On this Fourth of July I exercise my patriotic right to dissent. I cannot celebrate a nation so very willing to talk a good game and live another. We can and we must do better.
From this week’s “Consider This”:
From 1869 through the 1960’s thousands of Native children were forced from their families into residential schools for “cultural assimilation”. Many never made it home again.
As hundreds of unmarked graves continue to be located near former Canadian schools, Secretary of Interior Deb Haaland launched a similar search of old boarding schools here in the United States. This project is set to complete in 2022, opening wounds and bringing closure to the inhuman practices of our government towards Native people.
And a friend asked me, “Do you think they were abused?” I responded, “Neglect is abuse.”
We’re talking about children. We’re talking about ripping families apart. We’re talking about inadequate facilities and more importantly we’re talking about uprooting the sources of love and respect of their very existence.
And before you think, “How awful, how could that have happen?” Let’s go over a few more facts: More than 14,000 migrant children are now in the custody of the Department of Health and Human Services, some have been held in overcrowded Border Patrol facilities, some have been relocated to emergency sites like Fort Bliss. Some have been held in these places for months. Thousands are held in Fort Bllss in tents, in the desert…children…
There are reasons people are fleeing their homes. A lot has to do with US foreign policy. And the link between violence and gun trafficking from our country can no longer be denied.
So before you say, “How could this have happened?” think on this: It has happened on our watch. It is and has happened during the leadership of both parties for decades.
We can stop this cycle of violence and inhumanity, but it will take all of us. We need a revolution of the heart. We need a revolution of understanding and kindness.
It will begin with those who care.
image compliments of wikimedia commons
let kindness win 
i dissent. thank you dena. it is beyond time to learn and to teach the roots of violence and racism that have been with this country since the landing on plymouth rock. there are states that still refuse to teach this history, instead sticking to the revisionist “stories” of our grand ideals. our ideals are fabulous. but in practice, we have much to rectify. this 4th of july, like all 4th of july’s, i do not wave my flag. I do not sing “star spangled banner” although last night, watching the hudson valley from a home on a mountaintop, seeing the fireworks dotting town after town, I did break out a group sing of “this land is your land, this land is my land” and everyone knew the words…….
LikeLike
Thank you Joan. May Peace and Love prevail.
LikeLike