February 28, 2020

Inside this issue

• CCUSA Presents the Washington Weekly

  CCUSA Presents the Washington Weekly  
 
This week lawmakers held a hearing on the state of the U.S. refugee program and continued to debate how to respond to the coronavirus outbreak. 

Refugee Hearing

The House Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration and Citizenship held a hearing, "The Current State of the U.S. Refugee Program."  The Most Reverend Mario E. Dorsonville, Auxiliary Bishop of Washington and the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops' Chair of the Committee on Migration, testified at the hearing.  Members of the subcommittee voiced concern over the low number of admitted refugees for the current fiscal year. 

Appellate Court Rulings on Immigration

News outlets reported the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals' decision to reinstate a block on the policy requiring migrants seeking asylum in the U.S. to wait in Mexico, known as Migration Protection Protocol (MPP) or "Remain in Mexico." The court also upheld a block on a rule seeking to bar asylum eligibility from migrants who cross the border between ports of entry.  This means that migrants are eligible for asylum regardless of where they cross the border.

Coronavirus

President Trump and U.S. health officials addressed the nation on Wednesday on the current state of the coronavirus and the U.S. response. Congress is considering an emergency funding package of $6-8 billion to combat the coronavirus disease. 

As of today, more than 83,000 people in at least 53 countries have been infected, resulting in the loss of 2,800 lives. The coronavirus is particularly troublesome because many infected people feel well enough to go about their daily lives, which only contributes to the spread of the virus. People can become infected by coming into contact with virus-containing droplets that are passed when a person breathes, talks, coughs or sneezes.

There is currently no vaccine for preventing the coronavirus. The Center for Disease Control (CDC) recommends the following preventive actions:

Avoid close contact with people who are sick.

Avoid touching your eyes, nose, and mouth.

Stay home when you are sick.

Cover your cough or sneeze with a tissue, then throw the tissue in the trash.

Clean and disinfect frequently touched objects and surfaces using a regular household cleaning spray or wipe.

Wash your hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds, especially after going to the bathroom; before eating; and after blowing your nose, coughing, or sneezing.

If soap and water are not readily available, use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer with at least 60% alcohol. Always wash hands with soap and water if your hands are visibly dirty.

Faith and the Common Good
We did not have a correct answer for last week's trivia.  Diane Nash was a leader of the 1960 Nashville sit-ins.  Diane Judith Nash was born May 15, 1938 and was one of the most successful strategists of the student wing of the Civil Rights Movement.

                                   

Diane Nash emerged from the sit-in movement in Nashville, Tennessee and became one of the most esteemed student leaders and organizers of the time. Born to a middle-class Catholic family in Chicago, Nash didn't truly understand what segregation was until she enrolled in Fisk University. When she got to Nashville, "I started feeling very confined and really resented it. Every time I obeyed a segregation rule, I felt like I was somehow agreeing I was too inferior to go through the front door or to use the facility that the ordinary public would use." She began searching for an organization that was fighting segregation and discovered the nonviolence workshops that Rev. James Lawson was holding a few blocks from campus. There, Nash "got a really good, excellent education in nonviolence and how to practice it" and became an unwavering believer in nonviolence as a way of life.

Her efforts included the first successful civil rights campaign to integrate lunch counters (Nashville); the Freedom Riders, who desegregated interstate travel; co-founding the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC); and co-initiating the Alabama Voting Rights Project and working on the Selma Voting Rights Movement. This helped gain Congressional passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

During sit-ins in Nashville in the spring of 1960, Nash and other members of the Nashville Student Movement also sought to negotiate with restaurant owners to desegregate the lunch counters. A boycott of downtown stores by Black Nashville residents helped bring the white owners to the table. When owners admitted that they were afraid of a boycott by white customers if they desegregated, the Nashville group took them seriously. Nash and others recruited "some middle-aged white ladies who were very dignified-looking" who agreed to sit at the newly desegregated lunch counters for three weeks. "When you regard your opponent as a human being instead of somebody to fight," Nash explained, "you can really work out problems." The action staved off a boycott by white customers, and one of the restaurant owners even became an ally of the Nashville Student Movement's desegregation campaign.

After the Civil Rights Movement, Nash moved back to Chicago where she worked in the fields of education and real estate, continuing as an advocate and championing causes such as fair housing and anti-war efforts.  She still lives in Chicago, only a few miles away from her son Douglass Bevel. Still active, Ms. Nash testified on Wednesday, February 26, 2020 before the House Committee on Oversight and Reform about Voter Suppression in Minority Communities.  You can watch her testimony here (at the 54:00 mark).
Prayer for Justice
Grant us, Lord God, a vision of your world as your love would have it:
a world where the weak are protected, and none go hungry or poor;
a world where the riches of creation are shared, and everyone can enjoy them;
a world where different races and cultures live in harmony and mutual respect;
a world where peace is built with justice, and justice is guided by love.
Give us the inspiration and courage to build it, through Jesus Christ our Lord.
- Author Unknown

Trivia Who helped calculate the trajectory for the 1969 Apollo 11 flight to the Moon?
Please send your answers to [email protected]

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