Last week, the owner of an empty warehouse in Roxbury sold the building to DHS for the creation of a detention center which could hold up to 1500 persons. Residents and town officials vehemently opposed the deal. There are serious infrastructure issues, including water and sewer capacity.
Roxbury is a semi-rural township of about 23,100 residents, pretty white and wealthy with a median income of over $130,000, with two lakes, Hopatcong and Musconetcong and nice parks and rivers. You may ask what happened to local zoning rules? Good question – does a proposed detention center violate those rules? And who wins?
A woman recently released from a GEO facility, which runs about 90% of immigration facilities, showed me photos of the “food”—bread that was so moldy that the green moldy stuff in the back of the fridge looks good, and “meat” that gave everyone diarrhea. The town is furious that Tom Kean, for whom they voted, did not do more to protect them from ICE in their wealthy town that probably employs as landscapers and house cleaners the very people targeted for detention and removal.
Prayer for the Day
Merciful God, we know we need your love and understanding,
For so often we rely on our own resources rather than trusting in you;
Afraid of the world around us, we fear where our questions lead us,
For the old answers do not fit the world we inhabit.
Help us, O God, as we face a new landscape full of fear,
And to work for true justice for all who live here in our Nation.
In the name of the One who stands with us in our struggles,
Even Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen.
Thoughts for the Day
Tenderness and kindness are not signs of weakness and despair, but manifestations of strength and resolution.
Khalil Gibran, Lebanese American poet (1883-1931)
For grace to be grace, it must give us things we didn't know we needed and take us places where we didn't know we didn't want to go. As we stumble through the crazily altered landscape of our lives, we find that God is enjoying our attention as never before.
Kathleen Norris, from Acedia & Me: A Marriage, Monks, and a Writer's Life
Thus says the Lord: Maintain justice, and do what is right,
For soon my salvation will come, and my deliverance will be revealed.
Isaiah 56: 1