Since Biblical times, the term “sanctuary” has meant a safe place from persecution and violence for the oppressed. In the times of Jesus Christ, it meant feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, sheltering the homeless, protecting the defenseless, and healing the sick. It even meant driving out the moneylenders and the profiteers from the temple sanctuary.
What does the provision of “sanctuary” mean for us today, in the era of Trump?
Trump has already made it clear that he will punish states, cities, localities, and even individuals who disobey his executive deportation orders. Yet, thousands have defied Trump and protested in the streets against the separation of families. Thousands occupied airports around the country in protest of the Muslim ban.
In California, the Democratic Governor Jerry Brown has declared his defiance. Several cities are now sanctuaries, legislation is being introduced to make the state a sanctuary and to provide legal defense for immigrants threatened with deportation.
The sanctuary movement of today is in the great moral tradition of our country. Two African American churches in Fresno, California, recalling their own history of oppression, are declaring themselves sanctuaries. And other denominations throughout the country, even in so-called Red States, are opening up their doors in revulsion produced by the inhumanity of our elected leaders. Families are signing up to care for children in the event their parents are deported.
To borrow from U.S. history, the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 awakened Northerners to the reality of slavery by showing that it wasn’t just a Southern problem and by witnessing firsthand the cruelty and violence of arrests in their neighborhoods. It led to open defiance of slave catchers, the opening up of churches as sanctuaries, and active promotion of the Underground Railroad of escaped slaves to Canada and Mexico.
Sanctuary alone is not the solution. Its importance lies in that it forges alliances and unity by practical experience. It is an indispensable step towards developing the awareness that we are all part of one class in opposition to the class of Wall Street USA and international capitalists.
While the Democrats move in our interests, we can and should work with them. We should not forget however, that Trump is able to do what he has done because of the security and deportation machine that Obama the “Deporter in Chief” and others had set up. Furthermore, the Democratic Party and Hillary Clinton facilitated Trump’s victory by abandoning unemployed miners and Rust Belt workers. They fell victims to Trump’s lies that immigrants are the cause of their misery.
It is becoming clear that Trump and his like have nothing to offer and in fact are taking things away. Soon, we can go from the defensive to the offensive and make “heaven on earth” as the modern means of producing make it possible. This will only happen when we unite as a class in our own interests.
