Share your table — and your nation — with the stranger in your midst
This Thanksgiving weekend, take to heart the tradition of welcoming immigrants to the New World.
As millions of families sat down to a Thanksgiving meal this year, thousands new to Chicago and to America are settling into their new normal.
Nearly 3,700 people arrived in Chicago by bus after Governor Greg Abbott of Texas began sending people to Chicago, New York and Washington D.C. to highlight the immigration crisis — or to gin up controversy and scapegoat migrants, depending on whom you ask.
It’s fitting this holiday season that the people of Chicago seem mostly to have welcomed these new residents with open arms.
“We were tired, without clothes,” said one unnamed migrant. “It was terrible, but oh, well. God never abandons anyone. We met one of the cleaning people at the terminal. She gave me some clothes and food.”
New migrants are likely to be caught up in the asylum process for years. In the meantime, Chicago-based aid agencies are working to find them more permanent places to stay.
Migrant families from Latin America are not the only people calling Chicago their new home. The Dil Mohamad family, Rohingya refugees from Myanmar who settled in Chicago seven months ago, have had their first Thanksgiving meal thanks to the Littmans of Evanston, a Jewish family descended from Holocaust survivors.
These rays of hope shine on an otherwise dark time for immigrants. A recent Pew study showed nearly 40 percent of Latinos in the United States worry they or someone they know will be deported.
This trend precedes the bombastic and incendiary rhetoric of President Donald Trump, and predates his plans to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border.
It might be easy for some to forget, but immigrant rights activists dubbed President Barack Obama the “Deporter-in-Chief”, and many hardline immigration policies Trump’s administration took in an extreme direction found their start during Obama’s presidency.
Meanwhile, immigration advocates have slammed President Joe Biden for what they see as a too-slow rollback of Trump-era policies, not just on the U.S.-Mexico border but also with Haitian refugees.
Ultimately, those of us who look to the Bible for guidance on this issue will need to grapple with some key verses that should give any Christian ample reason to treat all people with care and dignity.
Among others, Genesis 23:4, Leviticus 19:34, Deuteronomy 10:19, 27:19, and Matthew 25:35-40, stand out as exemplifying how the Christian should treat the stranger in our midst.
This Thanksgiving, I pray we’ll take to heart the spirit of the season and welcome those who are new to our shores. Let us see in the immigrant the unmistakable face of a would-be friend, and a fellow human being made in the image of God.
“If we cannot end now our differences, at least we can help make the world safe for diversity. For, in the final analysis, our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this small planet. We all breathe the same air. We all cherish our children's future. And we are all mortal.”
President John F. Kennedy
The Round Up
Here are the stories that caught our eyes this week and what they mean for the weeks ahead.
Another round of relief being offered to Chicago families
The city of Chicago will offer direct cash assistance to city residents who may have slipped through the cracks of the COVID stimulus program.
Dubbed “2022 Chicago Resiliency 2.0”, the help is on offer for caregivers of adults or households with adult children or other family members, who may not have qualified because of their tax status.
The midterm elections saw some campaigning on COVID-related stimulus aid they opposed in Congress. Meanwhile, some economists had warned against passing a stimulus package that was too small.
Ultimately, the COVID pandemic exposed glaring inequities in our economic and health care system, and buoyed calls for a more permanent solution.
One thing appears certain: the growing movement to rebalance the economy isn’t going away. Calls for universal cash assistance, either in the form of a basic income guarantee, a robust child tax credit, or both, will continue.
We at the Civic Update will keep pushing for economic justice even as the COVID crisis that gave wider attention to these ideas fades from public view.
Englewood residents may face a slow process before a replacement grocer opens its doors in the wake of the Whole Foods closure in the neighborhood.
Whole Foods’ contract means the grocer is still the tenant and can choose which grocer moves into the space. Not many grocers can occupy such a large building.
Meanwhile, business experts say residents could very well be waiting until the dust settles following the proposed merger of Jewel-Osco and Mariano’s before any store moves into the space.
The Jeff Bezos’ owned Whole Foods brand is known for higher prices and gourmet foods, and neighbors say the combination just wasn’t right for Englewood.
In June, South Side alderpersons called on the city to "reimagine the entire food access system." We at Civic Update echo these calls.
Chicagoans deserve better than empty promises and food deserts. We’ll keep you informed in the coming weeks on the progress, or lack thereof, toward a better food future.
In post-Roe America, pilots take the abortion battle to the skies
An Illinois-based non-profit called “Elevated Access” now has a reported 1,000 volunteer pilots flying women, medical personnel and equipment from states that have passed abortion restrictions in the wake of the Dobbs decision.
“Elevated Access” says about 1,000 pilots have volunteered to fly pregnant women across state lines to get an abortion. The volunteer pictured above works by day as a high school teacher. Photo credit: Taylor Glascock for WBEZ
FAA regulations do not require the hobbyist pilots file a flight plan, or record the names of their passengers or the reason for the trip. All the pilot is required to ask is the weight of the passengers and to weigh any luggage or cargo. Small planes can also land at smaller, rural airports, which means less drive time for women seeking an abortion.
States are grappling with the new reality that abortion laws can vary wildly even from one neighboring state to another. Illinois remains among the most permissive states, and both Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot and Illinois’ newly-reelected Governor J.B. Pritzker have pledged to continue that state of affairs.
During his run for Congress in the first district, Pastor
called for a new way forward that would respect both unborn babies and their mothers. In the post-Roe world, this both/and approach represents the bold step forward we need.Unfortunately, until we chart that path, we’re likely to see a continuation of the fits and starts we’ve seen in the immediate aftermath of the Supreme Court’s ruling striking down Roe and Casey.
Newsclips
Power Ranking the Chicago Mayoral Candidates
Rents in Chicago suburbs rise nearly 12%
Feds green light new O’Hare International terminal
Old Rainforest Cafe site gets zoning OK for weed dispensary
Thanksgiving week specials
It’s Chicago’s warmest Thanksgiving in seven years
Chicago restaurant company making massive Thanksgiving dinner for city's homeless population
‘Lucky’ the wild turkey is wandering around Beverly, delighting neighbors who vow not to eat him