Who are we? Are we noble or savage? Do we honor the best or the worst in us? How we treat the little children at the border tells us exactly who we are. It is a shame that our nation will wear for many years into the future.
Here is my comment to a New York Times opinion piece about the atrocity occurring at our border.
What kind of country have we become when we terrorize children as part of our national policy? The fact that there is even debate about this shows that we have fallen very low.
It is common knowledge that tearing children away from their parents leaves permanent emotional and physical scars. But it isn’t only the trauma of separation that hurts these child prisoners. The dehumanizing effect of being placed into a prison environment and the use of bar-codes to identify children, numbers instead of names, resurrects frightening memories from the past. Are the American people so debased that brutalizing children is acceptable?
And lastly, what about the personal responsibility of the ICE administrators and agents in this tragedy? Don’t they share the same responsibility to report child abuse just as teachers, doctors, and social workers are mandated to? Recent history is full of examples of good people doing terrible things because they were following orders.
This is one time, following orders doesn’t cut it.
So, what kind of people are we? Are we going to let this continue? Are we just going to follow orders?