The day: the Second Sunday of Advent, 1510.  The place: Santo Domingo in Hispaniola, one of the main settlements of the Spanish in the New World.  The event: Frey Antonio Montesino, O.P. preached a blistering sermon charging all of the landed Spaniards to refrain from enslaving Natives of the island under the pain of mortal sin.  Lordy sakes!  It caused a giant furor from the Spaniards, and virtually a question of the capacity of the Dominicans to continue to serve the new settlers.  How dare these friars threaten the Conquistadors with a spiritual penalty for the work which they (the conquistadores) were doing under the flag of Spain and the patronage of Saint James.  But the Dominicans did dare!  (Would that we be so daring today.)

What happened?  Well, the Spaniards did not terminate enslaving and abusing the Indians.  In fact, the Caribbean Indians became extinct through abuse and disease.  Then the conquerors turned to Black slaves from Africa as their “labor source.”  Through all of this, the Dominicans were working to ensure rights to these people.  Through the efforts of the missionary Friars in the New World, corresponding with the Friars at the University of Salamanca, they crafted a form of international law by which peoples must be given the opportunity to freely embrace the gospel before any enslavement or forced conversion would take place.  In the Americas, the gospel banner was held by Bartolome de Las Casas (his family were friends of Christopher Columbus!); in Spain, Francisco de Vittoria was the canonist who crafted the laws.  

Actually the King of Spain ratified the laws forbidding immediate enslavement.  But who would enforce the laws in Hispaniola?  No one!  Hence, there were little teeth to the written laws.  Still, Las Casas persisted in his campaign to safeguard the Indians throughout his life.  
Today, how do we stand on issues of human rights and dignity?   Dominicans have been involved in the long-standing Christian community in Iraq.  There have been attacks on the convents and great damage done.  Thankfully, few lives have been lost (thus far).  (On Oct 31 there was an attack by radicals that kills over 30 Syriac Christians in Church for Sunday evening Mass; over 70 were wounded, held hostage for four hours before special forces could attack.)  

Dominicans are involved in promoting the Dream Act.  It is a good first effort to an immigration policy with compassion and common sense.  The Dream Act seeks to allow youth who have no documents but who have grown up in the United States to be able to receive documents to regularize their status, to apply for higher education and for scholarships and loans for this education.  After all, these youth are here to stay.  Why not let them be a productive part of the society?