THREAD: I wrote a piece in @jezebel about how the stories of “bad hombres” have long been distorted and deployed to terrorize entire immigrant communities. Obama’s “felons, not families” paved the way for Trump’s “criminals” and “rapists.” 1/6 jezebel.com/no-country-for…
Americans are cultured to relate to and even delight in white anti-heroes. Meanwhile, we are conditioned to see flawed Black or brown men as “animals.” When those men are outlawed, their loved ones become prey, too. 2/6
In 2016, Democratic presidential candidates promised to reunify families torn apart by Obama. Today, the meaning of “separated families” has narrowed, with Biden’s reunification task force focused on those separated by Trump. Lucia Quiej's family has been erased. 3/6
The book SEPARATED by @lopez_wd forces us to remember these families. He shortcircuits racist narratives about “bad” vs “good” immigrants by documenting the nightmare before Trump, in which mass deportations of “felons” destroyed families. 4/6 
Reading it, I remembered all the deportees I interviewed under the Obama administration who struggled with depression, suicidal thoughts and substance abuse due to the trauma for separation. A few of them reminded me of my father. 5/6 pbs.org/newshour/show/…
Back then, there was no cavalcade of headlines calling Obama's approach “torture,” “child abuse,” or a “crime against humanity.” In this piece, I explore why––and how Biden will separate families, too, unless we reckon with this. 6/6: jezebel.com/no-country-for…
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