They tried to bury us
December, 2023
Everything in our world comes in seasons, including our work at Justice for Migrant Families. In the spring we join together to plant the seeds of our work for the coming year, tending to them over the summer and harvesting lessons and joys in the fall.
The work of winter is tender. As the daylight shortens and the once verdant trees glimmer with icicles, our work is to honor our human right to rest and renew ourselves for the sowing, tending and harvesting yet to come. We jar our memories of the seasons, pickle them and turn them into jams to nourish us during the dark times. Most importantly, we save the seeds from the year before and ask for others to be added to our stores.
2023 has yielded an incredible amount of seeds for us at Justice for Migrant Families to store for the years to come. Our baskets are full up with stories from people we met being released from Batavia Detention at the Buffalo bus station, from families we broke bread with, from children finding joy in hotel parking lots on a hot summer day. We have jars full of songs sung by migrant workers, heavy burlap sacks of chants shouted in the halls of the Capitol and boxes and boxes of testimony from asylum seekers on their journeys towards safety and belonging. On our shelves are mason jars of poems about migration; bushels of the rich generosity of all our volunteers, donors, members and partners. Each seed tells a story of resilience and resilience; each seed is a treasure.
There is a popular saying in the migrant justice movement; “they tried to bury us but they didn't know we were seeds”. It is such a simple phrase that carries the weight of courage in the face of violence, of determination when borders and unjust laws deem to crush peoples’ spirits, of communities thriving in spite of it all. We are honored to steward these seeds in all of our seasons.
This winter season, we invite you to join us by donating so that we can continue to sow, tend and harvest seeds of justice and liberation for all migrant families. Together, our harvest will be bountiful and resilient.
Hasta la victoria siempre and thank you,
Justice for Migrant Families
Written by Emily Terrana