The following is attributed to Rejena Girton of Millville Monthly Meeting.
You may not know me. I am Rejena Girton, Millville Monthly Meeting. I work at a residential trade school where Rubens attended, where he and I worked on his immigration status together, and where he graduated and fled after receiving his TPS Haitian letter to self deport.
My thoughts after visiting Rubens yesterday-
Compliance and silence are two very different things! I know when to yield elastically when a force is applied, especially when I show up prepared for the force. I also know when to become a rock and sit within my own weight.
Definitions-
Compliance:
1a- the act or process of complying to a desire, demand, proposal, or regimen or to coercion
b- conformity in fulfilling official requirements
2- a disposition to yield to others
3- the ability of an object to yield elastically when a force is applied : flexibility https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/compliance
Silence:
1-forbearance from speech or noise, often used interjectionally
2-absence of sound or noise
3- absence of mention
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/silence
You know, I never knew how weird it would be to hear a parent say, “Do we need to lawyer up?” It hadn’t crossed my mind. My mental response- “Who? Me? Why? What for?”
Boy, if that thought wasn’t showing my privilege…YIKES!
My perception- I would never show up ready to be out of compliance and in need of a lawyer at such a time and place as going to an ICE detention center as a visitor. And to be asked that after a Sunday of waiting, obliging, being patiently compliant with those in control blew my mind!
Waiting to visit a friend in detention means something different for all of us. Families I met and families who can’t ever come to see their loved ones for fear of detainment themselves (no matter their status) are perceived through the lens of bias the privileged may forget exists.
Walking Brown (or any color other than ‘perceived white’ in this nation) is not safe right now. “Open bedspace” in a for-profit detention system makes it even LESS SAFE. I was walking in all my whiteness yesterday and it showed in the way I perceived my safety and expected to be received. Head up, voice confident, smile ready. This is what privilege does and I used it. I am not sad because it worked, but I am ashamed and disgusted for us that it did.
I am not above getting into a little “good trouble” but not today and especially not yesterday. Don’t get me wrong, I barely have a filter these days and nonconformity is my wheelhouse. But yesterday? No. Yesterday was all about compliance. Goal- getting to see my past student, Rubens and sharing new of all those rooting for him from school. Bringing a bit of sunshine, hope, and light into the cage where he is bound.
Seriously, we must know when to comply and when we should not. We must work within the system or be overtaken by it. I had no idea what I was walking into when I visited detention yesterday, so I flowed. I sat. I learned. I listened. I acquiesced with staff over time schedules and circumstances that are non-negotiable and out of both of our control. And finally, I met my goal. And… I will do it again until he is free.
Rubens asked if he is allowed out on bond, if he would get an ankle bracelet. Word of Pierre Damas Bel’s suicide has made its way between the bars. His librarian saves and shares all the news with all 78 men that share his room.
Quote-
“The moment we begin to fear the opinions of others and hesitate to tell the truth that is in us, and from motives of policy are silent when we should speak, the divine floods of light and life no longer flow into our souls. Every truth we see is ours to give the world, not to keep for ourselves alone, for in so doing we cheat humanity out of their rights and check our own development.” Elizabeth Cady Stanton
Preach Suffragette! But, we need to be in the room where it happens to share news of the happenings outside those very walls!
There are times when compliance is necessary and expected even though it feels wrong to the inner fibers of our being. There is time to question the pattern, renew our thinking, speak the truth we see, shine a light on what is wrong, and then move beyond. So, when I got home… I did not sit in silence. I will send word between the bars and out into the world.
Know the rules.
Know why they exist, understanding is not agreement.
Think for yourself.
Speak when silence would be easier.
Write the thank-you note when gratitude is due. (I have so many from yesterday I’d write, if I knew where to send them to staff and families alike.)
When it is not; write what is right.
I will comply until he is free.
I will write to help his cause!
Join us.
Grab a Pen.
Send a Card or Letter to Rubens.
Letters can be sent to:
To send mail to a detainee at the Moshannon Valley Processing Center, address the envelope with the facility’s location, the detainee’s full name, the last four digits of their A-number,
and make sure it has your return address:
Send letters to this exact address:
Moshannon Valley Processing Center
Rubens Prunier, A# 8862
555 GEO Drive
Philipsburg, PA 16866
Songs that are keeping me going today:
And keeping my rebellious nature intact and a smile on my face (Tracy) and Lesley for the plea I am sure each detainee feels deep in their soul:
Tracy Chapman- Talkin ’bout a Revolution https://youtu.be/Q2wneBVssPc?si=oaBdUbXgfu3TN03O
Lesley Gore, “You don’t own me” https://youtu.be/WNFXJ-MS8do?si=_kIzSGzsPE1jyRRs
“You don’t own me
Don’t try to change me in any way
You don’t own me
Don’t tie me down ’cause I’d never stay
I don’t tell you what to say
I don’t tell you what to do
So just let me be myself
That’s all I ask of you”
Do what makes you feel right.
Quote-
“The way to right wrongs is to turn the light of truth upon them.”
Ida B. Wells
Thank you,
Rejena Girton
570-849-0129
rejenagirton@gmail.com
