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| Mateo Barrera, 4, originally from El Salvador, with family members at a January news conference in Los Angeles on temporary protected status. The Trump administration is ending special protections for Salvadoran immigrants, an action that could force nearly 200,000 to leave the U.S. (Damian Dovarganes / AP) |
"The Trump administration’s assault on immigrants is growing more fierce, both in Washington, D.C., and on the streets. Meanwhile, resistance to this aggressive policy, along with immigrants’ fear of deportation, becomes more intense. Into this maelstrom stepped Victor Narro and his book, “Living Peace, Connecting Your Spirituality With Your Work for Justice.”
Spirituality in the Trump era? With Attorney General Jeff Sessions and President Trump’s chief of staff, John Kelly (the former secretary of homeland security), calling the shots, federal agents—without a scintilla of humanity, much less spirituality—are intensifying their sweeps in search of undocumented immigrants. Separating families and ripping people from their schools, homes and jobs is the opposite of spirituality. And it’s hard to fight these powerful forces with the thin resources available to community immigrant rights organizations.
Narro is project director at the UCLA Labor Center. He also teaches at UCLA and UCLA law school. He is a sympathetic man with a soft but persuasive voice.
Over the years, Narro and his colleagues have organized exploited workers, most of them Latino immigrants who are janitorial, garment, carwash and food industry workers and others in industries famous for low pay and bad working conditions. In addition, they have advised and worked in immigrant rights organizations trying to protect women, men and children from the increasing number of arrest sweeps by Immigration and Customs Enforcement. This is difficult work emotionally, and it’s physically demanding, because ICE agents can and do pick up immigrants at any time. Narro wrote “Living Peace” as a guide, an inspiration and a reminder that rights organizations’ tough The Trump administration’s assault on immigrants is growing more fierce, both in Washington, D.C., and on the streets. Meanwhile, resistance to this aggressive policy, along with immigrants’ fear of deportation, becomes more intense. Into this maelstrom stepped Victor Narro and his book, “Living Peace, Connecting Your Spirituality With Your Work for Justice.”
Spirituality in the Trump era? With Attorney General Jeff Sessions and President Trump’s chief of staff, John Kelly (the former secretary of homeland security), calling the shots, federal agents—without a scintilla of humanity, much less spirituality—are intensifying their sweeps in search of undocumented immigrants. Separating families and ripping people from their schools, homes and jobs is the opposite of spirituality. And it’s hard to fight these powerful forces with the thin resources available to community immigrant rights organizations.
Narro is project director at the UCLA Labor Center. He also teaches at UCLA and UCLA law school. He is a sympathetic man with a soft but persuasive voice.Narro was inspired by the teaching of St. Francis of Assisi. He was also inspired by Thich Nhat Hahn, the Vietnamese Zen master. Narro’s wife, journalist Laureen Lazarovici Narro, introduced him to Master Hanh’s teaching.He reminds his stressed-out readers to take care of themselves.
“What Francis taught us when he was living out his last days was that we must not sacrifice ourselves to the extent of jeopardizing our healthy bodies, healthy lives and healthy balance,” Narro writes. “Francis died at age 45, but his body was broken and in significant ill health when he was 10 years younger. I always imagine how much more he would have been able to do if he had taken care of his body and health. … Our ability to do our work for social justice is reliant on our physical capacity and our health.”
As I read the book, I thought about the many grass-roots community organizers I met while covering immigration, poverty or political crusades and how they could use such practical advice. "
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