America is Sick

A Pandemic of Ideas

From a Google Image Search - LA Times

America is sick. We are in a new pandemic. We are infected with a disease of ideas, an ideological cancer if you will. No vaccine will cure us. The roots of this disease lie in racism, in an unscientific belief that if someone's skin is not white, then their brain is inferior, has less capacity for creativity and memory. There were 19th century studies which measured skulls of white and brown people to find whose brain pan was larger. These studies, which involved pre-decided hypotheses, proved nothing. Given freedom and education as many great ideas have come from "brown" minds as from "white" minds. Our DNA is structured in the same ways. Nevertheless, it is the nature of racism to insist that some people are inferior to others and racism seems difficult to shake. It has existed for centuries.

So, some Americans applaud the sick minds that imagined that everyone would feel fine if we just sent 11 million plus immigrants back where they came from. After all they did not go through the proper legal processes when they entered America. They also think that detention centers like Alligator Alcatraz are appropriate, and it satisfies their need for retribution.

The messaging goes that "illegal immigrants" are all criminals and (that word that stuck in the craw of some) deplorables. They are prospering at our expense, supported by our tax dollars, given health care that we must pay for, showered with houses and cars. Things many Americans already believed were reinforced by certain segments of the media, by the Republican Party, by Donald Trump, and by his band of sycophants/oligarchs.

This story is a myth, a lie. Sometimes immigrants received assistance to lessen the negative impact they might have on society if not receiving temporary assistance, but most of our assistance programs require a social security number. It's possible that some immigrants figured out how to steal a social security number. However, most immigrants worked, saved, sent money home to families there (which the Trump administration now wants to tax), became entrepreneurs, harvested our food, perhaps cooked our food, tended our gardens, installed our floors, and lived quietly among us. They were given court dates to appear for hearings that might or might not grant them asylum or allow them to stay and work here. Under Trump, when they show up for their court dates they are arrested by ICE troops in masks, forcibly detained with no reasons given. This kind of entrapment does not belong in our democracy. It's sick, it's entrapment, and it taints us all.

Building detention centers with our tax dollars is far less effective than spending tax dollars that lead to contributing members of our society and eventually naturalized citizens. Americans, who consider themselves pillars of society, who never break laws, experience the kind of glee that Romans probably felt watching lions threaten gladiators. Of course, almost all of us break a law or a rule and don't get caught for our minor infractions but we can't forgive these parents for wanting a better life for themselves and/or their offspring.

So, we stuff hundreds of men and women in a place where there is no privacy, where all you are given is a bed, some food, and a prison uniform. There is no stated end to your sentence. Are you there until you die? Is your life over because you crossed the Rio Grande? What does a person in this environment do all day? These are living people with drives and dreams. There are no books to read, no TVs to watch, no music to listen to. It's unclear what the bathrooms or shower facilities look like. Can you write to your family? We hear there is AC. Is there an exercise yard. Is it watched by alligators and pythons? Detainees (prisoners) will, we assume, be able to talk to each other. What do you think they will talk about - their families, their situation, escape, perhaps rebellion?

It seemed to many of us that the civilized world had learned that racism, brutality, and hatred contributed nothing to human progress - that protecting human rights created societies that were stable, pleasant, inspiring, and productive. We were appalled by the terrorist behavior of less developed nations, and we tried to spread a reverence for human rights around the world.

But Trump hates Democrats and all Republicans hate liberals. They believe that if you use certain negative political terms, like socialism or communism, you can make people believe that atavistic ideas about self-sufficiency and the efficacy of torture work better for building a livable society than "liberal" ideas about safety and equality, worker's benefits and decision-making by citizens. They can make us believe that people won't mind if our government uses Gestapo tactics to remove embedded immigrants from our streets, even if it feels like a rise in criminal activity and distracts from actual crimes.

Alligator Alcatraz is not the only detention center that will be built. Millions of dollars have been made available now that OB3 has been signed into law. When people pictured what would happen to "undocumented" immigrants didn't they think they would be deported? Now they will be warehoused in America, at our expense, indefinitely. They were productive citizens. Now they might become revolutionaries. How many think this is a good plan?

How many will love standing by while people are brutally kidnapped by our newest ICE agents - more thousands paid by our tax dollars? Will Trump's new millions to finish his "wall" even be necessary once word gets out about the detention centers for the dangerous immigrants who wanted a better life for their families? Is arresting the owner of a Chinese restaurant in a small community in New York who has been in business for many years really about punishing "illegal" immigrants, or is it about owning the libs?

America is a sick place right now. It's not a flu or a germ that can be controlled by a vaccine. It is a willingness to accept behavior that is inhumane, cruel, and which we have tried to squash in brutal societies around the globe. Will our America get so sick that it will die?