Who We Are as Americans
Yesterday, was Father’s Day. For me it’s a day to remember my dad, who was taken from me too soon. It’s a day I’m grateful for my children, and the wonderful young people they’re becoming. It’s a day for family.
But the meaning of that day changes when the country we call home is ripping apart families at our border. The meaning has to change when children, the same age as my own, are being kept in cages on our soil. The day is no longer about my own family, it’s about the travesty being carried out on other families in our country.
There has been so much said about immigrant families crossing our borders, much of it being deeply bigoted and racist rhetoric from our own president. The fundamental truth is this: these are parents and children coming to this country seeking refuge and a better life. They come fleeing war, poverty, and injustice, carrying their hopes and their dreams.
They are descendants of a centuries old legacy of people who we now consider Americans, but did the exact same thing. It’s people like my great-grandfather who came to America seeking refuge from Russian Pogroms. It’s families like mine, that exist only because this country decided to take him in.
We can and we must have a debate about real and meaningful immigration reform, but Donald Trump’s policy of separating immigrant families cannot be our starting point. The path forward has to start with a recognition of the humanity in all of us. It has to start with the understanding that children should never be kept in cages and families should never be torn apart. What is happening now is heartbreaking, immoral, and cruel — and it cannot stand. We cannot let it stand.
When faced with unspeakable injustice in the present, I try to look to the lessons of the past. There is a museum in Skokie called the Illinois Holocaust Museum, brought to life by brave survivors. The museum pays tribute to the families ripped apart and the millions of lives lost under Nazi rule. But it is more than a memorial. The museum teaches us the dangers of silence. It shows us what happens when we look away and turn our backs on those who need us most.
It is the responsibility of every single one of us now, descendants of immigrants and keepers of American values, to speak out. That includes the governor of our state. I’m calling on Bruce Rauner to stand with bipartisan leaders in Illinois to fight against this horrific policy. This is a time for leadership and a moment for all of us who seek to serve the public to truly serve.
The world is watching and history is being written. It isn’t often that we are faced with absolute rights and wrongs, and this is an absolute wrong that goes to the heart of who we are as Americans. We must come together. We must act.
