NEW BOOK #3 In the US, more than 2,000 children remain separated from their parents as of July 5, 2018

The policy of separating immigrant children from their parents is most disturbing.

Even though this policy was abandoned by Executive order on June 20, there was no provision in place to reunite the affected families. In the US, more than 2,000 children remain separated from their parents as of July 5, 2018. The National Public Radio reported on June 15, that the American Academy of Pediatricians says separating children from their parents can cause trauma severe enough to limit brain development. They condemned the policy as “government sanctioned child abuse”, according to the Globe and Mail editorial of June 19, 2018.

As in my last blog, I looked for historical precedence for this particular behaviour.

I found a possible explanation in the response to the slave trade in research by Du Bois. When the slave trade was of least financial advantage in 1774 and 1804, it might have been possible to exert moral persuasion to eliminate it, but, “A fatal spirit of temporizing, however, seized the nation at these points; and although the slave-trade was, largely for political reasons, forbidden, slavery was left untouched. Beyond this point, as years rolled by, it was found well-nigh impossible to rouse the moral sense of the nation. Even in the matter of enforcing its own laws and co-operating with the civilized world, a lethargy seized the country.” (The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Suppression of the African Slave Trade to the United States of America, by W. E. B. Du Bois)

By the Way: I wonder if this is what President Trump and Kelly, his Chief of Staff, were banking on when planning this policy, that the moral sense of the nation is asleep.