Under the Same Stars
It started with news reports, a slow trickle of stories about family separations, overcrowding and grim conditions in detention camps at our border.
We learned that deprivation and separation are cruel and unusual punishment directed at people who have committed no crime at all. Separation does terrible and lasting damage to vulnerable children whose parents have followed our laws to the letter: they applied for refugee status by presenting themselves to border authorities at points of legal entry. And we suspected there are other orderly, manageable and humane ways to process and regulate people who come to our border.
As we watched our own children, neighbor children or grandchildren ride their bikes, sleep securely in their beds, or simply brush their teeth, we knew other children under these same stars were in deep trouble, suffering serious and permanent damage. Our unease grew into dismay and shock.
Like many of you, I contacted members of Congress to demand change. They agreed. This was wrong.
The news cycle turned to other things. I trusted someone was fixing it and went about my life. Still, more stories bubbled to the surface. We found nothing had changed at all. Instead, conditions got worse. We watched chilling videos of small children recoiling in fear because they didn’t even recognize their parents after lengthy, unnecessary separations.
I turned 70 and realized that one traumatic day in my long life is just an inch, something I have the resilience to recover from. For a 17-year-old that trauma is a 100-yard football field, For a seven-year-old it is a mile, and for a seven-month old it is eternity
We heard for-profit foster care agents telling parents and aunts, uncles or grandparents they could not reclaim their children because they had “bonded with their new foster parents.” We read that records to reconnect separated families were inadequate and some children were unlikely to ever be reunited with family. Though the separation policy was officially ended, months later separations were still happening at the rate of about five a day. We heard dire reports from congress men and women who conducted oversight visits to camps. And we heard the voices of children.
.
It is evidently up to me, up to us, after all.
That realization brought a small group of women together to plan the Peterborough Lights for Liberty rally and protest for the July 12 night of international vigils. Over 200 people gave their contact information to our ad hoc committee that night, seeking more information about taking action. The ad hoc committee became a standing steering committee. We launched a weekly e-newsletter suggesting actions. Each weekly newsletter includes a real story written by a real person in the Peterborough-Keene-Wilton area, someone affected by or working directly to change this nightmare for vulnerable people.
The stories we received deserve a wider audience and we appreciate the opportunity to share them here with you, on this page, as Viewpoints in the coming weeks. Others are being submitted by new writers, people with a personal connection our broken immigration system. All will be authentic and personal stories, from people in our greater community who have, in some capacity, experienced what it means to be an immigrant or seek refugee status. Thank you for reading them. Thank you for joining us in action. To receive a weekly e-mail newsletter with actions you can take now, subscribe at https://rebrand.ly/PboroLFL. You can find our group on FB at Peterborough Lights for Liberty Coalition
Julie Zimmer
Peterborough
Julie Zimmer is an Iowan who moved to Peterborough with her husband in 2018 to be near their son, daughter-in-law, and two granddaughters. They are happy to take part in all the wonderful things this amazing community has to offer. Julie is retired from careers including teaching fourth grade; matching Iowa City Big Brothers/Sisters to “littles;” connecting visually-impaired teens to work experiences; teaching community college journalism; freelance writing; and community volunteering in Vinton, Iowa, population 5,000.
Other members of the coalition steering committee include Kathy Anderson of Hancock; Peterborough residents Kate Coon, Marie Cassady, Jane Eckert, Christine Halvorson Sheldon, Karen Hatcher, Sarah Steinberg Heller, Ann Latham and Mary Vallier-Kaplan..
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On the ‘spirit of sacrifice’ for social change
By Mohammad Saleh
As we find ourselves dismayed and outraged by the recent push for deportation of immigrants by the administration, we cannot help but wonder about indifference by a significant segment of the population. Much of this can be attributed to the racism and the hyper-partisan politics of our time. Despite all our protests, it is shocking to see a significant section of the population is skeptical about a more humane and welcoming immigration policy. It is not easy to erase racism from individual’s mind, but we must find a way to reach the heart of indifferent moderates if we are to have any chance of saving the families who are being torn apart. I wondered whether our protests and the partisan nature of it is only making it more difficult for a common man to fully empathize with those who are suffering.
These were my frantic thoughts, during and the days and weeks after hearing about Eliazar Ayala. Eliazar, a NH resident, father of 4 minors, was locked in ICE jail, facing imminent deportation. He was an undocumented immigrant from Honduras, who came to the United States as a minor, fleeing poverty and violence. He has been in the country for more than 20 years. He has lived a productive life and has never committed any crime. A flat tire and a call from the police to ICE put him on the path of being separated from his family and children.
As I found myself restless hearing Eliazar’s story, feeling outraged by the shear cruelty and imbalance between the crime and punishment, I questioned my own conviction. I realized that despite my dedication to the cause, my protests have not amounted to any real sacrifice. I felt that for a long time our society has promoted the idea of individualism to a point where we may have forgotten the virtue of sacrifice. If we are to change the heart of those who are indifferent we must have the courage of our convictions and show that in our spirit of sacrifice.
In that spirit we organized an event titled ‘faith in humanity’ on Thanksgiving Day, asking people to interrupt their own Thanksgiving celebration and show solidarity with the Ayala family on the verge of losing the father. The response was overwhelmingly positive, as attendants overfilled the Keene library auditorium. Even the librarian and her associates had to make personal sacrifices to open the facility on a holiday.
On that day, we reaffirmed that sacrifice is more powerful than protest. As the community gathered together we made a solemn pledge that we will do everything in our power to save this family from being separated. During the weeks and months that followed we raised money from the community and continued to provide logistic and legal resources. It took many months before all our effort resulted in the freedom of the man from ICE jail, but during these months this story of our effort reverberated in the community. Not surprisingly, we observed that the fiercest anti-immigrant individuals found it difficult to ignore and argue against this mass act of love.
I believe cooperation, empathy, love and a spirit of sacrifice is within all of us. That is what binds humanity. It is time we reflect this spirit in our action more often.
Mohammad Saleh is an immigration activist in Keene. He is a member of the of Keene Immigration and Refugee Partnership (KIRP) and serves on the Keene Human Rights Committee. Mohammad received the Micah award in 2019 from Granite State Organizing (http://granitestateorganizing.org) for the selfless advocacy on the behalf of Eliazar Ayala.
