{"id":3352,"date":"2020-02-12T00:00:01","date_gmt":"2020-02-12T05:00:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/?p=3352"},"modified":"2020-02-12T09:54:02","modified_gmt":"2020-02-12T14:54:02","slug":"feb-12-maria-ibarra-a-different-oral-argument","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/2020\/02\/12\/feb-12-maria-ibarra-a-different-oral-argument\/","title":{"rendered":"Feb 12 – Maria Ibarra – “A different oral argument”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Wednesday, February 12<\/p>\n

Maria is the Southeast Michigan regional organizer for We the People Michigan. She immigrated to the U.S. from Mexico when she was nine years old and grew up Southwest Detroit and Dearborn. Maria has been fighting for immigrant justice for almost a decade, including grassroots organizing and political advocacy.<\/p>\n

Yesterday, the Ignatian Solidarity Network reached out to Maria asking if she could \u201creach out to someone in the Jesuit network to ask them \u2018what is at stake for the network if I, Maria, were to lose my DACA status.\u2019\u201d \u00a0Maria reached out to me. \u00a0Last night we decided to base our ISN response on Maria\u2019s poem of last fall: \u201cA different oral argument.\u201d \u00a0While I am writing this morning\u2019s poetry post, Maria is writing the first part of our response to the ISN\u2019s question. We will finish our collaboration early this afternoon and submit it to ISN. \u00a0Mostly, we will base what we send on \u201cA different oral argument\u201d \u00a0(posted on this list last November 18). Working with Maria Ibarra, one of Detroit Mercy\u2019s graduates whom I admire immensely, is an honor.<\/p>\n

For a start on what we will send to ISN later today, here is her November poem. \u00a0 Best to read it out loud with pauses.<\/p>\n

Have a blest day; \u00a0looks like some pale February sun begins to anoint this Wednesday.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

john sj<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s Post: \u00a0 \u201dA Different Oral Argument\u201d<\/strong>\u00a0by Maria Ibarra<\/p>\n

Today, November 12, the US Supreme Court
\nis hearing oral arguments on DACA.
\nArguments on whether this pro-life
\nCountry
\nWill let me keep the life
\nI lead.<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t want to argue.
\nI don\u2019t want to talk to them.
\nThe only people I want to talk to are
\nOther undocumented young people
\nMany with DACA, many without.<\/p>\n

So this is to you, my loves.
\nWe are not an argument.
\nWe are warm honey
\nAnd the smell of cinnamon sticks
\nSimmering on the stove late at night.<\/p>\n

We are sweet like guava fruit,
\nAnd prickly like cactus in the sun.
\nRipe with possibility, wrapped
\nIn self-protection.<\/p>\n

We are powerful like our mothers,
\nWho break English in order to survive it.
\nWe are gentle like our fathers
\nholding their new grandsons for the first time.<\/p>\n

We are not an oral argument.<\/p>\n

We are poetry dancing in the streets,
\nHymns reminding us that
\nWe survive each day despite
\nA military state trying to crush us.<\/p>\n

How amazing it is that we are still here.
\nPowerful, and kind,
\nAnd beautiful, and yes
\nResilient.
\nBut most importantly
\nMy dears
\nMost importantly, we are loved.
\nWe are loved by our families and communities
\nWho crossed oceans and deserts
\nTo give us this life.
\nThis love is stronger than a supreme court decision, stronger than ICE,
\nStronger than foolish
\nArguments about whether or not we deserve to stay.<\/p>\n

We already stayed. Now it\u2019s time to live.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Wednesday, February 12 Maria is the Southeast Michigan regional organizer for We the People Michigan. She immigrated to the U.S. from Mexico when she was nine years old and grew up Southwest Detroit and Dearborn. Maria has been fighting for … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":139,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[11641],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3352"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/139"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3352"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3352\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3353,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3352\/revisions\/3353"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3352"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3352"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3352"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}