LIFE’S LIKE A MOVIE: BROTHER FROM ANOTHER PLANET

The acting is spotty (there’s a very fine line between authentic and downright amateur), the story meanders aimlessly like only an indie film can, and home movies probably have a higher budget, but you know, Brother From Another Planet is still pretty enjoyable. The movie tells the story of an unnamed mute three toed alien who flees to Earth in order to hide from his former masters, only to run into a whole new set of problems due to the color of his skin. Yes, The Brother From Another Planet is a ‘message’ movie about bigotry, but it’s a fair message. Plus, by the time the credits roll, the film goes a little deeper than just the basic black vs. white thing (though that is front and center) and embraces the whole immigrant experience in the United States. At the very end (SPOILERS), when it looks like the Men In Black (no, not the ones with the hit theme song) are about to capture The Brother, a large number of people dressed in various uniforms relating to their occupations emerge from the shadows and takedown The Brother’s pursuers. It turns out The Brother is not the only escaped three toed slave on our planet, and even though they all have experienced some bigotry since landing, it’s a whole lot preferable here than where they came from.

I couldn’t help but think of Brother From Another Planet while attending the Rally For Religious Freedom in downtown Atlanta today.

As you can see, down here in Dixieland we had to hold more umbrellas than protest signs, but that didn’t dampen our enthusiasm too much. Despite the rain, we still managed to get over one thousand people at the rally. Not too shabby for the “city too busy to care”. But more interesting than that was the speakers that were on hand. While we had the obligatory politician (actually, a nice guy who’s also a member of the Knights of Columbus), a good number of those who spoke turned out to be immigrants, including our very own Bishop Luis R. Zarama.

And, let me tell you, the immigrants are a little pissed off. The type of unconstitutional overreach which the U.S. government is attempting with the HHS mandate is not what these people moved here for. This is supposed to be the land of freedom, a place that’s better than where they came from. I think it’s safe to say they feel somewhat betrayed.

Still, even though their irritation was evident, the rally was a positive event overall. Which hasn’t stopped the local paper from trying to put a different spin on the event. Having no luck finding a dissenter in the crowd (assuming he was even there), the reporter from the AJC had to call up a representative of Catholics for Choice in Washington just to get an opposing viewpoint. Sigh. But that’s the fight we’re up against. The powers that be will do whatever they can to shape the narrative and marginalize our voices. That’s why today can only be a start. Please, everyone, keep sending those letters and making those phone calls, keep talking to whomever will listen, and most of all, keep praying. Let’s keep this land of ours a place where immigrants want to flee to, not flee from.