So I know that Republicans will try to justify doing all sorts of inhumane things to people
who they see as different from them, like migrants from Central America, but over the
last few days it's just been absolutely wild to watch so many conservatives argue
that actually, tear-gassing children is a good thing.
If you haven't seen it on the news already, earlier this week, the "migrant caravan"
as it's been called, reached the US-Mexico border.
This is a group of a few thousand people including families, women, children, and LGBT+ people,
and they all have one thing in common: They're fleeing violence in their home countries and
seeking asylum in the US.
Many of them are from Honduras, some are from Guatemala, and some are from El Salvador.
In the weeks leading up to the midterm elections, Republicans used the migrant caravan to scare
their base into voting.
Their fear-mongering tactics involved painting the caravan as full of "criminals" who
are trying to "invade" the US. Trump even tried to argue that there were, as he said,
"Middle-Easterners" in there, which apparently, amongst him and his supporters, is synonymous
with terrorists.
But despite the conservative fear of a big scary group of people of color coming to kill
everyone, the migrant caravan is actually just people trying to escape violence and
start a better life for themselves.
Journalists have gone and spoken with people in the caravan, and every time it's clear
that they're scared people who are just trying to reach safety.
So, when these people reached the US border, they tried to come in to apply for asylum,
which, by the way, is perfectly legal.
The 1967 Refugee Protocol is an international treaty that the US signed that says that countries
must accept asylum seekers and allow them to apply for asylum without any sort of penalty,
even if they entered the country "illegally".
This is a key piece of international law that, in combination with the 1951 Refugee Convention,
was put in place after World War 2 to prevent countries from denying asylum or refugee status
to those fleeing violence or persecution.
Because, as you might remember from history class, the US itself did turn away many Jewish
people on the MS St. Louis who were trying to escape the Nazis, and hundreds of the people
who the US turned away on that ship did end up dying in the Holocaust.
And it's not just international law.
The Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 says that migrants to the US, regardless of
their status, and whether or not they arrive at a designated port of entry, are allowed
to apply for asylum.
So these migrants have every legal right to come to the US, under American law and under
international law.
And yet, conservatives are still saying "well they should've entered legally."
Guess what, they did everything legally.
They have a right to enter and apply for asylum.
You know what's actually illegal?
Denying people their right to apply for asylum in this country and then attacking them when
they try to exercise that right.
Because just a few days ago, when these people approached the border, many of them children,
the US fired tear gas at them over the border.
So just to be clear, the US fired chemical weapons over an international border at children
to stop those families from legally applying for asylum.
And people are really out here defending the use of tear gas and still somehow demonizing
the people being tear-gassed?
I just don't get it.
I say this so much but like I don't know how to teach you how to have compassion.
If you can see children being tear-gassed and feel nothing, or even feel joy at that
sight, you have some deep fundamental lack of compassion that I cannot comprehend.
And I don't know how to change that.
Photos and videos of these attacks at the border *should* change people's minds.
Seeing horrific violence like that enacted on innocent people, especially children, should
be enough to make any mildly compassionate say, "Hm, maybe we shouldn't tear gas children."
I just genuinely do not know what to do here.
If so many Americans really believe that attacking innocent people who are fleeing violence is
okay, then where do we go from here?
What level of violence will they justify next?
How bad does it have to get before the people tear-gassing children realize that they're
the bad guys?
After the US has ripped children from their families, set up "tent cities" to detain
people, deported people back to their deaths, and now attacked asylum-seekers at the border
-- what's next?
It only seems to be getting worse.
Because this is not a new problem.
The police uses teargas on innocent protestors regularly, like in Ferguson, and has violently
attacked indigenous protesters at Standing Rock.
Under the Obama Administration, millions of people were deported.
But Trump's repeated and aggressive demonization of migrants is only making things worse.
And the reason there are migrants to the US in the first place is largely because of the
US's rampant imperialism in Central and South America, where the US government took
out democratically-elected leaders and propped up authoritarians, destabilizing entire countries.
And now, when the people affected by that are fleeing, we have no right to turn them away.
It was the US's horrific actions in their countries that created the circumstances that
led them to seek asylum in the first place.
Everyone in the world isn't just clamoring to come to the US.
Most people like to stay where they are and be with their family and friends if they can.
But sometimes, that's not possible, and we have to be ready to accept those who need our help.
That's what our country should be.
A place that is compassionate to everyone, not just those born within our borders.
Anyway, that's all I had for you today.
Thanks for watching, and I'll see you next time.
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