And yet even with my family and professional history, I am learning daily about acts of racial policy and violence in our country’s history and in contemporary life that I hadn’t known, and that connect the dots to reveal a country bathed in the blood of racism.
There is an obvious pathos in trying to connect through a screen with a child who’s lost the routines and people who give their lives meaning and structure.
One afternoon I got off the school bus and my dog was not there. I ran home. My mother, who was no good with dogs and didn’t pay them much mind, had not seen her.
There may also be disagreement about what to do with the children separated from their parents, but there may be another question worth answering: Are we creating a generation of terrorists?
From exploring a market in a foreign town and trying different foods to climbing a pyramid and learning to say “hello” and “thank you” in a foreign language, travel provides children and adults with memories that they will be talking about for months (and years) afterward.
Many people think of babies or young children when they envision adoption, but children of all ages need families and the sense of belonging that brings.
as if time could run backwards at their beckoning;
as if winter could recede from my fingers and the white gate swing wide,
with the fall riot returning to the bracketing treelimbs,
thence to turn verdant and alive, the schoolyard now summer-empty.
Imagine fleeing for your life, walking, yes WALKING, about 1,500 miles with only the clothes on your back and a rucksack with a few minor possessions. Once here, ICE agents bind your hands with zip ties and steal your children.
Officer Darren Derby's mission is admirable: to create a relationship with the city’s youth that will ultimately change their perception of the police. “Don’t let your surroundings determine who you are and who you are capable of becoming,” he advises the hundreds of the city kids he encounters.
As the TV anchors and the experts droned on and on with inane commentary, I wondered how many children in Syria, Iraq, Yemen, and Libya were being rendered homeless? How many children died of hunger, disease, and exposure while we got to know way too much about the 150 well-fed, adequately clothed, and financially secure people?
