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There are countless reasons why the people who are fleeing their home countries come to the southern US border, it's mind boggling. But 1 thing always sticks out when you talk to these people, who come not just from Central America, but from Africa, Asia, and Europe.
Every asylum seeker I've interviewed has always said the United States is a beacon of hope for them. A Somali I interviewed in the El Paso detention center told me as a child he'd learned about the US as a haven because of the branding we put on the sacks of rice his family ate
Others — from Ghana, Venezuela, El Salvador, Honduras — they all mentioned that for them, the United States was a shelter in the violent, deadly storm of their lives. And it's because we've told the world, loudly and uncompromisingly, that we are a haven for the oppressed
obviously those of us who live here know this is a lie. It's a lie we've told ourselves, and the world. But it's a lie that's worth trying to make true. And through much of history, even when we explicitly knew we were lying, as a society we still wanted it someday to be truth
While the IDEAL of America and the REALITY of America have never, ever matched up, at least on some level it was the goal we strived for, even if halfheartedly. And we have lorded that purpose, however disingenuous, over the world.
we have defined ourselves as this shining beacon of hope for a better more just future, and DEMANDED that the rest of the world do so as well. So of course the poor and oppressed now turn towards us.
Which is what makes so much of what is happening here so insane. Because the same people who insist the world treat the lie as true also demand to openly act in direct contradiction to it.
It's a salve for their guilt. Racists hate being called racist because they know it's wrong. But instead of trying to change their ways or keeping their mouths shut, they are emboldened to require us to accept both the noble lie and their evil actions
Meanwhile, the poorest, most disenfranchised, most terrorized people on earth continue to turn towards our nation, hoping the lie has become truth and they will find a place of peace and calm for themselves and their children.
But instead they find brutal, state sanctioned hate. The same thing they fled from. their children are taken from them. their children are treated like animals, sexually assaulted, and left to die. We have beckoned them to us, only to turn out to be exactly what they fled
We have become the cruelest joke
