The Trauma We Are Creating: Thursday's Reflection

The scene is Birmingham, Alabama, in 1963. Over a period of three days  over 3,000 children (ages 8-20) were arrested and jailed for demonstrating and protesting segregation policies. When the jail were too crowded, the arrested children were held in open air livestock pens at the fairgrounds. The conditions were appalling. Not only were the pens extremely crowded, but it had rained and the children were wet. The guards then turned the fans on them, increasing their discomfort. Many of the children were freed two or three at a time in the middle of the night and were left to wander the streets, their parents unaware of their location. 

The scene is Clint, Texas, in 2019. Unaccompanied alien children--children who cross the border alone or with relatives who are not their parents are held for days, even weeks, in a facility originally intended to detain adult migrants for only a few hours of processing before being transferred to other locations. These children, as young as three and as many as 700, are held in a facility designed for no more than 100 men. The conditions are appalling.
             Outbreaks of scabies, shingles and chicken pox
             were spreading among the hundreds of children
             who were being held in cramped cells, agents 
             said. The stench of the children's dirty clothing
             was so strong it spread to the agents' own clothing...
             The children cried constantly. One girl seemed
             likely enough to try to kill herself that the agents
             made her sleep on a cot in front of them, so they 
             could watch her as they were processing new arrivals.
                                       from The New York Times
                                       Sunday, July 7, 2019

See any similarities here? 

Overcrowded and unsanitary conditions. 

Children separated from parents. 

Children at risk, but hoping for a better life.

Are you angry yet?

Many times in recent months I have heard people say, "This is not who we are." Well, apparently we are, for we allowed children to suffer in the past, and we are allowing children to suffer now. 

And in the process we perpetuate a legacy of trauma. Shelly Rambo in her book, Spirit and Trauma: A Theology of Remaining, says in the aftermath of trauma, "death haunts life." It seems to me that means not just for the individuals who have suffered a traumatic experience, but for the society that created the trauma. For generations to come.  For example, aren't we still suffering from the inhumanity of slavery in our country?

According to The New York Times article, much of the overcrowding at the Clint facility has been relieved and new arrivals at the border have decreased (mainly because many are prevented from even entering), but the trauma remains. The pain and the fear will continue to live --body, mind, and spirit--in those children and the parents who await reunion with them, and what does that mean for the future of our country? 

Is this who we want to be? 

An Invitation
When you hear or read these news reports about our treatment of migrant children, how do you respond? I would love to know.