By Nicarlyle Hanchard / The Jambar
Before I begin, bear with me while I try to make sense of this issue. Now, I logically understand deportation as a practice — if someone comes into a country and violates the laws or has no legal rights to remain, it is reasonable to want them removed.
It becomes a problem when those in power cast blanket statements and claims, or rather insinuate, that all those who enter the country illegally do so to cause mischief. Please note, there are those who came here abiding by the legal processes and those from the soil who wish to do the same.
I may have said this before, but it never hurts to reiterate, as a writer and someone who is religiously-spiritual in some way, there is a lot of power in the words we write, say and how we formulate sentences.
I have steered clear of the immigration and deportation conversations as I do not believe myself to be well-versed in the issue of mass immigration. I am here to discuss the language used to describe deportees and alleged undocumented migrants.
It is the dehumanization of detainees, and of immigrants in general, that has caused Immigration and Customs Enforcements agents to operate as they have. These attitudes have resulted in apathy towards undocumented migrants and their unfair treatment.
Looking at the construction of Alligator Alcatraz in Florida, it was disheartening to hear and read some political pundits refer to detainees as meals for alligators.
Also, I don’t care that they were just “pundits” or “activists” because politicians have parroted the same and similar sentiments. I will not be led to believe that leaders and their opinions do not become truth for some people.
When that happens, there is great difficulty to present the evidence-supported truth when people have claimed their “truth.”
Can you imagine someone saying Alligator Alcatraz updates — be it the treatment of detainees or environmental concerns — should not be on the front page of a local Ohio newspaper. Well, I do not have to imagine it because someone said that to me in an unnervingly deadpanned manner.
Six degrees of separation aside, have we forgone our humanity for the sake of ascribing to whichever political belief? When will we move past needing to experience tragedy in our homes to sympathize with the hardships others face?
There were shirts being sold this past summer glorifying Alligator Alcatraz and the possible harmful impacts it may have. Those detained who only have an immigration violation should now be alligator bait?
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson was quoted in a Huff Post article referring to an illegal immigrant seeking help at an emergency room as a “rabble rouser who came in from some South American country to do us harm…” Would his own statement not be rabble rousing?
I say I am apolitical, not because I do not care about the current state of events, but rather because throughout time politics has caused people to forget that they are human. They speak to and of their opposition in ways no respectable human should be spoken to.
As we move forward, I ask that we seriously consider how we speak to and about people we have differences with.