We Cannot Let This Become Normal

America must choose moral clarity and dignity over cruelty and violence

In 2017, when the child separation policy began, I saw images of children under aluminum blankets, separated from their families after enduring unimaginable hardship to reach safety here. My insides imploded. I flew to Tornillo, Texas, where the first detention facility was, and I knew instantly the country I love was broken. The most vulnerable population in the world fled the most unbearable circumstances back home to come to our country, and we did the worst thing you could ever do to a human being when they arrived. Our government separated more than 4,600 children from their parents, and there are still 1,360 children who remain unaccounted for. We had better systems for tracking luggage than we did for tracking these children, some of whom we lost and effectively orphaned.

If you cannot put politics aside and recognize how deeply wrong and immoral this is, then we have completely lost our humanity as a society.

I thought constantly about my own immigration story - about how the United States saved my life, how it opened its arms to my family, and how grateful I have always been to this country for giving us safety and the chance to live the American dream. This country is great because of immigrants. And I couldn’t reconcile how the same country that did that for me could also do this to others.

Now, watching what is happening with the surge in these horrific ICE raids, I feel that same outrage and despair. There is nothing OK about masked agents intimidating, demeaning, and attacking civilians, especially when their responsibility is de-escalation. We are seeing children pulled from classrooms, homes broken into, and people removed from their workplaces when all they are trying to do is make a decent living. A five-year-old child was detained. A 37-year-old ICU nurse, Alex Peretti, was murdered. A mother, Renee Nicole Good, was killed. Immigrant students are staying home from school out of fear. These are real lives. Real families. Real devastation. Kind, good, hardworking people in this country who contribute every single day.

In moments like this, it matters that we can still recognize right from wrong. I understand the importance of immigration policies and how deeply we need comprehensive immigration reform. But how you do things matters. What is happening right now is deeply disturbing. It is un-American. It is fundamentally against the values this country was built on. We cannot let our nation act this way. We cannot let this become normal.

And it is on all of us to demand better - a more humane, decent way forward - and to insist that every person is treated with dignity.

This week’s issue is dedicated to the immigrants who make our country the great nation that it is. We are honoring their contributions and the ways they shape our communities every day.

TAKE ACTION: There is always something we can do to get off the sidelines and make a difference. Do what you can: donate, call, write, march, rally, share, engage. A list of resources is below.

🧠 Know your Rights with ICE
✏️ Ben Sheehan’s Guide to Fighting Ice
☎️ Ben Sheehan’s Script for Calling Your Senators
📖 Read ‘All Are Welcome’ with your kids
📒 Immigrant Defenders’ Social Media Tool Kit
💲Donate to This is About Humanity

Our country is extraordinary because immigrants have helped shape the culture we love: the films, stories, and art that define us.

WATCHED

These films and TV shows were all created by immigrants, a small example of those that have shaped storytelling and expanded how we see the world.

1a. Unbreakable by M Night Shyamalan
1b. Fauda by Lior Raz and Avi Issacharoff
1c. Brokeback Mountain by Ang Lee
1d. Bend It Like Beckham by Gurinder Chadha
1e. The Graduate by Mike Nichols
1f. Tehran by Moshe Zonder
1g. It’s a Wonderful Life by Frank Capra
1h. Fleabag by Phoebe Waller Bridge
1i. 12 Years A Slave by Steve McQueen
1j. Minari by Lee Isaac Chung

ATE

Food has always been one of my favorite ways to experience different cultures. Here are some amazing restaurants founded by immigrants.

2a. Leora in Los Angeles
2b. Meals by Genet in Los Angeles
2c. Matsuhisa in Los Angeles
2d. Jitlada in Los Angeles
2e. Sadaf in Los Angeles
2f. 12 Chairs in NYC
2g. Daniel in NYC
2h. Park’s BBQ in Los Angeles
2i. Mandolin Aegean Bistro in Miami
2j. Motek in Miami
2k. Elmina in Washington DC
2l. Marcus in Washington DC

CLOSING ARGUMENTS

“Freedom is not free. We have to work at it, nurture it, protect it, and even sacrifice for it.”
-Alex Pretti

I’d love to know what’s on your mind. Questions, ideas, suggestions, recipes - please send them all my way: allofit@mandanadayani.com