Archives for category: Cruelty
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A Time to Act. Now.

By dianeravitch
June 20, 2018 //
69

The stories and images of children separated from their families at the border are shocking. If you are not upset by what our government is doing, you have no heart.

There are times in history that call upon us to take action, raise our voices, do whatever we can to stop grave human rights abuses committed in our name. This is one of those times.

Sure, there are worse human rights abuses in other parts of the world. But this is happening here and now. It is happening because the President of the United States has ordered it to happen.

The Washington Post fact-checker reviewed the claims about the causes of the current human rights disaster.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/fact-checker/wp/2018/06/19/the-facts-about-trumps-policy-of-separating-families-at-the-border/

Is it the fault of the Democrats? No. Is there a law requiring family separation? No.

Separating families was a choice made by Donald J. Trump.

The government has now opened what is euphemistically called “tender care” facilities for very young children, including toddlers and babies. The babies cry inconsolably and no adult is allowed to console them. Observers say that the older children change the diapers of the babies. When Rachel Maddow began reading a news clip about the “tender care” facilities, she broke down and cried on air. She couldn’t finish the sentence.

Trump said today he would sign an order to stop family separation. What happens next? Will he incarcerate entire families? What will happen to the children already removed from their moms and dads? Will they ever be reunited? Will we keep them as hostages? The local news station in New York City reported that we got a shipment of children from the border. Will they be put in foster care, never to see their families again? Perhaps auctioned off? What will happen to the babies in Trump’s “tender care” facilities whose parents were deported? Don’t be fooled. Pay attention to the details.

Whether you are a Democrat, a Republican, an independent, whatever, please do what you can. Contact your members of Congress. Join a protest. Act with others to amplify your voice. Bear witness.

Make no mistake. This is a defining moment. Decide where you stand and what you care about. Silence is consent.

I do not consent.

Categories Cruelty

Peter Greene on the Evil We Are Doing at Our Borders to Families and Children

By dianeravitch
June 19, 2018 //
35

Peter Greene offers a useful summary of the disgraceful, disgusting situation at our borders, where families are separated and children torn from their parents. The law doesn’t say so. It is wrong. It is evil. It is contrary to decency. Yes, we have done evil things in the past, but we should not do this evil thing now. Trump could stop it with a wave of his hand. Babies and toddlers are incarcerated. Their parents may never see them again. Some have been shipped hundreds or thousands of miles from their parents. Some are sent to foster homes. This is inhumane. We disgrace our nation in the eyes of the world.

Their parents broke the law. So what. First of all, as noted above, mostly we’re talking misdemeanors which means this is not the same as what happens to someone who was convicted of murder– it’s like taking the kids away from someone who was caught jay-walking.

The bullshit claims that the feds had to do this because evildoers were pouring across the border, because every brownskinned person is a member of an evil gang and a rapist and murder and we must get rid of them all. This is just racist bullshit with no foundation in reality (just like all racist bullshit).

The Bible. A complete non-starter, and the fact that it has even come up is a sign of how far removed from any serious religious or spiritual thought this administration is. Do we really have to point out that the Bible justified the Inquisition, slavery and a lot of other bad stuff. But if you want a religious take on it, here’s what the United Methodist Church (the one that Jeff Sessions nominally belongs to) has to say in condemnation. And here’s a Twitter thread listing the many religious condemnations of this.

This shameful policy is part of a larger initiative– to cut back the number of brown people coming to this country by making this country so unwelcoming, so cruel, so much worse than what they’re trying to escape that coming to America will be unattractive. That’s now our policy, our new unofficial motto– “If you aren’t white, it sucks to be here and you might as well not come.” That’s as stark a betrayal of our national ideals as we’ve ever seen in our long history of not living up to those ideals. And every gutless member of Congress who can’t find the spine to say so needs to face trouble at the polls come the fall. And really, when this is done, all of us who are worked up about it need to ask if there aren’t perhaps other equally huge but less visceral injustices being perpetrated that we should be throwing our energies against.

Call your member of Congress. Now.

Categories Cruelty, Shame
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