Leonard Pitts, Jr., one of the great tribunes of moral clarity in American journalism, reminds us of a continuing evil being done in our name and how we can push back:
We are, in the best of circumstances, a nation of restless, fleeting attentions. And that is all the more true in this era where news bombards us and crises — constitutional, existential — have become routine. So who can be surprised if the images that dominated hearts and headlines just a few months ago — people jammed in pens, families torn apart, a little girl and her father face down in the Rio Grande — have largely receded from the forefront of our thoughts?
We have moved on. But the fact that refugees and immigrants are no longer in the news doesn’t mean they have gone away. It just means we no longer see them. Their plight has become wallpaper.
If you find that unconscionable, especially in this country and especially in this season, there may be consolation in knowing that there are dozens of organizations fighting for them and that many could use your help. Here’s a random sampling:
Border Angels provides immigrants with legal assistance and English lessons. Its volunteers drive and hike into the rugged desert along the southern border to leave life-saving water for immigrants. Donate at borderangels.org. You can also volunteer through the website, or by emailing volunteer@borderangels.org.
The Justice Department (!) has compiled a directory (www.justice.gov/eoir/probono/states.htm) of lawyers willing to do pro bono work for immigrants. If you are an attorney who’d like to be in it, call 703-756-8020 or sent an email to: ProBono.List.Admin@usdoj.gov;
The Immigrant Rights Project of the ACLU educates immigrants on their legal protections and fights for those rights in court. You can donate by phone at 888-567-ACLU or online at aclu.org.There's more at the link.
In a normal time in a normal society, this one issue alone would be enough to bring down a government. But it gets lost in the unprecedented morass of evil, treachery, corruption and lawlessness that we see every day from the Trump regime, enabled by a media whose attention span can be counted in minutes or hours. We have to fight back however we can against this crime against humanity, and helping the organizations Pitts mentions is at least a start.
(Photo: A young migrant girl waits on the floor as her father, released from federal detention with other Central American asylum seekers, gets a bus ticket in McAllen, Texas. Getty Images)
