Episcopalians send thousands of origami cranes to Olympia for detained immigrants; Episcopal News Service (ENS), April 30, 2026

Shireen Korkzan , Episcopal News Service (ENS); Episcopalians send thousands of origami cranes to Olympia for detained immigrants

"Episcopalians from the United States and France folded and donated more than 5,000 origami cranes to the Diocese of Olympia ahead of the church’s Asiamerica Ministries’ annual retreat for Episcopal clergy and lay leaders of Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander – AANHPI – heritage.

The cranes were strung together and brought to a shrine in front of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s detention center in Tacoma, Washington, where the 70 retreat participants gathered to pray for peace and solidarity with detained migrants.

“Each crane sent to us was a prayer, and at the vigil we were all praying together with everyone who folded paper cranes,” the Rev. Jo Ann Lagman, The Episcopal Church’s missioner for Asiamerica Ministries and a Filipina American, told Episcopal News Service. “To me, it was quite healing.”

Lagman noted that some Quakers who are part of an ecumenical Bible study group with Episcopalians in Pensacola, Florida, also made and shipped origami cranes ahead of the April 15-17 pilgrimage and retreat.

The idea to make origami cranes came from Tsuru for Solidarity, a nonviolent, direct-action campaign project of Japanese American social justice advocates. They are working to end immigration detention sites and support immigrant communities by advocating for fair immigration policies and other means.

In Japanese culture, the crane, or “tsuru” in Japanese, symbolizes transformation, healing and nonviolence. Origami “tsurus” are called “orizurus,” and they are frequently used to honor Japanese American victims and survivors of concentration camps during World War II."

John Lewis, The New York Times; 

Together, You Can Redeem the Soul of Our Nation

Though I am gone, I urge you to
answer the highest calling of your heart and stand up for what you truly believe.

Mr. Lewis, the civil rights leader who died on July 17, wrote this essay shortly before his death, to be published upon the day of his funeral.

"Like so many young people today, I was searching for a way out, or some might say a way in, and then I heard the voice of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on an old radio. He was talking about the philosophy and discipline of nonviolence. He said we are all complicit when we tolerate injustice. He said it is not enough to say it will get better by and by. He said each of us has a moral obligation to stand up, speak up and speak out. When you see something that is not right, you must say something. You must do something. Democracy is not a state. It is an act, and each generation must do its part to help build what we called the Beloved Community, a nation and world society at peace with itself.

Ordinary people with extraordinary vision can redeem the soul of America by getting in what I call good trouble, necessary trouble. Voting and participating in the democratic process are key. The vote is the most powerful nonviolent change agent you have in a democratic society. You must use it because it is not guaranteed. You can lose it."