What I learned thus far

When I first heard of the massive movement of human beings fleeing Honduras on foot, wrenching themselves from not just possessions and community but too often from even children or parents or spouses, forging across unimaginably harsh terrain with no REI outfittings, trudging over mountains and through foreign countries, their numbers swelling like the convergence of streams into a mighty river, I thought we HAVE to be at the border for whenever these newcomers seeking safety arrive.

And that was before I heard tRump’s hostile, violent response ordering thousands of our armed military troops-trained-to-kill-humans to intercept these refugees and then to incarcerate them, should they survive.

Tonight I attended the first organized meeting where the general public was invited to A People’s Assembly for Migrant Caravan Solidarity. How inspiring and righteous is that? And because I live in the SF Bay Area, hundreds of concerned and committed people showed up, filling the entire huge hall, seats and standing room alike!

So this is what I gleaned from tonight that increased my understanding of what is happening currently.

Remember Manuel Zelaya? 2009 and yet another Obama war-hawk-mongering blow! I guess Zelaya in and of himself isn’t so memorable. What we need to remember is that we, the u.s.ofa., backed a military coup lead by a man we trained at the SOA (School of Assassins) deposing a democratically-elected president in Honduras.

The other thing to remember is  the same old story: this Honduran president was slowly moving some tiny bits of wealth from the few on the top to those on the bottom. We know how the rich tolerate any ‘sharing’ of ‘their’ wealth: wealth they stole from the very people who they refuse to share with and even violently punish if those stolen from attempt to retrieve any little thing for themselves.

But even more unconscionably to the u.s. and those wealthy individuals in power, Zelaya was calling for a referendum to re-write their constitution: a constitution that was crafted and imposed during the early 1980’s under yet another u.s.-military backed dictator.

Thus the spark that began the absolute necessity for human beings to flee for their very lives from their very own country.

We in this country MUST understand that refugees are fleeing u.s.ofa. foreign policy, u.s.ofa. wars, u.s.ofa. greed. And those of us who understand this, must help our fellow citizens see this truth.

Let me pause here because I want to acknowledge that our foreign policy that impacts so heavily negatively on Central America, did NOT begin in 2009 but in the mid 1800’s and our first military attack on Honduras was in 1903, then 1907, 1911, 1912, 1917, 1919, 1924…and on and on. You can figure it out yourself. And even farther back, we merely followed in the footsteps of the other european countries like spain and england and france as Honduras was not even a country in the before white colonization and genocide: which is why Indigenous people of these countries correct our border 'language' as the border crossed them, they didn’t cross the border.

The other major thing we must understand is the gang and drug ‘issues’ that incite the spark into a raging flame that is burning out of control. First of all, because Clinton wanted to be seen “hard on drugs” i.e. on Black and brown and poor white people, and with the passage of the horrendous three strikes ‘law’, these young men here ended up incarcerated in maximum security prisons.

We all must know that the purpose of prison is to destroy a human being. These incarcerated young men have been turned into violent gang members – not the military or police kind of gang that legally kill – but the everyday member of society gang that ‘illegally’ also kills with impunity.

These incarcerated men were given the opportunity to be released from jail IF they agreed to be deported. And they were deported, landing not only in Mexico but in Honduras, El Salvador, even Guatemala.

So we provided military-trained killers as well as maximum security prison-trained killers to flood Central America along with our huge cache of weaponry and military hardware.

Then let’s examine the “drug trafficking” bit of these gangs. Who in the world is buying/paying for the drugs that these gangs are so violently obtaining and trafficking? It is not the Honduran mother and child fleeing for their lives nor the struggling merchant or farmer: it is those addicted or recreational drug users in the u.s.

So why do we not see the blame and hold accountable our own country’s insatiable need for these ‘illegal’ drugs that is driving the violence and total destruction of the people of other countries?

I hope this clarifies more of what is happening and why at our ‘border’. I hope you will stop life as usual and commit to action NOW:

·          to end our u.s.ofa. policy of incarceration of refugees

·         to dismantle ICE and armed border patrol

·         to end the flow of ‘legal’ and illegal weapons from our weapon manufacturers/corporations not only into Central America but all over the world

·         to sponsor a refugee so they can be released from prison

·         to go to the border to dialogue with our soldiers, police, vigilantes

·         to provide support services at the border, not ‘just’ to refugees but to those valiant souls with their feet on the ground every day fighting for justice for these victims of u.s. policy and war

·          to contribute funds – daily, weekly, as often as possible – to assist with this humanitarian aid for this huge anti-humanitarian crisis.

When I leave for the border, I will try to keep sharing on this blog and page.