitat for Humanity. A few of us had the opportunity to finish back splashing a kitchen in one of the homes while others got to nail onto a home earthquake supports, among many other very important tasks. We met so many amazing workers and volunteers this week with Habitat for Humanity. As a group we have learned all the crucial steps in the process of building homes and all the important people who are involved in these processes. Beginning the week with the panel of people involved with the Housing affordability issue in Tacoma, we were able to root our concrete experiences on site, into the abstract issue.

This week has been very informative and eye opening into the issue of Affordable Housing, with many examples from inside Tacoma which are applicable in many other cities. Many key points that we have learned are about the stigmas placed on the term “Affordable Housing.” The idea of “Affordable Housing” comes with a negative connotation. The differences between lower case affordable housing and upper-case Affordable Housing are these stigmas. Upper case Affordable Housing connotes government intervention and subsidies housing, it creates a division between many people. Lower case affordable housing is a basic human right. This whole week we have been focused on breaking down these divisions. Creating a partnership is key, we have had the amazing opportunity to meet multiple of the homeowners.  For me knowing that even though I am making even the smallest difference, these differences do not go unnoticed for the homeowners.

This week has been so amazing. We have met so many amazing people who have dedicated their lives to this issue, they are truly inspiring. I am so grateful for the opportunity to connect all the amazing concrete experiences with a much more developed idea of the abstract issue. Housing affordability is an issue that affects more than just Tacoma, it is an issue everywhere. This week has taught me that there is no easy or correct answer to the questions about housing attainability. However, it is through organizations like Habitat for Humanity and the AmeriCorps volunteers that these issues begin to be addressed.

Tessa Johnson

Just Like Us

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March 5th

We returned to the Habitat for Humanity full of eagerness to continue the work we have started on Tuesday. We were gone for only one day and already it seemed that much progress had been made. For one of the buildings, what was once a skeleton of a house was a more solid structure with the addition of interior walls and wood paneling. It seemed clear as to how this progression was possible – upon entering the site we saw many new faces belonging to regular volunteers, who were scurrying around busy at work and must have contributed significantly to the building’s construction. We were able to mingle with these regular volunteers while completing appointed tasks, and in addition, had the honor to work with future homeowner Miriam. Throughout day we have nail-gunned wooden frames, sealed houses with glue, cut out structural insulating foam, grouted tiles, hammered panels to frames, and completed other various work. For me, working in the same space as Miriam and regular volunteers revealed how interconnected communities can be, and shows how important these types of interactions are for Habitat and other organizations on the quest to create affordable housing.

In the evening we had a great dinner with Jesuit Volunteers (JV) Alex, Meghean, Anna, Katie, and Grace. We learned that each were involved with various volunteer programs ranging from beekeeping to helping run shelters for those experiencing houselessness. They shared their experiences, some claiming that while their services may be difficult in some aspects, it was still fulfilling, whether it was because they shared laughter with the houseless community or because coworkers strongly supported mental health. After dinner we toured the Jesuit house, looking at pictures, artwork, and various other belongings past Jesuit Volunteers left behind. We learned that the JV lived minimalist lives. They functioned with no car and earned a humble income for food. To me, it was a way of life that reflected the lives of those the JV were serving. It was a reminder to erase the “us versus them” mindset, which was especially important as we continued our immersion journey of learning and service. People experiencing vulnerability are just like us and we should never forget it.

Alysha Naone

Flowers and Bullets

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by Meghan Potter

“They tried to bury us, they did not know we were seeds”

On the morning of our last full day in Tucson we met with a group called Flowers and Bullets. This is an organization that is trying to politicize and organize their community through two very simple things—food and art. The abandoned school that they have turned into a farm is where we met, and we learned about the importance of accessible sustainability for the neighborhood. We got the chance to help work the land, pulling weeds and prepping  crop lines. As for the art, Flowers and Bullets designs merchandise and paints murals for the neighborhood. The art serves as an act of resistance to the oppression so many people in Tucson have experienced. So much of this week has been so heavy, and working on the farm was a moment of hope, a moment of peace. Meeting with groups like Flowers and Bullets is so beautiful because it reminds us that no one is alone in this fight. I am so blown away and inspired by the resilience of all the people that we have met with this week, because despite the struggle people are always willing to fight. There are so many people out there doing the work to fix the problems of the world and ultimately what it’s all about is finding community. This organization is using two simple things, food and art, to build up a community.

Students working in field.

What stuck with me most from meeting with this group was their name, Flowers and Bullets. When I asked where that name comes from, Jacob—one of the founders of Flowers and Bullets—explained that the name resonated with people for a lot of different reasons. According to Jo-Jo, a community member helping out at the farm, Flowers and Bullets reflects finding the beauty in the struggle. The stark contrast of hope and pain is represented so perfectly in the image of a flower growing out of a bullet. For me, that’s what this whole experience has been about. Flowers and bullets, beauty and pain, hope and heartbreak.

Legal Immigration Simulation and Visit to the San Xavier Mission

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San Xavier Mission on Tohono O’odham Nation

by Brooke Niemer

Today we started off our day simulating different situations that migrants face. We represented thirteen different individuals trying to gain citizenship in the United States, compared to the millions of people who apply for citizenship per year. Each of us had a different character with different socioeconomic statuses, home countries, education levels, and family situations. For my character, I was a white male from the United Kingdom who was a millionaire and a soccer player, and I had a criminal background. Just because I had money, I had the quickest way to gain citizenship. After hearing everyone else’s stories, it was a very hard realization that if often takes decades to even have a green card or a work visa. Even those who have families in the U.S. does not always give them a hand up when trying to attain citizenship. It was so frustrating to hear that people who are living in fear and extreme poverty, are still not able to have an easier path. 

Then we traveled to the San Xavier Mission. Upon arrival, many of us were confused about why we were there. We took a walk and rock climb up to the top of a hill with a cross on top. It was an opportunity to reflect on our immersion and life. I also realized that that we are on stolen land and recognized how beautiful the land is. Then I walked around the mission, and mostly into the church. It was very beautiful and different memorials were set up and candles were laid down in honor of people. During reflection this evening, we came to the understanding that we were there to realize the history of colonization and forced religion upon the native people. We had to reflect on religion and the impact it has on society, and ways that religion and spirituality has positively and negatively benefited society.

Operation Streamline

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by Noa Higgins

There is a gathering of people in the court room. Our group of 14 lines two benches in the back of the large room. This is the place where justice is supposed to be served, where the judge hands out sentences to those who have broken the law in order to uphold the standards that we have put in place to protect our society. But here before us, we see officers passing out headsets for translating to the individuals sitting in the chairs. Each one is shackled by foot and those around their hands are connected to a clanking chain hugging their mid-drifts as they shuffle through their motions. And while the building presents itself as a professional place of justice, the situation before us pleads the opposite. The individuals calmly and quietly sitting in the chairs are not criminals with the goal of harm. They are individuals with faces of compliance, there to filter through the system that we have created for them, without truly understanding their sentencing. They are the people who were found, attacked, and arrested by border patrol in the desert, two days ago at the same time and place that we were walking through the trails. What is it that the system does not see here? Not only the system in general, but what does border patrol, and all of the individuals who play a direct or indirect role in condemning these individuals not see here?

What is it? If everyone else in the court room were to be given brown skin, Spanish as their first language, and a story about how they barely escaped violence, persecution, starvation, injustice etc. in their home country, imagine how different things would be. Imagine if the defendants each were able to explain their situation, telling the judge about their last meal at home before they grabbed their backpack and left. Each defendant explaining how he kissed his brother, mother, wife, son one last time before promising he would turn himself in if necessary so that they would not be left wondering where his body was. Or, in what was the case of many pleading asylum in the courtroom today, telling the judge how when they heard that final death threat from that group back home, they knew they had to get out as quickly as possible.

Because it is sometimes impossible to make others empathize, why have we created a system where there is no room for sympathy? Operation streamline doesn’t even give individuals their basic right to a full trial; they are herded like cattle through the doors, up and out of the chairs, to the microphones to say “si, si, si, culpable”, and back out the doors. Fifteen people standing in a row at a time, and one group right after the other for more than an hour, five days a week. The only thing most of these individuals are guilty of is searching for a better future for their kids, more working hours even in the worst of the jobs, safety, and refuge. It is sickening to think about how different things would be if the people sitting in the chairs in front of the judge were white and English-speaking. It is difficult to say what it is that those in favor of the system could possibly see, but it is clear the dehumanization that happens within these courts. Justice is in no way being served here.  

Finding the words to express what we recently witnessed is incredibly difficult. But the faces of the individuals looking back at those who are their to watch their “hearing” is something I believe none of us will ever forget. While sitting on the court benches as well as now, I find myself feeling helpless, only knowing to pray fiercely for protection for the brave people who had hope and justice cruelly ripped away from them.  

students entering Federal Court building for Operation Streamline

by Alexus Garcia

Extinguish

I struggle to picture myself in society after this experience

I feel stuck

Bound by theoretical shackles that could have very easily been my reality

Do you admit that you crossed the border illegally?

Immigration is divisive

Often classified: not for the dinner table

I exist in a world where my peers support the death of those who do not look like them

Are you pleading guilty voluntarily?

There is no economical benefit worth the inhumanity that is the United States Immigration System

I do not wear this flag with pride

I do not tolerate any individual that supports past or present policy

Do you understand the rights that you are giving up?

Hearing my name called in that court room

Garcia

Garcia

Garcia

How do you plead?

Culpable

A powerful reminder that everything we have as individuals is sheer luck

Due to my family

Who have sacrificed so that I could Flourish

It is a blessing that I was born in this country

Free from political corruption & poverty

By some random power

I was gifted safety & a life with loved ones

Protection under a government I am ashamed to call mine

Tucson

Nogales

A day of mixed emotions

Guilt

Anger

Vergüenza

Fortune

Still learning how to re-enter this world containing a fire I didn’t know existed

It Takes a Village

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March 4th  

Today’s big event was the Urban Studies Forum on Attainable Housing hosted at University of Washington, Tacoma. The forum brought together a variety of people to address the issue of attainable housing from multiple angles – even though there is still a lot to be understood about this complex problem, there are a lot of people creating strategies to try and address it. The keynote speaker from University of Illinois at Chicago talked about the importance of not just making affordable housing but keeping it affordable. She pointed out the irony in building a large number of small living spaces in the name of affordable housing, because even though these types of living spaces are great for solo individuals, studio apartments aren’t going to help those who are often the most in need of affordable housing, like families where parents make an income, just not enough to buy a typical market property. And when rent for such places is more along the lines of what a professional earns rather than a low-wage worker, such housing options aren’t actually affordable for the people they’re meant to serve. Expanding on that, she emphasized that it’s not just about making affordable housing, but keeping it that way, for those who occupy the space after.

Local government officials spoke at length about how attainable housing is being addressed in Pierce County where the cities of Tacoma and Auburn are located. They took questions and comments from local citizens and encouraged them to share their stories so that as elected officials, they could better do their jobs in serving those they represent.

In discussions titled “Learning from Others”, national affordable housing experts spoke on what housing insecurity looked like in Denver and Westminster, Colorado and Minneapolis, Minnesota and the strategies being used to address them there. In Colorado, there was an emphasis on tackling the supply side of affordable housing using zoning codes and other policies to ensure that housing is not only affordable and attainable but also stable.

I especially enjoyed the talk given by the representative from Minneapolis. Her presentation showed how race is a hugely important factor at the center of the affordable housing issue. It may be tempting to think about confining the problem to non-white neighborhoods where the income disparities are the largest and affordable housing is most in need, highlighting just how systemic the issue is. Luckily, Minneapolis is making headway through housing reforms that will bring development across the city to all neighborhoods, not just the non-white ones.

Even though the talks were very technical, the passion that all these people had for the issue was very clear. From policy makers and strategists to non-profit workers interacting with people face-to-face, they are all working towards helping people and making more affordable housing a reality, not only for their own cities but across the country, and there’s a lot of work that needs to be done. Because at the end of the day, this is an issue that affects the lives of people. The endgame is for people of all backgrounds and all situations to be able to own a home, simple as that. I never realized it before, but there are a lot of benefits that come with the capacity to own a home, and that really speaks to my own privilege. I’ve never had to worry about or see my parents worry about paying rent or choosing between rent and food. Being able to live in one place provides stability and encourages loyalty to a place, helping to grow a sense of community. Further, ownership can be empowering – knowing that something belongs to you, that you have something that you can leave behind to your loved ones is powerful. I’m grateful to have heard from so many perspectives and I’m really looking forward to continue working with Habitat for Humanity to build a place for someone to someday call home.

Jennifer Ng