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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 1, 2012)
PaSe 10___________________________ T erry F amily Portland O bserver B lack H ¡Story Month 2337 N. Williams Ave. Portland, Or 97227 503-249-1788 We make the service personal, You make the tribute personal. Every tim e w e a r r a n g e a p e rso n a liz e d fu n e ra l service, w e tak e sp ecial p rid e g o in g th e e x tra m ile. W ith o u r o n lin e M e m o rial O b itu a ry , n o w w e c a n d o ev en m ore. F riends attd fam ily c a n fin d o u t serv ice in fo rm a tio n , v iew p hotos, re a d o b itu a ry , o r d e r flo w ers a n d leave p e rso n a l m essag es o f c o n d o le n c e s fro m a n y w h e re , an y tim e. Sim ply go to o u r w ebsite. www.terryfamilyfuneralhome.com "Dedicated to providing excellent service and superior care o f your loved one " Dwight A. Terry Oregon License CO-3644 Amy S. Terry Oregon License FS-0395 Immigration Laws c o n t i n u e d f r o m page 9 has created lists of the “Top 10 Reasons A labama’s New Im migration Law Is a Disaster” for the state’s government, economy, community safety, public health, faith communities, rule of law, education, and families. They point out fear has led many par ents to sign power of attorney documents to allow friends or family members to legally care for their children if they are de ported. If parents are deported, many U.S. citizen children may be forced into foster care, though “Alabama state officials them selves are concerned about the potential impact on the already overburdened state foster care system .” Shattered Families, a recent report by the Applied Research Center, noted that more than NEW S E A S O N S - C A N S F O R K ID S ! E A S Y & F U N T O S H O P • S E N S IB L Y P R IC E D • L O C A L L Y O W N E D & O P E R A T E D T u rn y o u r c a n a n d b o ttle d e p o s it s in to c a s h f o r p u b l i c s c h o o l s a t N e w S e a s o n s M a rk e t. o w w w .n e w G e a s o n s m a rk e t.c o m February I, 2012 5,000children nationally who are currently in foster care have parents who have been detained or deported. The C enter for American Progress also points out that when breadwinners are deported from mixed-status fami lies, “U.S. citizen spouses and children will have to take on additional jobs, potentially drop out of school, and seek addi tional social services just to keep the family afloat. The resulting cycle of potential poverty and despair is a prescription for in stability and a detriment to the entire fabric of Alabama com munities.” Some U.S. citizen children in mixed-status families are being forced to shoulder new burdens for their families, including tak ing over the driving and shopping if they have valid licenses. O f course, undocumented children are a target themselves, includ ing many who were brought to the United States as infants or small children and have never known another home. The overwhelming sense of fear is apparent even among the youngest children, as school ad ministrators like those at Foley Elementary know very well, and it isn’t just limited to children in immigrant families. A Birming ham school counselor said, “My sixth graders of African Ameri can descent were asking me if they were going to have to go back to Africa. There is a fear factor out there that is written between the lines of the law that's having a chilling effect on Alabama classrooms.” As one U.S. citizen son put it: “At school we were taught about the Civil Rights period. This is the same thing, it’s happening again. I make good grades, so does my brother. We are nor mally at the top of our class. I try my hardest to be good. The people making this law, they need to put themselves in our shoes and think about how they’re split ting families.” As a slight ray of hope, there is pressure mounting in the state to repeal the law or parts of it. The irony of an era of fear, repression, and profiling repeating itself in Alabama is not lost on many on lookers. For those who refuse to return to that era in Alabama, or any other part of America, the time to speak up is now. Marian Wright Edelman is president o f the Children’s Defense Fund.
