Saturday, November 10, 2018

Let Me Tell You What Forced Separation feels Like !

The images of immigrant children in cages are incredibly painful to digest. Still many people seem to forget that the U.S. has long track record of forcibly separating families, whether it was African American during slavery, the Japanese during World War 2, Native Americans during colonization, or poor children whose unfit single mothers have lost custody today.

Another common way families are forcibly separated? Juvenile detention , ten of thousands of teens most often the poor and people of color are locked up in substandard , often privatized penal facilities. Children who go through these forced winds up experience trauma , grief , shame and dehumanization.  

The sad reality is incarceration rates are on the rise along side economic, inequality, and children aren't exempt. Quite often , the only crime these children have committed is that they are from vulnerable families or suffering from mental health issues.

Separating families due to incarceration. immigration status, mental health, and or race and class is wrong. If the families impacted by incarceration and other trauma join together with advocates for immigrants. We can create a sea of social change.