Dear Fremont Family:

Film Showing: Saturday February 1, 6:30

I admit that I did not watch a single minute of the Presidential Inauguration on Monday. Instead, I gathered with a few friends and participated in the annual “Reclaim MLK Day” March sponsored by Don’t Shoot PDX. Under the beautiful bright blue sky, about 100 of us gathered in Peninsula Park. We listened to speakers, held signs that read, “Our lives begin to end the day we become SILENT about things that matter” (a quote by MLK himself) and reminded ourselves that we are so much more powerful together than we are apart. Then, led by a Community band, we marched down Rosa Parks Ave to MLK Blvd. and on from there in solidarity. It felt good to be outside, to be diverse community, and to know that the work toward justice never ends.

Yet, it was hard to ignore the cavalcade of Executive Orders that came down almost immediately after President Donald Trump took office. Especially heart-breaking to me was the order that schools and churches will no longer be considered “sanctuary” sites offering protection to immigrants from deportation from federal law enforcement. It seems to me that the flurry of Executive Orders was intended to set the tone for things to come.

Now, as the church, we must discern our faithful witness going forward. How will we respond to the increasing threats to our immigrant neighbors? I suggest we begin with some education and listening. On Saturday, February 1 at 6:30pm in the Sanctuary at Fremont, we will host a free public screening of a documentary entitled, “Borderland: the Line Within.”

The documentary depicts how the border is not only a geographical location, but also a multi-billion dollar business. The film explores how the border runs through every community and every undocumented immigrant family with the threat that at any moment they can be captured, incarcerated, deported. The film not only exposes the profitable business of immigration and its human cost, but it also weaves together the stories of immigrant heroines and heroes resisting and showing a way forward, intent on building a movement in the shadow of what the film calls the “border industrial complex,”

Please consider attending this important screening and inviting your family, friends and neighbors. Then, commit to joining the work of shaping how the resistance movement will take root in us.

Grace and peace,

Erin