FACE OUR FEARS: ICE is harming mothers
NBC NEWS: Police in Worcester, Massachusetts, held a young girl's face to the ground as U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents detained her mother on Thursday, video shows.
The footage, captured by Telemundo Nueva Inglaterra, shows an ICE agent and police officer chasing after the girl, before three more officers surround her and the ICE agent backs away.
The four police officers then bring the girl to the ground, with at least one grabbing her legs and forcing her to lose her balance, the video shows. Two women, one of whom is holding a newborn baby, then can be seen trying to help the girl.
The teenage girl is screaming throughout the entirety of the incident, the video shows.
I couldn’t bring myself to watch this video in its entirety. But the part that I did watch was where a woman is screaming at the officers, “Why are you letting this happen?” and the officer kept repeating, “Please relax!” Do you know who often uses language like that when women are in distress? Predators. Oppressors. The ones demanding subjugation of those they have put in peril.
I don’t care about their immigration status. What I care about is how we are treating the Mothers who have come to this country in search of a better life for their children — for themselves.
Who among us would be brave enough risk their lives and dignity to come to a place that they know doesn’t want them. A place where they won’t speak the language or understand the culture or customs. A place where they will be treated as second class citizens for being immigrants — for being brown — for being women — and worse yet, mothers?
Lest we forget, “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!” which was written by American poet Emma Lazarus. She wrote it in her poem, "The New Colossus," in 1883. The poem was later inscribed on a bronze plaque and mounted in the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty in 1903.
And while we’ve never lived up to the “idea” of the American Dream, I still believe in its potential to exist on this blood-soaked soil if we are only willing to tear at the roots of racism, misogyny, xenophobia and classism that prevents us from progressing forward.
We must first stand in our pain, our collective grief and confront the genocide and enslavement that brought us to this moment where we are throwing women to the ground and telling those who dare raise their voice to “relax” or they’ll be next.
REALITY CHECK: There can be no celebration of Motherhood without legalized abortion
Motherhood should always be a choice. And when we live in a nation without universal healthcare, without racial equity, without paid medical and family leave, without free, quality education, affordable childcare, equal pay for equal work, and clean air, clean water — how can we say we support mothers? How can we call ourselves pro-family? What does it mean when you care for the unborn — but then demean and diminish the work it takes to do the most vital task in the world: Raise the next generation.
Abortion is not only essential healthcare, it must always remain legal, accessible and free to all people who need it.
Abortion is as sacred as motherhood.
Approximately six in ten women who have abortions in the this country are already mothers, and half of them have two or more children. And we know the reasons vary as to why people choose or must have abortions including financial constraints, interference with education or career, relationship issues or to save their own lives and ability to conceive in the future.
None of these reasons should ever be up for public debate and people who have had abortions should never have to justify why to any of us. We should never be forced to prove our humanity over the personal choices we must make in order to survive.
NEWS TO NOTE: Guns are killing our kids as our Mothers hold up the sky for those left behind.
Guns remain the number one cause of death for children and teenagers in the United States, a sobering fact that hasn’t changed because many of our elected officials — almost all of them Republicans — are bought and paid for by the NRA. (Yet another reason to overturn Citizens’ United and pass meaningful campaign finance reform in this nation).
Additionally, the U.S. has by far the highest rate of child and teen firearm mortality compared to peer countries. Beyond deaths, there are many more youth who survive gunshot wounds or are otherwise exposed to gun violence. These exposures can lead to negative behavioral health outcomes among youth and their family members.
Our children deserve so much better. Mothers should not be searching for “bulletproof backpacks.” Schools should be a place to learn and grow and explore. It should not be a place where teachers prep to barricade doors and kids cower under desks wondering if they’ll ever see their families again.
We cannot change the world if we continue to disregard the screams of the Mother. Whether she comes from Worcester, Massachusetts or the Sudan, the cries of the mother is going unheard and we are all paying the price.
On this Mother’s Day, honor the Mother by researching a cause that impacts women and families in your community. Run for local office. Donate to an abortion clinic. Attend a healthcare-for-all or labor rights rally. Stand with mothers against gun violence or against the climate crisis.
And in the words of Maya Angelou: I will look after you and I will look after anybody you say needs to be looked after, any way you say. I am here. I brought my whole self to you. I am your mother.
Until next time, take care of yourselves, and each other.
In solidarity,
Natalie
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