Friday Updates in Late June 2018

Trump is a notorious liar. He signed an executive order in trying to reunite children with their parents, but he also continues to blame Democrats alone for the crisis on the border. The reality is that undocumented immigration has declined massively since 1990. Immigration issues are not bounded by one party. Both major parties share responsibility in the issue of immigration. Trump has implemented the zero tolerance policy that has exacerbated the crisis in the first place. He once refused to do anything, but pressure has caused him to create an executive order. Trump has retreated on the family separation issue. His other lie is that he believes that Democrats want anyone to come into America for any reason whatsoever. What this situation is about deals with people escaping tyranny and massive violence from Central America. Many of those countries in that region were impoverished plus filled with violence by the existence of U.S.-backed military dictatorships. They or the undocumented immigrants are not an infestation (as Trump has called them). This situation ultimately deals with migrants seeking a better way of life for themselves and for their families. Not to mention that Congress does have the responsibility to make comprehensive solutions to this crisis legislatively as well. People are discussing about the Flores decision. Ultimately, the executive order promotes family detention instead of family separation. The act of children being placed into camps by themselves has been condemned by many quarters. The American Academy of Pediatrics calls this “child abuse”, Amnesty International says it is “nothing short of torture”, and the United Nations denounces it as “despicable” and an “unconscionable” violation of human rights. In a recent speech, Trump has effectively called for the abolition of due process for immigrants. “We don’t want judges, we want security on the border,” he said. “We don’t want people coming in.” Immigrants have the right to have due process and human equality.

There has been documented evidence of the abuse of immigrant children for years. Court documents made public in Virginia and Texas give a glimpse of the systematic brutality being meted out to immigrant children in both public and private jails. Children are strapped down, hooded and beaten, or drugged by force, as part of the everyday procedure in what can only be called the American Gulag. An Associated Press report published Thursday gave details of the abuses committed against young Latino migrants at the Shenandoah Valley Juvenile Center near Staunton, Virginia, last year. Lawyers for the teenage victims sued the prison—a state facility run by a consortium of seven towns and cities in the Shenandoah Valley—and a court hearing is set for July. According to a half-dozen sworn statements, given by the victims in Spanish and then translated for filing with the federal court for the Western District of Virginia, children as young as 14 were beaten while handcuffed, tied down to chairs while stripped naked and hooded, and held for long periods in solitary confinement, sometimes naked and cold. All these are forms of torture practiced at Guantanamo Bay and at CIA torture prisons around the world. These techniques have been transferred back into the United States and unleashed on immigrant children, who have been demonized by the Trump administration.

We are not silent. Trump has been notorious in using overtly racist rhetoric. Any supporter of Trump is a racist or supports racism period. This is beyond ignorance. This deals with Trump supporters being complicit in his bigotry. The neo-fascist, anti-immigrant movement isn't just limited to America. It's a worldwide problem. In Italy, people are calling for the registration of the Roma. The far right wants the deportation of 500,000 immigrants. Neo-fascists are growing in Germany in demonizing immigrants. Hate crime attacks against Muslims and against Jewish people have existed in England. The French government has restricted the right of asylum in their nation recently. Defense of the rights of immigrants to live on this Earth is a key revolutionary tenet. There are many protesters who are defending the rights of immigrants and refugees. Right now, there is confusion over how to unite children with their parents. Trump's new executive order makes the detention among families and their children de facto permanent. That must change. More than 600 members of the United Methodist Church issued a formal complaint against Sessions as a fellow church member, charging that his “zero tolerance” policy on immigration violates church rules and may constitute child abuse. It is evil to possibly punish migrants with 20 years in prison for migration in escaping persecution. Human beings have the right to move freely and safely worldwide.

Days ago was the Birthday of Sister Kierra Sheard. She is 31 years old and a worldwide well known gospel singer and fashion designer. She is also a radio host. She was born in Detroit and Detroit has a long history of gospel musicians. Throughout her life, she has sang in the choir, worked and finished albums, and worked in fashion. She was in the movie the Preacher's Kid and loves her family a great deal. She believes in God with an earnest passion and that's glorious. Her family has been involved in gospel music for decades as lovers and experts of gospel music know about. Sheard is a graduate of Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan, where she received her bachelor's degree in English with a minor in psychology. She is young and excellently has worked hard in achieving her goals. She will continue to promote greatness in her life. I wish Sister Kierra Sheard more blessings.

Yesterday was the time of the murder of Chaney, Goodman, and Schwerner. These human beings were advocates for freedom. They worked for the 1964 cause of Freedom Summer. Freedom Summer was a multiracial movement whose goal was to give black Mississippians voting rights, educational opportunities, job opportunities, and human equality in general. All three men were associated with the Council of Federated Organizations (COFO) and its member organization the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE). Many people, who worked in Freedom Summer, came from all over America to work with people in Mississippi. This was during the 1964 Presidential campaign between LBJ and Goldwater (who explicitly opposed the Civil Rights Act). All 3 young men were shot, murdered, and their bodies dumped into a location by members of the Klan. Many people found their bodies. Their stories are found in many movies and documentaries like Mississippi Burning (which told the truth about the vicious racism of the Klan but it sugarcoated the FBI response as many FBI agents used a lax response in fighting oppression. We know that Hoover hated the civil rights movement and its leaders. Also, the movie ignored a lot of the self defense movements in the Deep South against Klan terrorism). Black folks in the South were not taking it without a response. The Deacons of Defense and other groups used self defense against racists throughout the South. This tragedy was a turning point in the civil rights movement in that afterwards American support for civil rights increased. So, we remember these martyrs and we are renewed in the fight for human justice.


By Timothy