Last year, the Trump administration detained thousands of children like Amalia. Many were held in the detention center in Dilley, often for weeks or months at a time. Most of the people sent to the 2,400-bed facility were eventually deported to other countries. But 45% of them were released to await the outcomes of their cases in immigration courts, according to data obtained by the Deportation Data Project and analyzed by The Marshall Project. After leaving Dilley, families face the medical, psychological and financial repercussions of detention. And while they are relieved to leave the harsh conditions of detention, families say the release itself can also be harrowing.
I suppose you’re right.
It just feels so…I dunno. Anticlimactic?
Like, I’m an older Millennial who has spent his entire life as a white boy in a small blue corner of the country.
I grew up knowing we had a shitty past but thinking that we’ve advanced past all that. We’re more accepting now. We still have a few bad apples, yeah. I never thought racism or bigotry were dead. I just had no idea how alive they are.
It’s like…you ever watch Avatar: The Last Airbender? The cartoon. Not the Netflix reboot (which is alright in its own way), certainly not the movie…no, the original cartoon.
Early on in the series, you meet a frail old man, hunched over, rickety, looks crazy. He challenges the main character with a series of puzzles that have easy, but non-obvious solutions.
Eventually, he has the main character duel “anyone in this room” and presents three very strong and rough champions. Thinking he’s clever, he challenges the crazy old man.
The crazy old man rips off his robe to expose a chiseled physique. He turns out to be one of the most powerful earth benders alive, despite also being one of (if not the) oldest.
I knew racism was alive, I just thought it was a crochety old man. Nah man. It’s an old man that can and will whoop my ass because he’s in such peak shape he’ll probably end up outliving me.
Like that.
It is a reality that many white americans have a hard time reckoning with. Racism never left, it was just integrated into law more covertly.