October 2019


The Moral Response: Just and Sacred

Dear Friends, 

As we welcome fall in Southern California and begin the busy holiday season, CLUE remains steadfast in its dedication to stand with and uplift workers, their families, and communities. I echo Rabbi Aryeh's message below in joining our Jewish cousins in hoping for a sweeter and more just new year for immigrants, refugees, asylum seekers, and all those who struggle for good jobs, dignity, and justice.

Over the last month, I have had the opportunity to meet many more of you and connect about why CLUE’s work is so close to your heart. In the coming weeks, I will continue to attend committee meetings and events in Los Angeles County and Orange County.

On Friday, September 20th, I had the privilege to hear testimony from asylum seekers in Orange County at CLUE’s event, Asylum-Seeker Assistance Forum. One brave woman from El Salvador shared her heartbreaking story of violence that she fled in her home country and the violence she survived during her arduous journey through Central America and Mexico to the United States. When she began to tell her story, she was overcome with emotion and explained that “sometimes it’s hard for me to relive what I’ve been through.” 

Less than a week later, we learned that President Trump again lowered the cap of refugee admissions <[link removed]> to only 18,000 resettlements -- the lowest number in the program’s nearly 40 year history. Under President Obama in 2016, that number was 85,000. 

For our work together, may the juxtaposition of these two stories continue to motivate us to stay united in our mission during these dark times. As we continue to be devastated at the action, and inaction, of this administration, we must remember that together, we can create transformation. And that to do nothing is, in itself, an action. In times of crisis, CLUE believes it is also an opportunity to welcome people with compassion, kindness, and love. 

CLUE has also been busy this month advocating for grocery workers, protesting immigrant detention facilities, and working towards community space in Santa Ana. I invite you to read more below about upcoming actions and events that will contribute to our shared mission.

Your support enables this vital work to continue. Please give generously <[link removed]> and get involved <[link removed]>!

In faith and solidarity,

Michelle M. Seyler
Executive Director

A Reflection on Faith & Social Justice

Rabbi Aryeh Cohen, CLUE Board Member

On the Jewish New Year holiday, called Rosh Hashanah in Hebrew, one of the central ritual acts is the blowing of the shofar, a ram’s horn. In the middle of the solemn service, after reading from the Torah scroll, a designated person sounds the shofar, blowing one hundred blasts. This is a ritual that is grounded in Torah and is recorded as happening in the Temple in Jerusalem two thousand years ago and more. At a certain point there are no more words to say, and the simple plaintive blast of the shofar is sounded. One of the explanations for this ritual is that it is supposed to be something of an alarm. The 13th Century Spanish Jewish scholar Maimonides explains the ritual in this way: “Notwithstanding that the blowing of the ram's horn trumpet on Rosh ha-Shanah is a Scriptural statute, its blast is symbolic, as if saying: "You that sleep, awaken from your sleep, and you that slumber, emerge from your slumber, examine your conduct, turn in repentance, and remember your Creator!”" 

We are now, in the “fierce urgency of now,” in the midst of a five alarm fire. An administration that has no respect for the rule of law, for the lives of people seeking freedom from violence and poverty, for working people trying to put food on their table, is a danger to us all. We must go beyond the words, and take our anger, our righteous rage and our prophetic witness into the streets and bang on the doors of the detention centers and storm the offices of our elected officials and demand justice. In this in between moment, between Rosh Hashanah and the Day of Atonement fast / Yom Kippur next week, we must strive to respond to Isaiah’s demand: “This is the fast I desire: To unlock fetters of wickedness, and untie the cords of the yoke. To let the oppressed go free; To break off every yoke. It is to share your bread with the hungry, And to take the wretched poor into your home; When you see the naked, to clothe him.” 

For then, only then, after establishing justice in the world will “God guide you always; slake your thirst in parched places and give strength to your bones. You shall be like a watered garden, Like a spring whose waters do not fail.” 

Blessings and hopes for a year of sweet, determined, hopeful, successful, communal struggle for justice.

In this issue

Economic Justice

- Grocery Workers win historic contract!
- Honest Anaheim Townhall
- Save the Date: Heschel/King Forum: Confronting White Supremacy
- Hospitality Workers and the CLUE community press on in fight against well-funded opposition to protect women workers in Rancho Palos Verdes
- Our People, Our Ports

Justice for Immigrants

- Support for Asylum Seekers among Congregations and Communities
- Angelinxs stage die-in outside headquarters of for-profit immigrant detention center giant, GEO
- Detained in America: Children Speak at the Japanese American National Museum
- ACTION ALERT: THU OCT 3rd: We Remember: Southern California Jews ask Reps Roybal-Allard & Hill to Defund Hate
- ACTION ALERT: SAT OCT 12th: Close the Camps! Stop the Raids! No More Deportations! End All Sheriff complicity with ICE and CPB!

Faith-Rooted Education and Outreach

- THRIVE Santa Ana community gather to debrief and celebrate moving one step closer in the fight for community lands in community hands
- CLUE's Good Shepherd Energy Stewardship Program News
- Recent Legislative Wins

Economic Justice

Grocery Workers win historic contract!



Our CLUE community rejoices in the fantastic news that our grocery worker siblings throughout California have successfully averted a strike, and in so doing achieved major gains, including the most significant wage and benefit increase in over 30 years! In the face of major resistance from Big Grocery executives, who actually proposed cutting pay and health benefits, grocery workers persevered because they organized store by store to demand that One Job Should Be Enough. Their personal stories and their will to succeed inspired the faith community and customers to turn out in droves to demonstrate to executives that these workers deserve fair and just treatment that recognizes their everyday sacrifice and service in helping feed our community.

Find out more about what grocery workers won in their historic collective bargaining agreement here: [link removed]

And next time you’re shopping for groceries at Ralphs, Vons, Pavilions, or Albertsons, please congratulate the workers on standing together, heart-to-heart, to achieve this historic win. And thank their managers for respecting their workers, and continually bringing the community’s concerns and demands to executives.

Honest Anaheim Townhall


Top two photos courtesy of Gaston Castellanos.

Anaheim Residents, workers, faith community, school board members, and City Councilors met at the Islamic Institute of Orange County on Sept 19th to discuss the impending Angel Stadium development negotiations, and what the resulting community benefits agreement should look like. Negotiations are currently underway behind closed doors to extend the lease for the stadium and to develop the surrounding public land into a commercial and residential complex. Anaheim Mayor Harry Sidhu is the only member of the City Council on the negotiating team dealing with billionaire Angels owner, Arte Moreno.

At the Honest Anaheim Townhall, concerned community members agreed they would accept nothing less than a stadium development deal that includes a transparent negotiation process, adding “Anaheim” back to the team’s name, maximizing community benefits to include things like affordable housing, and giving the public a 30-day sunshine period to review the deal before it goes to a final vote.

ACTION ITEMS: 

You can support Anaheim residents’ attempts to hold their city accountable during negotiations by doing the following:

- Please sign and share the Honest Anaheim petition <[link removed]>.
- And please follow and share the Honest Anaheim Facebook Page <[link removed]> for breaking news and updates.


For more information on how the CLUE faith community can support these efforts, please reach out to faith-rooted organizer Adam Overton at [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>.

Please consider dedicating your next birthday on Facebook to CLUE! Did you know that you can support CLUE's work by creating a simple birthday fundraiser on Facebook? It's easy to do, just visit [link removed]. Thanks!



Save the Date: Heschel/King Forum: Confronting White Supremacy



CLUE's Black Jewish Justice Alliance presents the Heschel/King Forum: Confronting White Supremacy, featuring speakers Rabbi Sharon Brous & Reverend James Lawson.

When: Sunday, November 3, 3-6pm
Where: Holman UMC, 3320 W. Adams Blvd, Los Angeles 90018
RSVP:[link removed]

Hospitality Workers and the CLUE community press on in fight against well-funded opposition to protect women workers in Rancho Palos Verdes

CLUE is working hard to pass Measure B in the city of Rancho Palos Verdes. Palos Verdes committee members have been educating their congregations on the details of the measure and are recruiting volunteers to canvass and make phone calls on behalf of Measure B. Like Measure WW in Long Beach, and the Hospitality Working Conditions Ordinance in Santa Monica, Measure B would protect women housecleaners from sexual assault and crushing workloads. St. Luke's Presbyterian Church hosted worker-organizer, Maria Meza, for Labor Day services, and CLUE residents of Rancho Palos Verdes have been instrumental in effectively responding to the well-funded attacks levied in an onslaught of opposition mailers.

ACTION-ITEM: If you supported women housecleaners in Long Beach and Santa Monica, or if you’re new to this issue and want to get involved, we need your help. To find out more about the Measure B campaign and how to help, reach out to faith-rooted organizer Jeremy Arnold at [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>.

Our People, Our Ports



CLUE mobilized clergy from the San Pedro/Wilmington area to support striking Cal Cartage Express/National Freight Industries (NFI) workers.

Our fight at the Port of Los Angeles continues. Since Cal Cartage Express/National Freight Industries (NFI) chose to abandon its publicly owned facility rather than treat its workers with dignity and respect, CLUE has been mobilizing to bring the concerns of the community to the companies who have the ability to save local workers’ jobs. Despite public scrutiny and legal judgements, Rio Tinto, a London-based company that operates a mine in the Mojave Desert and exports the minerals through the Port of Los Angeles, maintains its business relationship with NFI. 

In response, last month Rev. Jonathan Mitchell of the Garden Church in San Pedro, joined a delegation representing striking truck drivers and their many allies to Rio Tinto's mining facility in Boron, CA. In addition, Pastor Nelson Castorillo of First United Methodist Church of Wilmington flew to Salt Lake City, Utah, with Teamsters Port Division drivers and leaders to take part in a delegation to speak with executives at Rio Tinto's U.S. headquarters. Also joining the Salt Lake City delegation was Pastor Tom Goldsmith of First Unitarian Church Congregation in Salt Lake City.Faith leaders joined these delegations to bring the concerns of port-adjacent communities to Rio Tinto’s largest footprints in the western United States and ask them to save the former NFI warehouse workers’ jobs by keeping the 2401 E PCH warehouse in its supply chain.

For more background on the ongoing Our People, Our Ports campaign, read this letter <[link removed]> to Rio Tinto Group CEO, Jean-Sebastien Jacques, from LAANE Executive Director, Roxana Tynan.

To get involved in supporting the Our People, Our Ports campaign, reach out to faith-rooted organizer Jeremy Arnold at [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>.

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Justice for Immigrants

Support for Asylum Seekers among Congregations and Communities



On Friday, September 20th, the faith community gathered for one of CLUE’s Asylum-Seeker Assistance Forums, this time at Anaheim United Methodist Church. Participants heard testimonies from two recent asylees, who spoke about their journey to the US border, and their subsequent inhumane detention, and in some cases life-threatening abuse, at the hands of Border Patrol agents and detention staff.

Angelinxs stage die-in outside headquarters of for-profit immigrant detention center giant, GEO



On Thursday, September 19th, the CLUE community joined with members of the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights (CHIRLA), the Central American Resource Center (CARECEN), Bend the Arc Jewish Action, and others, to protest GEO's inhumane treatment of immigrants, and to perform a massive die-in outside their West Los Angeles headquarters. ICE has paid GEO $355 million to run their camps, and the community is demanding that “Not One More Dollar” be spent on incarcerating and traumatizing innocent immigrants. 

Your donation makes a big difference!
Become a CLUE sustainer with a monthly gift today! <[link removed]>



Detained in America: Children Speak at the Japanese American National Museum



On Saturday, September 21st, CLUE, in partnership with CHIRLA, Bend the Arc Jewish Action, and Immigrant Families Together (IFT), participated in “Detained in America: Children Speak” at the Japanese American National Museum. Conceived and created by Amy Cohen and Claudia Sobral, the program featured Japanese American children reading excerpts from archival letters by those imprisoned in concentration camps during World War II. In a chilling reflection of our history, other children also read powerful present-day declarations written by unaccompanied minors while they were incarcerated in detention facilities and immigration camps. These testimonies described the trauma inflicted by American government policies and officials on the young and innocent among us. 

Currently, more than 10,000 unaccompanied minors are still detained in facilities throughout the United States. 

. . .

For more information on how you can get involved with CLUE's efforts to support and advocate for asylum seekers, please email Guillermo Torres at [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>.

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UPCOMING IMMIGRATION EVENTS AND ACTIONS

THU OCT 3rd: We Remember: Southern California Jews ask Reps Roybal-Allard & Hill to Defund Hate

CLUE community is invited to join the Jewish community in SoCal to come together for ritual and action to recommit ourselves to bold action to end the cruelty of the detention system in the new year.  

This year, on the days between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, American Jews are mourning and taking action to stop attacks on immigrant families.

At the same time, the Trump administration is continuing to ask Congress for billions more dollars to escalate its cruelty on immigrant families and communities — including raids, cages, more family separation. On the holiest days of the Jewish year, how can we ask for forgiveness while our government commits crimes against immigrants in our names?

This action is in coordination with thousands of Jews around the country who are asking every Member of Congress to Defund Hate by cutting funding to and holding accountable ICE and CBP, the agencies that enforce Trump’s violent immigration policies.

During these Days of Awe our Jewish communities will say: “We remember and we reject attacks on immigrants.”

WHAT: We Remember: Southern California Jews ask Reps Roybal-Allard & Hill to Defund Hate
WHEN:  Thursday, October 03, 2019 at 12pm
TIME:  12:00pm
WHERE:  Rep. Roybal-Allard's office at 500 Citadel Dr., Commerce, CA 90040
RSVP:[link removed]

SAT OCT 12th: Close the Camps! Stop the Raids! No More Deportations! End All Sheriff complicity with ICE and CPB!

Together we are called to stand up against oppressive systems that enable corporations such as GEO to profit off the pain and death of immigrants. Please join us at this upcoming action.

WHAT: National Day of Action to "Close the Camps"
WHEN: Saturday, October 12th, 2019
TIME: 11:00am-4:00pm
WHERE: Gathering at Grand Park, 215 N. Broadway (Between 1st & Temple)

Assemble at 11am in downtown LA. Then march to Downtown Sheriff Station (211 W.Temple) and Federal Building/Metropolitan Immigration Detention Center (300 N. Los Angeles St/535 N Alameda St).

For more details, please contact Guillermo Torres at [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>.

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THRIVE Santa Ana

THRIVE Santa Ana community gather to debrief and celebrate moving one step closer in the fight for community lands in community hands.



On Tuesday, September 17th, CLUE joined THRIVE Santa Ana and community members to encourage the Santa Ana City Council to approve an extension of the Exclusive Negotiation Agreement with THRIVE for the Walnut and Daisy lot. In the end, they were successful in achieving a six-month extension to finalize an agreement.

Since May 2018, THRIVE has been in an Exclusive Negotiation Agreement with the City of Santa Ana for its first piece of land –⁠ a one-third acre vacant lot at the corner of Walnut and Daisy streets in central Santa Ana. THRIVE is in the process of designing a community micro-farm that would provide local, organic produce at a low cost, and would benefit the neighborhood with opportunities for physical activity, economic growth, and promoting healthy lifestyles.

The fight to create this community micro-farm in Santa Ana is not over. We still need your help to make sure the community gets the healthy development they deserve. Please get involved by contacting faith-rooted organizer, Lucero Garcia, at [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>. 

Faith-Rooted Education and Outreach

CLUE's Good Shepherd Energy Stewardship Program News



CLUE, in partnership with Energy Upgrade CA, was at Pena de Horeb Hispanic Church on Sunday, September 1st with Pastor Jose Moreno educating faith communities how to protect our natural resources in California, specifically Energy Upgrade California’s "Time of Use" program. For more information on how you, your family, and congregation can keep California Golden, learn more at www.energyupgradeca.org <[link removed]>. 

Recent Legislative Wins

AB-5 was signed into law!

Beginning January 1, 2020 companies in California will be prevented from misclassifying workers as independent contractors in their attempts to avoid giving workers a slew of desperately needed benefits. This is a monumental victory for hundreds of thousands of California workers!

- California Labor Federation: In Monumental Victory for Workers, Gov. Newsom Signs AB 5 into Law <[link removed]>
- LA Times: Newsom signs bill rewriting California employment law, limiting use of independent contractors <[link removed]>
- Read the bill here <[link removed]>. 

Is the fight against misclassification of workers over? Nope.According to the LA Times article listed above, “three companies — Uber, Lyft and DoorDash — upped the political pressure last month, opening a campaign committee with a $90-million contribution toward taking the issue to California voters in a 2020 ballot measure.” There will be more work to do in 2020 to maintain this major win for workers. Stay tuned.

The California Tenant Protection Act of 2019, AB-1482, has passed the state senate and legislature, and is currently awaiting the Governor’s signature!

If signed into law, The California Tenant Protection Act of 2019 will prevent landlords from gouging tenants with extreme rent hikes by capping rent increases at five percent per year. It also makes official that landlords cannot evict renters without first proving “just cause.”

Read more <[link removed]> on what this will mean for renters across the state.
Read the bill here <[link removed]>.

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CLUE's Mission is to educate, organize and mobilize the faith community to accompany workers and their families in their struggle for good jobs, dignity, and justice.
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