Statement for “Love Leads Us” Service

The Interfaith Movement for Immigrant Justice (IMIrJ) and Rural Organizing Project are holding a worship service entitled “Love Leads Us” at 11am on Sunday, June 24th, at the ICE Detention Facility in Sheridan, Oregon, where there are currently 123 people in custody. Though unable to attend, I have shared this statement with the organizers, representing myself as the Pacific Green Party’s candidate for Governor.

The Green Party demands the immediate reunification and release of the thousands of families currently in ICE custody. America is a nation founded by immigrants on stolen land. Our historic tradition of welcoming European immigrants has long been countered by acts of exclusion, oppression, and violence against immigrants of color from Central and South America, Africa, and Asia, along with the systemic destruction of Native culture and peoples.

In Chapter 2 of the Bhagavad Gita, Lord Krsna tells his disciple Arjuna that our true selves lie beneath externals, to detach from concerns related to the material self, and to recognize the inner Self with a capital S that resides in us all. In doing so, we uncover that we are all spiritual beings, and thus we are all one. Acts of white supremacy as witnessed by America’s despicable immigration practices disregard this practice and are therefore adharmic, against dharma.

It is in our unity as the Creation of our Creator that we sustain Their* will, and it is in this unity that we lift up our friends who are being held inside this unholy institution. We pray for the minds of their captors to change, that they may see the light as Saul of Tarsus did, before his radical transformation into the apostle Paul. We pray that we all remain steadfast in our faith that, ultimately, good shall prevail.

Until the last detainee is freed, we shall not rest.

Sai Ram,

Rev. Alex DiBlasi, interfaith minister

*Please note that I use gender-neutral pronouns to describe the impersonal Absolute; gendered pronouns I use for embodied forms (ie, Christ, Krsna, Rama)

The “Road to Sheridan: Love Leads Us” service will be Sunday, June 24th, at Sheridan Fishing Pond South Side Park, SW Ballston Road, Sheridan, OR 97378