BY SHARON MARTIN
There’s a lot of disinformation available if you want to fool yourself into believing that everything is OK. Given my anxiety level these days, I’m tempted to turn off social media and the news and fantasize about the world I want, a world in which the president and his administration care about humanity and believe in the Constitution.
Turning off is not an option, though. We can’t surrender. We can’t be quiet.
Apathy is our enemy. So is silence. If I may revise an old saying: action and truth will set us free.
When the president is the Liar-in-Chief, you must be especially vigilant. When he lies, make sure you have your own facts straight, and speak up. As my friend, Claudia, says, do it again and again.
Will everyone listen? No. Will someone listen? Maybe, and that’s why we have to keep setting the record straight.
Let’s start with a few facts about immigration:
– It was Jeff Sessions who initiated President Trump’s Family Separation Policy.
– It is legal to ask for asylum.
– When you ask for asylum, it is the duty of our government to have immigration judges in place to hear your case.
– Children who experience trauma in their lives are permanently affected. – Humane people don’t inflect such trauma.
– U.S. foreign policy, official and unofficial, legal and illegal, contributes to the mess that compels citizens in Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador to flee their homes.
– President Obama deported many undocumented visitors.
– President Obama signed the Dream Act because Congress refused to act.
– One more time, President Trump must take full responsibility for Family Separation as a policy to deter immigration.
– Family separation, as a deterrent, did not work.
It’s an act of patriotism to counter lies with truth. Speak up while we still can.
– Sharon Martin lives in Oilton, OK and is a regular contributor to The Oklahoma Observer. Her latest book, Not A Prodigal, is available through Barnes and Noble. Her recent children’s book, Froggy Bottom Blues, can be purchased in hardcover or paperback from Doodle and Peck Publishingand in paperback from Amazon.
