CPTnet
2 June 2007
ARIZONA BORDERLANDS: Delegation commemorates people who
have died crossing the desert in Cochise County since October 2006
Christian Peacemaker Team delegation members joined local activists and
residents of Douglas, Arizona on Saturday, 26 May 2007 in a memorial service
and public witness to remember migrants who have died in the Cochise County
area since October 1, 2006, while attempting to cross the border into the
United States.
Along the Mexican border wall, delegation and community members called out
several hundred individual names of those who had died over the past ten
years in this dangerous region of the borderlands. After each name, the
group responded "Presente!" acknowledging their presence, while various
participants took turns striking the wall with a rubber mallet.
Participants also spray painted eight white crosses along the border wall as
a commitment not to forget the eight border deaths that happened in the
immediate area since last October. The service concluded with a song and a
prayer for peace and justice, affirming a commitment to healing the borders
that run between nations and within each human heart.
"I never liked walls, but today I also realized that they can be deadly
threats. A system that forces people, any people, to face death because of
basic human needs, can never be good. It can certainly not be called
Christian or humane," said Martin Smedjeback, a delegation member and
nonviolence trainer from Sweden.
The delegation happened at a time of critical debate in both the U.S. House
and Senate regarding future immigration and border enforcement policy.
More information regarding these policies is available at www.lawg.org,
www.borderaction.org, www.nomoredeaths.org
Participants in CPT's 24 May -4 June Borderlands delegation are Carin
Anderson, Christopher Moore-Backman and their baby Isa (Tucson, AZ), Rachel
Brocker (Beaverton, OR), Erin Cox, (Chicago, IL), Martha Hayward (Negaunee,
MI), Rachel Liberto (Seattle, WA), Lois Mastrangelo (Watertown, MA), Kyle
Navis (Spokane, WA), Tyler Schroeder (Centennial CO), Martin Smedjeback
(Sundbyberg, Sweden) Rick Ufford-Chase (Tucson, AZ) and John Williamson
(Spokane, WA).
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Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT) seeks to enlist the whole church in
organized, nonviolent alternatives to war and places teams of trained
peacemakers in regions of lethal conflict. Originally a violence-reduction
initiative of the historic peace churches (Mennonite, Church of the Brethren
and Quaker), CPT now enjoys support and membership from a wide range of
Christian denominations.
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