Father and son. I was so disheartened today to watch a clip of a group of Obama voters who had voted for Donald Trump in 2016. The interviewer asked a variety of questions about their motivations and since I wanted to understand I listened. One man said he was sold the minute Trump rode down that golden elevator because it was clearly a poke in the eye to the political establishment. (We could talk ad nauseum about why that might not be the best way to pick a president but it appears to be what many people did.) When the interviewer asked about immigration policies one of the women on the panel heartily approved of what the administration is doing. According to her the wall is necessary and is getting built already. (We can argue that point ad nauseum too.) But what made me clench my teeth and swallow back the expletives were her comments about the people who have left their homes to come here and try and make a new life. According to her they are not in economic difficulty in their home countries and her evidence was - they have cell phones. OK. Some (but by no means a majority) do have cell phones. But even if the phones aren't ancient, and even if their owners can afford the data plans that allow them to make calls in the US, those phones are a lifeline. They are a way to contact family back home and sponsors in the US. Look at the photograph above of two of our guests at the monastery. (I wish I could show you the faces but I want to preserve their privacy.) Yes that's a cellphone. But do you see how fat and clunky it looks? It is not the latest model by any means and this young dad is using it to contact his sponsor and arrange for travel to his final destination.
I wish the woman on the panel would take a little time to understand why people from Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador risk everything to come here. She might learn about years-long drought that means rural farmers can't feed their families. She might learn about gangs that extort so much money from small-business owners (such as shop keepers) those owners can't feed their families any more. She might learn about people who have been threatened with death because they witnessed a gang-related crime. She might learn about mothers who have lost so many of their children to malnutrition-related illness that they send their surviving son to the US in the hopes that he at least will survive. But of course if she did that she might have to think of them as people and then where would she be?
The same woman on the panel stated flatly that these asylum seekers are not bringing their own children; they are "renting" children they can use to get them into the US. That is so ludicrous I don't know what to do with it. Look at the photo above. Do you see that father's arm tenderly, and protectively, curved around his son? Does that look like a "rented" child to you? I wish the woman could actually meet asylum seekers and their children. I wish she could see the fathers in the monastery gently binding their daughters' hair into tidy ponytails, or watch them as they guide their children through the food line and make sure they have enough food, or help them as they try to find shoes of the right size to replace the disintegrating ones their children are wearing. She would have no doubts that these are not "rented" children. I wish she could see the father carrying his child who has a disability. I wish she could talk to the father who was so afraid for his daughter when she became ill while in Border Patrol custody and had to be taken to the hospital, or the father who described sleeping on the ground with his little boy while in US custody with only a mylar blanket to cover them. But if she did see she might have to think of them as people and then where would she be?
Another of the panelists had little sympathy for people who came here "illegally." If their children were treated badly in detention it was their own fault for bringing them. What level of inhumanity do you have to have to think small children should be punished for something their parents have done? And, as the interviewer pointed out, they are not here illegally; they have the legal right to enter the US and ask for asylum.
This week right-leaning media was consumed by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez comparing the detention camps to concentration camps. They feigned outrage that she would compare the US administration to Nazis. They would far rather we argue semantics than talk about what is actually happening in those camps where people (including children) are not fed adequately, are kept in icy conditions, crammed into cells so small that some have to stand on the toilet to make room for others, and children are kept in cages. That's what we should all be ashamed of - not whatever term was used to describe those camps.
In the end I had to stop watching the clip of those voters. I don't know how to speak to people who refuse to accept facts and would rather believe our president's endless lies.
Here's a thread in response to Lynn Cheney's dumb Tweet about AOC's concentration camp comment.
Disclaimer: The opinions in this blog are mine alone and do not represent an official Alitas account. Any mistakes are mine and mine alone.
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I wish the woman on the panel would take a little time to understand why people from Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador risk everything to come here. She might learn about years-long drought that means rural farmers can't feed their families. She might learn about gangs that extort so much money from small-business owners (such as shop keepers) those owners can't feed their families any more. She might learn about people who have been threatened with death because they witnessed a gang-related crime. She might learn about mothers who have lost so many of their children to malnutrition-related illness that they send their surviving son to the US in the hopes that he at least will survive. But of course if she did that she might have to think of them as people and then where would she be?
The same woman on the panel stated flatly that these asylum seekers are not bringing their own children; they are "renting" children they can use to get them into the US. That is so ludicrous I don't know what to do with it. Look at the photo above. Do you see that father's arm tenderly, and protectively, curved around his son? Does that look like a "rented" child to you? I wish the woman could actually meet asylum seekers and their children. I wish she could see the fathers in the monastery gently binding their daughters' hair into tidy ponytails, or watch them as they guide their children through the food line and make sure they have enough food, or help them as they try to find shoes of the right size to replace the disintegrating ones their children are wearing. She would have no doubts that these are not "rented" children. I wish she could see the father carrying his child who has a disability. I wish she could talk to the father who was so afraid for his daughter when she became ill while in Border Patrol custody and had to be taken to the hospital, or the father who described sleeping on the ground with his little boy while in US custody with only a mylar blanket to cover them. But if she did see she might have to think of them as people and then where would she be?
Another of the panelists had little sympathy for people who came here "illegally." If their children were treated badly in detention it was their own fault for bringing them. What level of inhumanity do you have to have to think small children should be punished for something their parents have done? And, as the interviewer pointed out, they are not here illegally; they have the legal right to enter the US and ask for asylum.
This week right-leaning media was consumed by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez comparing the detention camps to concentration camps. They feigned outrage that she would compare the US administration to Nazis. They would far rather we argue semantics than talk about what is actually happening in those camps where people (including children) are not fed adequately, are kept in icy conditions, crammed into cells so small that some have to stand on the toilet to make room for others, and children are kept in cages. That's what we should all be ashamed of - not whatever term was used to describe those camps.
In the end I had to stop watching the clip of those voters. I don't know how to speak to people who refuse to accept facts and would rather believe our president's endless lies.
Here's a thread in response to Lynn Cheney's dumb Tweet about AOC's concentration camp comment.
Disclaimer: The opinions in this blog are mine alone and do not represent an official Alitas account. Any mistakes are mine and mine alone.
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