Do We Care About the Camps?

Let’s talk about the camps.

Metal cages.

No soap or toothbrushes.

Stench.

Neglect.

Overcrowding.

Sexual abuse.

Illness.

Death.

Meager rations.

Sleeping on the floor.

Babies without diapers.

International law ignored.

A system designed to punish a specific group of people.

Human beings likened to vermin.

Human beings, having committed no crimes, nevertheless arrested and moved from place to place at the whim of authorities.

Families ripped apart.

No plan in place for the eventual reunification of those families.

Why?  

To remove “threats.” 

To deter more “threats” from coming.

Because citizens fear that these “threats” endanger their safety, security, and culture.

Meanwhile, political leaders fan the flames of fear.

To extinguish this fear, the plan is to act cruelly, ruthlessly, and without remorse toward the perceived threat.

By using brutality, they think that their safety, security, and culture will be restored.

By using brutality, they think they will solve their problem and make their country “great” again.

If everyone simply follows orders, it will all be over soon.

Then they will try to pretend that none of it ever happened.

The end will justify the means.  

Ask the Germans how that worked out for them.  Was it, in fact, “all over soon?”  The time in their history when so many of them were just going along, just following orders?  The time when they used brutality to try to solve the “Jewish problem” and make their country “great” again?  

Was it all over pretty quickly?  Or are they still wrestling with those demons 80 years later?  

Do we Americans understand what we are doing right now, with these camps on the southern border?  Have we truly forgotten history?

In 2017, Nazis marched in Charlottesville.  The president called them “very fine people.”  Now, we are imitating German Nazis with these camps.  

You might argue, “But we’re not carrying out mass executions like the Nazis did.”

Is that supposed to bring a measure of consolation?  

“Congratulations, you’re not carrying out mass executions.”  

Is that supposed to merit a big old pat on the back?  Chris Rock is here to say, “You’re not SUPPOSED to carry out mass executions.”

Look at what we are doing.  Look at the list up at the top of this page.  The camps, the cages, the misery, the abuse.  The Nazis did all of that to the Jews. The purpose was to punish them.

WE are doing all of that right now to families seeking asylum under international law. The camps, the cages, the misery, the abuse. The purpose is to punish migrants and deter future migrants from arriving at our border. 

You don’t think the purpose is punishment? Then chew on this: an attorney from the Department of Justice was in court recently arguing that the government has no responsibility to provide detained children with soap or toothbrushes. And it’s not because the government can’t afford to provide them with soap and toothbrushes.

Is any of this a wakeup call?

We all love “The Star Spangled Banner,” right?  We love to stand up and belt it out (or mumble it) with our hand on our heart.

But are the words true right now?  Is America really “the land of the free and the home of the brave?”  Is this a free country?  Are we a brave people?

Brave people stand up for what’s right.  

Brave people defend the weak and powerless.  

Brave people send in the rescue squad when they see others being treated inhumanely.  

Brave people put brave individuals in charge who will lead by example.

Brave people make laws to be fair, just, compassionate, and to provide for the common good.

Brave people aren’t afraid of those who have a different skin tone, language, or religion.  

It’s time to wake up. This is America!  Let’s do what’s right.

A reckoning is coming.  Look at Nazi Germany.  Those who acquiesced to Hitler—we now see them as being complicit in evil.  Are we going to acquiesce to the evil that is happening now?

Consider all of our books, movies, and TV shows about the Holocaust.  While we’re immersed in these stories from history, we think to ourselves, “If I was there, I wouldn’t go along with any of it.  I would do something to fight the injustice.  I would help the Jews hide.  I would defy Nazi orders.  I wouldn’t join the Nazi party or support it in any way.  I would take a bullet before I executed an innocent person.”

Are we really those people?

Those who forcefully opposed Hitler through words and deeds, a.k.a. the type of people we imagine ourselves to be-- they are the ones who have been vindicated by history. One example is Dietrich Bonhoeffer.

All the rest who lived in Germany at the time, whether active Nazis or silent bystanders— in the end, we see them as Nazi collaborators.

As Pete Seeger sang, “Which side are you on?”  

Resistance or collaboration?  There is no in-between.

If you know which side you’re on, and if it’s the right one, then do something.  Use your voice.  Do research and then donate to an aid organization.  Go to the border and visit prisoners.  Get your church involved.  Pray.  

Being a silent bystander is tantamount to being a collaborator. 

Bonus material: Oh, wait! Somebody told you that it’s all fake news. My response: tell the doctors and lawyers who visited a facility in Clint, Texas recently that it’s all fake news. They would beg to differ. 

But wait! Somebody told you that family separations started under Obama. My response: yes, they did start under Obama. But with Trump’s “zero tolerance” policy, the numbers of families being separated has skyrocketed. The zero tolerance policy is why the system is at its breaking point.  And it’s Trump’s administration who has no plan in place for how to eventually reunite the families.

Most importantly, arguing over “who started what” is irrelevant to the matter at hand. The crisis is the same, no matter its origin. The deaths are real. The suffering is real. And our responsibility as human beings is real.