I usually keep the Ukestra videos somewhere else on my page but I wanted to put this one here. Recorded under a variety of names, this song began life as a poem by Woody Guthrie to commemorate the (at that time) anonymous Mexican victims of a plane crash in 1948. The song was set to music by a schoolteacher named Martin Hoffman and it has been sung ever since. The passengers were migrant farm workers being transported back over the border to Mexico. Reports at the time did not feel the need to mention their names. A name is important. It has practical uses, of course. It is also a recognition of our existence as holy children of God. To erase someone's name doesn't really erase their existence or their holiness, However, it makes it very hard to tell their story. What is happening today is a willful ignorance--a gross perpetuation--of our past and present injustices. It is suppression and oppression of people. It is an attempt to erase the reality of our shared humanity to comfort the status quo. We cannot stand with the status quo. We cannot allow the victims of today's crackdown on immigrant families--separating them from each other and in some cases "losing" their identities--to become mere numbers. We cannot allow ourselves to be numb. We must know their faces and their names and speak them loudly to the powers and principalities of this world. Obviously, this song still has meaning for us today. Our nation--both before and since the plane crash at Los Gatos--has grappled with recognizing the humanity of people who do not fit a "traditional" (that is, white) concept of "America". We played this song on Sunday in recognition of past and ongoing acts of injustice. It is a reminder that the more things change the more they stay the same.
One postscript to the story is that years later, thanks to some diligent work, the names of the victims of the plane crash were discovered. Here they are so that they are not forgotten again.... The 28 Mexican Citizens Who Died in the Plane Wreck Over Los Gatos January 28, 1948 Miguel Negrete Álvarez. Tomás Aviña de Gracia. Francisco Llamas Durán. Santiago García Elizondo. Rosalio Padilla Estrada. Tomás Padilla Márquez. Bernabé López Garcia. Salvador Sandoval Hernández. Severo Medina Lára. Elías Trujillo Macias. José Rodriguez Macias. Luis López Medina. Manuel Calderón Merino. Luis Cuevas Miranda. Martin Razo Navarro. Ignacio Pérez Navarro. Román Ochoa Ochoa. Ramón Paredes Gonzalez. Guadalupe Ramírez Lára. Apolonio Ramírez Placencia. Alberto Carlos Raygoza. Guadalupe Hernández Rodríguez. Maria Santana Rodríguez. Juan Valenzuela Ruiz. Wenceslao Flores Ruiz. José Valdívia Sánchez. Jesús Meza Santos. Baldomero Marcas Torres. There were prayers this Sunday as well. Our Congregational Associate prayed for the displaced people of the world. I closed with a prayer for the dream of that Commonwealth of Heaven, or as Woody Guthrie put it in one of our readings, "One Big Union." Prayer for the One Big Union Yes, we do all believe in “One Big Union” We may not call it that We may use terms like “The Just Society” Or the “The Utopian Ideal” Or the “Commonwealth of Heaven” But what draws us together in places like The Eliot Church Is the dream of something greater The will to oppose inequality To find a home for the displaced And to see the humanity of the stranger We also gather here to recognize the call In the words of the prophet Micah To do Justice, Love Mercy, and walk humbly with God We know that this new world This new society will not come Without the sacrifices and labors Of those who envision it And we know that we need help To maintain our vision And so we pray: Dear God, We know that we have fallen short Of the call to equality, peace and justice To the building of a world That is free of violence and oppression That give to each according to their needs In the spirit of radical welcome that Jesus And other prophets taught We know this and we are sorry And promise to commit ourselves To the One Big Union again Dear God please give us the strength To keep on traveling down that road A road with many distractions Many struggles and discomforts Please give us the assurance That (even though we may never see the day Of the Commonwealth here on Earth) Please give us the assurance we need To still work toward that day In Faith, in Hope, and always in Love Amen
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Adam Tierney-EliotThis is my old weblog of many years. I will probably post here from time to time is there is a subject that does not fit WWG. However WWG is the more active page at this point. Archives
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