WHERE IS THEIR HUMANITY?

by Ruth A. Sheets

How is it the citizens of this country are allowing our government to turn our nation into a hateful, racist, uncaring place, that is, more than usual?  How is it a man who did not even receive a majority of the votes cast in the 2016 election gets to make rules that put so many people at risk with no approval by the American people or even our elected representatives?

A few racist liars should not be able to do this to us.  Why does Congress sit back and allow these racist liars to set us back more than 50 years in our human response?  Why aren't all Senators standing up to Mr. McConnell demanding votes come up on how we are dealing with immigrants, asylum-seekers, and even citizens who happen not to be white, rich, straight males?  Are Republicans that scared of everyone who does not fit those categories?  It is sure looking that way? 

The questions for Republicans and all of us, would you like to have members of your family treated the way we are treating asylum-seekers?  Would you like to be treated that way?  If either answer is "no," then you need to step up and change, not only your attitude, but your behavior.  Activate your humanity, if it is still possible.  It seems some people can dismiss their humanity rather quickly and find all kinds of excuses for it and their post-humanitarian stances.  Why do so many of us listen to these uncaring persons and allow them to act so horrifically?

Those Republicans and some others have forgotten that the U.S. has a long history of providing refuge to people fleeing violence or persecution in their home countries. Our Statue of Liberty stands for those people and acknowledges our commitment to potential immigrants, despite claims by members of Mr. Trump’s administration to the contrary. 

Emma Lazarus’s poem “The Great Colossus” was written in 1883 to help raise money for the pedestal that would hold the gift from France.  That is the poem that says “Give me your tired. your poor . . .Send these, the homeless tempest-tossed to me,” among other important words about who we as Americans are.  Check it out Trump administration members.

Currently, in our name, the Trump administration is stamping out our tradition of supporting asylum-seekers through various policies aimed at dismantling the asylum system, then, lying about the reasons.  The main reasons given, those people are criminals, those people are terrorists, those people are just coming here to have anchor babies.  None of these excuses is true beyond a few instances and carries much if any weight with Americans beyond Mr. Trump’s base.  But, Trump’s generally uninformed, often racist, misogynistic base is all that matters these days, so these become the “real” reasons.  Actually, those reasons are just more lies among the very many this administration has dished out.

What is this administration doing, forcing asylum-seekers to remain in Mexico, a country completely unable to support the numbers of people coming.  The forced return to Mexico policy is an appalling attack -- and as taxpayers, we're funding it. Because of this policy, tens of thousands of people are trapped in dangerous conditions while they await court dates inside the U.S., which may never come since there, in Mexico, they can face kidnapping, rape, and even murder. They often lack adequate access to water, food, and medical care. Our own policy has created a humanitarian crisis in northern Mexico.

I can't imagine our founders would have gone along with this.  Therefore, as Americans, human beings, we shouldn’t either, and must declare "it must stop!"  We can’t depend on Congress since Mr. McConnell cares only for his own power and money, so won’t even bring a bill to end the practice to the floor.  Alas, it seems the Supreme Court conservatives (Republicans) don’t care either.  There’s not enough money in moving people through the system more quickly.  It wouldn’t humiliate and “deter” asylum-seekers sufficiently. 

How sad we can’t depend on our elected or appointed officials to have a sense of human caring for anyone but themselves.  We need to do better when we elect people.  We need to go beyond party when choosing them because one of our parties, Republican, has decided that they have all pulled themselves up by “their own bootstraps.”  Anyone else who is struggling just doesn’t have what it takes and deserves whatever they get (nothing from our government).

We hear this argument discussed often when the challenges of poverty or the conditions under which people of color find themselves becomes the topic.  That is the excuse to drop one’s humanity in favor of self-serving actions and beliefs.

The reality, where did those guys (mostly men) get those boots and the straps they pulled themselves up by?  Who made them?  Who showed them how to put the boots on?  Who gave them the time to figure out how to even lace up the boots?  Who even noticed they were pulling on those straps?  Who held them up while they were only standing on one foot grasping the laces?  In short, not even those arrogant Republicans on the Supreme and other courts, in Congress and legislatures all across this nation can claim the “I did it all by myself” argument.  It is a myth or lie, depending on the point of view.

Asylum-seekers did not leave their homes, face harrowing challenges as they journeyed toward a better safer life because they just wanted some fun.  They do not bring their precious children into unbelievable danger because they want to teach their children resilience.  They want a chance for themselves and their children to survive and thrive.  Isn’t that what we all, even Republicans, want for ourselves and our kids?   

If that is the case, our human selves will want to give asylum-seekers relief by picking up the pace and scope of hearings, moving asylum-seekers into the United States where they can be safer and let caring Americans through a range of organizations help them.  This could relieve some of the crisis in Mexico, and reiterate that the United States does care and still honors the symbol of welcome, the Statue of Liberty.  

THE CHILD PRESIDENT

THE CHILD PRESIDENT

Ruth A. Sheets

June 24, 2019

It has been clear from before Donald Trump took office that he despises immigrants, that is, immigrants of color.  He told his cult that he wanted all 11 million (or so) “illegal immigrants” gone.  That kind of a blanket statement is typical of a person who sees things in “black and white,” and cannot or will not consider the consequences of his actions.  That is expected of a little kid, but not of a 73-year-old man.

In this case, Mr. Trump has threatened to send his dogs, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) into communities to drag undocumented immigrants out and ship them back to their original countries.  He knows ICE will do whatever he tells them to do because Congress decided in a fear fever after 9/11, that is their job.  He also knows they have let power go to their heads and seem to love this task.  Like so many in Mr. Trump’s administration, they seem to revel in the suffering of others and the power it brings them, and Mr. Trump, the Commander in Chief, revels in being able to order them about.

As a citizen and Christian minister, I am horrified at the threats this president is making.  He is using threats against the lives of thousands, perhaps millions of people to get his way.  He and his cult want a wall and they plan to get it any way they can.  Tell everyone he is releasing the dogs on Sunday to bring added fear to communities of color, then on the day before, tell everyone he will call off the dogs, but in return he expects to get from Congress the money for his wall.  Isn’t that extortion?  If Congress gives in, Mr. Trump will know that this tactic works and he will definitely use it again, this time in a more all-encompassing way.  

That kind of reasoning alas, is exactly what one would expect from an 8-year-old school yard bully.  And, that's what Mr. Trump is.  He never had to grow up and his emotional age is about that of an 8-year-old and he has the understanding of a kid about that age too.  Then, he is rich, which he believes, gives him even more weight, a bigger bully.  

Some unthinking people chose to put this child in the White House and hoped he would do stuff for them.  He has!  Not alone, though because there are a lot of people who benefit from allowing and encouraging this child’s tantrums and bullying.  Who benefits?  Corporations that produce fossil fuels love the acts that permit increasing the amount of pollution they can produce, the places like National Parks where they can do their dirty work, and the destruction they can wreak on the oceans and seaside communities (not Mr. Trump’s property at Mara Lago, though). 

Employers of undocumented immigrants benefit too because if they don’t want to pay their employees what they have earned, no problem.  They can always report them to ICE if they complain.

Evangelicals enjoy wallowing in their self-righteousness that “those people didn’t come in the right way.  They’re making ‘anchor babies’ who suck up our resources.  The sad thing, it doesn’t matter to Evangelicals if any of what they say is true.  It feels true!

Shame on all of them trying to extort concessions from Democrats and some Republicans in exchange for him getting his stupid useless, but very expensive wall.  The parents in the room must stand up and tell him no.  I am guessing Republicans, bad political parents that they are, just can't do it.  The neighbors will somehow have to step in, introducing some discipline. 

I get it that a child like Mr. Trump does not understand much, but he certainly does know how to manipulate his cult followers and the other Republicans and conservatives who enable his poor behavior.  It looks like the American communities will have to step forward to protect Mr. Trump’s targets, the people who work hard, raise families, and feel loyalty to this country even though they were born somewhere else.  They deserve a chance to become permanent residents or citizens if that is what they choose.  They do not deserve the constant threats and crippling fear that comes from not knowing if parents will still be here when a child gets home from school, the fear of being thrown back into the chaos and death of the countries they fled. 

Mr. Trump wants to be a hero to his cult.  He doesn’t truly understand that he already is.  He appointed Justice Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court and he will stop abortions.  That and his anti-immigrant stance are all it takes for them to cleave to him forever.  So whatever he says or does is OK with them. 

Pretty childish, huh? 

THE WALL

by Ruth A. Sheets

For nearly four years. Mr. Trump has ranted about a wall on the US southern border with Mexico.
He and his followers claim that all the ills of our nation are coming through that border and that we can fix everything if we only build a wall. 

What kind of a wall?  Well, that changes on a regular basis. 

When Mr. Trump preached to his crowds, his devoted cult, he sent up a variety of test balloons to see what kind of wall they would respond best to.  It seems he got the most cheers when he called out 30 feet, a 30-foot concrete wall!!

Beyond the rally attenders, it was not clear just who wanted the 30-foot wall.  Eventually, pollsters did ask the question.  It appears the farther you are from the southern border, the more you like the idea of a wall, and, oh yes, the whiter you are too.

The folks who want the wall most, rarely encounter outside of media, anyone who is not of their racial, religious, or ethnic group, although racial is the greatest defining factor. 

The “far from the border gang” tends to be very conservative, believing in their “small government” stances, their certainty that reverse racism (whatever that is) is the most pressing problem white people face.  Or, maybe the most pressing problem is that hordes of dark-skinned immigrants who don’t share their values/look like them are going to come and take their jobs.  It’s a toss-up, I think and nurtured by fear and hate.

How did Americans, so completely ignorant of people from different groups come to their hatred of the others.  It probably started with their family and community.  Whenever they had contact with other people, non-white people, they returned to their homes in their carefully maintained white zones where they were warned often that if a family of color moved in, the property values would fall and their homes would be worthless.  That can be pretty scary to new home owners. 

Local and Federal Government sponsored programs endorsed this idea and primarily lent to white, reliable  families.  These entities made sure the fear and hatred of the other was stoked well enough to ensure that particularly, black families would find no welcome.  Realtors only showed people of a particular color the “right home for your family,” in the correct color zone.

This has been going on for many decades, and has resulted in segregated communities of color that somehow manage to have the poorest schools, the worst cared-for streets and infrastructure, the most poverty, while neighboring white enclaves have “superior” schools, lovely clean streets, parks, etc.  The white families rarely even have to encounter children of color in schools because they just don’t attend them.  And, anyway, they couldn’t keep up.  They’re too lazy, uncaring, and well, not bright enough, you know, “I don’t mean anything by that, of course.  I’m not racist.  I respect everyone.” 

The residents of Far From The Border  claim to love small government while sucking everything they can from it.  Gotta have those farm subsidies, good internet and postal services, good roads “so we can get to our jobs,” good jobs in government contracted companies, help to keep their local hospitals open, drug programs available to those facing the opioid crisis, and on and on.  They are insulated from everything but what they want while living in their own narrow world.  They don’t see that so much of what they want is paid for by taxpayers from all over the country, even those people of color they disdain.

What makes residents of Far From The Border think a wall of any kind will stop that imagined menace? 

The fuel for their fear and hatred of what is on the other side of the southern border is perfectly directed by social media, Fox news, and current government leaders who tell them that everyone has ignored them and their problems, particularly Democrats. 

These residents are fearful of being exposed to ideas that are not already their own.  They seem to loathe change, certain they cannot face it, that they will be inadequate to its demands.  They appear to be afraid America won’t be the America of their childhood and all those people are the cause.  They truly don’t know that America has moved on, changed to adapt to new realities.

The purveyors of fear and hate work to change their patrons’ worldview and the way they feel about and treat the people they meet and interact with. 

I saw this happen with my mother who was generally a welcoming person who read the newspapers and checked out whatever was in the news.  a little over a decade after my father died, she married a man I had known for years and had seen as caring, sensible, and nice.  He had started to listen to Rush Limbaugh and had him on the radio every day, getting my mother listening too as it was always in the background.  In conversations, Mom started making disparaging remarks about black people (even though her beloved granddaughter’s father was black).  She talked against gays and transgender people (even though her oldest daughter was both).  She started commenting that women were getting too much above themselves (even though she was an enormously competent, powerful woman in her jobs). 

Mr. Limbaugh spouted these things on his shows.  I heard it when I was visiting and would challenge her.  My sisters and I asked her to turn Rush off when we visited.  She eventually did, but I think the damage had been done.  I suspect Mom is not unique.

So, back to the wall.  The wall is a figment of Mr. Trump’s imagination fueled by people and institutions that want to preserve white America as America.  The wall will stop nothing and refugees and other immigrants will continue to come here, but this wall, whether 30 ft. concrete or “steel slats,” gives this crowd of scared white people (who would never consider a 30-ft. wall on our border with Canada) a symbol and Mr. Trump something else he can put his name on.

Immigration Reform – It’s Time. It’s Fair.

by Ruth A Sheets

I just watched the new documentary film “Dream Now.”  Four young immigrants who were brought to America by parents when they were children are now hoping to make a place for themselves in their new country.  The problem, of course, their parents came here illegally.

Supposedly, there will be a vote in Congress this week, described as “massive immigration reform” and “a complete overhaul of immigration.”  I suspect that neither is an accurate description.

The folks in power, and many Americans in general, want to be sure that anyone who came here without permission will have to pay, hopefully for the rest of their lives for their criminal invasion of our precious shores.  We can’t have amnesty because that will lead more undesirables to come here.

In the past decade or so, since this has again become such a huge issue, I have heard people complain that illegal immigrants didn’t wait in line to come here as they should have. Those illegals who are here should go back where they came from and get in line like everyone else.

What a bunch of nonsense!  The people “back home” who did get permission were

often folks who knew someone who knew someone who could get them in.  Does that make them more worthy than someone who braves the Arizona desert to make a better life for themselves and their family? 

Marco Rubio, Senator from Florida has set himself up as some kind of champion for immigration.  However, he wants to make it as close to impossible for people who are undocumented to become citizens.  The hypocrisy is that Mr. Rubio is a member of the priviledged class, the anti-Castro element from Cuba who have had a red carpet path right from the island to American citizenship.  Are the Cuban immigrants more worthy than the Chinese immigrant who thought she was coming here for a decent life and found herself illegal when she arrived?

We are obsessed with building and maintaining the fense across our Mexican border.  Why are we so frightened of our neighbors to the south?  The terrorists who perpetrated 911 did not come through Mexico. 

I don’t believe we can be reminded often enough that this is a nation of immigrants.  All of us are immigrants, even the Native Americans who came 20,000 years ago.  Most of our ancestors did not come here “with permission.”  Many were brought here in chains as either slaves or prisoners.  Others snuck in on ships or planes.  Many came through Ellis Island, sometimes the result of an arbitrary decision by a sympathetic official.      

 

What do these folks have in common?  They and their descendants who still live here are Americans  and share some common values and practices.  They work to make better lives for their families.  They want their children to have better opportunities than they have had. 

Guess what? The undocumented immigrants want the same things.  They, too, want to be part of this crazy, wild, sometimes out-of-control experiment that is The United States of America.  Let’s make it possible for them to do so.  Set up a five-your waiting period when the adults can learn about our history and government, pay taxes, commit to this nation.  Their children should be able to become citizens within 2 years so they can help their parents earn the money necessary to pay the fees which Congress will surely require.

Let’s get over the fear that the “illegal immigrants will take all our jobs and leave us unemployed."  It is not the immigrants who will do that.  It is the people who own the businesses that hire as few people as possible, pay as little as they can, and accumulate obscene profits who will do it. but that’s another story.