Bike for Immigration Justice

Beyond Tallahassee!

James and I set off from Tallahassee having decided to stay in Chattahoochee that night (because it’s called Chattahoochee) and swim in the nearby Seminole River. When we arrived in Chattahoochee, we encountered Father Eddie outside of his home, stationed next to his Christian church.  We asked if we could camp in his yard and quickly recognized his military background when he put down his lawn equippment, walked directly over to us, and said that before he agreed to anything we should introduce ourselves thoroughly and tell him about ourselves.  Well then, after having done that he explained that since his house is at that bottom of a little hill the lawn often floods in the rain so we would be better off in a motel.  Then he offered to give us $40 to put us up in a motel down the street!

Then I told him about my Bike for Immigration Justice and things quickly got heated.  He kept saying that it is illegal to cross the border so “once they’re over here they are already felons.”   He seemed to think that every human-made law must be obeyed regardless of whether it is inhumane or unjust.  Things got very intense.  At one point he demanded, “give me my $40 back.”  As I returned the money he said, “no, I’m kidding, keep the money.”  Later in the conversation he looked me in the eyes and said, “I doubt you’ll ever live up to your own high ideals.”  Aren’t ministers supposed to motivate, challenge, and inspire?!

Finally we left with the $40 (which I had been trying to determine if I should keep).  Eddie had said he was happy to have a little bit of extra money in his life so that he was able to “help the stranger.”  But I wondered if he would have shown the same consideration for the migrant or the foreigner.  I wonder what he believes Jesus’ opinion would be about immigrants in this country.

As we promised Eddie, we used the money for a motel room that night.  There we made rice-a-roni, watched Seinfeld, played cards, and James washed my socks for me!!

The next days we crossed into Central Time Zone!! Wahoooo!!  Swam in the Seminole Lake, saw sign: “caution alligators,” and promptly removed ourselves.

We biked a bit off-route to Florida Caverns State Park planning to take a tour of the caves.  At the entrance we met Tye, Raffie, and Tim.  Tye was a volunteer worker at the park and Raffie and Tim were leading/supervising a Boy Scout Troop camping trip.  Tye told us a good place to covertly set up camp to avoid having to pay the $30 camping fee.  I told the men about the purpose of my bike ride and they were really excited.  ”I can’t imagine a better cause than that,” Raffie said.  Tim and Raffie proposed a deal: they would invite us for dinner with the Boy Scouts and let us share their camp ground if I would be their guest speaker for the night.  Who’s turing that down?!

We set up camp with the Scouts.  They had shower and bathroom access and were cooking dinner and BIRTHDAY CAKE in dutch ovens (hehe).  Lief, another troop leader, made an awesome dinner: chicken and rice, veggies, pasta salad.  You know a meal is high class when it has sides rather than all the ingredients combined in one big mush.

Later on there was a huge bonfire with about 10 Troop leaders, 40 Boy Scouts ranging from 10 to 17 years old, James, and me.  I was the first act.  Eleven year-old Caleb was MC-ing the event.  He introduced me as “Cheryl, from the New Sanction Monument.”   That’s pretty damn close.  The boys and I played “Immigration: Myth or Fact.”  I called out stereotypes about immigrants (ie. Immigrants are criminals and terrorists”), boys had to determine if it was a myth or fact, and then we discussed the different views.  For the most part the boys seemed to be pretty enlightened about immigration.  They (esp the older boys) were able to dispel a lot of the myths and explain the reality of the situation.  In response to the myth that immigrants steal jobs from US workers, one kid explained that immigrants are taken advantage of by employers.  Another boy, while talking about the myth that today’s immigrants are different from the immigrants of 100 years ago, explained that most immigrants of past or present come to the US to get jobs and make a better life for their family.

Just as I was wrapping up, one of the scout leaders said, “But they come here illegally.  These are felons!”  As he resisted, I explained that people most often come here because of economic oppression caused by the US.  Then another scout leader stood up to make a comment.  He said, “Thank you, Sheila, for coming and sharing your side. But I just want to remind you all that 100 years ago, Irish and Italian immigrants came to this country to make it a better place.  They worked hard and didn’t cause trouble.  We should remember that this is different from what’s going on today.   Today’s immigrants don’t come here to try to make this country better.  They are lazy and commit crimes.  They are nothing like the hard-working immigrants of years ago.  I think it’s really important that we remember that and always consider both sides of the story.”   I didn’t even get to make a rebuttal!  What a jerk!  As the scouts began to perform the skits they had planned, Tim and Raffie took me aside and thanked me, acknowledging that it had been a tough crowd.  They appreciated my message: We should treat everyone with dignity and respect.  They were so supportive!

We ate watermelon and birthday cake and watched about a dozen skits.  James performed a Boy Scout Song for the group.  There was lots of singing, some funny skits, some awkward skits, and some skits that didn’t make any sense.  Then we went to tent.

Somehow, about 100 ants found their way into our tent.  Die, ants, die!

The next day we began riding on Rt 90 (where we’d be for about the next 3 days) and got as far as Ponce de Leon, Florida.  We went to the Ponce de Leon Springs and swam in the springs.  Florida springs are part of an underground aqueduct/cave system that formed water accumulating in porous limestone.  The water is the clearest I’ve ever seen and freezing, since it comes up from the underground caves.  In the springs you can see the opening of the cave that supplies the water from beneath.  That cave is over 30 feet deep and looks super scary.

We camped in a trailer park behind the trailer of some nice folks: Jim and little Hailey who was zooming around on her tricycle.  The problem was that the neighbors were a little crazy.  They had loud  fights the whole night and the woman, who was super drunk, kept getting pissed off, hopping in her truck, not bothering with the headlights, and peeling off across the lawn and out onto the street.  James and I were sleeping on that very lawn.  The first time she zoomed off we were sure she was gonna run us down.  When it happened a second time we realized this might be a reoccurring thing and we might not make it through the night.  We decided it would be wise to move the tent.  We tucked it right by Jim’s house in between their trampoline and the playhouse.  The distant cussin’ lulled us to sleep until the beating sun woke us early the next morning.

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