“Lord,
please bless our political leaders as they deal with the pressing issue of
immigration. We pray to the Lord.” I heard this statement during a May 2010
Sunday mass in a Catholic church (with a predominantly white middle-class
congregation) in the Buckhead neighborhood of Atlanta, and my attention was
roused. At first, I wasn’t sure what I had heard. I thought the speaker was
going to ask God for help regarding the recession or the war, but instead – I
heard correctly! - The prayer was for help with immigration. Although I don’t
attend church as much as my mother (or my grandmother) would want or like me
to, I don’t recall ever hearing any prayers that identified immigration as a
problem in need of God’s guidance and help. Normally, prayers are made for
those who are sick, homeless, unemployed, troubled, or recently deceased, or
for issues that the church deems as “sins,” or against what is said in the
Bible, such as abortion and homosexuality. The prayer was a telling statement
about the public opinion of the influx of immigrants into the southern
metropolis.
Immediately I felt uncomfortable. Right there in this place
of worship, my family (which includes people at various stages of the
immigration process, from resident alien to naturalized citizen) and the
Afro-Caribbeans in my study were being labeled as a problem that required divine intervention. The large increase in
the foreign-born population in Atlanta over the past three decades has
stimulated a mixture of reactions and feelings from the city’s native/long-term
residents, and the local government. The city has made strides to incorporate
their immigrant newcomers, for example, by legally recognizing June as
Caribbean American Heritage Month and allowing the CAHM planning committee to
use city hall (for free) for the opening reception. However, the message I received
in this one church in the Buckhead section of Atlanta was that immigrants were
not welcome.
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