As a family doc specializing in child abuse trauma, I agree with you 100%. In practice we do have to do more than just think about these unspeakable horrors, we deal with real people undergoing this kind of trauma. Personally I would call what happened to these families - parents and children both - at the border "SOUL MURDER." Justice for this cruelty requires indictments.
Another excellent essay, Thom. At the core is our "war on drugs" which has enabled the cartels, gang violence, rampant corruption and terror in Mexico. We made all this profitable with our draconian drug laws. The teeming numbers of immigrants at our souther border are a direct result of our drug policies.
Likely not. I would also wonder out loud what justice the thousands of Central American children that the Biden administration has sent back to Haiti and surrounding countries plagued with violence and instability, much of it stemming from decades of US interference, will receive. Or those subject to squalid and inhumane conditions by the Biden administration's expansion of Trump's Title 42. And lest we forget the Democrat's enthusiastic endorsement of the rogue agency ICE, and their readiness to squash any notion of abolishing the unaccountable tormentor of immigrants, and their turning a blind eye to the horror stories of forced sterilization of woman as young as 21 and daily human rights abuses. Of course child separation was a brutal policy, but it was the Obama administration that built the cages that housed the Central American migrant children when Hillary Clinton went on a publicity campaign to "send them back." This racism and cruelty knows no party, it all occurs on a sickening spectrum that is excused in favor of electioneering and political expediency (and of course the relativism you practice on a daily basis).
"Will Merrick Garland show the same reluctance to prosecute these Trump administration crimes..."
He absolutely will not go near any such prosecution. Garland is a believer in administration and executive power to decide and implement policy. It is an unfortunate truth that Miller and all of the actors in this inhumane, racist policy will never be brought to trial. Miller and the others are alive and well - being supported in 'think tanks' by dark money and waiting for their next opportunity.
Another brilliant summation of this highly controversial and often confusing subject no thx to the MSM. The depths of our inhumanity to ourslelves literally can’t help but blow our minds. But are we paying attention to the ways we may be contributing to these situations in our own unconscious ways. We all have a responsibility to reflect on what we are thinking to ensure we’re not part of the problem but part of the solution. Thx Thom for helping us see things as they are. In peace
I know I am late reading this, but hard to find the time. Trump and his thugs really needs to be convicted for these crimes. In Texas, my senators and most congressmen would not lift a finger to fix this. The children and family victimized here need justice. A video needs to be made to wake everyone up and push to have Trump indicted.
This story horrified me at the time, and returns to disgust me.
This is an appalling crime against the most vulnerable humans. The perpetrators should be tried for crimes against humanity and Miller should be shunned for the monster he is.
We need to take a look at who we are. We are indeed complicit in these atrocities.
But then, our violence to the planet and fellow living creatures is no less abhorrent.
Respect and love for our fellows is a tenet of every religious faith. How come none of them teaches or follows this? The great prophets came to teach us, but we have chosen to create churches that are rich and powerful.
Great work, Thom. Liken this, though, if you will, please, the the kidnapping, enslavement, starvation, trans-Atlantic crossing, and work/rape/separation from family and children/systematic dehumanization/use of religion to manipulate/and on and on of African American people who were “freed” with no means of supporting themselves and then forced into sharecropping enslavement, living with Black Codes, in a twisted caste system based on fake science about racial inequality when it was all exactly what it is now: the white patriarchy exploiting the hell out of anyone and everyone other than “their own” for personal gain, pleasure, convenience, or sick enjoyment of their imagined “superiority.”
What Miller and Trump have done is horrific. Comparing horrors doesn’t get anyone anywhere, I suppose. But I believe what has happened to the families torn apart is now a traumatic enslavement.
What is well worth knowing is the LIFETIME consequences to these people.
Check out this blog on PACEs (positive and adverse) childhood experiences. This is public health data showing the increased likelihood of cancer, heart attack, premature death, addiction, being a victim or perpetrator of a violent crime, incarceration, teenage pregnancy, unemployability, and more. Google PACEs 101, PACEsConnection.com and take a look at the facts about toxic childhood stress and the increased likelihood of horrific longterm consequences.
You’re right. The thousands of people hurt by this are traumatized. The consequences were immediate and they are also across the lifespan and they are likely to be multi-generation, as in the genocide of Native Americans, kidnapping and enslavement of Africans, exploitation and enslavement of Chinese and Mexican people to work in mines and on railroads, internment of Japanese during WWII, and on and on until this latest atrocity, yet another war crime in the white patriarchy’s beat down of “other.”
This like every other damn thing those psychopaths Miller and Trump came up with comes under the heading of a disorganized crime. "Separate" to them could have meant just about anything. Then some miserable person in an agency had to determine the method and means. They are just as culpable, if not more.
How do you pull a child away from a parent and not set-up a computerized photo file of them with their parent and their birth info? It is pretty goddamn simple and would take 5 minutes. After that, you keep entering the kids' movements.
This was a heartless, brain-dead crime that has cost us a fortune once again like the other crimes committed by Trump. Why oh why didn't someone in the chain of command organize the process enough to be able to track these kids? Were they hateful, lazy, stupid? Racist? We have no right to ask for forgiveness, but the US must never stop trying to reunite them.
As a family doc specializing in child abuse trauma, I agree with you 100%. In practice we do have to do more than just think about these unspeakable horrors, we deal with real people undergoing this kind of trauma. Personally I would call what happened to these families - parents and children both - at the border "SOUL MURDER." Justice for this cruelty requires indictments.
Another excellent essay, Thom. At the core is our "war on drugs" which has enabled the cartels, gang violence, rampant corruption and terror in Mexico. We made all this profitable with our draconian drug laws. The teeming numbers of immigrants at our souther border are a direct result of our drug policies.
Likely not. I would also wonder out loud what justice the thousands of Central American children that the Biden administration has sent back to Haiti and surrounding countries plagued with violence and instability, much of it stemming from decades of US interference, will receive. Or those subject to squalid and inhumane conditions by the Biden administration's expansion of Trump's Title 42. And lest we forget the Democrat's enthusiastic endorsement of the rogue agency ICE, and their readiness to squash any notion of abolishing the unaccountable tormentor of immigrants, and their turning a blind eye to the horror stories of forced sterilization of woman as young as 21 and daily human rights abuses. Of course child separation was a brutal policy, but it was the Obama administration that built the cages that housed the Central American migrant children when Hillary Clinton went on a publicity campaign to "send them back." This racism and cruelty knows no party, it all occurs on a sickening spectrum that is excused in favor of electioneering and political expediency (and of course the relativism you practice on a daily basis).
"Will Merrick Garland show the same reluctance to prosecute these Trump administration crimes..."
He absolutely will not go near any such prosecution. Garland is a believer in administration and executive power to decide and implement policy. It is an unfortunate truth that Miller and all of the actors in this inhumane, racist policy will never be brought to trial. Miller and the others are alive and well - being supported in 'think tanks' by dark money and waiting for their next opportunity.
Thank you Thom.
This is one of the most disturbing things that trump and his crime syndicate need to be held accountable for in my opinion.
Another brilliant summation of this highly controversial and often confusing subject no thx to the MSM. The depths of our inhumanity to ourslelves literally can’t help but blow our minds. But are we paying attention to the ways we may be contributing to these situations in our own unconscious ways. We all have a responsibility to reflect on what we are thinking to ensure we’re not part of the problem but part of the solution. Thx Thom for helping us see things as they are. In peace
I know I am late reading this, but hard to find the time. Trump and his thugs really needs to be convicted for these crimes. In Texas, my senators and most congressmen would not lift a finger to fix this. The children and family victimized here need justice. A video needs to be made to wake everyone up and push to have Trump indicted.
This story horrified me at the time, and returns to disgust me.
This is an appalling crime against the most vulnerable humans. The perpetrators should be tried for crimes against humanity and Miller should be shunned for the monster he is.
We need to take a look at who we are. We are indeed complicit in these atrocities.
But then, our violence to the planet and fellow living creatures is no less abhorrent.
Respect and love for our fellows is a tenet of every religious faith. How come none of them teaches or follows this? The great prophets came to teach us, but we have chosen to create churches that are rich and powerful.
Great work, Thom. Liken this, though, if you will, please, the the kidnapping, enslavement, starvation, trans-Atlantic crossing, and work/rape/separation from family and children/systematic dehumanization/use of religion to manipulate/and on and on of African American people who were “freed” with no means of supporting themselves and then forced into sharecropping enslavement, living with Black Codes, in a twisted caste system based on fake science about racial inequality when it was all exactly what it is now: the white patriarchy exploiting the hell out of anyone and everyone other than “their own” for personal gain, pleasure, convenience, or sick enjoyment of their imagined “superiority.”
What Miller and Trump have done is horrific. Comparing horrors doesn’t get anyone anywhere, I suppose. But I believe what has happened to the families torn apart is now a traumatic enslavement.
What is well worth knowing is the LIFETIME consequences to these people.
Check out this blog on PACEs (positive and adverse) childhood experiences. This is public health data showing the increased likelihood of cancer, heart attack, premature death, addiction, being a victim or perpetrator of a violent crime, incarceration, teenage pregnancy, unemployability, and more. Google PACEs 101, PACEsConnection.com and take a look at the facts about toxic childhood stress and the increased likelihood of horrific longterm consequences.
You’re right. The thousands of people hurt by this are traumatized. The consequences were immediate and they are also across the lifespan and they are likely to be multi-generation, as in the genocide of Native Americans, kidnapping and enslavement of Africans, exploitation and enslavement of Chinese and Mexican people to work in mines and on railroads, internment of Japanese during WWII, and on and on until this latest atrocity, yet another war crime in the white patriarchy’s beat down of “other.”
No words. Just sorrow
This like every other damn thing those psychopaths Miller and Trump came up with comes under the heading of a disorganized crime. "Separate" to them could have meant just about anything. Then some miserable person in an agency had to determine the method and means. They are just as culpable, if not more.
How do you pull a child away from a parent and not set-up a computerized photo file of them with their parent and their birth info? It is pretty goddamn simple and would take 5 minutes. After that, you keep entering the kids' movements.
This was a heartless, brain-dead crime that has cost us a fortune once again like the other crimes committed by Trump. Why oh why didn't someone in the chain of command organize the process enough to be able to track these kids? Were they hateful, lazy, stupid? Racist? We have no right to ask for forgiveness, but the US must never stop trying to reunite them.