Living up to one’s faith in Sanctuary Movement
By Kimberly Matas
ARIZONA DAILY STAR

Kathleen “Kay” Kelly was Tucson’s best brownie-baking undercover bird-watcher in the mid-1980s.

As a member of the Sanctuary Movement, which started in Tucson, Kelly would don a hat and binoculars and wait at a desert meeting spot for refugees fleeing torture, persecution, imprisonment and death squads in Central America.
It was an unconventional stance for a very conventional, Republican, churchgoing homemaker and mother of three.
“We were doing crossings out in the canyons of the border, and the only other people who were out there doing legitimate things were bird-watchers, so Kay would put Audubon Society stickers on her car and binoculars on the dash of the car and a bird book on the dash and look like one of those Audubon Society ladies,” said the Rev. John Fife, a founder of the movement.
Kelly would wait for volunteers in Mexico to lead Central American refugees across the border into Arizona and to Kelly’s waiting vehicle.
“These people were in a life-or-death situation. It was a matter of saving lives. If they were caught by Border Patrol and sent back to their country in handcuffs, they were delivered to the death squads,” Fife said. “It was our problem here on the border. It was our responsibility to save lives and defend human rights.”
Kelly’s activism didn’t end with the car ride.
“She housed refugees again and again and again in her home and provided hospitality for not only refugees, but for young adult volunteers who came to help,” Fife said.
Those who spoke at her funeral on Dec. 20 said the number of people Kelly helped was incalculable. Kelly had suffered with dementia for a half-dozen years and died Nov. 29. She was 85.
Kelly was born in New York and moved to Arizona with her husband, Bill, and their children, Nancy, Ronald and Carolyn, in 1954. The family hoped the arid climate would alleviate the allergies and respiratory problems father and son suffered.
The family’s first stop was Douglas. From there, they bounced from one Southern Arizona town to another before settling in Tucson in 1959, where Bill Kelly worked in the banking industry. It was time spent living in Douglas that later made Kathleen Kelly an ideal conspirator in the smuggling of refugees.
As her children grew, Kelly began seeking employment outside the home. She worked in a school cafeteria for a while, sold Avon and took a job in the University of Arizona library, which lasted almost 15 years.
She was the primary caregiver for her aging mother and for her husband, who suffered a stroke in 1971.
After the death of her husband and then her mother in 1983, Kelly asked Fife, her pastor, if there was any volunteer work she could do for the church.
“Everyone she had been taking care of . . . they both died and she suddenly had time on her hands,” Nancy Kelly said. “She believed she’d be dusting pews, changing light bulbs.”
Fife instead suggested she join the Sanctuary Movement.
“She was a woman of faith and she took the faith seriously and all I had to do was to show her what was happening,” Fife said.
Because she used to live in Douglas and had acquaintances there, Kelly had an integral role in bringing refugees to the United States.
“She started to go down with folks and show them around Douglas,” Fife said. “The next thing I knew, she was doing border crossings and driving refugees across the border checkpoints and things like that.”
First, said her daughter, Kelly was the decoy and then got actively involved.
“She looked so innocent — no one suspected her.”
In addition to transporting refugees, Kelly harbored them in her Tucson home until they could safely relocate.
Kelly’s children were surprised by — but supportive of — their mother’s efforts.
“She took on this bigger perspective, much wider than her own family and set of friends,” Nancy Kelly said.
“She really was angry with the United States government; and this is coming from a very conservative Republican who wouldn’t violate a law for anything,” her daughter said. “It was a wonderful shock. She became this liberal progressive person where she was a Goldwater Republican before.
“My brother and sister and I were very proud of her efforts. She was truly doing what she believed in,” Nancy Kelly said.
Her activism came at a price.
During the height of the movement in the mid-’80s, government agents infiltrated churches that supported the movement. They bugged the buildings, covertly recorded sermons, tapped phones and kept tabs on congregants. When the Justice Department failed to take action on a rash of break-ins at 40 pro-Sanctuary Movement churches and offices across the country, a California congressman called for an investigation.
Kelly expected to be jailed in 1986, during a highly publicized trial in which Fife and 10 other Sanctuary Movement members faced charges of conspiracy, transporting and harboring aliens and aiding the illegal entry of aliens. Prosecutors tapped Kelly to testify, but she refused and was placed under house arrest. Three of the defendants were acquitted. Fife and seven others were found guilty and sentenced to probation.
Even house arrest didn’t dissuade Kelly from her beliefs, said Sanctuary Movement member Tom Ford. From her home, Kelly coordinated communications between movement supporters.
Tucson author Marge Pellegrino interviewed Kelly eight years ago for a novel based on the Sanctuary Movement.
“When people tell stories about Sanctuary, Kay’s name always comes up as pivotal,” Pellegrino said.
“The people in Tucson just really stood up and changed policy. They were willing to risk everything, and Kay was one of those people. She was willing to risk her freedom,” Pellegrino said.
After the trial, a group of Sanctuary Movement supporters continued meeting weekly for five years to discuss ways in which they could help refugees, Ford said. Kelly could be counted on to bring her zeal and her brownies, which were as well-known among Sanctuary members as was Kelly’s activism.
When Sanctuary Movement activities subsided, Kelly, a deacon at Southside Presbyterian, provided pastoral care for shut-ins and hospital patients. She attended prayer vigils in Florence when prisoners were executed and she provided spiritual counsel to Tucson inmates.
“She was always one of those absolutely dependable people and would pitch in and do whatever needed to be done around there,” Fife said. “I never did catch her dusting the pews or changing the light bulbs, but Kay would see something that needed to be done and do it.
“It came from her faith. If you’re going to be a Christian, you better live up to your faith.”
Life Stories
This feature chronicles the lives of recently deceased Tucsonans. Some were well-known across the community. Others had an impact on a smaller sphere of friends, family and acquaintances. Many of these people led interesting — and sometimes extraordinary — lives with little or no fanfare. Now you’ll hear their stories. Past “Life Stories” are at go.azstarnet.com/lifestories
On StarNet: Did you know Kathleen “Kay” Kelly? Add your remembrance to this article at azstarnet.com/lifestories online. Find a photo gallery of this Life Story at azstarnet.com/slideshows
DID YOU KNOW
Tucson is the birthplace of the Sanctuary Movement, which aided tens of thousands of Central American refugees fleeing kidnapping, torture, imprisonment and death squads in the 1980s.
It was a defiant response to the Reagan administration’s interpretation of the country’s Refugee Act — a humanitarian law intended to expand eligibility for political asylum in the United States — passed by Congress in 1980.
According to the law, refugees could be granted asylum if there was a “well-founded fear of persecution” in their home countries. President Ronald Reagan favored a stricter interpretation of the law. A “clear probability of persecution” — a requirement almost impossible to fulfill — was his administration’s test of whether refugees should be granted asylum.
At the same time, Salvadorans, Guatemalans and Nicaraguans were fleeing civil conflicts in their countries, where the vast majority of human-rights violations were committed by military and government-supported paramilitary forces. Under Reagan’s administration, the United States intervened on the side of those governments in El Salvador and Guatemala and labeled refugees from those countries “economic migrants,” not asylum seekers.
As a result of the U.S. government’s failure to provide asylum for these refugees, Tucsonans Jim Corbett, a Quaker, and the Rev. John Fife, then a pastor at Southside Presbyterian Church, formally announced the establishment of the Sanctuary Movement on March 24, 1982. Fife’s church was the first of 200 in the nation to declare itself a sanctuary to Central American refugees.
Sources: Migration Policy Institute, Arizona Daily Star, Tucson Citizen
“She housed refugees again and again and again in her home and provided hospitality for not only refugees, but for young adult volunteers who came to help.”
Rev. John Fife,, a founder of the Sanctuary Movement, recalling the efforts of Kathleen “Kay” Kelly
Tucson is the birthplace of the Sanctuary Movement, which aided tens of thousands of Central American refugees fleeing kidnapping, torture, imprisonment and death squads in the 1980s.It was a defiant response to the Reagan administration’s interpretation of the country’s Refugee Act — a humanitarian law intended to expand eligibility for political asylum in the United States — passed by Congress in 1980.According to the law, refugees could be granted asylum if there was a “well-founded fear of persecution” in their home countries. President Ronald Reagan favored a stricter interpretation of the law. A “clear probability of persecution” — a requirement almost impossible to fulfill — was his administration’s test of whether refugees should be granted asylum.At the same time, Salvadorans, Guatemalans and Nicaraguans were fleeing civil conflicts in their countries, where the vast majority of human-rights violations were committed by military and government-supported paramilitary forces. Under Reagan’s administration, the United States intervened on the side of those governments in El Salvador and Guatemala and labeled refugees from those countries “economic migrants,” not asylum seekers.

As a result of the U.S. government’s failure to provide asylum for these refugees, Tucsonans Jim Corbett, a Quaker, and the Rev. John Fife, then a pastor at Southside Presbyterian Church, formally announced the establishment of the Sanctuary Movement on March 24, 1982. Fife’s church was the first of 200 in the nation to declare itself a sanctuary to Central American refugees.Sources: Migration Policy Institute, Arizona Daily Star, Tucson Citizen”She housed refugees again and again and again in her home and provided hospitality for not only refugees, but for young adult volunteers who came to help.”Rev. John Fife,, a founder of the Sanctuary Movement, recalling the efforts of Kathleen “Kay” KellyKathleen “Kay” Kelly was Tucson’s best brownie-baking undercover bird-watcher in the mid-1980s.

Hillary Rodham Clinton has been named New Yorker of the Year by the NY Daily News. . .

For carrying the banner of a history-making candidacy with a resolve and class worthy of this city — in victory and defeat — we today salute Hillary Clinton as the Daily News New Yorker of the Year for 2008. . . Obama gave her the planet as her portfolio at the very ­moment when the world is pleading for America to lead.

via madamab at The Confluence

Feminist Politics Gender News Hillary Clinton Bill Clinton 2009 New York

“He’s a good decision-maker”

Everything you need to know about the interview conducted by the Washington Post with two of George Bush’s top aides, Josh Bolten and Stephen Hadley, is summed up in this quote from Bolten:

“He’s a good decision-maker,” Bolten said.

Yes, the man who brought down the U.S. economy and destroyed our reputation in the world is viewed by his staff as “a good decision-maker.” What’s their definition of someone who makes bad decisions? So, you can read the full article, but you get the gist. This is the Bushies trying desperately to salvage their reputations. That can only happen if we ignore the facts of the past eight years. If you really want to hurl, read the last two paragraphs of the article:

Bolten said another of his goals when he took over was to try to get the country to see the likable boss he and other aides saw in private, convinced that would boost Bush’s popularity. “I failed miserably,” he conceded. “Maybe in the beginning of the sixth year of a presidency, that’s a quixotic task. . . . But everybody who has actual personal exposure to the president, almost everybody, appreciates what a good leader he is, how smart he is and, especially, how humane he is.”

Hadley invoked Bush’s 2000 campaign theme in summing up the president’s personal qualities. “He has got this great compassion which was not just a slogan, ‘compassionate conservative.’ It is who he is. It is one of the great things he brought to this office,” Hadley concluded. “This is the one thing that just drives me crazy, that somehow this is an arrogant administration, an arrogant president running an arrogant policy. This guy — one thing he is not is arrogant.”

We’ll see a lot of this pablum over the next couple weeks. But, we know all we need to know about George Bush. He is the worst president EVER. And, Bolten, Hadley, Cheney, Rove, Hughes, Fleischer, Bartlett…the list goes on and on…they all had a role in the worst presidency EVER.

(Americablog)
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Do they really expect anyone to believe that this cock who has been president for the last 8 years is “compassionate” and not “arrogant”? After all that he has done and said? He is the absolute definition of arrogant asshole…

Bolton calls on Obama to launch ‘meaningful efforts at regime change’ in Iran.
(Think Progress)

Που τον θυμήθηκες τον κυρ Παντελή ρε θηρίο;Κάποιος έγραψε ” όταν οι υπουργοί προβάλουν το νόμιμο ως ηθικό οι πιτσιρικάδες λένε ότι το παράνομο είναι ηθικό”. Λέω πως έχει απόλυτο δίκιο.Αναρωτιούνται οι νοικοκυραίοι , γιατί οι καταστροφές, τα σπασίματα, οι εμπρησμοί. Όχι, αποφασίζουν, δεν είναι κίνημα αυτό!Κατά βάθος έχουν στο μυαλό τους πως αφού ενσωμάτωσε εμάς το σύστημα, δεν μπορεί κανείς πλέον να τα βάλει μαζί του. Λίγο ακόμη πιο βαθιά αν πας θα βρεις και την μικροαστική επανάπαυση και παράδοση μας άνευ όρων. Το σύστημα κατάφερε να μας αγοράσει, άλλους πιο φθηνά, άλλους πιο ακριβά.Ίσως να μας ενοχλεί που μας κυνηγάνε οι τράπεζες, που τα λαμόγια της πολιτικής μας κοροϊδεύουν και η μόνη τους έννοια είναι πως θα τα κονομήσουν και το πώς θα διαχειρίζονται την εξουσία τους αφήνοντας μας πάντα στην απέξω. Ίσως να μας ενοχλεί το ότι η καθημερινότητά μας δεν είναι δική μας, ο χρόνος μας δεν είναι δικός μας. Αλλά δεν βαριέσαι. Το βράδυ μπροστά στην μεγάλη οθόνη μας είμαστε οι απόλυτοι κυρίαρχοι. Βρίζουμε τον Ευαγγελάτο, ανακαλύπτουμε την ανεντιμότητα του Ζούγκλα, περιφρονούμε τον Πρετεντέρη, γελάμε με τα παχάκια του Καμπουράκη, φθονούμε τα κοσμήματα της Τρέμη. Ωστόσο τα λύματα τους, θέλουμε , δεν θέλουμε τα καταπίνουμε.Η δημοκρατία μας σε όλο της το μεγαλείο! Και ποιοι είστε εσείς ρε πιτσιρικάδες που φοράτε μια κουκούλα και τα σπάτε?Όχι δεν ανήκετε στην Δημοκρατία μας!Ποιος ξέρει, μάλλον ο Σόρος σας κουνάει σαν μαριονέτες. Σίγουρα αυτό θα είναι!Θέλουν να γκρεμίσουν τον Καραμανλή που τα βρήκε με τον κομουνιστή τον Πούτιν και φέρνει στην Ελλάδα το κόκκινο, το επαναστατικό πετρέλαιο.Μα αυτή είναι μια σκέψη που την κάνουν οι πιο υποψιασμένοι.Αυτοί που διάβασαν το μανιφέστο σε μετάφραση Λιακόπουλου.Οι άλλοι, ο Σωρός, απλώς θυμίζουμε την σκηνή εκείνη της ταινίας ο Ρημαγμένος Απρίλης, με τα βόδια που γυρνάν γύρω γύρω από την μηχανή που λιώνει τα ζαχαροκάλαμα και το αφεντικό τους να τα μαστιγώνει αλύπητα. Σε κάποια στιγμή το ένα από αυτά γονατίζει από την κούραση και ο δυστυχής ιδιοκτήτης τους τα αφήνει ελεύθερα να ξεκουραστούν, μα αυτά χωρίς ζυγό και μαστίγιο συνεχίζουν το δρομολόγιο που έχουν μάθει. Γύρω γύρω, έτσι χωρίς σκοπό και νόημα.Η δημοκρατία μας. Η δημοκρατία των αστικών επαναστάσεων και των εργατικών διεκδικήσεων.Πού είναι όμως ρε παιδιά αυτή η δημοκρατία που κατακτήσαμε?Μήπως εννοoούμε την δημοκρατία των παραγραφών των πολιτικών αδικημάτων? Την δημοκρατία του γκλόμπ στην ράχη των φοιτητών? Την δημοκρατία των κομμάτων που το μόνο που τους νοιάζει είναι η ύπαρξή τους? Την δημοκρατία των χορτασμένων και εκφυλισμένων συνδικαλιστών? Την δημοκρατία των δημοσιογράφων υπηρετριών ιδιωτικών συμφερόντων, των δημοσιογράφων της συγκάλυψης? Την δημοκρατία των τραπεζών και των κερδών τους?…Λες και δεν τα βλέπουμε. Αλλά είπαμε, τα βόδια και η άτιμη συνήθεια της υποταγής.Γι αυτό αντί να κρίνουμε αυτά τα παιδιά με τις κουκούλες, ας κατεβάσουμε λίγο την ιδεολογική μας μυτούλα και ας τους πούμε κάτι πιο ουσιαστικό αν έχουμε να τους πούμε.Δυστυχώς δεν έχουμε να τους μεταλαμπαδεύσουμε κάποια αξία για την οποία θα πρεπε να αγωνιστούν. Όλα τα όπλα που είχαμε κερδίσει με τους αγώνες μας, τα παραδώσαμε ξανά σε μια Βάρκιζα διαρκείας από την μεταπολίτευση και μετά.Τι περιμέναμε δηλ από αυτά τα παιδιά?Τι άλλο θα μπορούσαν να κάνουν από το να ξεράσουν αυτή την τυφλή βία που δέχονται σε όλη τους τη ζωή?Πρωτογενής και απόλυτη βία. Έχει όμως μια κάποια υγεία αυτή η βία.
”ΚΟΡΝΗΛΙΟΣ-6”

If you missed Hillary and Bill Clinton dropping the New Year’s Eve 12,000-pound Crystal Ball at Times Square, here it is. And Hillary and Bill dancing at the end of the video clip? Priceless.

Portland, Oregon swore in its gay mayor

Yesterday, Sam Adams was sworn in as the new mayor of Portland, Oregon, which is now the largest city in the U.S. to have a gay mayor:

There was a countdown at Portland’s City Hall overnight, but it wasn’t to ring in 2009.

About 40 people — including the mother and partner of Sam Adams — were on hand to sip sparkling wine and watch as the first openly gay mayor of a major U.S. city was officially sworn in at 12:01 a.m.

Adams secured the job with a big win in the primary in May. He garnered almost 60% of the vote in that multi-candidate election.

(Americablog)

Things got a little risque on CNN during the New Year’s Eve coverage and for once they weren’t talking about Hillary Rodham Clinton. It’s anybody’s guess whether Kathy Griffin will be invited back next year. The always funny New York Post calls the story: HAPPY #*%! NEW YEAR TO YOU, TOO!

The raunchy exchange, which occurred well after the ball dropped at midnight, was received with guffaws by the camera crew. Co-host Anderson Cooper, who spent the night playing the role of straight man to Griffin’s antics, then managed to break for commercial - although by that point, he could barely keep a straight face.

Cooper seemed to become increasingly uncomfortable with Griffin’s off-color remarks, including her request to “get a pap smear from [CNN medical reporter] Dr. Sanjay Gupta,” and her description of former CNN host Glenn Beck as a “heroin addict Mormon.”

CNN Edits Kathy Griffin’s Blue Moment

Media Politics CNN Comic News 2008

Muslim family booted off U.S. airline after comments

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A Muslim family that was ordered off an AirTran Airways flight on New Year’s Day said on Friday that they were told they could not reboard or rebook a flight on the discount airline even after security officials cleared them for travel.

Atif Irfan said in an interview with CNN that federal authorities removed him, seven family members and a friend from the flight after passengers overheard members of the group talking about the safest place to sit on the plane. He said they were being careful to avoid any “buzz” words like “bomb” that would trigger a security alert.

The group was flying out of Reagan Washington National Airport and was headed for a religious retreat in Florida when other passengers apparently overheard the conversation and reported it to authorities.

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This is what the bush administration’s scare-mongering has led to.
A previous report said that one of the passengers simply commented something like “boy, the jets are sure close to the plane”. That sure sounds like an evil mastermind!
What has this country become now that a group of people can’t have a normal conversation without being harassed?

More:

9 Muslim passengers kicked off flight after remark

WASHINGTON – Nine Muslim passengers were kicked off a flight from Washington, D.C., to Florida after other passengers reported hearing a suspicious remark about airplane security.

AirTran Airways spokesman Tad Hutcheson called the incident on the New Year’s Day flight from Reagan National Airport to Orlando, Fla., a misunderstanding, but defended the company’s response. He said the airline followed federal rules and did nothing wrong.

One of the Muslim passengers, Kashif Irfan, told The Washington Post the confusion began when his brother was talking about the safest place to sit on an airplane.

“My brother and his wife were discussing some aspect of airport security,” Irfan said. “The only thing my brother said was, ‘Wow, the jets are right next to my window.’”

Irfan told the newspaper he thought he and the others were profiled because of their appearance. The men had beards and the women wore headscarves, traditional Muslim attire.

Irfan, 34, is an anesthesiologist and his brother is a lawyer. Both live in Alexandria, Va., with their families, and were born in Detroit. They were traveling with their wives, Irfan’s sister-in-law and Irfan’s three sons, ages 7, 4 and 2. A family friend also was traveling with the group to a religious retreat in Florida.

Federal officials ordered the rest of the passengers from the plane and re-screened them before allowing the flight to depart about two hours behind schedule.

The family was upset that AirTran didn’t allow the Muslim passengers to book another flight. The airline said in a news release Friday that one of the passengers became irate, made inappropriate comments and had to be escorted away from a gate podium by local law enforcement.

“The FBI agents actually cleared our names,” Inayet Sahin, one of the family members kicked off the flight, told CNN. “They went on our behalf and spoke to the airlines and said, ‘There is no suspicious activity here. They are clear. Please let them get on a flight so they can go on their vacation,’ and they still refused.”

The family and friend eventually made it to their destination on a US Airways flight.

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