VISUAL ARTS + MUSEUMS

RESCHEDULED from September 17, 2008 because of Hurricane Ike.

The world is at a fragile crossroads. Peace, freedom, justice, human rights, and the environment are being challenged. 

Foremost scholars, authors, and religious leaders, from as far away as Beirut, who are facing these challenges head-on will bring their behind-the-scenes knowledge of riveting issues to the Rothko Chapel for discussion.

January 8, 7:00 p.m.
Postville: Immigrant Abuse Beyond America's Backroads
Stephen Bloom and Dr. Erik Camayd-Freixas

Together for the first time, the two experts on the human rights abuses at the hands of both a meat packing plant and federal immigration officials in Postville, Iowa, will discuss ethics, justice and democracy.

Stephen Bloom, professor of journalism at the University of Iowa and author of Postville: A Clash of Cultures in the Heartland, and Cuban-born and Harvard-educated Dr. Erik Camayd-Freixas, certified interpreter for United States courts, will discuss the human rights violations in a town hidden away from freeways in the hills of northeast Iowa.

Dr. Erik Camayd-Freixas, associate professor of Latin American literature at Florida International University, served as an interpreter for the migrant workers following the largest Immigration, Customs and Enforcement raid in United States history.

His detailed account of the extensive ethical and legal violations which took place during the proceedings made international headlines.

Bloom’s book focuses on the fundamental changes confronting a small, predominately Lutheran, Iowa town after 150 Lubavitcher Jews settled there, bought the local slaughterhouse, and became the community’s new power brokers.