The Shirley Kermali Story
Arthur Kanegis | 04.02.2002 04:12
Native American Shirley Kermali is in a Portland, Maine prison. Why? She has no birth certificate! Born illegitimately in the Virgin Islands, unregistered, brought up by foster parents in Trinidad, fled to the USA after being sexually abused, married to a Black Foot, she went to Canada to buy bibles and was refused reentry. Read on.
The Shirley Kermali Story
Arthur Kanegis
You go to Canada for a day, and on your return the border agent says: "You don’t look like an American. Let me see your birth certificate." You don’t have one, so you are incarcerated for almost a year.
Impossible? Couldn’t happen in America?
It is happening right now to Soaring Eagle, a Blackfoot Indian who also goes by her American name: Shirley Kermali. In November of 2000 she drove to Canada to visit Friendship House and buy bibles for her homeless mission. When she drove back the same day, via Windsor Tunnel, Niagara Falls, she was stopped by immigration. Shirley showed her driver’s license with her address in Ozone Park, outside of NYC, where she owns a house, pays taxes, and has lived since 1994. She explained that she was bringing the bibles back for "Impact House," which she founded with her husband, Shaun Perkins, also a blackfoot Indian. Impact house takes in homeless people and has a program for recovering drug addicts.
When asked for her birth certificate, she explained that she did not have one because her mom was a rape victim in the US Virgin Islands, and she had been given up as an unwanted child. She had a rough childhood that included abuse, and being shunted around among several sets of caregivers, so she couldn’t prove her place of birth, or her American Indian birthright.
She was refused entry and returned to Canada. Canada would not accept her, since she was not a Canadian Citizen, so she was held for 7 months at a Mississagua, Ont. detention facility.
From detention, she wrote to Garry Davis, who has lived as a World Citizen for over 50 years and founded the World Service Authority. The WSA contends that if you are born on planet Earth, you have the right to be documented as a human being, and so it issues world passports, birth certificates, and other documents.
Shirley explained that her husband, also a Blackfoot Indian, had cancer. She was desperate to return home to give him a blood transfusion. "They claim this is a holding Center," she wrote, "but it’s a jail, and you don’t have no rights… I was treated worse than at a boot camp... There are cameras all around, no fresh air…no privacy. We must sit in the dining area, a 30 x 30 room holding over 30 women, some with small kids – no recreation or play room for kids.
"To this day, NO CHARGES were held against me. No crime was committed by me. The US Immigration and Canadian Immigration confirmed that I am not a criminal nor am I any threat to any one. I hold a NY State Driver’s License, a US Virgin Island’s Baptismal Certificate and I’ve lived in the US all my adult life.
"The only reason I had a document (marriage certificate) bearing ‘Trinidad’ is because I was adopted into many foster homes, not legal papers or adoptions. I don’t know my real father’s name or my mother’s name. I don’t know if I was recorded under another name, but as of now I am un-documented without birth records."
The World Service Authority issued her a World Birth Certificate and a World Passport. Garry wrote the Queen of England, who still holds legal dominion over Canada, and demanded compliance with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 13: "Everyone has the right to leave any country, including his own, and to return to his country." And Article 9: "No one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest, detention or exile."
"If Shirley is not released within 48 hours," Garry wrote, "this government* can not be responsible for the consequences." He sent a copy to the Governor General in Toronto. It worked. Shirley was immediately released from detention. However, she still could not enter the United States, which, she points out, was her ancestral home before the Europeans colonized it. So on August 1, 2001, Garry flew "World Government One," his Navion Aircraft, to Montreal, Canada and brought her to Burlington Airport, which is an official Port of Entry. Garry did not sneak her into the US; he had a flight plan and brought her to a port where she proceeded to present herself to immigration. The authorities not only arrested Ms Kermali, but also seized Garry's plane for transporting an "illegal alien." They currently have World Government One in chains, and Soaring Eagle is incarcerated in Portland, Maine.
Shirley faces possible deportation. It is crucial that we find funding to aid her legal support and to organize popular support on her behalf, and to fight the warrant in the US District court to have the plane "condemned and forfeited."
As President of Future WAVE (Working for Alternatives to Violence through Entertainment) I found myself in the middle of this case because I was in the process of making a movie about the life of Garry Davis when it occurred. If you would like more information about the film, please take a look at www.futurewave.org/borderline.html or email me:
arthur@futurewave.org
A defense fund has been opened at the Merchants Bank, S. Burlington, VT, #03394129. Checks, money orders, etc. should be addressed to "The Shirley Kermali Defense fund," POB 2304, S. Burlington, VT 05403.
By helping to publicize and defend this case, you will also be striking a crucial blow for freedom in these tumultuous times. Tens of thousands of people are incarcerated around the world for no other crime than lacking a piece of paper. In the wake of 9/11 the rights of paperless people are under fire more than ever before. The UN estimates that there are 55 million refugees in the world – people without a home. Many cannot get travel documents, work permits or other papers.
Acting on behalf of We the people of the planet, the WSA has jumped in to begin filling this important function – as a stopgap until the people of the planet create global institutions that can enforce world law and human rights. WSA’s papers are often accepted by governments, many of whom don’t know what to do with all these paperless people.
For example, hundreds wasted away in "the hell-hole of Bangkok" until a Vietnam Veteran dissenter amongst them obtained a WSA World Passport. Officials, seeing a way out of their bureaucratic nightmare, not only let him out, but allowed passports in for all the others, emptying out the jail! This happened repeatedly. One day a batch of passports was returned to WSA because they lacked WSA’s official seal. Correcting the oversight, the seal was applied and the passports resent. Once again the "holding facility" was emptied! Although many border guards refuse to recognize the World documents, over 150 nations have stamped them with visas and other official seals. For more information about Garry’s work see www.worldcitnews.org and see www.worldservice.org to obtain world passports or ID papers.
By publicizing Shirley's case and promoting Garry’s exciting life story in a major movie, we hope to not only help them, but also to get millions of people thinking about developing global institutions that can protect our human rights and promote a safe, secure and peaceful planet. The Garry Davis story is a way to excite millions of people with a vision for a better way than war.
In addition to helping the defense fund at the address mentioned above, we also welcome your donations to help Future WAVE expand its efforts to work for alternatives to violence through entertainment. We especially welcome your seed funding for Future Wave to aid in the development of the feature film about Garry Davis -- to help educate the public about World Citizenship. Please join us in this important effort by sending your tax-deductible donation today. Make your check for payable to Future WAVE, a 501 (c) 3 organization, and send it to PMB 153, PO box 439060, San Diego, California 92143-9060. Phone: 619-993-5500. future@futurewave.org (Note: Defense fund checks should only go to the Burlington, Vt. address above.)
Your support will make a crucial difference.
Warmly,
Arthur Kanegis
Email: arthur@futurewave.org
*The World government of World Citizens, declared September 4, 1953.
Arthur Kanegis
You go to Canada for a day, and on your return the border agent says: "You don’t look like an American. Let me see your birth certificate." You don’t have one, so you are incarcerated for almost a year.
Impossible? Couldn’t happen in America?
It is happening right now to Soaring Eagle, a Blackfoot Indian who also goes by her American name: Shirley Kermali. In November of 2000 she drove to Canada to visit Friendship House and buy bibles for her homeless mission. When she drove back the same day, via Windsor Tunnel, Niagara Falls, she was stopped by immigration. Shirley showed her driver’s license with her address in Ozone Park, outside of NYC, where she owns a house, pays taxes, and has lived since 1994. She explained that she was bringing the bibles back for "Impact House," which she founded with her husband, Shaun Perkins, also a blackfoot Indian. Impact house takes in homeless people and has a program for recovering drug addicts.
When asked for her birth certificate, she explained that she did not have one because her mom was a rape victim in the US Virgin Islands, and she had been given up as an unwanted child. She had a rough childhood that included abuse, and being shunted around among several sets of caregivers, so she couldn’t prove her place of birth, or her American Indian birthright.
She was refused entry and returned to Canada. Canada would not accept her, since she was not a Canadian Citizen, so she was held for 7 months at a Mississagua, Ont. detention facility.
From detention, she wrote to Garry Davis, who has lived as a World Citizen for over 50 years and founded the World Service Authority. The WSA contends that if you are born on planet Earth, you have the right to be documented as a human being, and so it issues world passports, birth certificates, and other documents.
Shirley explained that her husband, also a Blackfoot Indian, had cancer. She was desperate to return home to give him a blood transfusion. "They claim this is a holding Center," she wrote, "but it’s a jail, and you don’t have no rights… I was treated worse than at a boot camp... There are cameras all around, no fresh air…no privacy. We must sit in the dining area, a 30 x 30 room holding over 30 women, some with small kids – no recreation or play room for kids.
"To this day, NO CHARGES were held against me. No crime was committed by me. The US Immigration and Canadian Immigration confirmed that I am not a criminal nor am I any threat to any one. I hold a NY State Driver’s License, a US Virgin Island’s Baptismal Certificate and I’ve lived in the US all my adult life.
"The only reason I had a document (marriage certificate) bearing ‘Trinidad’ is because I was adopted into many foster homes, not legal papers or adoptions. I don’t know my real father’s name or my mother’s name. I don’t know if I was recorded under another name, but as of now I am un-documented without birth records."
The World Service Authority issued her a World Birth Certificate and a World Passport. Garry wrote the Queen of England, who still holds legal dominion over Canada, and demanded compliance with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 13: "Everyone has the right to leave any country, including his own, and to return to his country." And Article 9: "No one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest, detention or exile."
"If Shirley is not released within 48 hours," Garry wrote, "this government* can not be responsible for the consequences." He sent a copy to the Governor General in Toronto. It worked. Shirley was immediately released from detention. However, she still could not enter the United States, which, she points out, was her ancestral home before the Europeans colonized it. So on August 1, 2001, Garry flew "World Government One," his Navion Aircraft, to Montreal, Canada and brought her to Burlington Airport, which is an official Port of Entry. Garry did not sneak her into the US; he had a flight plan and brought her to a port where she proceeded to present herself to immigration. The authorities not only arrested Ms Kermali, but also seized Garry's plane for transporting an "illegal alien." They currently have World Government One in chains, and Soaring Eagle is incarcerated in Portland, Maine.
Shirley faces possible deportation. It is crucial that we find funding to aid her legal support and to organize popular support on her behalf, and to fight the warrant in the US District court to have the plane "condemned and forfeited."
As President of Future WAVE (Working for Alternatives to Violence through Entertainment) I found myself in the middle of this case because I was in the process of making a movie about the life of Garry Davis when it occurred. If you would like more information about the film, please take a look at www.futurewave.org/borderline.html or email me:
arthur@futurewave.org A defense fund has been opened at the Merchants Bank, S. Burlington, VT, #03394129. Checks, money orders, etc. should be addressed to "The Shirley Kermali Defense fund," POB 2304, S. Burlington, VT 05403.
By helping to publicize and defend this case, you will also be striking a crucial blow for freedom in these tumultuous times. Tens of thousands of people are incarcerated around the world for no other crime than lacking a piece of paper. In the wake of 9/11 the rights of paperless people are under fire more than ever before. The UN estimates that there are 55 million refugees in the world – people without a home. Many cannot get travel documents, work permits or other papers.
Acting on behalf of We the people of the planet, the WSA has jumped in to begin filling this important function – as a stopgap until the people of the planet create global institutions that can enforce world law and human rights. WSA’s papers are often accepted by governments, many of whom don’t know what to do with all these paperless people.
For example, hundreds wasted away in "the hell-hole of Bangkok" until a Vietnam Veteran dissenter amongst them obtained a WSA World Passport. Officials, seeing a way out of their bureaucratic nightmare, not only let him out, but allowed passports in for all the others, emptying out the jail! This happened repeatedly. One day a batch of passports was returned to WSA because they lacked WSA’s official seal. Correcting the oversight, the seal was applied and the passports resent. Once again the "holding facility" was emptied! Although many border guards refuse to recognize the World documents, over 150 nations have stamped them with visas and other official seals. For more information about Garry’s work see www.worldcitnews.org and see www.worldservice.org to obtain world passports or ID papers.
By publicizing Shirley's case and promoting Garry’s exciting life story in a major movie, we hope to not only help them, but also to get millions of people thinking about developing global institutions that can protect our human rights and promote a safe, secure and peaceful planet. The Garry Davis story is a way to excite millions of people with a vision for a better way than war.
In addition to helping the defense fund at the address mentioned above, we also welcome your donations to help Future WAVE expand its efforts to work for alternatives to violence through entertainment. We especially welcome your seed funding for Future Wave to aid in the development of the feature film about Garry Davis -- to help educate the public about World Citizenship. Please join us in this important effort by sending your tax-deductible donation today. Make your check for payable to Future WAVE, a 501 (c) 3 organization, and send it to PMB 153, PO box 439060, San Diego, California 92143-9060. Phone: 619-993-5500.
future@futurewave.org (Note: Defense fund checks should only go to the Burlington, Vt. address above.) Your support will make a crucial difference.
Warmly,
Arthur Kanegis
Email:
arthur@futurewave.org *The World government of World Citizens, declared September 4, 1953.
Arthur Kanegis
e-mail:
arthur@futurewave.org
Homepage:
www.worldcitnews.org