OPEN HEARTS AND CLOSED GATES
By Trevor K. McNeil
Every Human Heart
Humans are complex creatures. What we say, and what we want, do not always dovetail with our actions. I think that we, for the most part want to do good and are essentially empathetic. Which is why I was so crushed to see what has gone on in recent days and weeks at our southern border. Quite aside from the President of the United States apparently thinking that dignity can be bought, something he is not even honest enough to admit, which is bad enough in itself, what is going on at the border, just for a moment, made me question my faith in humanity.
Not in Our Back Yard
We are all familiar with the images by now. Makeshift tents row upon row, people just trying to get through the day, children playing in spite of it all. Pretty typical in terms of refugee camps. Long panning camera shots and concerned looking correspondents being fixtures of cable television. Still, whoever would have thought that such camps would be constructed at the border of the United States? It is a mental disconnect I don’t think most of us are able to cope with, refugee camps being something that happens “over there.”
It’s Sad….But
Exactly where “over there” is I am not sure, but certainly not here. It is a similar case with terrorism. Up until 2001, regularly occurring, high-casualty terrorist attacks while sad, were things that happened to other people who weren’t like us, in other countries very different from ours. Which explains our surprise when a team of foreign actors, operating completely under the radar managed to murder 3,000 Americans on American soil with very non-conventional weapons. Which is probably why there were people at the time who said it was the only time America had been directly attacked. Apparently forgetting about Pearl Harbor. We simply didn’t see it coming. Sort of like how the indigenous Natives of the Americas literally could not visualize the future result of those first landings by European galleons. It was a sight so far outside their experience that their brains simply could not process it.
Worse Than Animals
Most people, no matter how hard-hearted or rock-ribbed, have a strong protective reaction when it comes to children. No matter what the exact context most rational adults want to safeguard kids. That innate desire to protect, not harm is why we react so strongly when we see children dying while in the custody of the United States Border Patrol. We as human beings are outraged and sickened by those who try to diminish or legitimize the unnecessary death of a seven-year old child. The outrage should be directed at the orange blob currently squatting in the Oval Office who has honed a heinous policy toward asylum seekers. The responsibility for this loathsome policy needs to be placed right where it belongs on the shoulders of Donald J. Trump.
New Immigration Laws Are in Order
I understand the need to address immigration, legal and illegal. The current system of laws, despite being evoked by conservatives at every turn, clearly aren’t working. It is generally a good idea to have an idea who is here. That is a policy I can agree with. Not in terms of dossiers and I.D. numbers, but at least an overall head-count. Though I fail to see how tearing children away from their parents and locking them up in what amount to cages helps in that process. What’s next for South America’s youngest migrants? Fire-hoses and attack dogs?
Little Girl Lost
Despite what some might say, I believe most of us were deeply affected by the case of little Jakelin Caal Maquin. The girl from Guatemala who had just turned 7 the day before she was seized from her family and taken into custody by the United States Border Services. Bad enough in itself but Jakelin would later die, of “dehydration and exhaustion” of all things. Reports have her temperature at time of death at 105 degrees.
Murphy’s Law Redux
To paraphrase the age old principle of Murphy’s Law: No matter how bad a situation is, it can always be made worse with just a little more information and context. As rightfully outraged as most people are this is not the first time something like this has happened. Despite the claims and aspirations of being a “give us your tired, your hungry, your poor” melting pot that welcomes all immigrants that image does not fit the facts. Viewed critically, a four-letter word on the 21st century internet I know, this country, Statue of Liberty plaque not withstanding, has a long, sad history of either turning away or abusing some of the world’s most vulnerable and desperate populations.
“Rats” On A Leaking Ship
In one of the most shameful cases of isolationism in history, the U.S. government consistently refused asylum for European Jews fleeing Nazi Germany as early as the mid-1930s. The anti-Semitic propaganda of the era described Jews as “degenerates” and “rats” a premise generally accepted by most Americans of the day. Much of the anti-Semitic attacks originated right here at home. Automobile maker Henry Ford was one of the most ardent and forceful proponents of anti-Semitism. Ford is known to have exerted pressure on Breckinridge Long, Roosevelt’s Secretary of State to adopt such views. Secretary Long then used the power of his office to thwart attempts by European refugees to set foot on our shining shores.
No Dogs or Irish
Though the most direct analogue to what is happening now is the mass migration of Irish people to the U.S. during the potato famines of the late 19th and early 20th century. Hungry, desperate people leaving their homeland due to life and death circumstances beyond their control. Sound familiar? Well, the similarities don’t end there. While they weren’t quite put into cages, families were separated during processing, children often being left alone in small rooms for long periods of time. This of course assumes these people were able to survive the rocks, bricks and occasional gunshots aimed at them, hurled as welcoming projectiles by the fine folks of such progressive cities as New York and Boston as the immigrants tried to make it down the gang planks off the boats.
Apparently making America great again means returning to old, but less than exemplary behaviors.
