Stop the Deportation of Spoken Word Artist Thea Som (2 of 2)

With the Performance Project's and American Friends Service Committee's help, letters and phone calls of support initially flooded local legislators, and Massachusetts Senator Ted Kennedy's office agreed to support Som's case. Supporters circulated petitions and held a rally on March 11. Meanwhile, Som spent six weeks in prison, transferred from INS facilities in Lousiana to Oklahoma City to El Paso. As is typical in INS detention cases, the government has been secretive regarding changes in his location; detainees were transferred in the middle of the night in shackles. In late April, Thea was released due to the unavailability of travel documents for deportation, but now he again faces impending removal from his community to a foreign country.

The targeting of Som for deportation represents how our immigration and criminal justice systems are broken. These systems are geared at punishing people repeatedly rather than developing their rehabilitation and reintegration into society. Even if Som was a convicted criminal, he has already paid his “debts” to society at least twice.

Joseph Peracchio, who invited Som to lead workshops in a Juvenile Detention Center in Albuquerque, NM, says, “Thea is now using his experiences to help others recognize their choices and make them wisely. For children and young adults who feel directionless, powerless and hopeless, contact with Thea Som is invaluable.” Members of the Performance Project agree: “Thea is an irreplaceable asset to the Performance Project, the people he meets, and the community in which he lives.”

We must protest immigration and criminal justice systems which inhumanely treat people as disposable. Please contact Massachusetts legislators:

• Sen. Ted Kenney – ph: 202-224-2417; fax: 202-224-2417
• Congressman Olver – ph: 413-532-7010; fax: 413-532-6543
• Senator John Kerry – ph: 413-785-4610, 617-565-8519; fax: 413-736-1049, 617-248-3870, 202-224-8525
• Congressman Neal – ph: 202-225-5601; fax: 202-225-5759
• Congressman Capuano – ph: 202-225-5601; fax: 202-225-9322

For more information on how you can help, please contact Julie Lichtenberg of the Performance Project at Julie.l@comcast.net, 413-586-4960 or Joanne Commeford of the AFSC at 413-695-6059.

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