June 13, 2026
Here’s a quick story from Under the Jubilee Tree where oxygen is given and CO2 absorbed.
JEM at an ICE Detention Center
by Richard Lawrence, San Diego Jubilee Circle
This Easter was different. I went to church and then drove to the Otay Mesa Detention Center where at 1:30 Sunday morning, protestors had gathered for 24 straight Sundays to cheer hundreds of refugees being held in what was formerly a Womens’ Prison now operated by a private company.
There was anger in the air.
The “inmates” had been locked down and could not stroll in the yard between the prison and the sidewalk where music and protesters raised the volume hoping something might be heard by the people locked down inside.
My time to speak to the audience that could not hear me came, and I hoped that somehow the amplifier would penetrate the walls.
My words were few. How could I express my anger that refugees had been pulled off the street and thrown in prison even though no judge nor jury had found them guilty of any crime?
ICE had won, and all we could do was sing “Oh Freedom” and “before I’d be a slave, I’ll be buried in my grave…” We hoped they heard our message: we will fight for your freedom, dear friends and neighbors, until we have melted ICE and washed away the real criminals.
AMEN BROTHERS AND SISTERS. AMEN. |
