We have no words for the detention of migrant children without their parents: except to note that this practice is legal, just like Japanese American internment, African American slavery, and indigenous relocation camps. So we looked back to our coverage of American internment, filling our Public Bookshelf with articles on a child hero who resisted Japanese American relocation, the Jim Crow roots of today’s “Muslim Ban,” indigenous children forced against their will into reservation schools, and a syllabus that teaches how to create sanctuary in our own time.
Sanctuary Syllabus
12.5.2017
NYU SANCTUARY
On January 27, 2017, Executive Order 13769 went into effect, banning foreign nationals from seven Muslim-majority countries from entering the United States. Within hours, Customs and Border Protection agents were detaining travelers, including those with visas and green cards. By the next day, protesters had crammed into airport arrival halls bearing signs of welcome to international travelers, as family members of the detained, lawyers, health workers, clergy, translators, state, local, and city officials, and journalists provided assistance to those affected by the ban. … Keep Reading
Teaching kids to resist
6.22.2017
Anne Higonnet
Do you know who Fred Korematsu is? He is not yet a household name like Rosa Parks or Martin Luther King Jr., despite the integral role he played in protesting the incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II. That’s because the story of how he managed to wrest a formal apology from the United States government for its shocking abrogation of the rights of its own citizens in the 1940s belies the myth of American exceptionalism. … Keep Reading
Native stories from native perspectives
10.9.2017
CUTCHA RISLING BALDY
“We are from people that have been forced to give up everything and we have this one opportunity to give something to ourselves and we’re going to take it. We are fucking taking it. Even though occupation anxiety has worn our self-worth down to frayed wires. Even though there is risk. After all, everything we are afraid of has already happened.” … Keep Reading
THE PREHISTORY OF THE MUSLIM BAN
3.22.2017
LEE ANN FUJII
Banning all Muslims was a popular campaign slogan for then-candidate Donald Trump. People cheered at the simple logic: all Muslims pose a threat, because so many hold hate in their hearts and bombs in their vests. On January 27, 2017, Trump made good on his pledge. He signed an executive order denying entry to all travelers coming from seven countries with majority-Muslim populations. Shortly after, the courts struck down the ban. On March 6, 2017, he signed a new, improved order designed to withstand legal challenge. … Keep Reading 