I think these days if the Statue of Liberty was capable of doing so she'd step off her pedestal and swim back to France because of how badly America has betrayed her promise. We were hope for people needing to escape war, gangs, cartels, environmental destruction, grinding poverty, and other evils. Now with the MAGA crowd chanting " build a wall. Build a wall" and ICE minions tearing families apart we're anything but.
D. Esperanza's Detained: A Boy's Journal of Survival and Resilience is a diary he kept during the ten months when he struggled to get from his native Honduras to the United States and then languished in a series of detention centers we wouldn't put cats and dogs in. Readers will learn about how his dangerous passage included walking long distances without food, riding on the roof of trains, and dodging cartels with guns. They'll learn how in this country he was shuttled between prisons, some of which didn't even provide the necessities of life.
"And I don't even think they're trying to hurt us exactly. They do it because that's just how this system is built. They do it because that's how it's done here. They've created this prison camp where all of us are constantly told: you're a criminal, you're a pain in the ass, you don't matter. They don't say it out loud, but stay locked up long enough, and you get the message loud and clear."
D. was not a rapist, a drug dealer, a gang member or a criminal as Trump would have us believe. He was a child. He and his younger cousin had lived with their grandmother and uncle. His parents had migrated to the United States because they could not earn enough money to support a family in Honduras. They hadn't taken him with them, considering the journey too hazardous for an infant.
The family managed to get by until the uncle dies in an accident. Then the grandmother succombs to cancer. The only way the boys can survive is to join D.'s parents in America.
I want you to read this book. I want you to be angry. It's going to take a lot of us to defeat the MAGA crowd and become a nation actually fulfilling the promise of the Statue of Liberty 🗽, becoming a beacon of hope to a hurting world.
On a purrrsonal note, have you ever unexpectedly reconnected with someone who gave you a precious beyond measure gift? That was my experience Tuesday night at the children's garden. Someone called my name. She looked so familiar but my injured brain couldn't place her until she said she was Dr. Tardiff. OMG, LAURA!!! When my beloved Joey cat was 11 he was knocking on heaven's door. Laura did a 4 1/2 miracle surgery and saved his life. Not only did he not die but he bounced back so healthy and happy the practice gave him a jingle mouse they were giving kittens--he had that much energy. Laura gave us FIVE MORE YEARS of love and joy and togetherness. She's looking forward to meeting Tobago.
A great big shout out goes out to Dr. Laura Tardiff, vetinerian and human being extraordinaire.
Jules Hathaway
Sent from my U.S.Cellular© Smartphone
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