Caring means you do whatever you need to do in order to ensure the safety and well-being of the people you love – no matter what. Care is brave and bold; it risks all for a better future.
These values were ingrained in me from an early age. When my parents came to this country they had to leave me, their only child, behind. Amidst a civil war in Ethiopia, facing uncertainty and seeking safety, they risked everything for their family.
There were no guarantees that it would work out. They placed their faith in the values of family, love, and care – even as they faced antipathy, hate, and cruelty. They held tight to that faith for three years, until we were reunited.
Now at our border, families driven by their fierce need to care for one another, seeking safety and refuge, are being torn apart. Seeing children ripped from the arms of parents and seeing caregivers indefinitely jailed is gut-wrenching. Hearing children sobbing in cages unsure if they will ever again see the people who love them most is personal.
Over 2,000 children have been placed in detention with no idea where the rest of their families had been taken. Donald Trump’s recent executive order does nothing to address the cruelty of jailing children. Instead it sets the stage for the indefinite detention of entire families. This is not a solution.
Indefinite detention, family separation, and more people in cages has no place in the future we are trying to build as the #CaringMajority. A future where our families are supported, where care, in all its forms, is valued – and where we are all free to thrive, no matter what you look like or where you come from.