Choices

Choices

The choices that people make astound me. What are they thinking?

What in the world are the masked men thinking as they rip the mother away from her children? How do they feel when they hear the cries of the abandoned toddler as he watches masked men march his mother away to who knows where?

This is not the stuff of fiction or some third world country. This happened right here in Alaska. At least once, and no telling how many other times. It turns out this mother of children who are United States citizens has lived in this country since she was brought here as a child of eleven years. She is married to a United States citizen. She has been diligent in trying to meet the requirements of living in this country. But due to the refusal of Congress to address true immigration reform and to support it with adequate funds that provide enough judges and other support services, many if not most immigrants are stymied by the failed system when they try to comply with its requirements. It doesn’t seem to matter how productive or well meaning they are, in this day and age they are in grave danger.

This is not only a legal failing of our elected officials. In my thinking, it is a moral failing.

I don’t know which is worse. But I do know that the combination of the two and the resulting actions that are being taken by our current administration are pretty close to being domestic terrorism.

The article, interestingly enough, I read on our local public radio website. Somehow in the face of trying to figure out how to cover the loss of federal and state funding, the station continues to provide us with well researched and well written informative stories.That is another issue, incredibly important in this largely rural state, Removing funding for public radio and TV in areas where people depend on these stations to provide life threatening information like hazardous weather or impending tsunamis is form of domestic terrorism as well.

The same day that the story about the woman in Fairbanks ran, there was an in-depth article about all the ways the Alaska National Guard has stepped in to help with the storm disaster in Western Alaska. The story was heartfelt and recounted the dedication and bravery these guardsmen and guardswomen are showing as they try to help the people of rural Western Alaska rebuild their villages after the disastrous storms.

One has to wonder at the feelings of the Guardsmen of Alaska who are doing real work and the Guardsmen of other states who have been thrown into the role of guarding ICE facilities or patrolling cities that are supposed to be under siege, when the violence of the “siege” is people protesting the incarceration of innocent people by playing music and wearing inflatable costumes.

Then there are the ICE agents, the masked marauders who go around pulling people off their legitimate jobs and parents away from their children with the trumped up excuse that these largely well adjusted and helpful people have not been able to navigate a broken system. That somehow makes them criminals. Do the masked agents (who seem to be largely young white men) really think that? Or is the money so good they feel forced into making those choices? Do they wear masks because they are genuinely embarrassed at what dismal moral choices they are making, or are they afraid that someone who has had enough of this injustice will come after them? Are they afraid that some day they will be charged as criminals for the lawless acts they are committing?

If these things bother you I would suggest you start looking at your elected officials. All of them. Are they largely rubber stamping this kind of domestic terrorism because they are afraid? Or there’s money in it? Do they really believe that all immigrants are evil or criminal? What is the reason? Now is the time to be thinking about replacing these officials. The way things are currently going you may not get another chance.